It just had to be Thierry Henry who scored the winner against Sunderland. On his last Premier League appearance for Arsenal, before heading back to New York, the man who has made countless headlines throughout his illustrious career had just enough time to make one more. Having been introduced as a second half substitute, Arsenal’s all-time leading goal scorer had struggled to get into the game, but in the 90th minute he was in the right place at the right time to meet Andrey Arshavin’s wonderful cross, with a deft touch, to secure victory for the Gunners and send all Gooners wild in celebration.
Many had claimed Henry would tarnish his fantastic reputation by wearing the famous red and white shirt once again, if anything his brief second stint with the Gunners has merely enhanced his status further. Although he is clearly not the same player he once was, Henry’s tally of three goals proves he has not lost any of his finishing ability. Gone is the lightning quick speed, which would send the Highbury faithful into sheer ecstasy time and again, but his movement and footballing brain are still first class. It was this ability which allowed him to sneak into the Sunderland six-yard box unmarked to win the game. From this moment on, he was centre stage once again, from chasing the ball down, on the right flank, with all his might, to win a throw-in near the corner flag, to telling Martin O’Neil to be quiet and stop moaning. This was Thierry Henry, giving his all for the club he loves.
O’Neil would later preposterously claim that his side deserved something from the game. How he arrived at this conclusion is completely beyond me. For the entire 90minutes Sunderland sat back, deep in their own half, all eleven men behind the ball, in the hope that Arsenal would not break them down and they could hit the Gunners on the break. (This seems to be O’Neil’s only tactic as he employed it throughout his Aston Villa tenure and then took offense when Wenger pointed this out). In truth their plan had worked very well as Arsenal did struggle to break through the Sunderland backline, but this owed much to the horrendous condition of the Stadium of Light’s pitch. It was cutting up terribly and so every time the Gunners attempted to establish their passing game, they simply couldn’t as the ball would bobble about all over the place. Unsurprisingly Oxlade-Chamberlain found it difficult to get into the game as every time he tried to make a forward run it appeared as though he was ploughing a field as lumps of turf flew up around him.
O’Neil would later preposterously claim that his side deserved something from the game. How he arrived at this conclusion is completely beyond me. For the entire 90minutes Sunderland sat back, deep in their own half, all eleven men behind the ball, in the hope that Arsenal would not break them down and they could hit the Gunners on the break. (This seems to be O’Neil’s only tactic as he employed it throughout his Aston Villa tenure and then took offense when Wenger pointed this out). In truth their plan had worked very well as Arsenal did struggle to break through the Sunderland backline, but this owed much to the horrendous condition of the Stadium of Light’s pitch. It was cutting up terribly and so every time the Gunners attempted to establish their passing game, they simply couldn’t as the ball would bobble about all over the place. Unsurprisingly Oxlade-Chamberlain found it difficult to get into the game as every time he tried to make a forward run it appeared as though he was ploughing a field as lumps of turf flew up around him.
I find it very difficult to understand how a Premier League team can be allowed to spend millions on acquiring players and then let their home ground deteriorate to such an extent. This is supposed to be the best league in the world and we are playing on a surface which is simply not fit for purpose. It was a direct result of the disgusting condition of the pith that Per Mertesacker suffered a terrible injury, believed to be ankle ligament damage, enabling James McClean to race through and fire an unstoppable shot past Szczesny. However the Gunners refused to give in, they kept calm and showed tremendous spirit and strength of character to get themselves back in the game only five minutes later. Arteta’s blocked shot fell straight to Aaron Ramsey who saw his first time effort hit both posts before going in.
Arsenal continued to press forward in search of the winner, but it appeared they would be frustratingly undone by Sunderland’s negative tactics. The stage was set for Thierry Henry and once again he did not disappoint, scoring in the 90th minute and then celebrating wildly with his teammates and the travelling Arsenal supporters. If we were fighting for the championship, football pundits would have been falling over themselves to proclaim this victory as one which proved our title credentials; such was the strength of character shown by the Arsenal players. This was a crucial win for the Gunners as all the clubs fighting for fourth place lost over the weekend, enabling us to move into the top four courtesy of goals scored. The race for Champions League football will take numerous twists and turns between now and the end of the season, needless to say the team who achieves the most consistency will finish in the top four. Let’s hope we are that team.
No comments:
Post a Comment