Thoughts on Henry
SO it now appears (barring a return for Ashley Cole or Kolo Toure) that the very last of the Invincibles will be the greatest of them all.
Assuming he makes at least a cameo appearance over the next six and a half weeks, Thierry Henry will join the likes of David O’Leary, John Lukic, Tony Adams, Lee Dixon, Martin Keown and Nigel Winterburn in enjoying an Arsenal career spanning three decades.
When your second, third and fourth longest serving players are John Djourou, Abou Diaby and Theo Walcott, then (with all due respect to those three), there can feel something a little transient about the squad, particularly for those of us who grew up thinking Arsenal careers that lasted well over a decade were the norm. So the resigning of Henry – who played alongside Adams, Dixon, Winterburn, Keown and yes, even Lukic – at the very least should make many of us feel that little bit less old for a few moments, at least until we’re reminded of the fact that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s mother gave birth to her son in the hours after that unforgettable opening day 3-0 defeat to Coventry at Highbury in 1993.
Going back to Henry, I was reminded yesterday that if he plays Leeds, it will be the first time since he personally stuck four past them one magical night nearly eight years ago. I was in the West Upper that day and as he surged through the Leeds defence again and again people just looked at each other in wonderment. That night was classic Invincibles: in some senses it wasn’t a great performance but we could just up it at any moment.
So what of the current Henry? I said on the Arsecast last week that were it just about any other Premier League club, there would be none of the agonising over whether or not the signing was the right one or not. They’d have gladly taken him.
We can’t expect the old Henry. But his game was always about a lot more than mere pace and one would hope he has adapted suitably. His ego will have to adapt a little too.
It should be interesting.
Pretty sure Rvp has been around longer than theo and diaby
And were it any other player, we wouldn’t be eulogising about signing a 34 year old from the MLS for just over 5 weeks as a solution to our desperate need for a goalscorer other than RVP. I love Henry but this is such an indictment on the ambition of the executive of our club.
a 34 year old Henry would definitely more efficient than a 22 year old Walcott.
only Ronaldo(of the Dengue fever variety) in his early 20′s was as breathtakingly destructive as Henry was in his prime. it will be good to se him again, but would have preferred Podolski/Götze
@Dzzmzz
Playa states that Theo & Diaby are 3rd & 4th longest behind Djourou which obviously leaves Robin as number one.
Not sure that I can understand your maths. Lukic was only with us for 6 seasons. How is that a career spanning 3 decades? Great (often overlooked) keeper though.
Jax, Lukic made a CL appearance when on the coaching staff when we had a number of keepers injured. Wasn’t he 41 at the time ?
It always annoyed me when people talked about TH in terms of his pace only. His extraordinary vision when in possession was almost glossed over. Not sure he’ll score too many but I can see him setting up a lot of goalscoring oppurtunities. I’ll put it this way : if we’re playing against a team with 10 men behind the ball he could easily be more effective than either of Theo/Gervinho. It is indeed going to be interesting..
Not living in the UK any more, trips to see AFC have to be limited. Is it very sad that I’m contemplating an extra trip this season before the end of Feb just to see the great man one last time ???
The players I referred to were the second, third and fourth longest serving, clearly leaving RVP as the longest.
John Lukic played for Arsenal in the 80s, left in June 1990, returned in 1996, playing quite a few games that season and then made four further appearances in late 2000, conceding just one goal.
Look, we haven’t a chance realistically to win a trophy this season. Thierry Henry, the best player ever to wear the Arsenal shirt, will give us some nostalgic joy to break up an otherwise forgettable season of transition (due almost entirely to a woefully mismanaged close season). It beats watching Chamakh and Arshavin fall lamentably short game after game.