I don't think i have any other choice but to start my first post on Theirry Henry. He was and is a great man, we all know this, so i won't go into his history with the club because we all know it. What i will discuss are the implications of his return to the club in my opinion.
I will start off by saying, i think it is a good move which only has a tiny tiny tiny chance of going wrong for the team. It won't go wrong for Henry, because his legacy is set in stone. There is no way we could possible ever dislike the great man. The main way i can see it going wrong, is if our current squad starts to look for Henry too much when he is playing, because of the character he is. I feel we started to do this with Van Persie in the last two games of 2011 to try and help him get the scoring record. I have to say, what a stupid record that is...things should be done by the season, not the calendar year.
At the end of Henry's first stint with the gunners, the players were dwarfed by his character and ego and i wouldn't like that to happen again. If it does happen, i do not think it would be Henry's fault, he is a changed man to the one that left the club all those years ago. What i love about this squad right now, is the unity and i would hate for that to be lost. I do feel that the characters in the team will be able to deal with the history Henry brings better, due to the older and more experienced heads in the dressing room compared to when he left the club. I also think he has been very clever with everything he has come out with today in his first interview, in playing down everyones expectations of him.
I am glad that he is registered for the Leeds game, as i think it is a good game to get his second debut out the way. It will create a buzz around the stadium and will allow him to get 20-30 minutes against a lesser opposition than premier league standards (although they won't be a walk in the park). There will be a lot of pressure on him to do something magical of old, because even though we say "we aren't expecting the same Henry of old", we are all still expecting moments of absolute magic. I think it might take a game to take that pressure away from him and slightly less attention is focused in on his every touch.
I think that it is a good move by Wenger as any team is going to be more scared of Henry coming off the bench than Chamakh or Park. Just imagine 0-0 against Leeds on Monday night with 40 minutes to go, the crowd has been quiet and its been a bit of a nothing affair. Then suddenly Henry gets off the bench to warm up...immediately the atmosphere rises around the Emirates stadium, chanting continues. The 11 Arsenal players on the pitch start to respond the bubbling atmosphere. 25 minutes left on the clock, Arsenal have been dominating but no breakthrough, then up goes the substitution board and Henry is waiting to come on. The atmosphere is electric around the Emirates, all the players suddenly seem a yard faster, a touch better, with a new sense of belief brought on by the rousing atmosphere. Arsenal naturally go onto win the game, maybe it even has the fairytale ending of an Henry winner. My point is...the only other player who brings that excitement from the crowd on the bench is Chamberlain unless one of the first 11 isn't starting a game and Chamberlain never gets his chance, so it will be nice to have two atmosphere rousing players on the bench.
Right, i am going to leave my first post at that. Apologies if it is no good, i will get better at it. Suggestions, advice and support are all greatly appreciated. I will be writing on my love becoming more hate relationship with Rosicky over the weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment