“Stagnation” – Thierry Henry’s Verdict After Arsenal’s Opening Game vs Leicester City

By The Editor
on 16th August 2017

Thierry Henry was far from impressed by what he saw…

Thierry Henry stated that he got a sense of “stagnation” from Arsenal following our opening day victory against Leicester City in a 4-3 thriller.

Despite the three points, Henry shared the concerns of many fans that our defending was reminiscent of the horrendous run we experienced towards the back end of last season.

Shipping three goals at home on the opening day doesn’t give the impression that we’re ready to challenge for the Premier League, a target which the club set after handing Wenger a new two-year contract.

However, Henry feels that he’s watched that performance against Leicester City in previous seasons, with the result not always going our way.

“You can talk about evolution or revolution at Arsenal, I call it stagnation,” Henry said on Sky Sports’ debate show.

“I watched the game against Leicester and I could tell you what was going to happen. When I go to the Emirates and I watch the game, it’s ‘Yes!’ when we have the ball and ‘No!’ when the opposition does.

“Every time Leicester had the ball I felt they were going to score and every time we had the ball I felt we were going to score.

“People can have a go at the defence but when you play in a back three, it is what is happening in front of you that counts a lot. If you don’t apply pressure well you will be exposed in a back three.”

We came from 3-2 down to win the game in the final 10 minutes through substitutes Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud, though it’s not a position we want to be in too often throughout the season.