Arsenal have stagnated Thierry Henry - skysports.com
Thierry Henry - skysports.com

Thierry Henry – skysports.com

LONDON. — Thierry Henry believes Arsenal’s opening-day victory over Leicester showed signs of stagnation, and that no progress had been made over the summer.

The Gunners kicked off the 2017-18 English Premier League soccer season in exhilarating fashion, twice coming from behind the snatch a dramatic 4-3 win over the Foxes at the Emirates.

But Henry refused to get carried away by the performance, a performance he feels exposed deep-lying defensive issues yet to be ironed out at his former club.

“You can talk about evolution or revolution at Arsenal, I call it stagnation,” the Sky Sports pundit told The Debate. “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.

“What I saw, I have seen so many times. Arsenal came back into the game, Aaron Ramsey came on and Olivier Giroud saved the day. But I have seen that too many times.

“Are you always going to score four and concede three? At some point you will be found out. “It was the first game of the season and, yes, some of the guys were new in the team. But based on how they played, I saw that too often last year. I didn’t see any change.”

Having finished outside of the top four for the first time under Arsene Wenger last season, the Gunners are tasked with returning to the Champions League, as well and ending the club’s 13-year wait for the title this term.

However, kicking off their league campaign by conceding three goals raised further concerns for Henry, from defensive frailties hampering their title chances to a lack of belief in the Gunners camp.

“You expect Arsenal to control the game a bit more,” he added. “It’s not always easy in the Premier League but Tottenham didn’t concede, Manchester United didn’t concede.

“Usually you win titles because you don’t concede goals. Yes, you score goals and we know Arsenal will score, but you need to be able to not concede. That is something Arsenal need to rectify.

“It’s not only the back three, you cannot have your two holding midfielders bombing forward. At times they will score but most of the time you want them to do their job.

“What bothers me the most is I think that team on paper is good enough to compete every year to win the league. “It’s very difficult to win the league right now. But the not competing part, that’s what hurts Arsenal fans.

“I believe that team can compete but do they believe they can compete? That’s very key, that’s the first step, believing you can do it. “Arsenal can make top four, I’m not convinced but I think they can. The problem in our league is a lot of teams can make top four.”

Meanwhile, Henry liked what he saw from Alexandre Lacazette on his Premier League debut but feels it will take time for Arsenal to supply him with the right service.

Lacazette took just 94 seconds to get off the mark in Arsenal’s 4-3 win over Leicester at the Emirates Stadium last Friday and Henry was full of praise for his compatriot.

“I like him,” Henry told Monday Night Football. “His overall play is on point. Obviously he is going to have to score goals and goals and goals to get the crowd going, but the way he has started is very good for me.

“The most important thing is that he does score goals. Obviously I am going to be biased because he is French and he plays for Arsenal but I like his overall play. Very neat, very clean, he does whatever the game is asking him to do.”

Lacazette’s pace and movement gives Arsenal the option of hitting the ball into the space behind the opposition defence for him to run onto but that pass was ignored a little too often for Henry’s tastes against Leicester.

“Granit Xhaka has it in his locker to play that ball over the top,” added Henry. “He has an amazing left foot. If he has time on the ball he does not need to play through the middle sometimes.

“Why do you want to play what I call ‘the Arsenal ball’ to the winger who comes in the pocket? Why don’t you play the other ball? That’s the best ball in the game because you go straight to goal. They don’t like it.

“Does he lose the ball? No, he doesn’t lose the ball. Does it look pretty? Yes, it looks pretty. But we want to go to goal. That’s where we want to go. Can he play that pass? It is not difficult for Xhaka. They are going to have to learn with Lacazette.”

The summer signing from Lyon shifted out to the left against Leicester to accommodate match-winner Olivier Giroud but Henry sees Lacazette’s long-term role as a central striker. “That happened because they needed to score goals and create chaos,” he explained.

“Because he is so sound and good on the ball, he can play on the left or on the right, but for me he is a No.9. When the big man comes back and hopefully he is going to come back soon, Alexis Sanchez, he is going to play on the left.

“I think Lacazette is going to play in the centre. That is where I would like to see him play. Giroud can offer a lot and he showed that but I would love to see the partnership that Sanchez and Lacazette can create.” — Sky Sports.

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