Arsenal with Henry in the team

DDignam · Post by **DDignam** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 2:03 am

Ok itâ€™s a new dawn, the new era at the grove.

In the last month we have seen an Arsenal less Henry. Frustrating they have been but I have seen some of our best performances of the season. Initially we continued to play the passing game however increasingly we have taken on more shots and been more creative (forgetting brammel lane). To be honest I have enjoyed our football far more without Henry in the squad.

Today Henry is back in the squad and im sitting in the Grove feeling the same frustration I had four weeks ago. Yeah were 4-0 up, we have been gifted two penalties and were playing Charlton with ten men, itâ€™s the minimum I would expect. My point is Henry is back in the squad and every move is made through him, and were taking not one but 4 or five too many passed

I have not missed Henry in the last four weeks, I have enjoyed watching Adabeyor (whom I donâ€™t feel is a premiership winning player) battling it out up front and getting somewhere, I donâ€™t enjoy watching Henry creativity ending up in the ball flowing gracefully across the 18 yard box.... again and again and again .................

as for brammel lane - I feel the loss of Adeboyor there was bigger than that of Henry.

My last rant. Dont loose Henry hes a great player, let him be an attacking midfielder and create moves and assist, someone shake Mr Wenger and get him to continue the system of the last 4 weeks and fit Henry in, not just fall back into same old passing game which is so easily defended these days (put 4 men on Henry, every move will go to him at some point). If we are to go through this change which we clearly are, then letâ€™s change, not keep the same system we have had since 2000, is it a change or just waiting for player to mature.

proudtosaythatname · Post by **proudtosaythatname** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 5:13 pm

It's hard to please some people, isn't it. The red card was maybe a bit soft, but how can anyone complain about a 4-0 victory, which could easily have been doubled. Are we better off with performances like the defeat by Sheffield United? I don't think so. Thierry was not quite at his best - not surprising as he hasn't played for a month - but brilliant nevertheless. We've missed him desperately and I for one am delighted he is back!

clockender1 · Post by **clockender1** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 6:40 pm

red card was dead soft, but Morgan should have gone for that punch on RVP at Bramhell lane, so it evens out.

I am also delighted to see TH back but I hope as well that Gilberto continues to inspire the youngsters and that the midfield won't put everything through the great man again, but vary it a bit more.

For me the encouraging thing over the last 7 weeks was seeing RVP, helb, cesc and even flamini making scoring runs into the box. when we played well it looked like anyone could score and they did. flamini got three !

GoonerBen · Post by **GoonerBen** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 2:51 am

Great to see TH14 starting instead of the utterly useless aliadiere but even with 4 goals it was like watching paint dry. Everyone keeps saying we are a great passing team but time and time again against charlton (and this season) instead of putting the quick ball into the runner we have preferred the easier and inneffective short tap to a player in no position to have any impact except to start another move against a box now crowded with 11 men - it felt very strange going home frustrated and bored with a 4-0 win

bring back 4 4 2

Post by **gooner.ed** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 11:40 am

i thought we did play 4-4-2 on tuesday with rvp well advanced and on the right side of th14 for much of the game.

mind you, it looked like rosicky was playing pretty much anywhere he liked, so god knows how you would describe the line-up. gilberto was alongside cesc a lot more, so let's call it a 4-3-1-2 shall we?

i guess if we can perfect all this interchanging and dispense with a fixed formation we can confuse the opposition big time. slight problem when we lose the ball, but there you go

proudtosaythatname · Post by **proudtosaythatname** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 11:56 am

I was really pleased with RVP's second goal, as it showed he is developing subtlety in his finishing. Still, some practice shooting in training with his right foot clearly wouldn't go amiss...

Trevheff · Post by **Trevheff** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 1:27 pm

Can anyone tell me what formation we played when we were invincible? It wasn't 4-4-2 that's for sure. Ok it may have been 4-4-2 on paper but it was anything but on the pitch. We had a back 4, Vieira and Gilberto holding the centre and the rest went where they wanted.

We play at our best when we are fluid and our players interchange. Neither 4-4-2 or 4-5-1 will work if we're static and that in my opinion has been the problem at time this season - not the starting formation but how the players 'play it'. In particular there has not been enough midfielders getting passed the front men on a regular basis, al la Mr Pires.

Final point, Arsenal are a much better team with Henry in it but I agree that it does us no favours if he's the focus for 90% of our attacking play. We have to vary it more to make us more unpredictable and harder to defend against.

Gooner_mojo · Post by **Gooner_mojo** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 3:43 pm

I reckon having Henry back is a bonus, yeah i know a lot of our attack goes through him ,but thats because he's world class!! You cant surely say we are better without him, he wasn't fit before and now he's had his rest just watch him fly for the remainder of the season! Plus, Henry creates so many chances for the team as well so think about the creativity he brings too. But its good to know that Adebayor and Van Persie can get goals in Henrys absence, so things are looking bright.

Trevheff during the invincible season, I think we played a 4-6-0 formation as one newspaper described it at the time! Because we had the back four, then those other 6 players would just break together do their thing.

DDignam · Post by **DDignam** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 1:18 am

I would agree that Henry does create allot and does score allot. My feeling is that the team has moved on in the last two seasons, players have changed. We no longer have pires and the rent boy on the left who worked well with Henry. Just feel we are not playing to our strengths. 451 requires Henry as lone striker, however this does not suit his play. He comes deep and wide and pushes forward. My idea of lone striker is someone to hold ball up and Henry is too good to waste here.

The solution I believe for this is to stop trying to mould players into formations of the past. Henry likes to come forward from the outside so play him there and give him the freedom. Playing 442 have Henry out wide and allow him to drift in and out of 442 and 433. Then we can have solid Gilberto, Cesc and rotate Hleb and Rosicky. There is no reason that midfield cant play passing game and flowing football with two front men, moving into space sometimes and involved in passing moves at other times. (I think we need true striker of old - Ian Right, RVN, Drogba type player to just put them away).

Just think the players in the team have different strengths than that of the past so why not play to these strengths and make clubs rethink there game plan for us.

goonermc · Post by **goonermc** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 7:40 pm

Get Thierry out, only one goal!!! What's up with him, we could have won by 10 if it wasn't for him. Dignam, i can't ever recall Ian Right playing for THE Arsenal, i do recall a LEGEND called Ian Wright though.

liam bradys left foot · Sat Jan 06, 2007 8:34 pm

Have to say going on th 14's performance tonight (the goal aside) that for me he did not really do a great deal, he was pretty much redundant for the first 75 minutes and only really spruung to life when theo started warming up, although i have to say he did make carragher look a right muppet!!!!

goonermc · Post by **goonermc** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 8:55 pm

Now that's EXACTLY what i'm saying. 'All he done was score'. I know us Gooners are hard to please but come on!!!. Fair enough then, let's sell him to Barca or whoever, let's play Addy up with RVP, the man who before December was christened the next Kanu. We've got the best forward in the WORLD and you clowns are pissed because he's too involved, but tonight, he scores and your moaning as he was anonymous for 75 minutes. WHAT DO YOU WANT????????????????.

liam bradys left foot · Sat Jan 06, 2007 8:59 pm

im not moaning i was merely stating a point of view, i dont expect th too be involved in every bit of the game but there are times when he just does not want to know, i agree he is the best forward in the world and to see him kissing the badge at the ned of the game you knew how much it meant to him, henry is as arsenal as tony adams and we should realise that he is only human not fucking superman

goonermc · Post by **goonermc** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 9:08 pm

'i'm not moaning i was merely stating a point of view'. I didn't realise if you were ONLY stating a point of view you can't possibly be moaning. Thanks for the update, as with the pearls of wisdom that Henry's not f###ing superman. Shit mate, you should be working for MI5 with that kind of intellect.

liam bradys left foot · Sat Jan 06, 2007 9:12 pm

and who says im not working for mi5