Thierry Henry is in news for what he said at the Overlap podcast hosted primarily by Gary Neville. Before we talk about it, here’s an excerpts from it that has riled some of the Arsenal fans.
The last three years, we have been in a situation where should at least bring a cup or be in a final. Man Utd played five finals in their last five years – the United that everyone laughs at. In the last three years of building, Arsenal didn’t reach a final. This year we didn’t compete with Liverpool. I don’t know what people think, but we didn’t compete, not once. I’m not saying this season was a disappointment, but it’s normal that people are raising questions now about what the team is doing.
source : TH14 via the Overlap Stick to Football podcast
Well, some of the fans are calling him naïve for it. Some of us feel that Henry said so to please the hosts, got carried away with the propaganda Neville and Carragher spits and that he shouldn’t have questioned the manager of the Arsenal football club who took us back into the Champions League, made it to the semi finals this season, competed for the title thrice in a row and is doing his best to get us to where we belong.
Let me start by pointing out a very big difference between you, me and Thierry Henry. He is a legend, has played for the shirt and won titles for us, arguably the best player in Premier League history, was part of the team under the best manager of that time, has got a fucking statue outside the fucking stadium and is as big a supporter of the club as rest of us. He has lived it, given his blood and sweat, played alongside the greats – Vieira, DB10, Ljungberg and there could not a better fan to speak about the progress of the club.
Now, everyone’s entitled to an opinion and everyone else is entitled to agree or disagree to it. But calling it a blasphemy because a legend of the club feels we could have done better only means that you have got sub-standard expectation in an elite, competitive sport. If you are happy with 2nd place finishes and Champions League semi-finals, go fuck yourself, please.
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Ok, lets put the emotions aside and break up what he said.
He told in his discussions that he understood the first 3 years because any manager that comes in, will need at least 4-5 transfer windows to bring in players to suit his style of play. Sounds good, we won a FA cup as well with a team that we had to de-assemble and let go. We spent heavily and Mikel go the players he needed to start delivering on the promises he made. We reached second in 2022-23 and everyone felt we are couple of signings away from winning the league. Man City were at their best and challenging them for the title was good enough at that point. Last season, we reached second again and it was blamed on the lack of depth on bench and the missing piece of a CF. Mikel did fuck all to address both the cases, we got Havertz and Merino playing up front, neither of them are a full fledged #9. With Gabriel’s injury in defence, we had to switch to Kiwior whom we were trying to sell in the summer window and failed.
So, we spent money but addressed none of the problems. We brought in a LB while our academy product in MLS played 21 of those 38 games this season, and could have played more if we have picked him up early in the season. We spent 65m on Havertz to fix the attacking midfielder problem, shifted him to the striker position and spent some more money to get Merino when it’s Declan Rice playing most of the time in that position. What in the actual fuck did we spent money on then?
Next, Legend wants us to compete and at least reach finals. Finals are nervy, anything can happen and it’s all about who gave their most on that day. It can go either way, so the legend says we should at least make it to the finals which we didn’t do. Anything wrong with that statement? None at all. He sees us finishing 2nd as not competing with Liverpool because we didn’t do. We competed with Man City last season, last 5 games decided who would lift the trophy, but this year, Liverpool were way beyond our reach in what, 30th week of the season? Again, you can call it a great job at competing if you are as mid as a Spud.
He is not saying season is a disappointment – because we still finished 2nd and we made it to Champions League semi-finals. But how many of you believe we could have done better? Every fucking one. We could have at least tried to bridge the gap by getting Watkins on cheap in January, or by trying Martinelli in the middle early on. We didn’t address it because we thought we will do it next year now. We were in the Champions League and either Mikel or the club prioritised the revenue from there.
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With recent revenue sharing stats from Premier League, we saw that finishing 2nd and 6th have about 10m revenue generating differences. That’s not a lot when you buy a player in 35m (Fabio Vieira) and not use him for exactly the position he was brought in. Champions League money increases a lot if you make it to the next round, and we were making that money before we could spend it. Fine if didn’t have some to waste it on Havertz who won’t have a place in the team once we get Sesko or Gyokeres.
I don’t see a tiny bit of wrongs in what Thierry Henry said. It doesn’t matter if he was amongst Gary Neville or Caragher while he was saying that, for all I care is, he is asking that we should have done better, and we should do better. We are not Tottenham for fuck sake.
Right, rant over. If Henry has same managerial aspirations to lead Arsenal at some point and he is spitting venom against Mikel to get him fired, I don’t give a damn because what he said was true. What he said is what we have been saying at London Is Red, and at this stage, after spending 800m and managing the club for 6+ years, if Mikel can’t get us a trophy, it’s perfectly fine to question his method, spendings and everything around him. It’s not entitlement, it’s calling the bullshit and setting a higher standard than finishing 2nd.
See you in the comments.
just to highlight how much influence MA’s PR minions wield, I read this from a “media” outlet that gets top billing on most days when it comes to my particular Arsenal algorithm:
“Arsenal’s proactive stance is reminiscent of last summer’s smart recruitment drive, where early business laid the groundwork for a sustained title challenge…There’s a clear consensus in the fanbase that a top striker is the final piece of Arteta’s evolving project. Gyokeres feels like the more ‘ready-made’ option. He’s robust, Premier League-ready, and coming off a season where he dominated for Sporting. His valuation, reportedly around €65m, is also reasonable by current standards…Sesko, though, is the future. He’s raw but supremely talented. His movement, finishing and European exposure with Leipzig show a striker with a high ceiling. He might not be the finished product, but under Arteta’s coaching, he could become something special”
so where do I start with this piece of fabricated garbage?
firstly, we were neither proactive, at least not when it came to addressing our most pressing needs, nor did we embark on a sustained title challenge, unless I’m completely clueless about the meaning of the word…not to mention, our only offensive acquisition came.in the 11th hour and was an unmitigated disaster…so how the fuck could that be deemed as proactive
secondly, we actually regressed last season so the usage of the phrase “evolving project” seems exceedingly rich…we went from a more attack oriented side, during Xhaka’s last season, to a sideways borefest that relied heavily upon set pieces and bully-ball tactics…evolution my fucking ass
thirdly, what evidence exists that MA’s coaching leads to “something special”? for me personally, minus maybe with Ode early on, most players under his tutelage have struggled to maximize their respective talents, as this is a project that relies far too heavily on robotic movement, which provides scant little opportunities for individual creativity…furthermore we know the absolutely atrocious job MA’s done when it comes to incorporating Strikers into the tactical scheme…so fuck that bullshit
no wonder so many “casual” fans continue to have such delusional views of the ongoings of our club and it’s manager…fuck you Trump for making fake news the new normal
Vieira
Good forensic dissection of a terrible puff piece. The letters ‘I’ and ‘A’ come to mind, it’s so fucking banal and bereft of meaning.
Sustained title challenge – offensive, deeply annoying word salad. AI is gradually and insidiously turning us all into bullshitters. I’m trying to keep clear of reading this sort of shite – it’s like being force-fed an unwanted anaesthetic, a la ‘….cuckoo’s nest’.
Ambarish – in time you’ll want to consider reworking that LiR subtitle from, ‘A blog by an Arsenal fan’ to ‘a genuine, non AI opinion piece written by a real, living fan. I am not a robot!’
Thank fuck for LiR. For it’s readability, genuine strength of feeling, interactions with other real people and ‘Everton Cone Man Cunt’!
Whirr, click, whirr….now for my breakfast of nuts, springs, woodscrews and hinges swimming in WD40 and 3in1!
Metal Mickey Arteta…does not compute, does not compute…
https://youtu.be/PSXWfKadvz0?si=VH_MSy6hhfEZ1oc7
Throw a sheepskin coat and trilby on this metallic motherfucker, stick him on the touchline, and he’d do a better job than ECMC.
Better and more honest post game analysis, improved cone arrangement precision, internal short circuiting preferable to childish tantrums about refs and VAR, plus they’d have to get rid of that poor Labrador in case it pissed against his leg. No exorbitant wages either, just a rub down with some emery (geddit?) paper before going back in the cupboard with the hoover for a week.
Couldn’t be any worse than the apparently real thing.
Hi Almunia
Were you also subjected to Metal Mickey in Ireland? It’s a wonder we’re not all traumatised after watching stuff like this ..
KP
Following reading your posts I emailed a contact in Viet Nam. She wondered why I had typed ECMC instead of HCMC. I tried to explain but it was lost in translation.
KP—good to see you fully energized and out for blood….that’s rarefied air for you in the off-season…keep it coming!
thought this was rather noteworthy:
“As the most profitable club in Premier League history, Arsenal could easily spend over £200m in the window and have no PSR concerns,” said football finance expert Kieran Maguire…So if a striker is not signed it cannot be blamed on PSR.”
Hey KP, you know in Ireland we were all subjected to various forms of Mickey whenever the clergy could get their hands on us! However the metal one didn’t take off.
We were traumatised instead by a red haired hand puppet called Bosco. Check him out, should be the basis for a class action.
On the transfer front I was surprised Kelleher went to Brentford for 12.5 mill(rising to 18). Thought he’d cost more. Considering Brentford got 11 mill for Flekken from Leverkeusen they virtually broke even. Kelleher is 5 yrs younger and vastly superior imo,good business.
No real interest in the striker debate at Arsenal. Until Arteta leaves Odegaard is our playmaker and Havertz our striker. If anyone else breaks through it’s by default. Depressing. Even in his late hubris early dementia stage Wenger gave us Cazorla,Alexis, Nasri and other genuine flair players. I honestly believe that if they were available now Arteta would buy Rory Delap and John Fashanu and claim to have reinvented the wheel by taking the opposition out of their comfort zone!
Almunia—your earlier thoughts gave me cause for pause…so here goes nothing:
you just know MA doesn’t want anything to do with bringing in no brainer starters, even though that’s what this particular project requires, but he needs this window to feel like this couldn’t be further from the truth…in order to achieve this illusionary state he’s going to have to thread several needles:
first, he’s going to push to sign Sesko, who’s far from a finished product, but who has gobs of raw talent…now it was said that Sesko wasn’t willing to sign on without assurances, but his present club didn’t qualify for Europe and no equal or better side would guarantee that just yet, so he doesn’t currently hold quite as much leverage as this time last year…not to mention, he didn’t light things up this season, which certainly wasn’t all his fault…so maybe he’ll require less convincing, unless he doesn’t subscribe to the notion that money talks, as he’ll get a substantial raise with or without assurances
this can only be viewed as a savvy move, especially if you’re under the misguided belief that a healthy side from last year could win next year, which seems to be the sentiments of our pigheaded manager and his legion of slurpy dimwits…of course there will some skepticism, most notably by those who feel that VG is the second coming, but even those who want to win now won’t be so inclined to seriously stir things up if they in any way value the future of the club…what a weaselly “put your fandom in a blender” maneuver on MA’s part, but I totally understand his motivation and it’s not like I don’t like this players’ up-side
sadly it leaves the door open for Havertz to retain his starting Striker role, which has to play a role in MA’s recruitment strategy, especially considering how he’s been fawning all over our once-gangly juice monkey…I just can’t believe that even MA could actually convince himself or the locker room that we’re a better side with fucking Rice and Havertz spearheading our midfield in the final third, considering all the evidence that suggests otherwise, so either Havertz is up top or out wide left…who knows, maybe Sesko will have one of those mysterious injuries that have become so prevalent over the years, so less explaining will be required
secondly, he’s going to buy another defender, a backup Keeper and Partey’s replacement, which appears to be Zubi…it’s difficult for me to imagine Partey not heading back to La Liga, especially if it’s Barca who’s interested, or going to the Serie A…if not, it means we not only outbid all the other suitors, but we likewise gave him some term, which would be incredibly short-sighted and not for the right reasons…I was far less convinced that Partey was leaving last season, when the vast majority of rumours revolved around the Saudis, but this feels different…these acquistions will require about 90 to 100M, with Zubi’s tab being around 60, which leaves about 40 for a youngish defender and a crap backup Keeper…on a side note, Emi don’t you dare let that cunt convince you of something, as all he wants is to see you rotting on the bench
thirdly, and this will come in the form of a Sterling-esque get, albeit not nearly so pathetic, as MA will convince someone like Sane or Coman to come our way by paying them a GD fortune…he will undoubtedly use the pedigree card, which the Kool-Aid crew will eat up, then have his media minioins focus on their supposed positional flexibility…what they won’t talk about is their respective injury histories and drop in form…when will we become the club who takes other good teams’ starters and not just their sloppy seconds, which is meant as a slight against either player, who’ve both had solid careers:
(speaking of Sane)”The 29-year-old has been a key player for the Bavarian giants, but his minutes have reduced over the past year with the signing of Michael Olise”
we should be the team who gets the guy who replaced the guy we’re looking to sign, but that’s not MA’s MO, whether that’s because players know what we know, that MA’s a fraud, so they’re avoiding us like the plague, or they’re fearful that his tactics are not to their liking, which you certainly can’t hold against them…let’s face it, until we challenge other big clubs for bigtime players, we’re not a truly serious club…of course, we’ll talk about Rodrygo, Leao, Barcola and Nico, but that’s likely just pie in the sky banter…I pray I’m proven wrong on several accounts, but until then…
Got to agree with most of that TRVL, with the Havertz love particularly relevant. You just know that Arteta would do anything except admit he got that one wrong.
Since you wrote that it looks like Partey may now be extending so more money should be available for final third spending,but I won’t hold my breath.
It’s amazing how quickly city,pool,utd etc seem to be getting through their transfer business while Arsenal fondle their way through the market like a teenager on the verge of his first tryst who senses he’s meant to do something but hasn’t a clue what exactly that entails. You know the result….an embarrassing mess!
It’s a bit like the Arsenal transfer news in here,nowt happening OR you’re all secretly busy as beavers getting shit done. Which is it? Watch this space…..
In other news I’m wondering if the teams playing in this club world cup will suffer for it over the course of the season. You’d think chelski( is that appropriate still?) and city have squads large enough to rotate. I’m delighted we’re not in it. Imagine the excuses from Arteta after he destroys the first team even earlier than usual while the sycophants jump on board. I swear I read one of them the other day still talking about covid as an excuse. Unless future research proves that covid affected the brain’s capacity to understand the concept of rotation then I’m not buying it. Still,it’ll be something to watch,hate the odd numbered years with no international tournaments! Might have to watch the lions….
The only thing more depressing than the lack of interesting Arsenal news is the knowledge that one way or another Arteta will fuck up another transfer window so you don’t actually want to hear any Arsenal related news.
Almunia—this newfound sense of urgency to re-up Partey likely stems from that fact that Zubi’s recent comments about his footballing future certainly weren’t very reassuring…I know crystal meth-heads who are more reliable with their words and actions than this flip-flopping fuck…personally I would just be appreciative of the fact that Partey had his most injury-free season, then cut ties knowing full-well that this was likely an anomaly…I appreciate him but he’s rarely been a difference-maker when it matters most, so I certainly would never give him a raise and term
it’s not so much that he doesn’t admit his mistakes, as that’s generally par for the course in that profession, it’s that this mfer usually doubles and triples down on his failed projects, especially if they came at a substantial cost, to the detriment of the whole…let’s face it, MA could change our fortunes by doing a handful of maneuvers, but it would require him to own his shit:
(1) sell Havertz and replace him with a bona fide AM
(2) play Rice as a DM—we paid 100+M for the 2nd best DM in the world…of course he could still make advanced runs on occasion and take free kicks still
(3) buy Isak, even if it cost us 130+M
(4) sell Tross and get some real competition for Marts out wide left
instead our pursuits will likely be quantity over quality and we’ll likely start the season with the same starting 11…like I’ve always said, I would rather spend 200+M on two needle-movers than on 5 coin tossers
no “still” at the end of “take free kicks”
Marc,TRVL,
Depressing isn’t it? Remember when Wenger splurged desperately towards the end like the drunk pointlessly buying more when he’s just been told it’s closing time. All that money wasted, Mustafi,Kolasnic,Perez,Mavrapanis,Holding,Mikhi, Xhaka,I could go on. They were put on huge wages with disastrous long term consequences:
* Transfer money wasted,next manager fucked
* Huge wage bill Equally handicapping next manager
*Huge wages made players unsellable,unrenewable and unwilling to go
* Rapid decline in Arsenal’s success on and off the pitch as they were shite!
Well I see the same thing happening again and not on a lesser level as some might argue but on a greater level because of the sheer size of the fees being paid out and the colossal wages that Arteta has to resort to in order to attract or keep players.
You see what Arteta’s supporters never seem capable of explaining to me and I consider myself reasonable enough, is how can Arteta’s tenure be considered a success when he is overpaying for player after player and then tanking their value? How many players has he bought and increased their value? Answer that when you’re so quick to compare him to city or chelski or liverpool. Because I can name several players from each if those clubs whose market value has increased significantly even when the team has underperformed. But Arteta? Do tell. And it’s been 5 yrs don’t forget with dozens of players. So if he has been so transformational the list of players must be ready to hand right?? My arse as the great Jim Royle would say. Now would you like to examine the list of those whose value has depreciated? I wouldn’t,if I were an Arteta fan. And this bollix of’ ‘every manager makes mistakes’ is also galling. Yes good managers make mistakes but they pale in comparison to their successes. With Arteta it’s the other way round.
So when the next manager comes in and the argument is that Arteta has laid the foundations,I’m afraid he has,but the foundations for further decline. What will Rice,Havertz etc want for their next renewal?? How can that be justified? Yet how can we let them go for free? What will we get for Partey,Merino,Trossard,Tomi,Jesus,Zincheko etc? The same as we got for Tierney, Tavares,Auba,Laca and many more..sweet fuck all.
And he’s not done splurging. Zubi is being offered top dollar. Sesko’s fee is outrageous. Whose willing to back Arteta and say that in 2 or 3 years these players will be worth more? And not to mention how our crown jewels Saliba and Saka will be disillusioned and ready to depart,players thar found their way into our hearts despite, not because of,Arteta.
The current manager is a dud,a bullshitting propagandist. And our next manager is fucked. Now that’s depressing.
Almunia—just when I thought I was at my wits’ end, your very well-reasoned post has me on the floor in the fetal position thinking about the future ramifications of MA’s tenure…no one in the history of football has ever spent so much on a defence-first side, including Juve, and yet he has still never won a damn thing with “his” preferred squad
to me we should have done exactly what the Knicks did following their Eastern Conference Finals loss to the Pacers, fire the coach…like MA, he struggled with rotational issues and he couldn’t get them over the hump, even though they upset the reigning champs in the previous round…btw, and in a similar vein to our little MIT, the Knick’s coach tried to win by playing 1990s basketball in 2025…simply put, when the window opens you have to find a way through or it’s time to have an organizational rethink…managers with far less time at their respective clubs, such as Slot and Enrique, took proper advantage of their respective opportunities and did so with an attractive brand of football…Cheers
I’m going to preface this post by simply stating that ever since my time on LG came to a rather unceremonious end, I’ve avoided that playpen for fucktards like the plague…that said, every once in a blue moon I’ll land there purely by mistake, as I’ll be scanning the newsnow site and clicking on any articles that catch my eye…this happened again about 30 minutes ago
obviously I’m not going to pay a fucking red cent to read the deranged musing of this Arteta-loving windbag, but I was somewhat intrigued to see if the Kool-Aid man was getting any stick on the heels of another runners up trophy and in light of our slow start to the off-season…let’s face it, it’s slim-pickings out there, unless you’re a glutton for punishment and want to hear Zubi’s less than encouraging take about his potential move here or you’re pumped about reading another depressing article about us competing with the Spurs for Bayern’s oft-injured backup forward Sane…so I went for it and I’m fucking delighted I did
long story short(lol), it led me to this gem of a post below which speaks to why our blind as a bat MIT shouldn’t have anything to do with transfers/roster construction:
“Looking at the Manchester city youth team of 2020/2021,that won epl 2 by a wide margin, we could have comfortably picked at least four of them for pittance and save ourselves from shelling out ridiculous fees for players like Havertz and Rice. Among those players were James Trafford, Romeo Lavia, Morgan Rogers, Cole Palmer and. Liam Delap. I think Jeremy Frimpong and Michael Olise left them few years previously probably when Arteta was already there. That Arteta didn’t think any of them was good enough to be taken on the cheap when Man City couldn’t properly integrate them into the first team is simply criminal. And he was there and watched those boys game after game after game”
enough said!!
Vitinha slipped under the radar, he failed at wolves but PSG saw something in him that the big clubs in England were blind to .
For me he is the best holding midfielder in the world , a mixture of the great xavi and Busquets in the way he takes the ball under pressure (like Busquets) but can also play neat little one twos (like Xavi)..very impressive.
Olise was on my radar when he was at Reading , we should have been in the market for him both when he was at Reading and at Palace, an outstanding footballer that I can’t believe a top English club didn’t make a move for.
It begs the question , why do clubs like Arsenal spend absolute fortunes on scouts and director of football or whatever they are nowadays when they can’t pick out a player before he is established, meaning they will have to absolute fortunes to bring them into the club.
Gyorkeres was at Coventry for a couple of seasons scoring a goal every other game , sporting took a punt on him and he has doubled his output scoring at a rate of about a goal a game.
Does that mean he will continue at that rate if we sign him, not if we play with the same system we have been operating for the last 3 seasons in which the striker is starved of the ball.
I haven’t a clue if sesko or gyokeres will be a success at Arsenal, but if I was to look at the way Arteta sets up the team then Sesko would probably fit better taking into account the importance that Arteta puts on dead ball situations both attacking and defensively.
It was noticeable that the Injury to Gabriel had a massive effect in both boxes , plus of course we were without Havertz who also was very good defensively and would be a nuisance in the opposition box without being a particularly good header of a football.
Looking at sesko , I would say he could be a better version of Havertz , better in the air and a better striker of a football with more pace, so don’t be surprised if we land up with Sesko as I can’t see Arteta changing his way of playing anytime soon as I’m sure he believes that his way will eventually bring trophies to the club ….we shall see.
only at MA’s Arsenal could you see phrases like “affordable alternative” being bandied about so early in the window…I guess that will open the door to a few more defenders and Keepers…what the fuck are we doing here??? no wonder we’re in talks to sign Juve’s former head of scouting Mario Tognozzi…we might be the first club ever to start 10 defenders
to make matters worse, MA’s favourite “juicer” has been posting bizarro world thirst trap pics to remind anyone who gives a flying fuck that he’ll still be here regardless of who we sign…someone please remind him that none of that shit matters when you can’t kick or head a ball on a consistent basis…not to mention, that’s certainly not going to make him faster…seems like he’s more conerned about stealing lunch money and getting clicks than figuring his shit out…grow the fuck up!