Arsenal legend Thierry Henry made a rare TV appearance last night as he joined Gary Neville and Jamie Redknapp on the Sky Sports panel for The Gunners’ game against Napoli in the Champions League.
After seeing them lose to a 2-0 defeat in Italy, the questions were put to Henry about the current Arsenal squad and their current performance this season.
Here is what he had to say on certain things happening in England this season.
Thierry on… Arsenal’s current campaign
“[I’m impressed by] the belief that they have again. Knowing that they can beat any team at any moment.
“I think, if you remember well, the game against Bayern Munich, away from home, did a lot for them.
“Knowing that they can beat the Champions – they didn’t know it at the time – away from home, and well, did a lot for the team.
“Since that game, everything changed. For me.”
Thierry on… Arsenal’s backline
“The best way to defend for me, is to keep hold of the ball. To avoid pressure. And every time, what do they do?
“I watched them the other day against Everton, instead of staying flat at the back, they always put one man dropping with the centre forward and the other one covering. It’s way easier to defend.
“And they keep the pressure on the opposition and they stay in their half and they have less running.
“They stay there with the team high on the field and they’re clever.
“The other day they did it with Lukaku and it worked well. And they’ll keep on doing it.”
Thierry on… Arsenal v Man City
“My only concern now, is are they going to be able to play against Man City.
“That’s two games now, they had to defend a lot, especially the last 30 minutes against Napoli.
“So the game is Saturday, early kick off, so they’re going to have to recover now and be able to face a Man City side who have left five or six players the other day out of the starting line-up and still managed to win the game.
“Now it’s all about recovery and they have a difficult task against Man City. That’s actually my concern now.”
Thierry on… Arsenal’s Champions League chances
“I remember the year we went to the final. Everybody laughed when we beat Real Madrid.
“You know, I remember them leaving the draw and saying we’re happy with Arsenal. Then we beat them.
“Then we went to play Juve, and everybody was like, that’s an easy one for Juve. Then we went through.
“But that’s not the road you want to take right. You don’t want to play against those teams, but that’s the way it is.
“If you want to win the Champions League, you have to eventually go through one of the team we have listed on the screen right now [Real Madrid, PSG, Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona].
Thierry on…Who he’d avoid in draw
“Atletico Madrid is the team I wouldn’t like to play. I’ll tell you why. Because you play Real Madrid, they’ll come out. They’ll play.
“Sometimes you would say that some of the players would not come back and track back. The same with Paris St. Germain, you might say that. The same with Barcelona sometimes, they can leave themselves exposed sometimes.
“But I saw Atletico play this year and they don’t give you 1cm. They all look good. I’m saying Atletico because I had to choose one to not play against, but you basically don’t want to play against one of those teams, but if you want to win it, you’re going to have to play them at some stage.”
Thierry on… Manchester United’s struggles
“When you miss Robin (Van Persie), it’s always a massive thing.
“The only thing is, when we used to go to Old Trafford, I can say it now, you know, you knew they were going to come out strong.
“But now, when I see teams going to Old Trafford, they’re not even scared. They play.
“Like some teams didn’t used to even pass, and when I see them play now, teams are comfortable. They pass the ball around. They have more opportunity than them.
“They need to recreate the fear that people used to have going to Old Trafford, and they’ll be alright.”
Thierry on… Chelsea’s striker crisis
“Well you would like a striker to score goals right, especially away from home. But I’m confident that they’re going to come good at some point.
“You know, I used to play with Samuel Eto’o and he’s a great striker. Demba Ba can prove that he can score and hopefully Torres can come back and score some more goals.
“They’re going to have to do it soon, and hopefully it can happen for them.”
