Henry’s controversial interview + Cesc, van Persie & Vermaelen news 23 March, 2010
Posted by lasagnechef in Arsenal News.trackback
On Friday Arsenal were drawn with Barcelona in the next round of the Champions League and it’s set to be one of the most exciting ties of the year. The two sides are widely regarded as the two most entertaining football sides in the world but only one will progress to the semi finals. There are strong player connections between the two sides with Cesc Fabregas leaving Barcelona as a youngster and constantly linked back to his boyhood club and Thierry Henry who left Arsenal in 2007 to join the Spanish champions. Well the former Arsenal captain has had his say on the game and unsurprisingly he feels a bit divided:
“Whenever there is a draw for the Champions League I’m in pain. I’m not saying I won’t try to fight or whatever because that’s the way the game is. But I don’t want to play against Arsenal.
It will be weird for me to step on the pitch, even if it’s at the Emirates and not Highbury, with another shirt on.”
He was also asked whether he would celebrate a goal if he scored against us to which he replied:
“Forget about it! No. I said to you when it’s the draw I am in pain. I do not want to play against Arsenal, simple as that.
The bond that I have with the Arsenal fans I will never get anywhere else. Because I don’t think I will ever play for another team for that long.”
You’d expect Titi to show some degree of love towards Arsenal in the build up to this game but I did not expect him to come straight out and say he doesn’t want to play against us. You can see the video of the interview here. I can understand that when the draw is done he hopes that Barca doesn’t get Arsenal and I wouldn’t expect him to celebrate if he scored for his new team either but I feel like his comments are a bit too strong. Obviously it’s kind of nice for us to hear but imagine if one of our players did something similar; say we drew Zenit Saint Petersburg and Andrei Arshavin came out with similar comments. I don’t think it would go down too well with the Arsenal fans. It’s not as if this is the first time Henry has spoken about Arsenal either, I don’t know how Barca fans feel about him but I’d imagine they aren’t over the moon.
I worry for him that this might cost him his place in the side. He says he doesn’t want to play against us anyway, but whether that’s literal or not I don’t know. However he might’ve helped Pep Guardiola’s decision already. He’s a professional and I wouldn’t expect anything other than him to give 100% for Barca if he gets on the pitch but he might not even get that chance. It’d be great to see him back at Arsenal and I’m sure he’ll get a great reception whether he plays or not.
You can compare his interview with Cesc’s who has shown no such loyalty to his former club:
“If you want to win this competition, you have to beat everyone who is coming. If we had been drawn against Bordeaux or Lyon we would have taken it the same way. Barcelona is a great team, but we always go with the same mentality and that is to win.
We are going to play against the best team in Europe, probably in the world. The boys are really looking forward to it as it is another opportunity to play against a great team in a great stadium. It will be very exciting.
At the moment we have won nothing. We are not thinking about being champions. We are only thinking about Birmingham next week. There is a lot of time to think about Barcelona. Our first priority is Birmingham and that it is the sign of champions, taking things game by game.”
So professional, such a legend. I have no doubts that he will give absolutely everything against Barcelona and if he scores I have no doubts about him going absolutely mental. He’s right though – our next game is Birmingham not Barcelona so we need to concentrate on that first.
We will be without Thomas Vermaelen for the trip to St Andrews after the red card he received on Saturday. We did try to appeal the decision but it was turned down. I was surprised to hear yesterday that we tried to get it lifted, it was a soft card but I thought the risk of a ban extension for a ‘frivolous appeal’ would put us off. We went for it anyway and thankfully the FA considered it a legitimate appeal and kept the ban at just one game.
It means we have just Campbell, Silvestre and Song to choose from this weekend and I think it will be the latter two. Sol will be preferred to start against Barca and there’s no way he can give two top performances in such a short space of time. I think we’ll face Birmingham with Song and Silvestre at the back and save a fully fit Vermaelen and Campbell partnership for next Wednesday night.
Finally today there’s an update on Robin van Persie who is back in training but said to be at least a month away. That means he could play our last two or three league games and in the latter stages of the Champions league if we get past Barcelona. However even then he will be lacking match experience. We can’t rely on him for the rest of this season I’m afraid, we can just treat him as an added bonus for our final few games.
That’s it for today. More later this week as I try to forget about Barcelona and think about the tough trip to Birmingham. Thanks for reading.
I see where you’re coming from about Thierry’s comments chef, but I have to say I f-ing love it!
I really lost a great deal of respect for the club after the way they have consistently tried to unsettle our players through their pupet rag el Mundo (or is it Marca? can’t recall)—and as far as their supporters go, they are (in general) smug, dismissive and arrogant, yes Barca are the best in the world so perhaps it’s natural but still…
I don’t worry too much about Titi, he knows exactly what he’s doing. He all but ensured that he won’t play against us, and probably just engineered a mover away from his present employers heh.
well. It’s just fucking NICE to hear someone talking about football like they actually care. In a age when money talks it is refreshing. Henry is still our most successful player.
GOOD LAD
I hope, like Sol, TH14 will come back to play for us for half a season, or whatever…
i second that motion!
Saturday will be extremely tough, Birmingham are a difficult side to beat. Mnu and chelki could only draw there, so it shows they are tough to beat.
We will want it more though, and i think the extra desire will be enough to carry us through the game.
Kaman Arsenal
The different between those 2 interviews lie between the relationship of the players and the clubs. 1st of all, Henry’s successful career was all started at Arsenal and he developed into a world-class player since then that he feels thankful to ever played for us. Different to Cesc, yes Barca is his home but what did he gained from them? Nothing. He did nothing to them and they did nothing to Cesc (except for the continuously courting of him going back). That explains the different. Cesc is right to not feel anything about Barca just yet but as for Henry feelings for Arsenal, there’s a massive different. Maybe someday when Cesc going back to play for Barca and he get Arsenal in the draw, he might say something similar to what Henry said. Once a Gooner, forever a Gooner!
The interview was conducted a few days before the CL draw and has been regurgitated by Sky Sports and the media to give the impression he said those comments after the draw.
imo the litmus test for us currently is this saturday’s game at birmingham. if we win at Birmingham, i think we will win agst barcelona in london.
really itsour own fault if Thierry thought that we would BUY BIG players he would not have left
how sad. THE BEST PLAYER i “EVER SAW”
Not sad – just completely untrue.
Titi left because of the break up of his relationship, as has been stated many times. Nothing else.
Is it just me or does not Thierry raher say that every time there is a CL draw he wants to avoid us rather than saying that he doesn’t want to play in the coming matches? To me this really is no surprise but I’m a bit surprised over the way many blogs have chosen to interpret his words (not surprised the media has done it tho´).
I don’t think that the the suspension of Vermaelen is to bad. He needs to rest ahed of the Barcelona game. Nobody has a chance in hell to deal with Messi with tired legs. Vermaelen has started every game this season and he is due a short rest.
I wud tear d Barca jersey if i’m in titi’s shoes. Who else cud b more loyal 2 a former employer. I wud like Henry back to Arsenal for 1/2 a season where he cud resign and take up a coaching course under Lord Wenger.. Viva Arsenal..
http://rantraveandriot.wordpress.com/2010/03/24/a-view-from-the-other-side/
View of Barca fans….observed buy an Arsenal Fan
its a good read
OH YOU WUMMING GEL YOU!!
At the risk of being burned at the stake, then hung drawn and quartered, could I offer another view on Henry and say that I am finding all this cr*p just a little hard to swallow. There is no doubt that Titi was one of our all time greats and a fan favourite, but it was his choice and he provided the impetus to leave….. yes thats right … he left us … we didnt sell him voluntarily … he told Arsene he wanted to leave….. Now given we are a big club and they are a big club it must have occured to him that the decision to leave would also involve the high probablility of playing against Arsenal. So yes it will be very weird for both we Arsenal fans and TH14 to have him playing in a Barca shirt at the Emirates but it all could have been simply avoided by not leaving in the first place ….. So can we stop all the hand wringing and just accept it for what it is and just bring it on!!
He left due to marital problems
I imagine Sol may play against Bham, a game where concentration and organisation against one of the lowest scoring teams at home will be more important than speed, especially if Song needs talking through the match.
Against Barca being slow and bulky will be more of a disadvantage, I think, especially at home (I think Barca may set up to counterattack quickly).
Plus Gallas may be available – if this is right and if the new contract is sorted out him and TV will play against Barca 99% sure so then Sol isn’t necessary.
I cant wait for tonight, portsmouth might get something from chelski
Thierry Henry is pure Gunners,truelly gunners who risk his job 4 the passion n love for Arsenal. True legend who can never be replaced.I hope next he will ends his career as an arsenal player.
Thiery is one of the very few honest and integrated person in the history of fatball.Nevertheless, thi is the fruit of the lovely venger.May the blessing of St. Mariam, our lady, with u TiTi.
Haileyesus From Ethiopia
I believe arsenal will beat B’ham and barca game is gona be classic
Arsenal will beat barca,by God grace and d game gonna be a wonderful.
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