Thierry Henry’s return to the fold was marked with an easy 4-0 win over Charlton on Tuesday night, returning skipper Henry scored one himself, from the penalty spot, with goals from Robin van Persie (2) and Justin Hoyte’s first goal for the club.
Charlton were crap, they had no ambition whatsoever and even with 11 men it looked like we would score 4 or so eventually. We could have scored at least 3 goals in the opening 15 minutes, Gilberto saw a 25 yarder sail just over the bar. I think it was Senderos who had a header cleared off the line, Fabregas had a close range effort saved well by Carson, it was to be a busy night for the young Englishman.
Van Persie had a shot deflected wide, after a nice one-two with the fantastic Hleb. Just after this Fabregas floated in a lovely ball for Henry whose header hit the outside of the post and went out for a goal kick. Charlton rarely threatened and when they did it was either hapless or Dennis Rommendahl was on the ball, what a bloody terrible footballer.
The pressure finally took its toll on 30 minutes when Fabregas had a shot, it was deflected and I looked straight at the ref to see if he would give a corner, but the ball had looped up and hit the post or Carson saved it, it fell into the middle of the box, and Van Persie was just about to tap it in when Osei Sankofa pulled Robin back, it was a blatant penalty and all Mike Riley could do was send him off. Henry took the penalty and marked his return with his 8th goal of the season. Henry then ran to the bench where he had a dance with Adebayor. He also gave Wenger a high five, which was nice to see, and shut up any of them Wankers that think they had a massive bust up.
Five minutes before half time, Henry had a wonderful free-kick saved by Carson, somehow he got a hand to it, yet again showing his class between the sticks,
Arsenal doubled their lead just before the break, a very rare goal for right-back Justin Hoyte, I really like Justin as a player, not just because he is English, but because he’s a supporter of Arsenal as well as a player, so he has more idea of what it means to people, and he demonstrated that perfectly with his celebration.
He tries very hard for the team, and is improving each game. Also it’s more competition for Eboue and Lauren. The goal was very well worked, Hoyte and Henry combined very well, Justin raced down the right, found Henry in the channel, who slipped the ball in, Justin was one on one with Carson, and put the ball in the left corner very well, Hoyte said afterwards that he used to be a striker in his youth team days, so that probably explains the good finish.
So a comfortable lead at half time, and it was more of the same after the interval, with Henry and Hleb running the show. Rosicky was incredibly unlucky to hit the post, after good work from Henry. It could have been 3-0, when an excellent run from Hleb was rewarded when he slotted in Thierry who scored from 5 yards, or so we thought. The linesman gave it offside, I still haven’t seen it, but everyone who has seen it tells me it was onside, and easily.
Moments later, Henry had another chance from 6 yards, a great run from Van Persie into the box, he squared to Henry his shot was blocked and cleared of the line, a slight feeling of “Might we rue our missed chances” fell around the Emirates, Rosicky had another chance moments later, but he was blocked well by Carson, the On-loan stopper had saved his best save until last, when Henry was put into that position from where he has scored so many times, he dropped his shoulder and curled it to the keepers left, but Carson saved it yet again. Great stop. Which was followed by a hug.
Arsenal finally wrapped up the victory on 76 minutes, another penalty, Henry was brought down in the box, an easy decision for the ref yet again, and to send him off would have been very harsh and unecessary. Henry let Van Persie take the penalty, who smashed it into the net. A well deserved goal for him.
The night wasn’t over for the Dutch master just yet when he bagged himself a brace on 90 minutes. Sub Flamini found van Persie who cooly lifted it over Carson, who really didn’t deserve to concede four, his defence however should have conceded 10 goals at least.
Block 11 Player Ratings -
Lehmann – 6, Hoyte – 7.5, Toure – 7, Senderos – 6.5, Clichy – 6.5, Block 11 Star Man – Hleb – 9, Rosicky – 8, Fabregas – 7.5, Gilberto – 7, Van Persie – 8, Henry – 8
Subs -
Flamini – 7
Denilson – 6
Aliadiere – 5
Wenger was obviously pleased with the result and had this to say on the performance -
“I feel overall we controlled the game. Technically it was a bit strange because it never opened up really, because they were down to 10 men and they were always worried not to concede more goals. So it was always played in a controlled way, pace-wise and technically. We had a great pressure on them always.”
Also, Le Boss commented on the long awaited return of Thierry Henry -
“I think they were happy to have him at the start of the game, but I think overall the team has done very well in the last five, six weeks, you know? I am convinced you will see a great Thierry Henry from now until May.”
It was a good win for us on Tuesday, but I still think we are far from the finished article, I dont want to criticise the boys after such a great performance but if we want to do well in this League we have to conquer those Cold Saturday evening games up north.
I’d just like to highlight a few players in particular from the Charlton game, which are Thierry Henry, Alex Hleb and Robin Van Persie. They all put in great performances on Tuesday, I think it was vital for Robin after his poor display at Sheffield, he was a handful for Charlton and he certainly did more that enough to earn his brace. When Alex Hleb plays well, things can go great for him, and for the team, when he plays bad, its terrible for him and for the team. He was certainly not poor on Tuesday, he was the dirving force of our attack and created an awful lot, he didn’t have any chances for himself, but he warranted a goal as much as anybody. Finally, Thierry, it was a superb return for him, it was the Thierry Henry we have been waiting to see all season. He is free of injuries and has had the pre-season he didnt have in August, at the time alot of us were saying its just excuses, but thinking about it, he is right and it made an awful lot of difference. Im 90% confident of a result up at Liverpool now, there will be a great buzz around the team now he is back, as well as the fans. I know Liverpool have a great home record but we Arsenal fans need an away performance to remember for good reasons. I think that’s what we’ll get on Saturday.
We have Liverpool next in the FA Cup, another one of those cold Saturday evening matches up north, another one of those which I will be attending, and I really cannot wait. More of that to come on Friday.
Until then.
Posted by romfordgooner 