Henry Comeback Magic Lifts Arsenal

Arsenal were rambling through their 3rd round FA cup tie against Leeds United without much creativity and with nothing even close to resembling a good finishing touch. And then the moment Gooner fans have been waiting breathlessly for arrived -- Thierry Henry took to the pitch in the 65th minute. It took him less than 15 minutes to deliver on the growing anticipation, slotting a lovely pass from Song across the goalkeeper and into the back right corner of the net. The goal proved to be the decisive one in an otherwise uninspired Arsenal 1-0 victory that saw them through to the fourth round of the competition where they will meet Aston Villa on the 28th. It was a glorious return for the most beloved of Arsenal players, who left for Barcelona in 2007 after eight seasons as one of the best players in English football history. Now on loan with the New York Red Bulls, watching him charge the field and then celebrate his goal brought back memories of our former glory -- the FA Cup and division titles, the heartbreaking losses in the final of the Champions League and League cup and, of course, the Invincibles. It was truly a sight to behold and one hopes there is more to come in the future.

As to the rest of the squad, it was a rather lackluster performance. Chamakh again demonstrated that he does not belong on this squad, even if the relative absence of good delivery helps explain his lack of productivity. He might be hard to unload in this transfer season, but one hopes he goes now or this summer as he consistently makes us a weaker team whenever he is on the pitch. I would also like to see Arshavin move on. He had some decent spells and some lovely passes and dribbling, but again showed the drop in quality in front of the net, as he could easily have scored a brace. And the third person I would love to see depart (along with Almunia, obviously) is Squillaci, who is so bad that he couldn't even keep a midtable Champions division squad in check, almost allowing them to go ahead with his terrible positioning and lack of pace. He is utterly useless on defense and should be gone now rather than wasting a space on the squad until May. As to the rest of the team, Coquelin looked good until departing early with what one hopes is only a minor hamstring tweak. Song was average except for the lovely throughpass to Henry, Arteta relatively average, Miquel and Yennaris were adequate (the latter looked menacing going forward a few times), Sczcesney largely untested and Kocielny fine. 

Ramsey looked lively in spells but really needs to work on getting his shots on target. I think he has the best of our midfielders but it too often goes high or wide. But he controlled the middle and was decent, if not overly creative. One thing that seemed clear to me again in this low scoring game is that we need to get out wide more often to keep teams honest, as they are clogging the middle against us and making it hard for us to get through. Chamberlain was one player attempting to do that on occasion and looked good for large parts of the game. I like the kid and hope we get to see more of him. Walcott came on with Henry but did nothing to speak of and must wonder at his future as Chamberlain again impressed. What is clear overall is that we need to find more offensive threats this January -- hopefully a winger and creative midfielder that can score. I know Wenger is suspect on this, but if Henry is really only to be here for two months are we really going to rely on Chamakh and Park (who seems to be a wasted signing) as backup and late replacements? Are we really going to have to continue watching Arshavin flub about and miss far too many opportunities? Are we going to have to count on Van Persie alone week after week? If we do, I fear we may fall out of the top four and suffer through a miserable summer season where it is even harder to sign top players than it has been this year (nos from Mata, Goetze, Podolski, Reus, etc.). 

And in the other big match from this round, one has to ask again what the referees are thinking. In the 3-2 redemptive victory for Manchester United over hated crosstown rival City, a refs decision again had a huge impact on the match. The red card against Kompany seemed completely overwrought, happening early in a 1-0 match and all but guaranteeing a victory for United, which they still almost blew. When are these refs going to wake up and stop having such a huge influence on games. It has always been a problem, but exploded at the 2010 World Cup and has been particularly noticeable in the Premiership since early 2011. When even respected ex-referees are commenting on the poor quality of decision-making it's time for the FA to get involved and do something about it.