Something from the West Ham game troubled me. It wasn’t the tired display or Arsene kicking off at Alan Pardew – or even the late goal by Marlon Scarewood. It was the fact I knew Arsenal were going to lose before the game even kicked off.
Hence the lack of a preview for the game at Upton Park – I can hardly preach and say we’re going to lose!
Myles Palmer has touched on it and the problem Arsenal have is that Thierry Henry is Arsenal captain. I asked the question back in February and I still think Titi as captain is a big mistake.
Even Wrighty made the point on MOTD2 last night – Henry was joking around with Reo-Coker in the tunnel instead of being focused and ready for a fight. He wasn’t in the mood and when that happens Arsenal struggle.
Fighters make the best captains and that’s why Chelski have John Terry, Liverpool have Steven Gerrard, United used to have Roy Keane (and now Gary Neville) and why Tony Adams and Paddy were successful at Arsenal.
But with Henry as captain are we capable of winning anything?
Is it a co-incidence that we had our worst Premiership season in the Wenger era with Henry leading the team?
We struggled last season and the same seems to be happening again.
Thierry Henry is the anti-captain. Captain’s are supposed to rally the team to victory, encourage their players and give every game 110% even when they’re not playing well.
But Henry is the nice guy of football.
Nice guys can’t be captain no matter how gifted they are. Look at Ronaldinho for Barcelona for example.
Arsene went mental yesterday not because of the late goal or Alan Pardew celebrating – Wenger has experienced worse goals against Arsenal like in the Champions League Final or the FA Cup Semi-Final replay against United.
It must have been something Pardew said, but Arsenal fans know it had more to do with Arsene’s frustration at his own team and the way they were playing.
Only the following things can happen.
The first is that Henry will stay as captain for the rest of his career. Arsene can’t strip Henry of the captaincy because that will be admitting he made a mistake, and could be more damaging to the team in terms of moral. Henry losing the captaincy would be in the headlines for weeks!
The only way that Arsenal will get a new captain is if Henry leaves.