Can Arsenal Keep Having Henry As Captain?


Is Henry The Man To Lead Arsenal’s Future?

It’s hard not to think about Arsenal’s fortunes this season. Currently 7th in the league, out of the FA Cup (which we always do well in), out of the Carling Cup (a final we actually wanted) but we are still in the final 16 of the Champions League.

And even though the Real Madrid game was amazing, and worth the trip out to the Bernabeu – there was still a sense of disappointment with the final result.

Watching the game and the amount of time on the ball Real Madrid allowed Arsenal, I couldn’t help think that the Arsenal of old would have exploited the space more than we did – and push on for a comfortable 3 or 4 goal win.

Except for the games against Boro at Pompy at home, Arsenal have lacked the cutting edge that we all knew Arsenal had. We all know traditionally Arsenal make loads of chances and miss many of them, but we still grab 2/3 goals in a typical game.

But the problem now is we cannot create those clear chances anymore.

Arsenal scored an amazing 87 goals last season, and 73 the season we were unbeaten. This season the gunners have scored 39 with only 11 games remaining.

Of course, we all know Bobby & Freddie have been very ineffective this season, and Robin Van Persie is our second top scorer behind Henry – and he’s been injured for parts of the season!

The injuries to major attacking forces like Bergkamp, Van Persie, Ashley Cole have been a problem, but despite that we’ve had Ljungberg, Pires, Reyes and the new Emmanuel Adebayor that should have done the business.

When Henry doesn’t score, then Arsenal don’t score.

The presence of Vieira has clearly been a problem this season, with Arsenal missing his fight, determination and ability to drive games forward. He was a brilliant captain and is an Arsenal legend.

But you can’t help feeling that Henry’s appointment as captain is just giving him a reason to stay at Arsenal, and is just hampering the team on the pitch.

I’m not going to question Henry’s commitment to the cause, because over the years he, along with Vieira has been a driving force in the team.

But the captaincy is not for him.

There is a major difference in Henry’s approach this season, and it is clear the captaincy is a burden that is effecting his performances on the pitch. Although he is obviously still one of the world’s best players, he simply is not the same as seasons gone by.

When Henry scores, his celebrations suggest he has the weight of the world on his shoulders – as if he knows that if he doesn’t score Arsenal won’t get a result.

Henry cannot lead the team and he should be left to do what he does best – scoring goals, creating opportunities and changing matches.

The problem now is that it’s almost impossible to pass the captaincy to anyone else while Henry is an Arsenal player.

What kind of message would it send out?

And who else could do the job? Lehmann is a possibility, and I think the responsibility would make him a more mature influence on the pitch. Campbell would have been another possible candidate, but his latest behaviour suggests he couldn’t handle it. Ashley Cole’s mind is at another club and although Fabregas would be a good captain in a few years it’s far too early for him at the moment.

The only other real candidates in the squad are Lauren and Toure, who both would do a decent job.

As it is apparent that Arsenal’s other major problem is in the middle of the park since Vieira’s departure, I would like to see Toure or Lauren lead the team from central midfield. After all, not so long ago Kolo and Lauren played there for their International teams, and are comfortable in that position. Both a good ball winners, have pace and have an eye for a pass.

With the rapid and impressive development of Eboue at right back, Arsene should really consider putting our number 12 in the centre – it’s not that crazy an idea!

Fabregas likes going forward and playing that final ball and with solid players like Diaby and Lauren next to him, he would have the freedom to do just that.

But Arsene will stick with his ‘experienced’ players, which include Campbell and Gilberto.

 

6 thoughts on “Can Arsenal Keep Having Henry As Captain?

  1. Any player who is not fully committed to the club should not be captain full stop. He is and has been a disgrace all year, to hold the club, players, fans and manager hostage on whether we reach the champions league next year is appalling. His performances on the field have been 80% of the time second rate and he clearly has no leadership skills. In my opinion he has been a huge part of our problems this year summed up by his total lack of interest in the Blackburn game, too often he goes out and sets the tone for the rest of team with these laxidasical disinterested performances. It was a huge mistake by Wenger to make him captain, but that sadly is one of many at the moment. Unfortnately it will not change until he decides to leave.

     
  2. You’re right there, it’s not working out Henry as captain and unfortunately there’s only two options:

    1) Henry leaves and someone else is captain
    2) Henry stays at captain

    As I see it, there is no way he can stay and not be captain. It would be seen as Wenger stripping the captaincy away from Henry which would cause more problems than it would solve.

    If Wenger takes the captaincy away from Henry Arsenal would never live it down. It would make Arsene look very bad indeed.

     
  3. Therriy Henry bu mesaji sana türkiyeden yazıyorum seni futbolunu 1998 den beri beğenerek izliyorum bende formalarının koleksiyonu var ingilizcem yetersiz olduğu için sana türkçe yazıyorum. benim yaşım 21 hep futbolcu olmak istedim ama olmadı halı saha futbolcusu oldum çıktım. idealim senin gibi olmaktı. ama dedim ya kader senin çok ama çok hayranınım arkadaşlar genelde bana henry derler
    kendine çok iyi bak bir gün inşaallah galatasaraya gelirsin futbolunda çıtaların hep yüksek olsun sana yolunda başarılar dilerim
    Ö: Faruk Sabuncu

     
  4. Ömer Faruk said:
    hey henry that’s message is being writing from turkey ı have watched you since 1998 with a good idea ı have got your football tshirt a lot ı’m twenty one years old ı wanted be footballer but that’s not be… ı play football with my friends ı wanted to be footballer like you but ı said that it was the destiny ı’m admired of you my friends usually said to me Henry one day i hope you come galatasaray, i wish the success
    ahmet kara

    futbolu seviyorum

     

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