In the end, it was late, and it was great (Just like what my FIFA12 commentators always say). King Henry rose to the occasion and probed home the winning goal (again!) in yesterday’s 2-1 win over Sunderland on their crappy potato pitch.
The stats so far, 5 appearances (all as substitutes), 3 goals, 2 match winners and a 100% shots-on-target to goals ratio (3). In 6 weeks at Arsenal, he has done more for us than Chamakh has for the whole season.
As far as everyone knows, Thierry’s due back after this week, with an extension looking very unlikely. Much as I wish that he can remain as long as he possibly can, we need to be fair to New York Red Bulls too as they have been very pleasant about the whole loan deal. If there’s anything we can say about Wenger, it’s that his behaviour in the transfer market has always been exemplary, here’s what he tells us about Henry.
“He is captain of the Red Bulls, so just to appear on the first day of the season would be unfair to them.
We accepted at the start that we would release him on February 16 so we respect our word. He thinks as well that it would be too late [to remain for two more weeks]”
That’s good enough for me and I accept (very reluctantly) that our King has to leave.
Yesterday’s game was always going to be very difficult against a resurgent Sunderland side who had won 8 out of their last 12 games since Martin O’Neill took over. Sessegnon threatened often and McClean was hitting some semblance of form prior to the match. Plus, there was always the threat of a Larsson free kick and a Gardner long shot. These threats were all present on the potato pitch yesterday and for a long time, we struggled to get things under control, ending the first half on an extremely low note as compared to last week’s game.
The second half was just like the first until the 70th minute when James McClean “capitalized on a loose ball from Mertesacker to score”. By that, it means that McClean saw Mertesacker collapse on the ground in agonizing pain, ran like 20 steps to the loose ball beside a defenseless Per and smashed it into the net before smiling and celebrating his goal like the dirty player that he is. While it is understandable that you play to the whistle, his celebration and happiness at scoring that goal was definitely classless, and I am glad Sunderland got nothing out of the game.
Le Boss responded by taking off Per for Ramsey, pushing Song back to centre defence and we got our equalizer 5 minutes later through Ramsey. We then pressed on through the game and finally got what we deserve in the last minute, courtesy of a King Henry goal.
Per’s injury puts him out for the midweek game against Milan, which means my preferred centre back pairing of Vermaelen and Koscielny starts! Meanwhile, yesterday reminded us of how bad Walcott was, and a Gervinho-Van Persie-Oxlade Chamberlain front 3 is definitely a thought for when the tiresome ACN ends.
With all our closest competitors losing yesterday, it was another excellent weekend for gooners. And I end today with a quote from Arsene about King Henry.
“He finished the story of the legend today in Premier League…”
He did, didn’t he?
C’MON YOU GOONERS!!!
