october 19th
As poor as our league results have been we’re 3 for 3 in the Champions League this season and last night’s 2-0 win over Sparta Prague will be remembered for a long time. Not for the performance or the quality of the game, both were pretty average, but for Thierry Henry’s 2 goals. The first, an absolute cracker just 5 minutes after replacing José Antonio Reyes, brought him level with Ian Wright and his second after 71 minutes made him Arsenal’s leader goalscorer of all time. Ever!
Because he was injured going into the game there was no fanfare, no media hype, no pressure on him because nobody expected him to get more than half an hour anyway. He knew though, his team-mates knew, the travelling Arsenal fans knew, we all knew. We witnessed a bit of history last night and all we can do is send congratulations to Thierry. Thanks for 186 fantastic goals and like every Arsenal fan I hope he stays and puts the record so far out of reach that nobody will ever break it. It’s a fantastic achievement from a player a lot of people wondered why we’d spent £10m on all those years ago. His importance to the team can be measured in his 30+ front page pictures on Arseblog, far more than any other player. Yes, that’s how you know.
Afterwards he said “It sounds great to hear ‘Thierry Henry, record goalscorer for Arsenal’. Wrighty was a great player and will always be a legend at Arsenal. To beat his record is tremendous. I wanted to do it at Highbury but if I get the chance to score, then I will take it.”
Arsene Wenger said “It’s an exceptional record. He’s beaten it in a short time and he’s not even a typical goalscorer. He’s an all-round player, not a guy who lurks in the box. He’ll not only have a place in the history of Arsenal but in the history of football.
He’s still just 28 and Ian Wright was 33 or 34 when he broke Cliff Bastin’s record. Thierry has a lot of time in front of him and there is a lot more to come from him.”
Hopefully he came through the game without aggravating his inury and stays fit for the rest of the season. His presence really gives everyone a boost. Not such good news about José though. It seems he has a fractured rib and having done exactly the same myself last season it could be anywhere from 3-5 weeks before he plays again – unless they give him one of those protector things I remember Freddie using a while back. We really are having a hard time with injuries though.
So we top the group with 9 points
and anything from the next game against Sparta at home in a couple of weeks will see us through. Away from Europe the reserves kept up their good form with a 3-1 away win over Fulham. Mart Poom played in goal and Nicklas Bendtner notched another goal. No sign of Lupoli for this game though.
Right, that’s it. Well done again to Thierry. Doesn’t that first one against Southampton seem like a long time ago?
