Arsenal legend Thierry Henry has taken to punditry like a duck to water.
However, his latest comments regarding Arsenal’s ‘spine‘ may not go down too well with some Arsenal fans.
After a frustrating 0-0 draw against the title leaders, Henry spoke about what Arsenal need to do and why they didn’t win against the Blues. Ultimately, he believes we need to buy players; four to be exact.
“Arsenal need to buy four players, they need that spine. They need a goalkeeper, they still need a centre-back, they still need a holding midfielder and, I’m afraid, they need a top, top-quality striker in order to win this league again,” the ex-Arsenal forward said.
“If you take the goalkeepers, for example, at Bayern Munch, Chelsea, Manchester United and a lot of other teams. You need that type of player, you need that competitiveness within the group and you need great players. In order to win the league that has to happen.”
Henry went on to elaborate, “The best example for me today was Chelsea. They struggled last year and they were still competing to win the league. They now have [Thibaut] Courtois, [Nemanja] Matic, Cesc [Fabregas] and Diego Costa. For me that speaks volumes, and we saw it today. A team didn’t and a team did, and Chelsea are about to win the league.”
He also spoke about how our top players need to perform and that playmaker Mesut Ozil just hasn’t been good enough, comparing him to Chelsea player, Cesc Fabregas.
“Players need to perform also. I will single out Mesut Ozil, who made his eighth appearance against a top-four team today. Zero goals, two assists. That is not enough. Since joining Arsenal he has 14 assists. Now if you look at Fabregas at Chelsea, he has 16 assists in one season. At one point, I do think, and I do believe, the players have to step up and stand their game up.”
I think he’s being a little harsh, especially when it comes to Ozil, considering the player hasn’t had an easy run in terms of injury.
I also think that Olivier Giroud is becoming a top striker and has improved hugely this season. I’m not so sure we need to buy someone to replace him just yet.
Whether these comments are have been said out of frustration at Arsenal’s lack of potency in front of goal against Chelsea or whether he really feels that strongly, I don’t know.