Thierry Henry has hit back at criticism of Arsenal's playing style and insists Mikel Arteta deserves respect for winning the Premier League title. The former Gunners captain compared the current team to Diego Simeone's Atletico Madrid, saying opponents no longer enjoy facing Arsenal.
Title success and Champions League heartbreak
Arteta guided Arsenal to their first Premier League title in 22 years last season, while the Gunners were beaten by Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final in May. Despite that success, Arsenal have been accused of over-reliance on set-pieces and were criticised after registering just 24.7 per cent possession against PSG – the lowest figure recorded by a team in a Champions League final since records began in 2004.
Speaking to RMC Sport's Jerome Rothen, Henry was asked if the negativity since winning the title had irked him. He replied: “It's not that it annoyed me, it's that at one point it took Mikel three-and-a-half, four years to be competitive, more or less. It's not easy to create a team but the leaders believed in him and gave him time and he's shown he's a good coach.”
“We don't get walked all over”
Henry acknowledged the shift in Arsenal's identity under Arteta. “Now, we were known for not being combative, that teams could just walk all over us, do whatever they wanted, but we play football. That was the discussion about Arsenal,” he said.
“At a certain point, you've got to get ahead of Liverpool and City, so the guy [Arteta] is working, he's trying to find a way to overtake City. Suddenly, we're tough, we dominate, it's hard to create chances against us, we don't get walked all over, but now they are saying they are not playing pretty.”
“You must respect him”
Henry defended the approach in the Champions League final, saying it was a method of operating rather than a one-off. He noted that Arsenal had played that way against top-calibre teams throughout the season and referenced a rare 3-0 defeat to Brighton, which he described as exceptional.
“You don't have to love it but you must respect him. He brought back a title, I respect that,” Henry said. “Perhaps it's not in the same style, not all of the time, but for a while teams in Europe didn't like playing against Atletico Madrid – that's us. The teams don't like playing against Arsenal.”
