Wenger: Why I didn't start with Henry

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Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
09 Apr	4:00 PM	P	Manchester United (A)	0	2	Lost

Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger yesterday admitted that his gamble to rest Thierry Henry didn't pay off against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Arsenal had several chances to recover from being a goal down against United but were unable to apply the finishing touches, with striker Robin van Persie lacking match fitness.

Wenger explained however that Henry had not recovered from Arsenal's midweek endeavours in Europe, and was unfit to start the game anyway.

The Frenchman said: "Thierry had not recovered from Wednesday.

"He has played more games than the other players and he has just played on his own up front against Juventus twice.

"But we did not concede the first goal because he was on the bench. Manchester United won the game because overall they were sharper than us."

User Comments

andrew

Posted on 10 Apr, 2006 at 11:11 PM - Reply

also gives us a idea of what playing without TH14 is going to be like. Also, it wasn't

athreya74

Posted on 10 Apr, 2006 at 02:34 PM - Reply

Why not rest Cesc then? Surely he is our second most valuable player after Thierry? The logic for resting the captain was spot on. But going for a win with 4-4-2 and a tired Cesc was a bit ambitious. An additional complication was that Van Persie and Adebayor were starting together for the first time. We could have escaped with a draw with a more cautious approach.

Tegh

Posted on 10 Apr, 2006 at 09:51 AM - Reply

That's fair enough in my opinion. We all saw how tired Cesc and Kolo looked, infact the whole team looked a bit knackered. Why risk Thierry? He couldnt and wouldnt have made a difference yesterday.

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