The 'Arsenal Henry' makes France debut
By Mark Brus on Thursday, September 7, 2006
| Date | Time | C | Opponent | F | A | R |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep, 09 | 3:00 PM | P | Middlesbrough (H) | 1 | 1 | Draw |
I thoroughly enjoyed last night's international football - what wasn't there to enjoy? Lots of goals, shocks, and good performances from Arsenal players - one in particular who could finally make a bigger impact on the international stage...
Arsenal hero Thierry Henry looked like a new man for his country last night in the big game - France v Italy, the two World Cup finalists at the Stade de France, with the French looking desperately for revenge, and the Italians looking equally desperately for points after a disappointing draw in their first game against minnows Lithuania.
The match did not fail to live up to the hype; just 70 seconds gone and the wounded France hit Italy with a wonderful goal to send the fans in Paris wild.
Sidney Govou, a surprise selection ahead of Louis Saha, popped up at the far post to unleash a fantastic first-time volley into the far corner, after a great left-footed cross from the byline by William Gallas, who supposedly hates playing left-back.
I'm sure Gallas will be primarily a centre-back for Arsenal, but his versatility was definitely a major factor in signing him. He played in central defence las night, but after staying forward from a corner, showed great ability to adapt to the situation and get into a good position (although he looked offside) and cut back a perfect cross with his weaker side. All in all, a great goal, and the perfect start for the home side.
The game continued in that manner with a lot of free-flowing attacking football from both sides, although it was the French who certainly looked the dominant, and as an Arsenal fan it was encouraging to see such an energetic display from Thierry Henry, who will hopefully be in better shape for the rest of the season after a shakey start.
And it was Henry who gave France a 2-0 lead on 18 minutes, showing good predatory skills to latch onto the rebound after Gianluigi Buffon didn't deal decisively with Florent Malouda's effort from the edge of the area.
What should've been a comfortable lead was halved just two minutes later as Alberto Gilardino took advantage of poor marking to head a well-placed equaliser past Gregory Coupet in the France goal, from Andrea Pirlo's free-kick.
It must be said though that the forceful Milan midfield duo of Pirlo and Gattuso was distinctly second best on the night to Inter's new boy Patrick Vieira, who was probably my man of the match, putting in a typically authoritative performance from midfield, strutting around like he owned the place as he would do in his best years with Arsenal. I'm shocked that Inter were able to get him for just £6.5million so easily. The man is still very much a must-have in any team's midfield when he plays like that.
The game generally flowed well and was very pleasing on the eye, but it remained 2-1 to Raymond Domenech's side at half time. The second half continued in a similar manner, and just ten minutes in the game looked over as Govou got a splendid second of the game.
Willy Sagnol got forward from right-back and curled in a low cross which Govou did superbly to get down and head low and powerfully right into the corner from around the penalty spot. One of the best headers you'll see all season, and two great goals for an unfancied player, surrounded by big names like Henry, Vieira, Makelele, Ribery, Gallas and Thuram.
Henry really looks like this France team can be his now after Zinedine Zidane resigned from his eight-year ownership. Without Zidane, Henry can become the main man in attack, dropping deep, drifting wide and getting more involved like he has the freedom to do to great effect with Arsenal, like he has not been able to do for his country, previously being given a role much further up the field, which just didn't suit him, and thus earned him criticism from many fans, who merely labeled him as someone who can't handle the big games. Rubbish. It was simply tactical; if you want to get the best out of Henry, you don't play him as an average striker who waits around in the penalty area. Let him do his stuff and you'll get a great contribution in return.
Zidane was like the owner of a successful business, and after stepping down has now handed ownership over to his ambitious son who has been waiting in the wings for years playing a lower-key role, but is now ready to bring new ideas and a new flavour to affairs. French fans can start to put past success and nostalgia behind them and look forward to an exciting new era.
And us Gooners can look forward to this weekend, with hopefully a fitter and sharper Henry up against Middlesbrough.
User Comments
1Axel Foley
Posted on 7 Sep, 2006 at 02:40 PM - Reply
Yea he looked fresh and directed traffic all night long !
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