Tonight:
4°c
Arsenal left missing Henry's magic
Evening Standard 21 Feb 2008
There were a few nostalgic sighs wafting around the Arsenal press room as the TV screen showed Thierry Henry loping down the left flank, stepping inside and curling an exquisite beauty into the top corner.
It was grand to see a reprise of one of his old Gunners' masterpieces, even if it was now being painted solely for his new Barcelona worshippers.
Yet the great man's match-turning goal against Celtic at Parkhead couldn't help but conjure up the vision of what his old team will need when they visit Milan's San Siro in a fortnight.
All the evidence of a night at Emirates Stadium when the old masters, with a bit of luck but mostly expertise, kept the young thrusters at bay was that the now Henry-less Arsenal may have to find a moment of Henry-like magic to dethrone Europe's champions.
Two years ago today, a green Arsenal side visited Galacticos of Real Madrid and became the first English side ever to triumph in the Bernabeu. How? With Henry beating four players and scoring a goal of sheer brilliance, that's how.
So who's going to adopt Henry's inspirational mantle by helping Arsenal now become the first English side to beat Milan at the San Siro? Robin Van Persie? There's no guarantee he'll be back in time after injury. Theo Walcott? Arsene Wenger clearly still doesn't trust him. Nicklas Bendtner? Still only a work in progress. Eduardo? Milan's ageless back four shackled him with few alarms.
No, the best bet is surely still the lanky bloke who was last seen gazing somewhat glassy-eyed into the distance as he tried to explain how he'd missed the unmissable opportunity of giving Arsenal a priceless lead to take to Italy.
It summed up a maddening night for Arsenal, when Emmanuel Adebayor was let down by what Wenger saw as a touch of nerves as his header from Walcott's cross crashed against the bar.
Maybe the Premier League's leading marksman was simply trying too hard. He was far from the only culprit when it came to lack of composure in front of goal but he's become such a totem that Wenger would have expected much better.
When eventually he did demonstrate the coolness to slot home a goal, he had drifted into an offside position. Yet for all of Adebayor's frustrations, there could still be no doubt about who will be again pre-occupying the home side's veterans in a fortnight.
The Togolese's sheer pace and strength, his effectiveness as a target man on the ground and an aerial force too now make him such a complete package that Paolo Maldini and co will now understand they won't get a moment's respite in Milan.
Was Adebayor a handful, Clarence Seedorf was asked? "Oh yeah, you can say that again," groaned the Dutchman.
Adebayor is simply the embodiment of Wenger's belief that if Arsenal keep trying to run this side off their ageing feet, they will finally get their reward. "We can play at a high tempo for 90 minutes," declared the manager. "They will have to come out in the second leg".
Wenger, though, will recall that when they had to 'come out' at the San Siro last year, having lost the first leg of their semi-final 3-2 against Manchester United, Milan proceeded to play Alex Ferguson's mob off the park, winning 3-0.
Last night felt ominously as if they were just jockeying for a favourable position and it will take an even more impressive patrolling job by Matthieu Flamini if the influence of Kaka, rusty after an injury lay-off, is again to be so muted.
Philippe Senderos coped admirably, even teaching the new Brazilian flavour of the month, Alexandre Pato, a bruising lesson or two, but in Kolo Toure's absence you can't help worrying about the idea of a refreshed Kaka having another run at the Swiss.
"Our squad wasn't at 100 per cent. A very good result," reckoned Seedorf, insisting that come the return, they'll have shaken off their ring rust after their recent injury woes.
The trouble is that this Milan side still looks as if comes protected by an aura, the sort which radiates when Maldini, who won the first of his five European Cups in the same year Theo Walcott was born, can play as commandingly as this in his 1001st professional game.
So Arsenal have to keep believing. Wenger can tell his men with conviction after last night that they're faster and slicker, that Maldini's nearly 40, that their opponents are languishing fifth in Serie A and that there's no reason for any inferiority complex.
Then he should ask who'd like to do the Thierry Henry impression?
Reader views (1)
Maybe the fact that Adebayor's shirt was being pulled (see picture) didn't help!
- Matthew Couch, Crawley, West Sussex., 21/02/2008 13:51
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