Mabeki wanavyowaumiza mashabiki wa Arsenal

Mshambuliaji wa New York Red Bulls ya Marekani, Thierry Henry akiwapungia mashabiki wa Arsenal kwenye uwanja wa Emirates juzi.
Robin Van Persie akifunga bao la Arsenal kwenye mpambano wa juzi kati yao na New York Red Bulls ya Marekani.

The return of Thierry Henry to the Emirates Stadium on Sunday provided pleasure and pain for Arsenal fans.

They enjoyed welcoming back the player voted the greatest in the club's history, then watched him pick apart their defence with a single pass as New York Red Bulls stole an unlikely late equaliser to win the Emirates Cup.

So the season has started as the old one finished, with Arsenal's defence looking unreliable and their attack less than incisive.

Failing to break down a defensive and limited Major League Soccer side was frustrating but their own defence remains the more pressing problem.

Twice in as many days they have let leads slip in the pre-season tournament's glorified friendlies, Boca Juniors having come from 2-0 to force a draw on Saturday.

Watching Henry, the Red Bulls captain, receiving the cup afterwards must also have been an uncomfortable reminder that no Arsenal player has hoisted any major silverware since the Frenchman was a Gunner.

He left in 2007, having won two Premier League titles, three FA Cups and been a member of the 2003-04 Invincibles.

Whether any Arsenal player will ever be so decorated again is arguable but while the present six-year trophy drought continues at the north London club the supporters will settle for their players picking up any
medals at all.

With the departure to Manchester City of Gaël Clichy this summer, none of the Invincibles is now at the club and of the players who remain only Cesc Fábregas and Robin van Persie have known that winning feeling with Arsenal, in the 2005 FA Cup victory over Manchester United.

Henry said afterwards that he believed his former club can win the title but suggested they will not do so unless they make the defence as unforgiving as it was when he played in front of defenders more rugged than those presently in the side.

"I am a fan, so I will tell you yes," Henry said. "But without a Martin Keown you can't win everything. It was a mix of great players, that was our key."

Henry had sat out the match against Paris Saint-Germain on Saturday, saving himself for the game against his
former club.

He had previously returned to the Emirates Stadium with Barcelona in a 2-2 draw in the Champions League in March 2010, but on this occasion he was a welcome guest rather than a member of serious rivals.

The fans applauded him in the warm-up, they stood to welcome him as he led his team out and they chanted his name.

They murmured their approval as he bamboozled Kieran Gibbs, tried some crowd-pleasing backheels and rolled a shot wide from 18 yards.

They even applauded his outrage when the referee failed to spot a pull by Laurent Koscielny.

As the club's all-time leading scorer with 226 goals, he would have been applauded had he found the net, on the understanding that Arsenal would sweep aside the upstarts from the MLS.

The script called for him to score when awarded a free-kick 20 yards out, but although his shot beat the Arsenal wall it was too close to Wojciech Szczesny.

As for Arsenal, they played plenty of clever football and, on his second home start, Gervinho looked every inch an Arsenal forward – plenty of skill and imagination with not as much end-product as there ought to be.
But it took something more direct to give them the lead, Van Persie escaping his marker to nod home Tomas Rosicky's free-kick three minutes before the interval.

Most people assumed that Arsenal would assert their authority after that, but the Red Bulls refused to play their part, and Henry, although tiring, kept popping up in that familiar position on the left, always in the
eye-corners of the defenders.

He nearly scored an equaliser himself with a curling shot that might have found the corner of the net a decade ago but now lacked venom.

But in the 85th minute, when his clever pass sent Juan Agudelo through to beat Szczesny, the final touch was applied by Kyle Bartley, the Arsenal defender.

Wenger revealed afterwards that there had been a plan to let Henry play for Arsenal in the second half but that Kevin Friend, the referee, had refused.

"I'm not even going to talk about that because they have some stupid rules but that's the way it is,"

Henry said. "I'm sure the fans would have loved that and I would have loved it."

Instead, after picking up the trophy, Henry put on an Arsenal scarf and took a solo lap of honour.

How long before another Arsenal player will deserve as much so long after he has left the club?