ON TUESDAY NIGHT I was asked by Newstalk 106 : Why have Arsenal got good again?
So I talked about the fast-maturing team, the Ivory Coast dynamic, the confidence that comes from beating Real Madrid – all the obvious factors.
What I should have mentioned, maybe, when talking about the new dynamic in this Arsenal team, was that there is a sense of beginning, which is always exciting.
For Eboue and Diaby, it’s the beginning of the season. Eboue has started four Premiership games, Diaby five.
They are joining Fabregas, who is beginning his international career at 18, a teenager who has already played almost 100 games for London’s biggest club.
For Fabregas, and for Senderos, every game is a test, every game is new. Charlton at Highbury is not just another day at the office for them. It’s more exciting than that, more important than that.
Kolo Toure is really delighted that his Ivory Coast brother Emannuel Eboue has done so well, is playing with him, is ready for their first World Cup in Germany – the Ivory Coast’s first World Cup ! How big is that for these guys?
Germany 2006 could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience but they will want to play in the 2010 World Cup and the 2014 World Cup.
INEVITABLY, Newstalk, a Dublin station, asked about Thierry Henry and I said :
“He won’t leave his audience.He won’t leave his mentor. He won’t leave his armband. He won’t leave his exciting young team. He won’t leave the Emirates Stadium.Why would he go now? He’s a decent human being and an intelligent guy. He’d be crazy to walk out now.”
I should have added : Thierry Henry is an Arsenal captain who has won nothing. If he leaves now, his captaincy is unfinished business, a flickering flame snuffed out by a gust of wind, a short failure, a cop-out.
I should also have added that Thierry Henry is on record as saying : Arsenal is my paradise, I’m obsessed with making my mark on history.
Yes, I might have admitted : We can all believe that if Thierry was to leave Arsenal, he would join Barcelona. But I don’t believe he will leave Arsenal. I have never believed that and I still don’t.