The backlash has begun. No sooner have Manchester United spent £50m on three players (if reports are to be believed) than the comments start about how we will finish twenty points behind them again, with Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham ahead of us as well. There is a belief that this is down to the Board being unwilling to invest ‘big’ money in players yet there is no evidence that Arsene wants to spend big. All we have to go on is the hugely unreliable speculation of the media frenzy, fed by supporters desires to see ‘names’ at the club, Mr 15%’s trying to talk up their clients chances of a money-spinning transfer to the Pot of Gold or in a large number of cases, wild misinterpretations of players comments, the speculation increased in direct proportion to the number of Magners sunk.

Unfortunately, the players have a tendency to increase the dissatisfaction, albeit unintentionally. Step forward, Thierry Henry, as the latest squad member to express unhappiness at the way last season went. Nothing wrong in that except that his injuries and generally unhappy demeanour post Germany did not help matters. Without having seen all of the Press Conference he spoke at yesterday, I may be doing him an injustice by pointing out that he did not acknowledge the plight of himself and RvP as being major factors in the final league position. What has irked me about his comments is that he believes the bald fact to be that we need more experience. Henry rightly pointed out that we lost a huge pool of talent at the end of 2005-06 which was replaced by a pool of youth. Yet in naming those dearly departed he missed out on the essential factor, namely quality. The players who replaced them were not as good as Bergkamp and Pires. No disrespect to the current squad intended, it is just that those two were footballing geniuses (or should that be genei?). Rosicky is a good player but not a winger in Pires’ mould. Baptista had a ‘mare’ at Arsenal yet came with a reputation that made him seem that he would add to the squad. It did not work out but that is one of the risks you take in football.

Henry is quoted as saying he knows what it takes to be a champion, how he was a member of the ‘49-ers’. Correct and an integral part. He is frustrated that we have finished 4th twice. So are we. I hope, as a senior player and Captain, that he had made these comments to Arsene privately. If he had, and he still made them publicly, then one has to assume he was told, as our American cousins put it, to ‘butt out’ or he did not like the answers he was given by AW.

His bland answer of ‘experience’ does not wash. He knows that consistency is required. Flashing the cash is not always the correct response to the situation. Does Henry not have faith in the abilities of his fellow players? Maybe his thoughts should have been more focussed on the positions that need filling rather than sweeping generalisations. One thing that was evident is that he is committed to the Club yet even his response trying to kill off speculation is fuelling more speculation. The latest is £17m plus Eto’o for Henry. Yep, I’ll take that one. Not because Eto’o is better than Henry (I put them almost on a par with Henry slightly ahead) but that is silly money, valuing Henry at about £40m. Silliest story of the close season so far though or hiding the truth, a version of it anyway.

However, it raises the question as to where Henry believes we need more experience. A quick thought popped into my head about the defence on this one. Gallas and Toure are experienced yet no-one seems to ‘boss’ the defence. Would it be better to make Henry Club Captain and give the armband to Toure rather than Gilberto? This identifies the ‘Leader Of The Pack‘ at the back and gives good reason to one person to give the orders on the pitch. Whilst the experienced pros ought not to need to do this, perhaps the defence does need a focal point?