Thierry Henry is an Arsenal legend - but he is very wrong about Mikel Arteta

He led the Arsenal frontline for many years but Thierry Henry has saved his most devastating post-Gunners attacks for Mikel Arteta and his process.

This week, the Frenchman gave his latest view on the club and how it is a “must” to win something in 2025/26. He added that the team “can’t hide” and, at some point, will need to win trophies in order to “validate what they are doing”.

It is perhaps a fair assessment – most fans share his ‘no more excuses’ opinion after five barren years and our £250m summer spend (over £900m since Arteta first arrived) indicates that trophies are now in order.

But ‘no excuses’ holds a sardonic undertone which implies that staunch Arteta backers will soon face a day of reckoning, that, when the boss ‘fails’ again despite his lavish spending, fans will have finally run out of road to defend the indefensible.

Something does need to be won soon, but to have the knives out for Arteta is to overlook the huge strides Arsenal have made under his management and the legitimate reasons for our shortcomings during that time.

Reasons why Thierry Henry is wrong in his opinions of Arsenal and the Mikel Arteta process

For example, ‘excuses’ were entirely valid in the past: 2022/23 (a year when few anticipated a title charge) and 2024/25 were undoubtedly derailed by key injuries, and to dismiss that impact would be disingenuous – look at how Manchester City, Manchester United and Sp*rs fell off badly without key men last term.

In fact, it is impressive that the team still finished second and reached a Champions League semi-final in spite of their injuries. To dismiss the absence of 19 different players at various points of the season or label the failure to resist the City treble winners in 2023 – following injuries to both William Saliba and Takehiro Tomiyasu– as simply ‘making excuses’ (albeit *some* were fringe players) is both entirely unfair and painfully short-sighted.  

And as for the claim that a trophy is needed to “validate” what we are doing? Well, that is a complete nonsense.

Silverware would, of course, be brilliant and no doubt the media will hold up any trophy win as proof that Arteta has succeeded. But to validate his process? He has already brought Arsenal from years of 5th-8th place mediocrity and finishing 20-30 points behind the champions to being strong title contenders themselves, while our recent quarter-final and semi-final UCL appearances follow on from six years of failing to qualify for the competition at all.

That should be proof enough that he knows what he is doing.

And just to hammer home the point, look at Tottenham and Manchester United. Did Europa League success ‘validate’ the Sp*rs process, or did three finals in three years and two cup wins validate the United process? Their 15th and 17th place finishes and sackings of Ange Postecoglou and Erik ten Hag (as well as dismal United form under Ruben Amorim) suggest they are far off the elites even with their cup triumphs.

When world-class teams meet one another, there has to be a winner and a loser. To lose, therefore, does not mean you need to rip the process up and start again but rather that a few small tweaks are in order; Arsenal have made those changes this summer and are primed for another push at the big trophies this year.

On paper, the Gunners have no more excuses but neither do Manchester City, Liverpool, PSG, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Chelsea et al. and there are simply not enough PLs or UCLs to satisfy them all.

So patience is wearing thin and Thierry Henry has only echoed the thoughts of fans worldwide who desperately want silverware to return to N5 but make no mistake: Arsenal do not need a trophy to know they have a world-class manager at the helm.

Trust the process.

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