Thierry Henry thinks Manchester United are going through the same toxic spell Arsenal lived through before Mikel Arteta turned things round, and his lesson for United is a simple one: the Gunners kept their man.
The Arsenal legend made the comparison on CBS. United went into Tuesday’s Champions League game against Roma on a nine-game winless run, sitting 17th in the Premier League and 20th in the Champions League table, with no win since late August and only two all season, against Ipswich Town and Sabah.
Michael Carrick got some breathing space on the night. His side were 2-0 down inside 18 minutes at Old Trafford, then roared back in the second half to win 3-2. But Henry’s point was bigger than one result, and most of it was about the manager in charge at the Emirates.
What did Thierry Henry say about Arsenal and Man United?
Henry went back to the last years of Arsene Wenger, the Unai Emery spell and the start of Arteta’s reign, and he did not dress it up.
He said: “If you go back to the last years of Arsene Wenger, Unai Emery and the beginning of Mikel Arteta, it was a tiny bit toxic. The fans were going amongst each other, asking who the coach should be, who should come and go, having a go at the owners.”
Then he turned to United: “It’s a bit like what’s happening with United now. Surely, along the way, all the coaches they’ve had could have been the answer? Did they give enough time to that one, you don’t know who it could have been? You have guys that are strict, not strict, experienced, not experienced, club legends… it didn’t work.”
“They kept him”: the Arteta years Henry means
Arteta took the job in December 2019. He won the FA Cup in his first season, but the league told a different story for a while: Arsenal finished 8th in 2020-21 and 5th in 2021-22. That is the stretch Henry was pointing at.
“You’re telling me that none of those coaches could have turned it around? Were they given time to turn it around? Arteta at times didn’t have great runs in the league; didn’t finish where Arsenal are supposed to finish. They kept him,” he said.
“Now everyone is saying he’s a great coach. If he didn’t have the time to show that he was a good coach, we would have said that he was inexperienced, couldn’t handle it and couldn’t win.”
What came next proves his point. Three second-place finishes in a row followed, and last season Arsenal were crowned champions on 19 May, their first top-flight title in 22 years. This season they are top again after ending the 14-year wait for a win at Anfield, a game that fitted the pattern of Arteta’s 33 wins by 1-0.
Arsenal’s side of the comparison tonight
The champions are in Prague on Wednesday for their Champions League game against Slavia Prague at the Fortuna Arena (8pm UK time), then host Hull City in the Premier League on Saturday. Not everyone loves how they win, as we covered in our piece on the “boring champions” debate, but nobody is asking who the coach should be any more.
Will United give Carrick the same patience?
That is the question Henry left hanging. Carrick’s position was set to be looked at again by the United hierarchy over the November international break, and it remains to be seen how much the Roma comeback changes that. United host Aston Villa at Old Trafford this weekend, so the pressure has hardly gone away.
Verdict: Henry has Arsenal’s story right
From where Gooners sat in 2021, the noise around Arteta was real, and Henry captures it well. The board backed a young coach through mid-table finishes and that faith has been paid back with a league title and a team built to keep competing for more.
Whether United have the same kind of plan is their problem. But if anyone wants a case study in why patience can pay off, Henry did not have to look far from his old club.
