Reuters Soccer Blog

from Left field:

Va-va-voom. Vintage Henry scores on Arsenal return.

The clock said 68 minutes, and no one at the Emirates Stadium in north London was looking at the action on the pitch as the fourth official held aloft his lit-up board to signal the re-introduction of Thierry Henry to English football.

Ten minutes later and he'd scored the game's eventual winner. Comebacks don't get this good this often.

14 to replace 15 shone the bright numbers before the goal, but alas Henry's former number has since been taken by young English talent Theo Walcott, who idolises the French great.

Now, for six weeks and six weeks only after which he will return to the United States with the New York Red Bulls, Henry can be seen wearing an Arsenal shirt with the number 12, the same as his France days during which he won the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European Championship.

The only numbers Arsenal fans will care about are 228, 229 and who knows, possible even into the 230s.

With a trademark movement of his right boot, Henry had added to his record Arsenal tally of 226 having watched his new teammates spurn chance after chance against Leeds United in the third round of the FA Cup.

Arsenal fans out there, does this worry you? Would you like to see Arsene Wenger bring in another striker in the January transfer window given the lack of goals?

What is Arsenal’s future?

By Zoran Milosavljevic in Belgrade

It is a bit early to single out Manchester rivals United and City as the only title contenders this season, but it appears highly likely that Arsenal will not be among the chasing pack now headed by the new-look Liverpool and Chelsea.

What is more, the 8-2 hammering the Gunners suffered at Old Trafford suggests that Arsene Wenger’s side might even struggle to finish in the top six, unless the Frenchman can swiftly turn around their fortunes.

Crippled by early injuries to some regular starters and even more so by the departure of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, Arsenal were so off the pace for most of the match that their fans will want to forget as soon as possible.

With the team’s vertebrae boiling down to inconsistent and injury-prone Dutch striker Robin Van Persie, Wenger faces a mammoth task of rebuilding his side which is now a far cry from the 2003-4 Invincibles who won the league title without losing a match and stretched their unbeaten record to 49 games the following season.

Ironically, that remarkable run ended in a 2-0 defeat by United at Old Trafford and signaled a decline which seems to have culminated in Sunday’s humiliation.

The 2005 FA Cup is the only silverware Arsenal have managed since and adding a fourth league title to his trophy cabinet always looked unlikely for Wenger after the Gunners swapped the intimidating atmosphere of dilapidated Highbury for their glittering new palace, the Emirates Stadium, in 2006.

Fergie the old hand shows softer side…for a bit

By Simon Hart

For a brief moment, it seemed Sir Alex Ferguson really might be mellowing with age.

Twenty-four hours after ending his seven-year feud with the BBC, the Manchester United manager spent part of his weekly news conference on Friday defending the record of his erstwhile chief adversary Arsene Wenger, who comes to Old Trafford with Arsenal on Sunday.

Ferguson then reflected on the potential of his latest crop of young talent before a question about the possible involvement of some of these young guns in the England senior team.

“It is not a problem it is fantastic,” he began. According to reports in Friday’s newspapers, four of the United players aged 22 or under who have caught the eye in the season’s opening weeks –- Chris Smalling, Tom Cleverley, Phil Jones and Danny Welbeck –- will be watched by England manager Fabio Capello on Sunday before the Italian names his squad for next month’s Euro 2012 qualifying matches.

Capello’s squad could include as many as seven United players given the presence of Wayne Rooney, Michael Carrick and Ashley Young. Rio Ferdinand may miss out due to injury.

Who can Arsenal actually buy?

With Cesc Fabregas gone and Samir Nasri possibly on the move too, there is a lot of gloom around Arsenal at the moment and Saturday’s 2-0 home defeat by Liverpool did nothing to help the mood.

Arsenal fans are for the first time questioning the stewardship of Arsene Wenger and have demanded some top signings to prevent yet another trophyless season.

But who could Arsenal actually bring in? Would a really top player want to go to a club resembling a sinking ship? The Gunners also don’t have the same financial clout as Manchester City, United, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and even Liverpool nowadays. (The Italian clubs are worse off though).

Valencia winger Juan Mata seems destined for Chelsea after Arsenal’s initial interest but even he is not the wow signing Arsenal fans want to ease the pain of Fabregas going back to Barca.

But Wenger’s great strength has been buying near unknowns and making them great. Vieira, Henry and of course Fabregas.

There is no value in the market right now and really top players are not available. Trying to develop Jack Wilshere and Co into the new Fabregases looks like Wenger’s only option.

Fans will give him the season to prove he can work miracles again but come this time next year, the rumblings of discontent in north London could be full-blown protests.

Soccer Break Wednesday – Money buys success

Cash, dollars, bucks, dough, call it what you want, it paves the way for football clubs to be successful.

On Tuesday the bank-rolled Manchester City outfit reached the Champions League qualifiers for next season and could even secure an automatic berth if they pip Arsenal to third place in the Premier League. That would be a real kick in the guts to Arsene Wenger, who has barely spent anything in comparison to City since he took over the North Londoners in 1996.

A further blow to the Gunners would be the departure of captain Cesc Fabregas. Would he go to City of all places?

Football fans out there, is this fair? Should clubs’ success be based purely on the size of their owners’ wallets?

City’s rise has coincided with Tottenham Hotspur’s demise this season. Spurs’ foray into the quarter-finals of the Champions League proved a big step and ultimately hurt their chances of a place in the competition next season. They may not even secure a Europa League spot. Double disaster. Or is it?

Staying with wage bills and money in the game, salaries in Major League Soccer are up 12 percent, and, surprise surprise, David Beckham is the biggest earner.

Beckham however represents everything that is good about the game, an honest, hard-working individual. What we saw on Tuesday was the darker side of football with the FIFA corruption allegations.

Soccer Break Wednesday

Now the international period is over we can focus on domestic issues again, or can we?

Tuesday’s matches provided plenty of drama, from the battles Spain and the Netherlands had to fight to get through tricky Euro 2012 qualifiers, to Ghana’s lighting up of London, to Australia’s World Cup revenge against Germany in a friendly.

Brazil’s two-goal hero against Scotland continues to grab the headlines. Would you be interested in signing the talented 19-year-old Neymar?

For two of Europe’s biggest clubs there is bad news. The strike that could have seen the cancellation of La Liga matches this weekend has been called off, so Real Madrid must play three days before their Champions League quarter-final against Tottenham Hotspur.

Staying with a North London theme, Arsenal could be without striker Robin van Persie after the Netherlands forward was injured against Hungary in the 5-3 thriller. No doubt Arsene Wenger will have something to say so keep your ears open.

And what about Jens Lehmann? Gunners fans…would you trust him in goal over Manuel Almunia?

Some good news now. Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson says the game is developing well in the United States, though there’s always a flip side. After the encouraging 1-1 draw against Argentina on Saturday, the U.S. lost 1-0 to Paraguay on Tuesday.

Franckly, there’s only one replacement for Fabregas

Events, dear boy, events… If they can blow governments off course, they can blow the plans of football managers right out of the water. Just ask Arsene Wenger.

The Arsenal manager thought he was building, slowly but surely, an Arsenal team that could go one better than the 2006 side that lost the Champions League final to Barcelona.

Unperturbed by the departure of Thierry Henry, Wenger chose to construct his new team around Cesc Fabregas, bolstered by carefully considered signings like Samir Nasri and Andrei Arshavin, and with a whole generation of youngsters making cases for places alongside them.

But as the wait for a first league title since 2004 has dragged on, so the criticism of Wenger’s slowly-but-surely policy has grown.

If Fabregas is granted his apparent wish to go back to Barcelona, expect even more stick for Wenger from fans and columnists talking about yet another backward step.

Once again, Wenger will be at a crossroads. Should he stay true and sign a carefully judged replacement, someone who could slot straight in and do a job while the youngsters continue to mature, someone like Mikel Arteta of Everton? Or should he consider a costlier, riskier replacement … a signing to set pulses racing and provide a touch of instant gratification?

If the latter, there is one obvious target out there in Franck Ribery, a player with all the skill of Fabregas, just as much presence on the ball and that touch of star quality all big teams need.

Wenger needs to temper obsession with attack

Yet another season of bright promise ended dismally for Arsenal last Sunday.

The north London side, imperiously dimissed from the Champions League by Barcelona, lost their last slender hope of winning the Premier League and a first trophy since 2005 with defeat at Wigan.

And now? Disgruntled Arsenal fans complain that their cerebral French manager Arsene Wenger is obstinately refusing to make essential changes to his team while he gazes over the horizon in search of an illusive future perfection.

They instance Arsenal’s notoriously leaky defence and Wenger’s apparent inability to buy a top-class goalkeeper.

Former Arsenal striker Ian Wright is not the only person wondering whether Wenger will extend his contract, which is due to expire at the end of the next season.

Wenger supporters view his stubbornness as a virtue, a commitment to the beautiful game which would have won at least one trophy this season if had not been for a cruel sequence of injuries to influential players.

They concur with Wenger’s musings before the Wigan match finally killed their Premier League hopes.

Ramsey injury was horrific but should not be used to outlaw tackling

Anybody who saw the pictures of Aaron Ramsey’s shattered shin will have winced in disgust but the hysterical reaction to Ryan Shawcross’s tackle that caused it has been based on emotion rather than cold analysis.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger muttered dark thoughts about how it was “no coincidence” that Ramsey, Eduardo and Abou Diaby had all suffered terrible injuries as teams tried to kick Arsenal off the pitch.

Shawcross was sent off for the tackle and, judging by his distraught face as his left the pitch, it was probably the best decision all round.

But though the consequences were appalling, all the more so for the victim being only 19, the tackle itself did not look too bad.

Modern TV enables us to view, in super slow motion, some of the studs-up impacts that leave shins, knees and ankles bending to near-breaking point.

Shawcross’s did not look like that and initially few would have even begun to guess what damage would result.

Analysts have been quick to jump on the tackle, suggesting that it, and the injuries caused, prevail only in the hurly-burly of the Premier League, where high-speed collisions are part of the game.

Arsenal’s Wenger has a lot to shout about

Arsene Wenger is known as the The Professor but the halftime ear-bashing he inflicted on his Arsenal team at Anfield on Sunday had more in keeping with the “hairdryer” technique often used by his great rival Alex Ferguson.   It was out of character for the Frenchman but it certainly had the desired effect as his team overturned a 1-0 deficit to win 2-1 with a much-improved second half performance.

But why was he so animated?

Perhaps the reason was because he realised that Arsenal may never have a better opportunity to break the Manchester United/Chelsea domination of the Premier League.   Both of the top two appear vulnerable at the moment and Arsenal, despite losing to both of them already this season, are the best-equipped to muscle in on the title race.   Earlier this season Wenger stated that the Premier League could be won with a relatively low points total this season.  Judging by recent results he looks like being proved right.   Chelsea are suddenly leaking goals at an alarming rate, United’s defeat at home to Aston Villa illustrated just how much they are missing the departed Cristiano Ronaldo, Liverpool are going backwards and Manchester City are yet to maximise the huge amount of money spent on their team.   With a couple of good signings in January, Wenger and Arsenal may have plenty to shout about in 2010.

PHOTO: Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger gestures during their English Premier League soccer match against Liverpool in Liverpool, northern England December 13, 2009. REUTERS/Nigel Roddis