Arsenal will now have to do it the hard way if they want to remain in the Champions League after their first-leg defeat to Porto on Wednesday night.
From start to finish, the performance from Arsenal just didn’t seem right, despite the team coming into the match on a high after scoring 11 goals in their last two Premier League games.
Before the match, Thierry Henry highlighted a weakness in William Saliba’s game and how he sometimes doesn’t attack the ball when he is inside the box.
Whilst Galeno ended up scoring the winning goal in stoppage time, in truth, he had a much easier chance in the first half, but somehow, both of his efforts didn’t hit the back of the net.
Thierry Henry brought that moment up and mentioned how ‘I questioned’ William Saliba before the game for not attacking the ball and he did it again, as he told CBS Sports on Paramount+ (21/02/24 at 8:50 pm).
The legendary Arsenal striker also noticed how David Raya was ‘upset’ with him because he allowed his counterpart to have not just one, but two efforts on goal from close range.
In the end, there were question marks over Arsenal’s number one himself and how he conceded Porto’s winning goal in stoppage time because he certainly should have done better in that moment.
William Saliba and David Raya
“They Porto should have scored (in the first half),” said Henry. “We mentioned it before the game, I questioned how Saliba defends in the box.
“The cross you can see here is going to be deflected, it can happen. He doesn’t attack the ball as you can see here, lets the striker come in and attack the ball. It should have gone in. I don’t know how it didn’t go in. Saliba should have attacked that ball, but he doesn’t and nobody knows why.
“You can see David Raya after that being upset with him.”
Bad night for Arsenal
The players need to quickly forget about this and get it out of their system because there is a quick turnaround for their next game.
On Saturday night, Arsenal will host European-chasing Newcastle United knowing they are five points behind Liverpool after they beat Luton Town on the same night they were getting beat in Portugal.
The Reds now have the points on the board, so they have put the pressure back on their title rivals.
What adds to the pressure even more is that Manchester City’s game against Bournemouth would have already finished by the time Arsenal kick-off on Saturday, so their fans will know about it if that result goes against them.
The post 'I questioned him’: Thierry Henry says David Raya was 'upset' with Arsenal teammate v Porto appeared first on HITC.
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