Tuesday 1 August 2017 22:26, UK
Thierry Henry has given his review of Arsenal's 2016/17 season and looks at why they missed out on the Champions League as well as the futures of Arsene Wenger, Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez.
The former Gunners striker joined Rob Wotton on Premier League Daily and gave his views on each of the top six clubs, including his former side who ended the season in fifth spot.
It means that Arsenal missed out on Champions League qualification for the first time in 20 years, although they still have an FA Cup final to contest against Chelsea on Saturday.
Read on for Henry's assessment of Arsenal's 2016/17 season...
The competition is definitely getting better but is it a disappointment? Yes it is if we're talking about this season. If you bring in the fact that Arsenal qualified for the Champions League for 20 years in a row then it is the only time they haven't while Arsene Wenger has been at the club.
But in terms of what they wanted to do at the beginning of the season, then it is a disappointment because everyone wants to play in the Champions League, especially big players and fans want to see their clubs there. I don't think it is going to go down as a good season in the league, although they have the chance to win the FA Cup next weekend.
I was listening to what Wenger was saying and I agree that they lost a lot of games but they also won a lot of games in the dying minutes or with lucky decisions at times. Yes they got more points than what they used to have sometimes when finishing in the top four but the bottom line is they didn't qualify for the Champions League.
It doesn't mean next season is going to be bad or go the wrong way, but at the end of the day, you need to judge a team at the end of the season and at this moment in time, it is not good enough in terms of where they wanted to be.
You find yourselves in a situation where Arsenal are going to be in the Europa League next season but that doesn't mean things are going to go the wrong way.
What would have helped would be the team playing better and then people would not complain. It is not down to the boss, the team or the club only, it is down to everybody at the club. If the team were getting results, nobody would have complained and even asked if Wenger was going to stay or not.
It is not the first time that Wenger has been in that situation where his contract was going to be renewed or not. When I left the club, it was the same thing. Arsene didn't know if he was going to stay. People didn't really call for his head or anything like that or thought that he was disturbing the team.
I don't think that's why the team didn't perform. The guys came out and said they didn't know where the boss was going to be next year, but that doesn't mean they should play the way they did for a little while. I don't think that is an excuse. At the end of the day, you need to perform no matter what is happening at the club and they didn't. That's the bottom line.
If you win, you are right. That is the only way you can be right at a club, especially one like Arsenal. If he stays next year and they start to win again, they will be singing his name and saying "Arsene knows best".
For me, it is a tricky one. People are talking about the future of Arsenal and someone asked me if Arsene was going to be there next season. I said yes because I would like to think if he wasn't going to be there and he knew about it, he would have said so people could give him a proper goodbye. That's why I think he is going to stay.
Where you go from that now is who's going to stay, who is going to come and we still don't know if he is staying. I think he will but it hasn't been said properly.
I think at one point, the board could have come out and clarified the situation properly with Arsene and other players, that would have been a bit more helpful in terms of what the fans were thinking. We would have had an idea of what was happening but it is very much like Arsenal to not say what is happening right up until they make a decision. I'm sure we won't hear about it right up until the final of the FA Cup.
As an Arsenal man, I would like Alexis Sanchez to be at the club. There were questions about his attitude and what not, but like I have said so many times, I would like more players in that Arsenal squad to have his attitude. If you think that guy is disturbing in the dressing room, he probably has his moment like any other big player, but this is a guy that you have to build the team around.
I hope he is going to stay but he wants to win the Champions League. He wants to be at a club that is going to be competing at least and it hasn't happened recently at Arsenal. Who knows what is going to happen with him. Is he going to listen to other teams who are going to come and get him? He is 28 or 29 soon so he knows that the clock is ticking.
I'm sure he wants to be successful with Arsenal but if he sees it is not going to happen like this year and next year, there will be no Champions League so he has to wait another year and then there are no guarantees you will make it the year after so let's see what is going to happen this summer but it is vital to keep him.
When Mesut Ozil is on tune and at the top of his game, there is no one like him in terms of vision and how he pauses the game. He plays the right ball at the right time, but you would argue that he doesn't do that every weekend. I don't know why but that is what he is going to have to do.
He had a similar period last year where he was assisting everybody, he was having an amazing run, and then he didn't finish the season well. This year, people were having a go at him in terms of consistency and I think that's what we talk about when discussing him.
We all know he has the quality of one of the best ever in that position but sometimes the consistency doesn't match the quality of the man.
