Thierry Henry: Arsenal's Francis Coquelin 'lucky' to avoid red
Monday 17 August 2015 09:39, UK
Francis Coquelin was lucky to not be sent off during Arsenal's win over Crystal Palace, according to Thierry Henry.
Arsene Wenger substituted the France international after an hour of his side's 2-1 victory at Selhurst Park on Sunday after he committed a foul on James McArthur for which Palace boss Alan Pardew felt he should have received a second booking.
Coquelin had already received a yellow card for a first-half challenge on Yannick Bolasie and Gunners legend and Sky Sports pundit Henry believes the midfielder put himself at risk of a red card.
"In the second half, since you come out and are still on a yellow, you do not need to commit in the way he did," Henry said.
"You have to be smarter, play with your brain. Go, put pressure, stop. He left himself exposed for a red card and he got lucky he was allowed to be substituted."
The win over Palace got Arsenal's Premier League season back on track after last week's shock 2-0 home defeat to West Ham.
You have to be smarter, play with your brain. Go, put pressure, stop. He (Coquelin) left himself exposed for a red card and he got lucky he was allowed to be substituted.
And while Henry did not think they played their best football, he was impressed with the spirit they showed to earn all three points.
"They won not in 'the Arsenal way' maybe but they won at Palace, which is not easy," he added.
"Arsene said it himself, zero points after two games and it would have been a bit of trouble.
"It [the West Ham defeat] happened early so you can re-group and concentrate on what is coming next.
"That is the beauty of this league. If you don't go out there and match the performance of the team you are playing against, you are dead."
Olivier Giroud opened the scoring with a superb 16th-minute goal but with rumours persisting that Arsenal are interested in Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema, Henry said his former side could still be strengthened.
"I said it before, Arsenal need a striker and why not fill in that type of player [defensive midfielder]?" he added.
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