Arsene Wenger Leaps To Defence Of Thierry Henry

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How Thierry Henry must wish Arsene Wenger was the manager of the French national team.

The Arsenal manager has been nothing short of a father figure to Arsenal's all-time top scorer and he came to the striker's defence after Henry was branded a "cheat" around the world for his already infamous handball against Ireland.

"Football and sport in general is full of heroes who have cheated 10 times more than Thierry," said Wenger in his press conference ahead of Arsenal's trip to Sunderland.

Wenger, who as a Frenchman admitted it was "embarrassing" to qualify for the World Cup in these circumstances, is far angrier with the French Football Federation than he is with Henry.

Henry first worked under Wenger at Monaco and it was during that period that the Arsenal manager's faith in football was tested to the limit. Indeed, if memory serves, Wenger left for Japan on the back of the Olympique Marseilles match-fixing scandal.

Perhaps it is why Wenger never became France's manager and there was a disdainful tone in his voice towards the football authorities in his home country this afternoon.

"For me, people who bought games, who bought referees, who drugged [sic] before big competitions - they are the real cheats," Wenger said, strongly attempting to exonerate the man he helped transform into a world-class superstar.  "Thierry Henry has 12, 14 years of fair behaviour in sport and he is singled out today for me in the wrong way."

Wenger insisted the onus to act was on Fifa and the FFF.

"We are still in 2009, sitting here, where 2 billion people see what happened and one guy doesn't see it and he cannot help you," Wenger said.  "Come out with a solution maybe with one guy behind the goal, the best one would certainly be technology."

And Wenger, famed for offering an FA Cup replay to Sheffield United in 1999 when Arsenal scored an "unsporting" goal, said France should offer the olive branch of a replay.

"It is up to the French to do something and not leave one guy out there against the world. France should say, yes it was a handball, and offer a replay. Then it would be down to Fifa."

Yes, how Henry must wish Wenger was still his boss. Instead, he must persist with Raymond Domenech.

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