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So was it a great gesture in the spirit of the game? Was it upholding the great old values of sportsmanship and friendly competition? Or was it soft? Was it showing a lack of the ruthless streak of winners?

No, I'm not talking about MS Dhoni's decision to let Ian Bell bat on after he'd been run out. I'm wondering why Arsene Wenger, even for a moment, contemplated the idea that Thierry Henry might change sides during an Emirates Cup tie to make a final appearance for Arsenal.


The French star, I was tempted to call him a veteran but he's still only 33, had given the Gunners' crowd a reminder of his talent by inspiring his current New York Red Bulls team across two days of the North London club's annual pre-season tournament. But apparently that wasn't enough for him. He wanted to swap shirts five minutes before the final whistle to wear the red and white for one last time. It didn't happen only because referee Kevin Friend imposed FIFA rules that forbid any player appearing for both clubs in the same game.

Henry blasted the "stupid rules" afterwards. And Wenger admitted: "Thierry was desperate to do it." All of which leaves me wondering quite where the mentality of Arsenal and more especially their manager is sitting just a fortnight before a new Premier League season gets underway.

I've always admired Wenger, and not just for the silky quality of the football his teams play. I've enjoyed press conferences with him, especially the midweek ones when he would get deeply involved in discussing some broader aspect of the game. I've loved seeing him on match days, wound up with passion and the will to win, taking every last little thing that goes against him as a personal slight. And while I might have disagreed with the way he's criticised any player who dared try to make a tackle against his team in the last couple of years, I've loved his one-eyed determination to stand up for his team.
So what's going on if he was willing to let Thierry turn out for him? This might have been a friendly tournament, but it was a pre-season one. It wasn't a gentle Testimonial at the tired end of a campaign, where players have a bit of fun and concede a penalty or two to let the star of the show bow out with a hat-trick. This was billed as a competition.

Just have a look at how Aston Villa, Blackburn and Chelsea went about their business in their pre-season tournament in Hong Kong. There were tackles flying in, and even a little bit of "handbags" at one point. That's three teams getting ready for the action, moving themselves into the right mentality for the hard slog ahead.

And it will be tough. Arsenal, on their reputation, are 1.79 to take their usual top four finish but I think that's become a great opportunity to lay. Liverpool and Tottenham will be more competitive, and the club remains unsettled with the Cesc Fabregas saga which is showing no signs of being resolved. He remains 1.27 to make his move to Barcelona, but while every Saturday since the start of June has brought a glut of "Cesc gone this week" headlines, it still hasn't happened.

That, and doubts about Samir Nasri who is admittedly now 1.5 to stay, have meant the fans who watched their team fall apart last season remain restless. They booed Arsenal off at the end of the Emirates Cup. They want to see their team winning again, and would not have been remotely bothered about watching Henry wear their shirt if he wasn't going to be playing for them when it mattered.

Wenger collected just 12 points from his last 11 games last season. The Carling Cup final which was meant to be the day that turned his young team into winners, instead just exposed their lack of a ruthless streak as they tumbled out of every competition and ended up only just holding on to fourth place. If the manager is also losing winning edge, then what chance have they got?

Giving Henry five minutes to say a proper farewell to Arsenal fans might have been a nice gesture. But the signs Wenger needs to show now are only about a determination to start winning again. And pretty damn quickly.

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