Arsene Wenger has accused the French Football Federation of mismanaging Thierry Henry and contributing to his injury-ravaged season. With Arsenal's chances of lifting a trophy ended, Wenger has revealed his anger towards the federation for failing to rest his captain in the aftermath of the World Cup, contributing to the niggling back and hamstring problems which have plagued his season.
"He is paying the price of success - I feel he has been badly managed after the World Cup," said Wenger. "I don't take responsibility for that because I feel he has been badly managed by the French football team."
Wenger believes Henry should have been rested from international friendly matches but says the 29-year-old was still asked to play "when he was already on his knees".
The Arsenal manager is particularly upset Henry was selected for a friendly against Bosnia on August 16th, despite the fact he had rested him from a Champions League qualifier against Dynamo Zagreb just eight days before.
Wenger had given Henry a holiday from the World Cup final on July 9th until early August and feels the additional match affected his recovery. He wonders whether he should have rested Henry himself for the first match of the Premiership season against Aston Villa.
"Maybe that's where I made the mistake," said Wenger, "but you pay the players and it is difficult to imagine you sacrifice the target of our season, the Champions League, and he goes to play a friendly for the national team. It is very difficult to take."
The French FA did not comment yesterday.
Henry scored just 12 goals in 27 matches this season before his campaign was ended by the groin and stomach injuries which surfaced after last week's Champions League demise against PSV Eindhoven. "It has not been his best season, the first to concede that would be Thierry," said Wenger. "He tells me he is sorry and he feels he has let us down a little bit, but he should not feel that because what can you do about injuries?"
Henry's absence leaves Wenger short of strikers for the rest of the season, particularly with Emmanuel Adebayor suspended for tonight's visit to Aston Villa. Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Eboue and Gael Clichy are also suspended while Alexander Hleb is injured, but Justin Hoyte, Mathieu Flamini and Tomas Rosicky return.
Wenger is already planning for next season and believes he needs a maximum of "one or two" signings of a "super, super-class" quality. The goalkeeper Jens Lehmann has so far refused to sign a one-year extension to his contract but Wenger said: "I expect him to be here (next season).
Shaun Maloney (illness) and Martin Laursen (hamstring) are ruled out for Villa while there has been no improvement in Chris Sutton's blurred vision after yet another visit to the specialist.Gabriel Agbonlahor will be in line for a recall after being left out against Fulham 10 days ago.
Villa manager Martin O'Neill has insisted Arsenal's season has "not been a failure" despite them suffering treble cup agony in the past fortnight. Arsenal lost the League Cup final to Chelsea and were then beaten by Blackburn and PSV Eindhoven in the FA Cup and Champions League respectively.
But O'Neill believes Arsene Wenger's crop of youngsters will reap the benefits of their experiences and become an even more potent force next season. O'Neill said: "From a distance I thought this season they may not have the strength in depth of Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea.
"I think that has been disproved because some of the younger players have . . . shown their worth and it has not been a case of discarding them and waiting for another Carling Cup game to come along before playing them. They are putting themselves forward as genuine contenders for Premiership football and that's where they have gained and they will be much stronger for it this time next season."
