Our Tel was furious with referee Graham Poll. There were several candidates but it's thought that the dubious sending off of Ray Parlour was the action which infuriated the French striker the most.

Although at the time we commended Alan Shearer for trying to calm Thierry down, in retrospect it is possible that he and the Arsenal players who joined in made things look worse than they were. There has been no suggestion (that I've seen) that Henry came close to throwing any actual punches, or even using abusive language. But the sight of his being held back by so many made him look particularly threatening.

Having said that, Henry did persist at trying to get closer to Mr Poll for quite a long time. And there's no question that he wanted, at the very least, to have strong words in the officials face. Plus he plays for Arsenal. Clearly it would have been a miracle if he had not been charged, and it'll be a miracle if he isn't punished for it. Henry has been charged with "improper conduct" which is similar to "bringing the game into disrepute" in that it
a) means: whatever the FA choose it to mean and
b) carries a punishment of: whatever the FA choose it to carry.

Typical of Arsenal: while Newcastle quietly got on with winning the game and then got Craig Bellamy's dodgy red card in that game overturned, Arsenal get thrown out of their stride during the game then further punished for a tantrum. These things are sent to test us, let's try not to add to them.

To be fair, Arsenal's response in the following match - winning in style after an even more dodgy sending off, showed that they're capable of reacting more positively to adversity. But if we lose Henry for a few games, especially if it's while Kanu's away, the damage could already have been done. Do we fancy facing Owen and Anelka without Henry and Kanu?