Thierry Henry has hit back at criticism of Arsenal's playing style, arguing that Arteta deserves respect for leading the team to success. He said that in the past, people always described Arsenal's style as "soft," but now that they play with toughness, some call it "unattractive."You might not like Arsenal's style, but you have to respect Arteta.

Last season, Arteta led Arsenal to their first Premier League title in 20 years. However, the Gunners lost to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final in May, missing out on the European title.

Despite these achievements, some voices still criticize Arsenal for over-relying on set pieces. In the match against Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal's possession was only 24.7%, the lowest possession recorded by a Champions League finalist since statistics began in 2004, leading to significant criticism of the team.

In an interview with Jérôme Rothen of French RMC Sport, when asked if he was annoyed by the negative reviews Arsenal received after winning the title, Henry compared the current Arsenal team to Atlético Madrid under Simeone.

"It's not really anger, but you have to understand, it took Arteta about three and a half to four years to refine the team to championship-contending level. Building a strong team is never easy. The club's management chose to trust him and give him time, and he proved himself to be an excellent coach," Henry responded.

"In the past, when people talked about Arsenal, the narrative was always: 'We are soft, opponents can easily run over us and do whatever they want, but we play beautiful football.'"

"But at some stage, you have to overcome Liverpool and Manchester City. Arteta has been working hard, constantly trying to find ways to surpass Manchester City. Now we are tough, we dominate duels, it's hard for opponents to create chances, and they can no longer easily control us. As a result, some people say our playing style isn't attractive."

"In my opinion, Arsenal has been without a league title for too long, so sometimes you have to find a real way to win. "

"I understand the discussions, and there's nothing wrong with that. But when this is our way of playing, our team's characteristic—stop repeatedly questioning it."

"People always ask me if I was surprised by our tactics in the Champions League final. My answer is no surprise at all. The team often played like that throughout the season, maybe not every game, but against strong opponents of that caliber, this is the approach we take. "

"This is not negative or giving up; it's just game strategy. I've seen many teams win all honors this way, and I've also seen teams lift trophies with beautiful attacking play. "

"So I really don't understand the controversy. Look at our games: when playing away, our overall defense is solid, we don't concede many goals, and even when we do, they mostly come from specific situations. That's just how it is. "

"Of course, we also lost 3-0 to Brighton; in that game, the team's defense was non-existent. It just shows that the opponent played at an extremely high level, and it's been a long time since Arsenal conceded three goals without scoring themselves. "

"You might not like this style, but you have to respect Arteta. He brought trophies back to the club, and I respect that. "

"Perhaps the playing style isn't always pleasing to the eye, but for a long time, teams all over Europe feared playing against Atlético Madrid—and that's what Arsenal is like now. Opponents don't want to face us. For the past four or five years, whenever people played Atlético Madrid, they would exclaim: 'Oh no, it's going to be so hard to score!' Now, the same can be said for Arsenal."

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