with setbacks would make the difference on the day. He dismissed accusations that Liverpool were boring, rather describing his team as difficult to beat. Owen, the match winner, felt he answered his critics by scoring left-footed: "It's nice to prove people wrong when they say you haven't got a left foot. I was supposed to be the worst header and the worst player with my left foot in the league, and how could an England player play when they haven't got a left foot. ... It does go to show that I have improved and I am improving." Wenger lamented Arsenal's inability to make possession count, saying: "It has happened all season. We don't finish." He criticised the referee for not sending off Henchoz, especially as linesman Kevin Pike told him the Liverpool defender had committed a foul. On reflection of the season, Wenger disagreed it was one of failure – "It is not easy to get to the quarter-finals of the Champions League, the final of the FA Cup and to finish in the top three of the Premiership in the same season", but admitted he needed to make signings to strengthen the squad. Henry called for changes to Arsenal's forward line and felt the team would benefit from a "fox in the box", a player who would stay in and around the penalty area to score. "When I make wide runs and put in crosses there is often no-one there to put the ball in the net. Owen was the hero because he is always in the right place. We need a goalscorer like that", he concluded. Journalists and pundits reviewing the final praised Liverpool's tenacity; radio commentator Alan Green wrote in his News Letter column of 14 May 2001: "Simply, they never give up and when you have a player like Michael Owen within your ranks you believe that any situation can be rescued, as it was in the magnificent Millennium Stadium." The Guardian correspondent David Lacey declared "The Owen of France '98 was reborn in Cardiff," while Hugh McIlvanney of The Sunday Times called Owen "the master executioner of English football." McIlvanney felt over the 90 minutes the Arsenal team were "unlucky to lose", lauding Vieira's show in midfield. James Lawton's match report in The Independent was not as empathetic; although in praise of Henry's performance his indecision compared to Owen, demonstrated how "effect, not style,