Liverpool owner on defensive as team struggles

But Henry defended the Fenway Sports Group's cautious approach to the summer transfer window, despite a 2-0 loss to Arsenal on Sunday leaving Liverpool with just one point after three matches of the Premier League season.

Striker Andy Carroll was sent on loan to West Ham less than two years after being bought for a British record 35 million pounds (then $56 million), and new manager Brendan Rodgers is frustrated about the failure to replace him with American forward Clint Dempsey, who instead left Fulham for Tottenham on Friday.

"I am as disappointed as anyone connected with Liverpool Football Club that we were unable to add further to our strike force in this summer transfer window, but that was not through any lack of desire or effort on the part of all of those involved," Henry wrote to fans in a letter posted on the club website.

"They pushed hard in the final days of the transfer window on a number of forward targets and it is unfortunate that on this occasion we were unable to conclude acceptable deals to bring those targets in."

Henry rescued Liverpool from the brink of financial collapse in October 2010 when heavily indebted owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr. were forced to sell the club, which won the last of its 18 English titles in 1990 and finished eighth in the league last season.