Henry taking hits in Media

[ArsenalArsene]

http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/5692282

This guy does a number on Henry...

Henry laments hot grass and bad referee

This time Thierry Henry blamed hot grass and bad refereeing for France's 0-0 draw against Switzerland.

Barely a month ago, Henry argued that a poor linesman and cynical tackling from defenders cost the Champions League final against Barcelona. But in both matches, a greater truth stood out amid the accusations: that Henry misses chances in big games.

After both Arsenal's defeat, and Tuesday's draw against the Swiss, Henry pointed his accusing finger at everything else except the fact he failed to score.

The bigger issue remains whether Henry, for all his great skill, is truly a big-game player.

I'm a HUGE fan of Henry, he's an outstanding player but he has faults too, i can admit that but i have a real problem with this guy and his article which is 90% an Henry bash fest

[wwnyc]

it's not henry, it's the system domenach has employed......henry is not being used properly. france should drop all these old stars like zidane, thuram and co., make henry the captain, put the young ones in and attack....these old players on their last leg are living in the past....if france wants to make an impact at THIS YEARS world cup, they better adjust.....1998 was over 8 years ago.....just my opinion....

[Spiffgav]

I'm backing exactly what you say. Henry is being used all wrong. Domenech doesn't know his players at all. Les Bleus faltered at Euro 2004 because they were 100% focussed on getting the ball to Zidane. THe man is older and isn't the Zidane of old. It's time to change, Henry needs the focus on him. Also, if Domenech really wanted to have someone on the France team who could set up Henry all game long, he would have sucked it up and called up a certin Bobby Pires. That was a dynamic 1-2 combination if ever I saw one.

[DougG_ATL]

But, honestly, who have the media praised so far? Some teams have yet to play their first matches and already the pundits are writing teams off. Today, they were questioning why Brasil didn't have a more aggressive attack against Croatia. I'm sure they'll have some gripe about Spain tomorrow. And the media here in the US has all but written our team off.

I expect to see much better football in the next set of group matches.

[ArsenalArsene]

i agree completely Domenech doesn't know what he's doing, and the system is not for Henry, he had more head high swings into the box vs the Swiss then in a whole season for Arsenal.

the part i had a real probelm with is the article's tone. the article doesn't focus on why the French team is struggling, it just attacks Henry

[CRASH 4 ARSENAL]

I also agree. France had their shape completely wrong. I really wonder why Vieira and Makelele both play. They both do the same stuff and don't really compliment one another. I would have at least moved Paddy further up the park so he could maybe win a few offensive challenges. France took way too long to transition from defense to offense after winning the ball.

[PsychedelicCeltic]

All you have to know about this garbage can be summed up in two points:

1) Henry scored one of the best goals in the Champions League to give Arsenal a win at the Bernabeu, and whatever the Monday morning QBs say, the pundits all thought Arsenal would lose by a cricket score and that Real were still contenders in the CL. Their shortcomings were exposed in the CL BY Arsenal Football Club.

2) Henry scored a classic goal in Dublin, without which France wouldn't even have qualified. Which needs to be said. France barely qualified over Israel and the Republic of Ireland, two countries that have about 10 million people combined. This is not a good team, it is an old team.

[i404]

I think it's been said before that Domenech (sp?) has made some rather
questionable decisions. I was shocked when I read that Henry would be alone.

He should start Trez, put up 2 good wingers, and use Patrick and Zidane in the middle. Problem solved :p

[michaec]

I think that the coach has some problems, namely playing Zidane. He is past it, he didn't play well for Real Madrid all last season and on form shouldn't have even made the squad. Also, some of you who have been around these boards for a while will remember my dislike for Wiltord and he showed why again yesterday. If Domenech dropped those two and brought in Trezeguet or Saha to partner Henry and played Malouda and Ribery on the wings they would have a lot more pace in their game. Also, with Vieira and Makele in the side he can afford to push the full-backs on a hell of a lot more.

Saying all that, Henry had one of those days yesterday where he looked like he couldn't be bothered. Swiss defenders were on the ball five or ten yards away from him and he wouldn't close them down and when France came forward he wasn't making runs so the Swiss defence was able to suffocate the French attacks. If he's playing that lone striker role he has to make the runs to stretch the defence, either getting in himself or making space for the midfielders to come through.

[gunnerdude11]

The best quote of the article is "On the bench sat David Trezeguet: a far less skillful player than Henry but a far better finisher." HAHAHA I guess 200+ goals in the past 7 seasons doesn't make him a better finisher. I also like the fact that it is an AP article, which leaves out who acutally wrote the aritcle. How could a news agency send out something like this?

[yossarian]

So what else is new.....:rolleyes:

I won't go into the manager's tactics as Michaec and others have already provided spot on analysis as far as that's concerned. The only thing I'll add is that there's no use worrying about these types of articles as unless Henry is the top scorer in the tournament and leads the squad to the finals where he scores a hat-trick....we'll still see the same old tired crap written about him.

[Rewinder]

Domenech is probably the worst coach at the World Cup after the Togo coach.

Does he understand anything about team synergy? And why is Barthez #1? I thought we all agreed a long time ago he sucked.

[Miles Brasher]

So what else is new.....:rolleyes:

I won't go into the manager's tactics as Michaec and others have already provided spot on analysis as far as that's concerned. The only thing I'll add is that there's no use worrying about these types of articles as unless Henry is the top scorer in the tournament and leads the squad to the finals where he scores a hat-trick....we'll still see the same old tired crap written about him.


Because they wont be big games or big clubs he'll score against, or they might be big clubs, but they're not as big as they used to be, or RvN, Ronaldo or Owen would have scored more...:rolleyes:

[Martin Daoust]

Henry struggles in the lone striker's role as it is at Arsenal - it's not suited to him at all. But to have him the lone striker for France is even worse. With Zidane out there running everything Henry can't even try to drop deep to set things up as it will upset the legendaryu Zidane who is now in the same place as Bergkamp in his career - where we get brief cameos at best of the real Zidane - no matter what Shep Messing thinks - and that hurts France all over the pitch. Henry is every bit the goal-maker as he is the goal-taker at his best. He is neither in his role in THIS formation with THESE players. Wenger should note this and remember henry has scored ONE goal when we have played 4-5-1 ourselves and we have barely scored any more as a team...

[Rima067]

The best quote of the article is "On the bench sat David Trezeguet: a far less skillful player than Henry but a far better finisher." HAHAHA I guess 200+ goals in the past 7 seasons doesn't make him a better finisher.

Finishing has nothing to do w/ goal to game ratio. It is goal to goal chances ratio.

Trezeguet, Inzaghi, they are finishers. It is not a slight to Henry. He just isn't the same sort of player. Trezeguet/Inzaghi, they score with less chances in front of goal. Henry misses more. no offense. It is just technical ability in front of goal and burying the ball into the net with less opportunities.

[n4100]

To inject some fact, the reason Malouda didn't play was due to a knock.

I'd say Henry didn't look into the match as there were at least 2 or three times when he had the ball on the left side of the box and opted to try to put it across the face of the net, whereas if he were in an Arsenal kit you know damn well he would've shot.

Since I'm not French, I'm hoping he hangs up his international boots after this tournament, but I think he'll wait until Euro 2008.

[Leto]

it's not henry, it's the system domenach has employed......henry is not being used properly. france should drop all these old stars like zidane, thuram and co., make henry the captain, put the young ones in and attack....these old players on their last leg are living in the past....if france wants to make an impact at THIS YEARS world cup, they better adjust.....1998 was over 8 years ago.....just my opinion....

It was the comeback of Zidane, Thuram and Makelele midway through the qualifying campaign that brought France to the WC in the first place.

[Catfish]

it's not henry, it's the system domenach has employed......henry is not being used properly. france should drop all these old stars like zidane, thuram and co., make henry the captain, put the young ones in and attack....these old players on their last leg are living in the past....if france wants to make an impact at THIS YEARS world cup, they better adjust.....1998 was over 8 years ago.....just my opinion....
Damn, you hit the snot out of that one!
Remember 8 years is a LIFETIME in the sports world.

[xdanx]

I am really surprised at how so many people are blaming Henry for "disappearing" against the Swiss. I finallly ran across an article today from a person who apparently watched the game.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=371094&root=worldcup&cc=5901&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos2

I would write up my views on the game but the article actually does a good job of stating the same observations.

[i404]

And why is Barthez #1? I thought we all agreed a long time ago he sucked.

To keep it technical, he's #16 haha :p and yes, like the rest of the world,
everyone is questioning him starting ahead of Coupet...I didn't even think
he'd be in the squad :rolleyes: