Thierry Henry new FourFourTwo cover boy (Oct. 2006)p

DonKnutts · 05 Sep 2006, 05:16 PM

He participates in the One-On-One section, responding to fans' questions. Nothing too revealing, but some interesting quotes:

* In response to a question on his time at Juve: "There's something I have to say here, something that needs clearing up. People often say I didn't play much at Juve, but I always played. First of all, I only joined them in January, which explains the limited number of games. I played in all the remaining 16 games of the season, starting in 13 of them; the first three I was on the bench because the coach, Marcello Lippi, was in the process of deciding to quit the club and thought it best to give me a bit of time. And in the last five or six games, I either scored or set up a goal. One or the other. It's true that it took me a few games to get used to the system, because we played a 3-5-2 system I wasn't used to, but I soon adapted and started to play well. I left Juventus for other reasons, which I've never wanted to go into.

* On ranting at Graham Poll at Highbury vs. Newcastle in 2001: "This is another one of those incidents that some people misinterpreted. Some of my teammates came over to pull me away, yes, but only because they thought I was going to lose it. That wasn't the case. They were trying to pull me away and I was telling them that I wasn't going to touch him and that made it look nastier than it really was, which often happens in those sort of flashpoints. When I went over to Poll, there was no one around, so if I had wanted to touch him, I'd have touched him. I just wanted to talk to him face to face. Eye to eye. I wanted an answer from him but he still hasn't given me one. I told him that he had falsified the game, and he had. But he wasn't man enough to admit it, and that was what made me angry.

I don't know if you remember, but he sent off Craig Bellamy—I still don't know what for—and sent off Ray Parlour for next to nothing. And then Sol Campbell pulls off an absolutely magnificent defensive move and he blows for a penalty! At the end of the game I simply asked why he had ruined the game: ruined it for Newscastle and ruined it for us. He wasn't able to give me an answer. If you're a man, you can reply. Everybody makes mistakes.

Note: see http://youtube.com/watch?v=eCYCcR1hrKE for incident

* On being relatively anonymous in London: "Not entirely, of course, but much more than in other countries. For example, I can go shopping in Selfridges, no problem. I couldn't go to the Galeries Lafayettes like that. Here people might recognise you, say "Hi" or give you a wave, but that's all. They don't try to touch, they don't behave in, shall we say, a Latin way. An English person is more distant. He may adore you just as much but he keeps his distance, he doesn't need to touch you, talk to you, tell you he's a fan.

* On what he said to Robert Pires on the last day at Highbury: "I remember saying to Robert that we had to savour these moments. It was the end of Highbury, a magical stadium. It's in moments like that you see the difference with the youngsters—they'd all gone, running in different directions—but I didn't want to quit Highbury, and that's why I stayed there with Ashley and Robert.

* On why he wears #14 for Arsenal and #12 for France: "The 12 because Marco Van Basten had the 12 at the 1988 European Championship, and the 14 because that's what I was given! Simple as that—nothing special behind it. When I arrived here Christopher Wreh had the number 12, so I took a nnumber that was free. He would have given it to me but I don't like that sort of thing, taking a number off someone who's already at the club. He was a friend of mine, as well, but even if I hadn't known him I wouldn't have accepted it.

* On the controversial flop against Puyol and Spain that led to the decisive goal for France: "OK, this is a very simple one. Carlos Puyol is a nice guy but there was foul after foul after foul, and the referee didn't have the guts to do what needed doing. In the end I was actually being penalised because I wasn't going down. It was the same in the Champions League Final: he committed two really big fouls on me, but I didn't go down and he didn't get the card he deserved. After a while I turned to the referee and said, "OK, you can wave play on, but you have the power to come back to the foul once the ball is out of play." He said, "Yes, but you didn't go down." What's that got to do with it?

First half of our match at the World Cup, when the ball's not even near us, Puyol comes across and elbows me. I look at the referee and he says, "You have the advantage, play on." In the second half, same thing. He puts his hand in my face at one stage—nothing. I said, "Next time, I'll fall."

For the incident the question refers to, I'm running for a ball that Pernia should get easily because I'm a bit late on it. I see Puyol move across to block me and I try to run around him but he takes that extra step to block me. Now I like basketball, where blocking has its place, but not in football. What with the Champions League Final, that was the last block on me by Puyol and I went down. Maybe it's not good, but after a while you realise you aren't doing yourself any favours by staying on your feet. For me, it's justified.

* On the best strike partner he's ever had: (Without a second's hesitation) "Dennis Bergkamp. Dennis."

shincan · 05 Sep 2006, 05:55 PM

Thanks for posting this. I got home from a long, dull day at work, only to read these classy responses from the best player in the world.

I can't wait to get ahold of the issue here.

Thanks again.