The problem with thierry henry in france is that the team is to zidane centred.
It's the same problem Obafemi martins has with jay jay okocha in the Nigerian team.
if you noticed obafemi never scores with jay jay playing, because all the balls are passed to jay jay first instead fo releasing obafemi on a
fast break which is his strength.
Does it mean obafemi is not a good striker. when jay jay is not playing the team relies on givng obafemi quick balls which is his strength. Thats why he scores. the games jay jay has played with obafemi, obafemi has been substituted when he plays in the same team with jay jay.


Henry complained of the same problem after euro 2004. he said the team was to zidane centred and it was affecting the strikers. Don't forget trezeguet was in the team too and he didnt score. So is trezeguet a mediocre. Everything in the french team must be routed through zidane, which kills off the strenghts of trezeguet and henry.

Henry scored 5 goals in the last champions league. He single handedly carried arsenal to the finals. with a fantastic goal against madrid.

give the guy abreak. ok


name a striker in the world presently playing thats better than him. and don't say Eto, because only an idiot will not realise that eto is strong because of the vision of ronaldinho and deco. when he was at mallorca without dinho the highest he scored was 16 goals in a season. so don't be stupid be realistic. Henry has done it all by himself.

@ hucarson.

i hope you reading all the posts., you gonna retake your stand as per henry?

Can someone just google and tell me how many french strikers, ever have scored more goals for France than Henry, and how many people, ever have scored more champions league goals, or premiership goals? whatever yardstick you use, he's still one of the greatest goal scorers currently playing the game. Period.

And yes, Arsenal play to Henry's strength better than the French team. Thats the genius of Wenger.

One thing i despise about Arsenal fans is the pretentious way they see things.

@ Babwilms & GUNNER.
The hatrick against inter milan is the only one i can remember out of over 90 champions league games Henry has played.
In fact,that has been the only game Henry really showed his class outside Premiershipin almost 7 years.
The goal against Real Madrid is just a goal. It wasn't as if Henry showed an individual display of class. He only scored a goal.

@ Mochafella,
Did u say Henry was the best U-21 player to feature in France 98 asides Owen?
What abt Denilson, RAUL,Zenden,Ronaldo,Gianluca Buffon, Morientes, Kluivert, Seedorf,Nakata?
Its obvious ur comments r biased.
Henry didn't measure up to these players at the world cup.

@ nightrider,
I can mention 5 strikers better than Henry at the moment.
*Luca Toni(scoring 31 goals for  a club like Fiorentina in Serie A is no child's play)
Samuel Etoo.
Tevez
Lionel Messi
Shevchenko
Adriano
David Villa
Fernando Torres
Klass-Jan Huntelaar

Hucs,

Abeg he don do. You should know these gooners before now. They will always rally behind their crownless king

There is no point prolonging this matter. We are all going to see if your igwe will even get to score a goal even against Togo sef.

@hucarson. I still dey wonder if you ever watch Henry or the premiership self. Even Van Nlisteroy (Hope i spell it right) is a better goal getter (striker) than those you mentioned above at his peak. And we all know Henry himself is way better than Nlisteroy.

How do you judge a good striker? Is it only by the goals they score, skills, techniques? What happen to assists?

So Thierry Henry that scores over an average of 30 goals every season for the past few years na child's play abi?
The players you mentioned, let them all come to play in the premiership and lets see, how many goals they can score in a season? I doubt if they can score up to 20 a season. Though i prefer the La Liga to any other European leagues.

The French team will continue to suffer unless they build that team round Henry and not Zi-Zou.

Superman,
don't mind them. Nigerians won/t try to help themselves, they are always trying to help someone when they themselves have bigger problems.
Let's look for how to salvage Nigerian football and Nigerian footballers and stop trying to help a player who already ranks amongst the best 3 strikers in the world.
Henry has won the world cup, the premiership , the Fa cup, Euro cup except the champions league. i don't think a player who has this kind of record needs our sympathy.
Let's think of how to improve Nigerian players, because no Nigerian player has achieved what he has achieved rather than predict doom for Henry when the world cup has just started.

hucarson,
what happened to the hatrick henry scored against Roma few years ago and my broda,that is not even a true measureof how great a striker is,@ the mundial in 1994 Oleg Salenko scored 5 goals 4 Russia against Cameroun and he is never mentioned as one of the greatest strkers that has graced the game

ALL THOSE STRIKERS U MENTIONED ARE NOT AS GOOD AS A DEAD HENRY, or what pedigree do they have 4 club or/and country that surpasses henry's,pls be objective

Thierry Henry does not click with The French team and yes, all the coaches might be wrong with their tactics, from Aime Jacquet to Domenech. if we say Christain Chukwu is not a coach, then Domenech is just not one. Ballack has a free role in both club and country and see wat he does. Come to think of it, which of the superstars to watch have lived up to expectation? for me, only Essien and Appiah of Ghana, those bois played their hearts out.

Henry should be given more freedom and Trezeguet given that all out attacker role, chikena!

hmmm
we get to hear some correct word on this thread.

huc,


Luca toni scored 31 goals for fiorentina- (this season only) good !!! but
how many goals did fernando torres score? dnt make me laff

Tevez, has yet to prove himself in europe.  don't deceive yourself

david villa ( didnt even win golden boot)

Adriano is better than henry( are you wide awake)

klass jan huntelaar is playing in the dutch league (do you know the dutch league? well if you don't its that same league where a certain kezman scored 31 goals in aseason)

please don't put lil messi in waters where sharks are swimmimg. (hes a great footballer not a great striker) 2 of his 6 goals at U21 world cup wher penalties aginst nigeria. lets hope he doesn't even fade out like all the other over hyped argentines , saviola, ortega, palermo.

shevchenko ( great striker, but how many times has he won the italian golden boot?)

Please there is no striker like thierry presently. don't deceive yourself. the only man in the EPL to hit more than 20 goals consistently for more than 5 seasons.

Henry has problems in the national team, ask yourself why, maybe he doesn't get the same buzz playing for them like he gets when he is in an arsenal shirt. French team is to zidane centered and thats not thierry henry's style.

@ Kitaun,
Its obvious u just started watching soccer.
Oleg Salenko is a great striker and the 5 goals he scored against Cameroon was not a fluke.
He might not be popular cos his career was short-lived but ardent football fans can never forget this Russian lad.
The same Oleg Salenko u don't know was the highest goal scorer at Saudi '89.
This competition also had Mutiu Adepoju, Sonny Anderson and Joao Pinto so he has got pedigree.


@ nightrider,
I know you're eating back your words on Messi and Tevez now.
Can u now see what i meant by big match players?
Tevez and Messi came in as substitutes and scored mouth-watering goals.

If Fernando Torres plays for Chelsea or Man Utd he will hit more goals than he does for Athletico Madrid.
I doubt if Henry will score 10 goals in a season at Athletico Madrid or Celta Vigo.

Shevchenko is not even in the same class as Henry. Andriy is way beyond Henry because this is a striker that has got everything in him.
He is a complete striker and he is way skillful than Thierry. How many times has Henry scored with his head?
The UEFA champions league all time leading scorer is no joke and he has proven himself in a tough Serie A league.
Henry scoring more than 20 goals in 5 consecutive season in the English League is impressive but not a yardstick.
He hasnt been able to transform that form outside the Premiership because the Premiership is a very weak league.
A football league where Arsenal went 49 unbeaten for a whole season smells of weakness and fraility.
No team can ever go unbeaten in La Liga or Serie A. I will adjudge Henry the best striker if he wins the golden boot in either UEFA for one season or this world Cup.
Anything asides that is unacceptable. I will never judge a striker the best in the world based on the domestic league alone.
U people need to broaden your scope about Henry. Where else has Henry won the golden boot apart from the Premiership?
RVN has won it in the dutch league,premiership and even UEFA thrice in the last 5 seasons(2002,2003 and 2005). Thatz who i call a complete predator and not a dud Henry.
BTW,can u compare Ruud's goal ratio to Henry?
Ruud has notched 150 goals for Man U in 218 goals(0.69)
Henry has notched 214 goals in 342 games for Arsenal(0.63)
Please tell me,who is the greatest?

i think several reasons r responsible for this.For one,Henry as far as i am concerned thrives on hype.No mata wat all Gunners and their gawdforsaken fans think,he is no match for the like of Ronaldinho,or my darling Samuel Eto'o.like sum1 rightly pointed out,why was his purported move to Barca aborted at the last minute.Reason is simple,He aint no match and he's gonna stick out like a sore thumb.Secondly Raymond Domenech is to blame if France fails to move beyond the first round.For Gods sake,where does that guy get his qualifications from
Imagine keeping Trezeguet on the bench against the Swiss!!! That guy has to watch it or else,Les Blues r soon gonna turn to Les Doomed.For once true socca lovas should look beyond the English press and see Henry for who he truly is, a normal selfish striker

Who the hell is this nightrider guy.i hope u dont confuse soccer wit probably basketball.how on Gods green earth can you eva want to compare Shevchenko to the minnow Henry.We all know wat it took Abramovich wit his millinos b4 he could get "the Hitman'.Europe's most prolific goal scorer and dat my dear niterider is no joke.For me, i'd ratha have a Luca Toni,carlos Tevez or even Adriano.Henry is simply not good enuff,

Please, also look beyond all the goals scored in the premiership, Europe and for France. All totally irrelevant.

Thanx hugoboi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How can some peopz be so myopic to judge Henry based on what he does at the Premiership alone?
English Premiership is well organised but its very weak technically. The gap between the top 3 teams(Arsenal Chelsea and Man U) and the others is just too wide and it makes it so predictable.

Henry has never won the golden boots at UEFA champions league ever before and they think he is the best in the world.
I feel sorry for the gooners.
RVN, Luiz Ronaldo, Morientes, Sheva and Etoo are better than Henry.
What was Henry's pedigree before he joined Arsenal?
A woeful 3 goals in 28 games for Juventus and a disappointing 28 goals in 141 games for AS Monaco.
Henry is too over-rated especially by Nigerian Arsenal fans

hucarson:

@ Mochafella,
Did u say Henry was the best U-21 player to feature in France 98 asides Owen?
What about Denilson, RAUL,Zenden,Ronaldo,Gianluca Buffon, Morientes, Kluivert, Seedorf,Nakata?

I dey look, I dey laugh as Fela will say.

You listed 9 players as U-21 as at France '98. I will list their dates of birth and then talk about those who were truly U-21 as at that tournament. I'm sure you can do the math.

Zenden - August 15, 1976
Ronaldo - September 22, 1976
Morientes - April 5, 1976
Kluivert - July 1, 1976
Seedorf - April 1, 1976

Nakata - January 22, 1977*
You are kidding me right. Japan had a grand total of 1 goal while exiting at the 1st round. Nakata neither scored nor assisted on that goal. They were beaten by Jamaica, not exactly the strongest team out there.

Denilson - August 24, 1977
Denilson had a grand total of 2 assists in that tournament, granted he started only one match and was subbed in for the others. His biggest claim to fame before and immediately after that France '98 was the record fee Betis paid for him. It would have being different if he performed as well as you allude to. My most vivid memory of him remains the multiple "showboat" step-overs he executed in the final against France before Thuram calmly stepped in and took the ball from him. Not exactly the best when his team desperately needed goals.

RAUL - June 27, 1977
The entire spanish team was a dissappointment at that world cup and Raul was not spared. You know that. He was regarded as the boy wonder who fizzled especially after his performances for Real Madrid that season. He did score one of the top five goals at the tournament but he scored only one.

Gianluca Buffon - January 28, 1978
Erm. One question. How many minutes did Gigi Buffon play at France '98? Answer: 0 (ZERO, ZILCH, NADA). Pagluica was Italy's 1st choice in 98. How did someone who did not get on the field of play become the best U-21 player at the tournament.

hucarson:

Its obvious your comments r biased.
Henry didn't measure up to these players at the world cup.

You seem to be implying that I support Arsenal. You couldn't be more wrong. That team has character problems, but that's another discussion. How does a player who warmed the bench measure up to one who scored 3 goals?Na wa for you oooo.

Henry has scored 42 goals in 75 champions league matches. He is the 6th highest scorer of all time in the old European Cup and champions league. The only players ahead of him that are still playing the game are Raul, Sheva and van Nistelrooy. How ordianry is that? Stop beefing the guy abeg.

If a player is not important, no one talks about him. So , all ye anti- henry, keep hyping him for me. Thanks

Henry,whether or not pple like hucarson,toshmann,bolaoni,akolawole like him or not is,A LIVING LEGEND,WHAT AFFICIONADOES TERM AS BEING PHENOMENAL,
Hucar,
U probably have 4gotten that the EPL tagged by u as weak produced last year's champions league winner and this year's runners-up
Hugoboi,
What makes the EPL unpredictable when u cld have relegation bound teams like Southhampton, defeat or pull draws with almighty Man U,OR teams like Boro thrashing Chelsea 3-0,Arsenal being defeated by West Brom,or b4 matches u cld predict all these.
The 42 goals of henry in the CL probably were played indoors and they are perhaps non big stage matches,abi
Majority of u guys even b4 the start of the EPL this past season said with him being the captain of Arsenal,he will be so weighed down and he wont be among the top 3 goal scorer,some said he wont score up to 15 goals
Guys,go and have a rethink and be objective 4 once

[quote author=seeker link=topic=15257.msg431236#msg431236 date=1150475413]
Henry has scored 42 goals in 75 champions league matches. He is the 6th highest scorer of all time in the old European Cup and champions league. The only players ahead of him that are still playing the game are Raul, Sheva and van Nistelrooy. How ordianry is that? Stop beefing the guy abeg.
[quote][/quote]

Thank you for the statistics, seeker. Henry is simply wonderful, most of the goals he scored in the champions league are his solo effort, most often he does not require assistance to score his goals. Remeber that Henry's great goal agaist Real Madrid, he dribbled through three markers to score, would his critics say that Real has got bad defenders.

The world cup is not over yet I think we will see more of Henry good plays.

Arsenal fans on Nairaland thrives on fake beliefs.
U have not been able to answer the one-million dollar question.
Why has Henry not been able to win the golden boot in other competitons apart from the Premiership?
RVN has won it in the dutch league, the premiership and the champions league.
Luiz Ronaldo of Brazil has won it in the la liga with Real Madrid in 2003/04 and in Barcelona(34 goals in 37 games) and in the dutch league and at the world cup.
He has even won it in the confederations cup and copa america. These are tested strikers that have scored great goals in all competitions.
Ronaldo or Ruud never complained that the team wasn't built around 'em. Those r just excuses of a spoilt child.
A good striker will prove his worth anywhere on God's green earth but Henry hasn't done that to my satisfaction.
Lemme remind u that Henry hasn't scored in the world cup for 8 solid years. Is that a striker to be reckoned with?
Please mention RVN, Ronaldo, Shevchenko, Etoo before u mention Henry.
End of story.

yesssssssss [color=#006600][/color] hucarson and hugoboi its all good how monkey go chop banana with im peel afterall na extra meal be that !

now u listen as much as u try 2 berate henry hahha well just wonderin if u ever play football ha i mean play not "kick"

ukraine are threatening to drop your super SSSSSSSSSSSShevchenko in their next game! wonder what u make of that u emmmmm something ! just like people will say Ghana lost their 1st match of because they dnt have a striker !! well i must say im not an expert but then im black and i gt common sense u no! i notice ghana had a gd mid-field holdin possesion at the best hence 53%-47% but then look when they go forward, now take a look at ivory coast u wonder why they are able to score goals oh unlucky ivory coast! of because they are able to co-ordinate in the front hence their defenders are invite forward to have a shot a goal!

hey dnt gt 2 high on your supply @hucarson and family  of because it all bulllllllllllllliiiiiiii

Is this not the same Henry that killed Juve and Real? Why is it that players like Okocha, Kanu and Yakubu have been club mongers (Okocha just started scoring for the country, when sef, notably 2000) so what are we talking about?

In 2002, Henry was premiership guru, Trez Italo killer, Cisse French highest goal scorer, yet they came back without a goal (even Nigeria managed one in Aghawonder)

Picking henry out does not really make sense. You should also ask Mateja Kezman, Owen, Ronaldo and Shevchenko whats been happening to them lately, abi?

To top it all, Henry is the 7th best freekick taker in the world (even higher than Zidane, of course Sinisa Mihajlovic is the world's number one, unfortunately Juninho didnt make the top 10 ironically)
All the same, saying eto'o or shevy is better is a FAT lie. I am not a gunner, but Nistelrooy knows there's one guy who has overshadowed him and Shearer's record is in danger coz THERE IS ONLY ONE THIERRY HENRY and the world cup is not enough to prove that.

in 94, Oleg Salenko and Stoitchkov were the highest goal scorers (Romario and Baggio were there o)
in 98, Davor Suker was the highest goal scorer (Rivaldo, Ronaldo and who else sef were there)
2002, thank God Ronaldo did it. (Owen (arguably one of the best 6 in the world) and co were there, what did we get?)-Holland did not even make it with the likes of Kluivert, Nistelrooy, Hooijdonk, Hasselbaink, Kuijt and woteva.

So don't blame Henry, besides there are two more games in the corner, let's see. I believe in HENRY!

@ Christino.
Kanu and Okocha are not top strikers. Be that as it may, the 2 players have both represented Nigeria well in youth football and national team.
Nwankwo Kanu was named the player of the tournament at Atlanta 96. He has been named african footballer of the year twice.
Henry hasn't even won the european player,let alone win the world player.
How many goals would u expect an Okocha or Kanu to score in a tournament compared to Agahowa/Ikpeba/Martins?
Henry is a striker so much is expected from him. Your comparison is horrendous and dud.
No one is trying to single Henry out but the Premiership is the only place where he can thrive.
I believe a good striker should prove his worth in anywhere on God's green earth.
He has never won any other golden boot apart from the premiership and u dare compare him to RUUD who scores freely in any competition.
Dutch League, Champions League, Premiership, European Cup are places where Ruud has proven he is better than Henry.
In 94, Romario and Baggio still scored 5 goals each as against Oleg Salenko/Stoichkov's 6 goals.(still close)
In 98, Ronaldo still managed to score 4 goals which is still close to Suker's 6 goals
In 2002, Ronaldo scored 8 goals. the 1st player to score more than 6 in 24 years or so.
What has Henry scored in the world cup that made u bring up this contradicting comparisons of urs.
U can never qualify to be a lawyer or an analyst. your comparisons are woeful.

@ Superman.
The fact that Ukraine wants to drop Sheva in their next match doesn't make him a less player.
Sheva stands taller than Henry in all departments.
He has won the golden boot at Serie A a couple of times while Henry ran to Arsenal when he could only get 3 goals in 28 matches.
Sheva has been named European footballer of the year despite playing for a non-footballing nation like Ukraine.
Sheva is the all time leading scorer at the Champions league so forget about Henry.

@ Elampiro
U said Henry is the 6th highest goal scorer in the champions league with 42 goas in 75 games(0.56 goal ratio). U think its impressive?
Anyway, check this. Van Nistelrooy has scored 46 goals in just 55 games(0.84 goal ratio) in the same competition. Thatz 20 games less than your Henry and 4 goals more than Henry.
I worry more about the Goal ratio (number of goals per game) than the goals scored.
Raul and Sheva are the only 2 players ahead of Ruud in the number of goals scored but no human being in the world has Ruud's amazing goal ratio.
Raul has 51 goals in 101 games(0.5 Goal ratio) Sheva has 51 goals in 98 games(0.52 Goal ratio)

I hope u shut up if Henry scores a hatrick in d world cup, and we are on d verge of seeing it. As for analysis, winning awards is not a parameter for judging da best. Okocha has never won d Best in Africa, but we know wuddup, and he has never scored in d world cup. He is a midfielder like Dinho or Rosicky or Zizi. Yet it won't take a thang away from him. And for your info, Henry has 33 goals in 79 games for France (one more than Trezeguet) for a player who used to be a supporting striker like Kanu. Henry scored 3 goals in France 98.

Kanu scored 44 goals for the gunners, how many for the country? Yet he is one of the best.
You know how many goals Okocha scored for the wanderers, what about Fernabache? Before 2000, how many for Nigeria?

Arsenal look ORDINARY without Henry, Man U have shown they can do without RVN.Pronto. RVN has paid his dues no doubt.
As for the other world cups, get your facts for 2002 right.How many strikers were able to deliver?Suker,Stoitchkov,Eto'o,Diouf,Owen, name them, you left them out?

And as for the best goal scoring record, man, you need to see Gerd Muller (365 goals in about 420 games or so in the bundesliga) and 14 goals in 2 world cups? and his international record? Kai walahi, you need to see Jan Koller's as well. Get your facts right mister Analyst or Lawyer and don't forget, we'll prolly never see another Nazario Da Li!

And for all the analysts saying Czech will beat Ghana, you've learnt not to bet your money on eba and amala

Very Funny.
Arsenal looking ordinary without Henry simply means Arsenal is a shhit club.
Let Henry go to Barcelona or Milan and letz see if they will look ordinary without Henry.
Each player in Arsenal's 1st 11 players are always missed because Arsenal has a very small squad.
Arsenal can only boast of 13 good players and hence no competition to fight for shirts.
Virtually all the players on Chelsea's bench will feature week in-week out if they play for Arsenal.

Henry's 33 goals in 79 games for France is still woeful. Yekini's record is better than that.
Dont compare Okocha n Kanu to Henry.
Okocha is a midfielder. How do u expect him to get many goals like a striker?
Suker and Stoichkov did not go to the 2002 world cup. Dont blaspheme.
Comparing Diouf and Etoo to Henry even makes it worse. Can u compare France's team quality to Senegal or Cameroon?
Diouf/Etoo in Henry's shoes in the french team will score at least 4-6 goals at the last world cup.

Talking about Gerd Muller. Those were the days of traditional football formation.
Defences were more porous. No complicated offside rule like we have now so goals flow freely.
Pele scored more than 1000 goals in his career. Isn't that ridiculous.
Henry + Ruud + Shevchenko + Raul + Ronaldo together will struggle to make 1000 goals so it shows u cannot really reckon with Gerd Muller's comic record.


Henry scoring a hatrick?
I have got a better chance to become the President of the United States.
On a second thought, he might score a hatrick if and only if France plays Sunderland FC or West Brom at the world cup.
Henry has never scored from any of Zidane's slide rule passes shows Henry lacks the bite when it comes to playing for France.
Hatrick ma ass.

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hucarson yea yea yea its all gd u gttin high on ur supply ! ghana just battered cez republic !! ppl like u will never dreamt dat as u profoundly believe everything u read ! very clever guy! going by the statistic as u always rely on to back ur useless claim ghana gt no chance ! just wonderin ! as much as u like to idolise ur rolnadino if u do play football u can always see how okocha influences this guy in his style of play.

well all haters who sit behind their friggin pc's to critisize wat they cant do.Henry scored yesterday in the 9th minute get that??

Henry is hounded by a terrible jinx,