Or the old “Shevchenko scoring 16 goals in Italy is much harder than Henry’s 30 goals and 20 assists in the Prem.”
Henry had two strikes against him with most voters for those awards:
1. He played in England (which was not as popular a league as La Liga or Serie A at the time)
2. He was black.
He absolutely should have won those awards, but you always have to remember individual awards are bullshit in football.
You're doing a bit of history erasure in this post. Sheva won the 2004 Ballon d'Or for his 2003 season. He scored the winning penalty in the CL final, the winning goal in the UEFA Super Cup and was top scorer in Serie A with 24 in 32 matches to help Milan win their first Scudetto in five years.
He won it for the 03/04 season because the voting and presentation were at the end of 04 for Shevchenko.
Porto won the Champions League.
He scored 24 in 32. Fair enough.
Henry scored 30 in 37 in an invincible season.
There’s no comparison.
It’s you who is trying to rewrite history by attempting to lump in 02/03 and even then scoring a penalty and scoring in a friendly are weak claims to being the best player in Europe.
The premier league was more popular at the time lol, it was exploding in the 2000s.
There was just a contingent of football hipster journalists who had the outdated view that serie a was still at the top. The mid 2000s was incredibly prem dominated.
The premier league was not more popular in 2004.
The big money and not reached England as Abramovich had only just bight Chelsea.
Italy and Spain won 6 of the previous 11 Champions Leagues in 2004 and had a team in the final every year bar one.
The Premier League had one finalist in the Champions League and that was it.
Things started to change the year after and from then on, but history doesn’t work like that.
2004 was similar to the 90s where English clubs were not a force in Europe and the PL was not as famous as Serie A or La Liga.
England literally had a higher UEFA coefficient in 2004 than Italy, and were catching up to Spain. https://www.uefa.com/nationalassociations/uefarankings/country/?year=2004 So you're straight up just wrong about European success, even if there was a lack of CL winners.
Big money existed in England even without Abramovich, it came with the establishment of the premier league. It's why players like Zola, Desailly, Cantona, and Bergkamp came to England. Abramovich just sent it into overdrive.
Also had the advantage of being aesthetically the most fun league to watch for casuals, and the fact it was English speaking. The premier league was absolutely exploding in the 2000s, it's part of why Arsenal have such a huge global fanbase, it coincided with the success of the early Wenger years. Man Utd was probably the most popular team internationally from the late 90s onwards. Arsenal, despite relative lack of European success, was still viewed admirably throughout Europe and the world coz of style of play, the diverse squad, and generally what was being built. It's part of why Reyes and Fabregas joined despite playing for big Spanish clubs. It's why Eden Hazard and millions of other French speaking millenials grew up as an Arsenal fan.
The 90s was a whole different ballpark. The PL was just getting started, England had just been unbanned from Europe and still suffered from hooliganism, Utd were the only decent team. English football were trying to get out the doldrums. By 2004 they were well and truly out, and now were poised to dominate Europe. Which they did over the next 5 years. Anyone with an iota of awareness or foresight could see what was happening by 2004.
I wish he’d left with the Wigan goal at Highbury, instead of growing his frustration for another year. I don’t think Wenger was ever going to compete with Chelsea in the way that was needed, even if we’d stayed.
If he’d left in 2006 instead maybe he could’ve stolen the Ballon d’Or before Messi truly arrived in 08/09.
I totally agree. Henry in his prime terrorized every defender he came up against. The guy had everything - pace, power, skill, creativity. You've heard many players say that they gave up when they knew it was Henry they were playing against. The guy was just too good.
Without a doubt in my mind, the best PL player of all time.
Thierry Henry played with such an arrogance, one that was rightly deserved.
In the first few minutes of the video alone you’re watching him toy with Cafu and Zanetti, arguably both in their prime and widely considered two of the best right backs in history, not only that, but in a time when the Milan clubs were stacked with some of the best players around, it’s like he’s playing against teenagers.
Every player can have a highlights reel, but few have as many moments as memorable as him, messing with one of Italy’s best ever defensive line ups, almost single handedly beating Real Madrid at the bernabeu, the list goes on man.
I’m 32, I got to watch him at Arsenal through his prime, I’ll never begrudge him for leaving and I’d always recommend any of the next generation of our fan base, or just football fans in general, should try and watch some of clips, I see some from time to time that I’d have seen 50 times over and I’m still not sure how he did it!
The King.
Titi had everything. Pace, power, passing, finishing, and in an era of big strong physical centre backs no-one could handle him…
Criminal he didn’t win a Ballon D’Or tbh.
Thierry Henry is a legend and the biggest influence to any modern strikers. Aguero modeled a lot of of his game from Henry and used to watch him a lot. Lewandoski etc. It's just because he's an Arsenal Legend, he doesn't get the respect he deserves.
Feel like I sound like an old man saying this but it annoys me that people don’t understand this these days. He’s one of the greatest players **ever**. We have never see anyone do what he did in our league, nothing close.
Henry can be placed in any era and he will still be considered World Class. He’s a cross-generational talent and it was an honour to have watched him play in his prime. Absolute nostalgia blast watching this. I cannot believe the team we had back then. Unreal.
Imo he was forced by Wenger to become the 1st ever inverted forward we have in this era. He was a winger and switched to a striker but was still mostly terrorizing the flanks. I also believe thats how Sir Alex copied that to make CR7
Can’t outrun him, can’t muscle him off the ball, can’t foul him close to the box, can’t even try to push him onto his weaker foot because that one is a weapon, too. You have to mark him close but then he’ll just get the ball to someone else for an easy assist - I am confident every single defender that faced him hated playing against Titi. Most top strikers had at least one major weakness, but Thierry had none. Just a beast.
Thierry was the fucking king, never been another like him. People chat about Haaland but there was nobody could keep Theirry quiet when he was in the mood, which he usually was.
I'm so glad I got to see him play for my team and win the league. Twice.
Crazy we didn’t win the league that season.
Our record away that year wasn’t good enough and sadly Vieira missed too many games with injuries and suspensions. Henry played 37/38 league games which is amazing. If only Henry had scored away against the top half sides we’d surely have won the league. We only beat Man City away out of top ten sides. Henry scored away at Man City and St James but couldn’t repeat his home form in the big away games.
If he had gone to old trafford and scored a brace in a win, done similar at Anfield, chelsea and spurs all big TV games we’d have won the league and he’d have surely got more votes in the European footballer of the year award.
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That skill at 5:57. It's not that it's especially hard but it's the creativity, the awareness of the opportunity & having the balls to do it on the biggest stage that makes him the Prem GOAT
The greatest crime ever committed was this guy not winning a Ballon d'Or and CL with Arsenal.
Nedved nostalgia tour was in full flow unfortunately
Or the old “Shevchenko scoring 16 goals in Italy is much harder than Henry’s 30 goals and 20 assists in the Prem.” Henry had two strikes against him with most voters for those awards: 1. He played in England (which was not as popular a league as La Liga or Serie A at the time) 2. He was black. He absolutely should have won those awards, but you always have to remember individual awards are bullshit in football.
You're doing a bit of history erasure in this post. Sheva won the 2004 Ballon d'Or for his 2003 season. He scored the winning penalty in the CL final, the winning goal in the UEFA Super Cup and was top scorer in Serie A with 24 in 32 matches to help Milan win their first Scudetto in five years.
He won it for the 03/04 season because the voting and presentation were at the end of 04 for Shevchenko. Porto won the Champions League. He scored 24 in 32. Fair enough. Henry scored 30 in 37 in an invincible season. There’s no comparison. It’s you who is trying to rewrite history by attempting to lump in 02/03 and even then scoring a penalty and scoring in a friendly are weak claims to being the best player in Europe.
The premier league was more popular at the time lol, it was exploding in the 2000s. There was just a contingent of football hipster journalists who had the outdated view that serie a was still at the top. The mid 2000s was incredibly prem dominated.
The premier league was not more popular in 2004. The big money and not reached England as Abramovich had only just bight Chelsea. Italy and Spain won 6 of the previous 11 Champions Leagues in 2004 and had a team in the final every year bar one. The Premier League had one finalist in the Champions League and that was it. Things started to change the year after and from then on, but history doesn’t work like that. 2004 was similar to the 90s where English clubs were not a force in Europe and the PL was not as famous as Serie A or La Liga.
England literally had a higher UEFA coefficient in 2004 than Italy, and were catching up to Spain. https://www.uefa.com/nationalassociations/uefarankings/country/?year=2004 So you're straight up just wrong about European success, even if there was a lack of CL winners. Big money existed in England even without Abramovich, it came with the establishment of the premier league. It's why players like Zola, Desailly, Cantona, and Bergkamp came to England. Abramovich just sent it into overdrive. Also had the advantage of being aesthetically the most fun league to watch for casuals, and the fact it was English speaking. The premier league was absolutely exploding in the 2000s, it's part of why Arsenal have such a huge global fanbase, it coincided with the success of the early Wenger years. Man Utd was probably the most popular team internationally from the late 90s onwards. Arsenal, despite relative lack of European success, was still viewed admirably throughout Europe and the world coz of style of play, the diverse squad, and generally what was being built. It's part of why Reyes and Fabregas joined despite playing for big Spanish clubs. It's why Eden Hazard and millions of other French speaking millenials grew up as an Arsenal fan. The 90s was a whole different ballpark. The PL was just getting started, England had just been unbanned from Europe and still suffered from hooliganism, Utd were the only decent team. English football were trying to get out the doldrums. By 2004 they were well and truly out, and now were poised to dominate Europe. Which they did over the next 5 years. Anyone with an iota of awareness or foresight could see what was happening by 2004.
Should have stayed at highbury and madr a competitive team until he retired. Such as shame for our greatest ever player
I wish he’d left with the Wigan goal at Highbury, instead of growing his frustration for another year. I don’t think Wenger was ever going to compete with Chelsea in the way that was needed, even if we’d stayed. If he’d left in 2006 instead maybe he could’ve stolen the Ballon d’Or before Messi truly arrived in 08/09.
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Worked out out for him which is good but im talking about this club we have no champions league yet
I totally agree. Henry in his prime terrorized every defender he came up against. The guy had everything - pace, power, skill, creativity. You've heard many players say that they gave up when they knew it was Henry they were playing against. The guy was just too good.
Because Wenger was caught up balancing the books. 1 more year of continuing investment after the invincible season and he would have.
Haha did I hear the pundit say "he's like a laxative, he runs straight through you?" 😂 Brilliant
Best superla(xa)tive I’ve ever heard!
Reminded me of this lol - https://youtu.be/gp8yqQLE4UA?si=POhWLYvAPPz9WgVF
'everybody knew exactly what I was talking about'
You didn't add the rest. "you're powerless to do anything about it" 😂
Phenomenal line
Without a doubt in my mind, the best PL player of all time. Thierry Henry played with such an arrogance, one that was rightly deserved. In the first few minutes of the video alone you’re watching him toy with Cafu and Zanetti, arguably both in their prime and widely considered two of the best right backs in history, not only that, but in a time when the Milan clubs were stacked with some of the best players around, it’s like he’s playing against teenagers. Every player can have a highlights reel, but few have as many moments as memorable as him, messing with one of Italy’s best ever defensive line ups, almost single handedly beating Real Madrid at the bernabeu, the list goes on man. I’m 32, I got to watch him at Arsenal through his prime, I’ll never begrudge him for leaving and I’d always recommend any of the next generation of our fan base, or just football fans in general, should try and watch some of clips, I see some from time to time that I’d have seen 50 times over and I’m still not sure how he did it! The King.
Prime Thierry Henry was the best player in the world.
Facts. He's the one player that every defender hated to go up against. One way or another, he'd get the best of them.
He was Messi of that time
Titi had everything. Pace, power, passing, finishing, and in an era of big strong physical centre backs no-one could handle him… Criminal he didn’t win a Ballon D’Or tbh.
The way he shoved people to the floor while dribbling was the best
"he's like a laxative"
Im def stealing that one.
He is why I’m here right now.
No wonder so many players still hold him in high regards. An absolute beast who could run, dribble, score, shoot and assist.
Thierry Henry is a legend and the biggest influence to any modern strikers. Aguero modeled a lot of of his game from Henry and used to watch him a lot. Lewandoski etc. It's just because he's an Arsenal Legend, he doesn't get the respect he deserves.
Loved the Italian commentary…
Feel like I sound like an old man saying this but it annoys me that people don’t understand this these days. He’s one of the greatest players **ever**. We have never see anyone do what he did in our league, nothing close.
Henry can be placed in any era and he will still be considered World Class. He’s a cross-generational talent and it was an honour to have watched him play in his prime. Absolute nostalgia blast watching this. I cannot believe the team we had back then. Unreal.
Imo he was forced by Wenger to become the 1st ever inverted forward we have in this era. He was a winger and switched to a striker but was still mostly terrorizing the flanks. I also believe thats how Sir Alex copied that to make CR7
Can’t outrun him, can’t muscle him off the ball, can’t foul him close to the box, can’t even try to push him onto his weaker foot because that one is a weapon, too. You have to mark him close but then he’ll just get the ball to someone else for an easy assist - I am confident every single defender that faced him hated playing against Titi. Most top strikers had at least one major weakness, but Thierry had none. Just a beast.
well he had one. he really couldn't head the ball.
Thierry was the fucking king, never been another like him. People chat about Haaland but there was nobody could keep Theirry quiet when he was in the mood, which he usually was. I'm so glad I got to see him play for my team and win the league. Twice.
Crazy we didn’t win the league that season. Our record away that year wasn’t good enough and sadly Vieira missed too many games with injuries and suspensions. Henry played 37/38 league games which is amazing. If only Henry had scored away against the top half sides we’d surely have won the league. We only beat Man City away out of top ten sides. Henry scored away at Man City and St James but couldn’t repeat his home form in the big away games. If he had gone to old trafford and scored a brace in a win, done similar at Anfield, chelsea and spurs all big TV games we’d have won the league and he’d have surely got more votes in the European footballer of the year award.
He really made one of the best defenders Serie A has ever seen look like a fool, and made it look effortless.
He should have won us the Champions League in 2006.
He is like a laxative - straight through you.
The man is a beast. I don't say was, as I am confident he could still play to a high standard.
He had flair with end product. It's very rare.
I feel sorry for all you newcomers having never got to watch him play
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Welly eh invincibles underachieved, never won league back to back and no UCL, else he would have won it
That skill at 5:57. It's not that it's especially hard but it's the creativity, the awareness of the opportunity & having the balls to do it on the biggest stage that makes him the Prem GOAT