Thierry Henry

J

JamDav1982

Senior Member
Henry was past his best by time he moved to Barca and then wont treble close to couple years later.

Unreal player in his day and every bit as good as Ronaldinho when both at peak. Should have had at least one WPOTY or balondor.

Best player EPL has seen at his peak as well. Better than Ronaldo was at Man U or Salah has been at Liverpool.
 
Maradona37

Maradona37

Well-known member
I haven’t read the posts, but I have thought about it and realised I overreacted and was being unfair to Thierry (in my now deleted rant). I guess I was in a bad mood at the time and venting my annoyance and he was my target.

He was obviously an outstanding player, which I never disputed, he was very very talented. I love how he always opened his body up to score in particular. He was very graceful. It’s just when people say stuff like he was on Ronaldo 9’s level, was better than Zidane, one of the top twenty players of all time, the third best player of the 21st century and stuff like that. Some people do say that about him and it is definitely giving him more credit than he warrants.

However, that is clearly an extremely pedantic, overly stringent way of rating players. Acknowledging a player is exceptional (as I did) but calling them overrated relative to their peers is petty on my part. So I will say I was mistaken.

So, he was brilliant, but just gets a little too much credit from a few who go overboard putting him on the level of the players above.
 
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vegitot

Senior Member
From 2002-06, Henry was clearly way better than Zidane. There were strong cases that France should've built the team around Henry's strength (quick, direct style) than Zidane's. France played brilliantly in Confederation cup 2003 without Zidane and Henry being the MVP. Henry played well in all tournaments Zidane also played well. Their best tournament also from Euro 2000. Zidane was the MVP but Henry was great in Euro 2000 too, let's not kid yourself.
 
Maradona37

Maradona37

Well-known member
vegitot said:
From 2002-06, Henry was clearly way better than Zidane. There were strong cases that France should've built the team around Henry's strength (quick, direct style) than Zidane's. France played brilliantly in Confederation cup 2003 without Zidane and Henry being the MVP. Henry played well in all tournaments Zidane also played well. Their best tournament also from Euro 2000. Zidane was the MVP but Henry was great in Euro 2000 too, let's not kid yourself.
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I did have something long typed up countering this, but can't really be bothered debating it. I don't wanna criticise Henry when I rate him very highly. It's just he was brilliant, but other players were even more brilliant.

------------------------------------

I really don't want it to seem like I don't rate Henry. He was an incredible player and very likely the best PL player of all time.

However, people act like it's a joke Nedved won BDO over him, as if Nedved was a nobody rather than a world-class player himself, smacks of PL ignorance. Some try to put Henry on R9 and Ronaldinho's level, then you are saying France should have built around him, not Zidane. Building around him didn't work too well for Arsenal in Europe. It's comments like in this paragraph that make me have to say something.

It seems like some people think Henry is an all-time great - a level up from guys like Gerd Muller, Romario, Batistuta, even Garrincha according to another guy on here. I couldn't disagree more with this thinking.
 
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Maradona37

Maradona37

Well-known member
Messigician said:
Can’t believe Maradona doesn’t rate Henry one of the slickest players of all time
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You're either playing with me or misread what I have written.

I have gone to great pains to say he was brilliant and I rated him very highly, arguably the best PL performer of all time.

However, people are saying it's a joke Nedved won BDO over him (disrespecting Nedved), acting like France should have built around Henry and not Zidane, saying Henry was on R9 and Ronaldinho's level. IniestaGOAT mocking a legend like Garrincha to exalt Henry.

This is when something has to be said because as brilliant as Heny was, those players are even more brilliant. Please don't claim I don't rate Henry when that isn't what I said. I said he was brilliant, but there's levels to this game. He's clearly not R9 or Ronaldinho or Zidane level brilliant. But he's clearly miles better than someone like Robin Van Persie or Bruno Fernandes.

You can be brilliant and still get too much credit relative to peers. Like I say though I still don't consider him overrated as it's very petty to say an amazing footballer is overrated just because a few think he's as good as an even more amazing footballer.

It's more of a pushback against people implying he's a top 20 player of all time. If anyone thinks that they're giving him too much credit.
 
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Maradona37

Maradona37

Well-known member
Messigician said:
He is easily top 20

Arsenal’s best ever player
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Lol this is what I am talking about. He is most definitely NOT top 20 player of all time. You will never ever find a reputable publication putting him that high in all-time great lists.

I don't think you realise how many geniuses or amazing players there are in the history of the game.

And being Arsenal's best ever player doesn't make someone top 20 of all time
:ROFLMAO:

There's plenty of bigger clubs in Europe than Arsenal

Messi, Maradona, Pele, Cruyff, Ronaldo 9, Ronaldo 7, Puskas, Di Stefano, Muller, Ronaldinho, Beckenbauer, Meazza, Eusebio, Garrincha, Rivaldo, Matthaus, Platini, Zico, Best, Zidane, Van Basten, Batistuta, Romario, Xavi, Iniesta, (are you seriously gonna say he's better than them two cos most don't put them in the top 20?), Socrates, Rummenigge, Rivelino, Maldini, Baresi, Cafu, M Laudrup, Tostao, Schiaffino, Baggio, Gerson, Rijkaard, Carlos Alberto, Gullit, Neeskens, Hagi, Stoitchkov, Zanetti

There's a list of non-active players (other than Messi and Ronaldo) who could mostly be put above him, many of them, maybe not all, but by people who have seen them. I haven't even mentioned that many defenders or goalkeepers yet. There's loads more.

I haven't even mentioned players from recent years with a big shout - Benzema, Robben, Lewa, Suarez, Neymar, Modric etc.

If you say 'but someof them loads of us haven't seen outside of YouTube videos' then maybe you're right. But that doesn't automatically mean you put Henry above them because you saw him play much more than them. That's laziness.

Saying he's top 20 IN FOOTBALL HISTORY given the sheer abundance of great players in the game's 160 years span is beyond ridiculous. You must be trolling. You'll dispute a lot of those and put them down to elevate Henry, which will simply reinforce my belief you're overrating him in the all-time great debate.
 
Maradona37

Maradona37

Well-known member
Even if you dispute some of those names, tell me which of these players he's OBJECTIVELY better than...

Pele, Maradona, Messi, Cruyff, Beckenbauer, Zidane, Best, Garrincha, Ronaldo 9, Ronaldo 7, Muller, Van Basten, Platini, Zico, Puskas, Di Stefano, Ronaldinho, Romario, Maldini, Michael Laudrup, Baggio, Matthaus, Eusebio.

You seem to have a major soft spot for the guy, which is fine - he was a fantastic player. But please don't disrespect others from history by claiming he pushes them out of the top 20 list. He didn't achieve anywhere near enough in his career outside of the confines of a modest PL (at that time) for a club who are not an elite power like Real, Barca, Bayern, Milan etc. He was a constant second or third fiddle in the France team and they fell apart after Zidane retired.
 
Messigician

Messigician

Senior Member
Maradona37 said:
Even if you dispute some of those names, tell me which of these players he's OBJECTIVELY better than...

Pele, Maradona, Messi, Cruyff, Beckenbauer, Zidane, Best, Garrincha, Ronaldo 9, Ronaldo 7, Muller, Van Basten, Platini, Zico, Puskas, Di Stefano, Ronaldinho, Romario, Maldini, Michael Laudrup, Baggio, Matthaus, Eusebio.

You seem to have a major soft spot for the guy, which is fine - he was a fantastic player. But please don't disrespect others from history by claiming he pushes them out of the top 20 list. He didn't achieve anywhere near enough in his career outside of the confines of a modest PL (at that time) for a club who are not an elite power like Real, Barca, Bayern, Milan etc. He was a constant second or third fiddle in the France team and they fell apart after Zidane retired.
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Espn has Henry top 3

www.espn.com.au

Ranking the top 25 men's soccer players of the 21st century

Who makes our list of the top men's soccer players since 2000? ESPN reveals the best 25 with their accomplishments and why they're on the list.
www.espn.com.au www.espn.com.au

I think you’re the one disrespecting the French prince

He’s easily top 20

@iniestaGOAT @HenryOliver
 
Maradona37

Maradona37

Well-known member
Messigician said:
Espn has Henry top 3

www.espn.com.au

Ranking the top 25 men's soccer players of the 21st century

Who makes our list of the top men's soccer players since 2000? ESPN reveals the best 25 with their accomplishments and why they're on the list.
www.espn.com.au www.espn.com.au

I think you’re the one disrespecting the French prince

He’s easily top 20

@iniestaGOAT @HenryOliver
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Lol I have seen that list before - it puts him above the likes of Zidane, Ronaldinho, Xavi, Iniesta, which discredits his placing immediately. it's an insane list, has been commented on as such by others, and is clearly motivated by the fact Henry works on American football TV.

Saying he is top 20, or easily top 20, is extremely disrespectful to some of the best players of all time. Look at the list I gave you and tell me who he is better than.

Tell me how he's better than Rivaldo or Romario or Batistuta for example, none of who would be top 20 either probably.

He was a fantastic player, one of the best of his generation. But top 20 of all time is crazy and I'd expect 99 percent of football fans with knowledge of the game's history would agree with that.

Anyway, cannot be bothered arguing anymore.
 
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