Thierry Henry opens up on what he picked up from his time under Arsene Wenger
Thierry Henry remains one of the best players to ever play for Arsenal and arguably their best player in the Premier League era.
He starred for the Gunners from 1999 to 2007 before joining Barcelona. He has now gone into management.
His first stint as a manager with AS Monaco ended disastrously as he was fired three months into the job.
He has now been offered the chance to make a name for himself as a manager with Canadian side Montreal Impact.
He has been preparing for the new MLS season that starts in February, but he took some time out to talk about the lessons he learnt from Arsene Wenger that he hopes to take into management.
According to Henry, Arsene Wenger brought to his attention the importance of getting to know your teammates.
“He made me realise, ‘Stop asking yourself the wrong question and ask yourself the right question.'” Henry said per the mirror.
“You need to analyse who you are playing with. Can Dennis Bergkamp play you the ball? Can Freddie Ljungberg? Dennis could, he could find me anywhere, Freddie couldn’t, he was a different type of player.
“I started to think of the game backwards. I realised, ‘Oh, hold on, it is my fault, it is my responsibility, don’t make the same run if Freddie has the ball.’
“I need to make my players realise the same, make them think differently and take responsibility. You’d be amazed how many players don’t actually talk before they go on the field. You need to know each other- talk!”
Wenger may have not evolved at the end of his Arsenal tenure but his knowledge of the game is second to none and it is the little stuff that is invaluable and Henry knows that.
Hopefully, Thierry will end up being as good a manager as he was a player.