“Wenger opened my mind but Pep opened my eyes”

One of the best Premier League players in his prime, certainly among the top 5 Arsenal’s footballers of all time, Thierry Henry decided to turn to coaching once he ended his rich career. But it has not gone to plan like it did when he was just a player. He learned his trade as assistant with the Belgium national team from 2016-2018 before taking Monaco. A hugely successful team at the time didn’t looked good under Henry so he was sacked soon. He went to coach Montreal in 2019 but as he says, the Covid season in 2020 got the worst of him and he wanted to go back home. He took various pundit jobs before coming back to Belgium as assistant, but left the post when Roberto Martinez stepped down as manager.

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Finally, he was appointed U21 France and Olympic team boss and enjoyed his first victory, a 4-1 rout against Denmark in a friendly game. Speaking to his former France team-mate Bixente Lizarazu on Telefoot, Henry talked about influences he had when he started to think about being a coach. Logically, the first name was Arsene Wenger. The Arsenal striker spent most of his career playing under the French tactician, and he featured in 379 games, scored 228 goals and registered 103 assists. In his not so successful Barcelona career, he played for Pep Guardiola, who was promoted from Barcelona B to A team during Henry’s time at the club (74 appearances, 30 goals, 15 assists).

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He was very simple and honest when talking about Wenger and Guardiola.

“Being a manager is about asking the question: Can you make your players more intelligent, and understand football a bit better? Let’s use Guardiola as an example: I thought I was good at football but when I arrived at Barcelona, I just thought, wow! What is he talking about? Arsène Wenger when I arrived at Arsenal, opened up my mind in continuity with what I knew from Clairefontaine; Pep Guardiola opened my eyes. He made me understand that pressing was good. Generally speaking, as an attacker, you don’t normally want to do these things. But then I developed a desire for pressing high and appreciating another aspect of the game” revealed the Frenchman.