How will Henry fit in at Barça?
Let’s make a couple of things clear to begin with. First is that Samuel Eto’o is not going to leave FC Barcelona this summer, the player has no desire to leave and Laporta and Txiki Beguiristain have both stated that they want him to stay. Second, Rijkaard is not going to change the system to accomodate Henry. We are not going to see Ronaldinho, Eto’o, Messi and Henry playing together unless the team is losing and Rijkaard has to take a risk. So, if they are all fit, one of them will have to start as a substitute.
Rijkaard can of course use rotations and that may work fine for a while, but there will come a time in the season when one of the four will feel that they are spending more than their fair share of the time with their expensive arse sat on the bench. Henry will have to be back to his best if he doesn’t want to be that player. I think it will be a close thing between Eto’o, Ronaldinho and Henry, but if I had to bet right now I’d say that Henry will be left out most. Hopefully they will all steer clear of injury so we can enjoy a proper battle between them for places. At the beginning of the season, there will be plenty of comments from the players about what good friends they all are, that the club is more important than the individual, and that they intend to give everything for the good of the team, but as petty jealousies grow during the season, expect to see some sparks.
Whoever ends up on the bench is not going to like it. The camaras will be on them all the time, picking up on anyone who doesn’t celebrate a goal effusively enough. And then the papers will be full of stories telling us that Eto’o is not happy, that Ronaldinho is looking at a move to Milan, or that Thierry Henry regrets leaving London.
The battle for a place will probably be good for Barça at the start of the season, but I feel as time goes by, the inner tensions will begin to emerge and Barça will suffer the consequences in the long term.
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Not so sure Henry will be left out that often, he has a huge caché, is a big signing and they will have to justify the outlay.
Also, Barcelona’s economic situation is still anything buy bouyant. I’m sure at some point this summer they will have to sell a “big” player, one of among Ronaldinho, Eto’o, and Deco.
http://www.arsenal.com/article.asp?thisNav=News&article=473439&lid=NewsHeadline&Title=Club+statement+-+Transfer+of+Thierry+Henry
Henry has Left Arsenal Officially.
You were a brilliant player Henry, Thanks for the memories. You are a true Arsenal legend and you will never be forgotten, thanks for sticking by us.
On behalf of all Gooners…Thank You Thierry Henry.
It’s between Deco & Ronaldinho for leavers I think.
I think Deco to leave. Hmm i guess you could speculate though that they bought Henry because they expect to be selling Eto’o or Ronaldinho. I guess a rotation system could work but like you said there’d eventually be sparks and Barca were supposed to be working on sorting out their dressing room issues not inflaming them. Also i can’t see Henry, whose leaving London to win trophies, signing the contract if he believes he’ll be benched. So maybe they will go with or at least try out the delicious but defensively insane line up of Ronaldinho-Henry-Eto’o-Messi that the tabloids assume it will be.
4-2-3-1 formation. think dey will sell deco
i thought barca were doing fine on the attacking front, it was the defence they needed work on. why did they do that for? and how come hes so cheap? strange. i understand hes old etc, but how come no other club showed real interest? and does this mean gudjohnsen will be coming 2 united? i hope so, hes great! and prob cheap
Well, I think Barcelona is well and truly on its way to both the la liga and the Champion’s League, though it would be premature to say that they would win both at this point in time! That said, I still do feel that Rijkard might still face the problem of plenty when it comes to choosing the 11. But it need not be a bad thing of course. It might just end up bringing out the best in Henry, Eto’o or maybe even Messi or Deco. And the firepower amidst their ranks is hard not to be envious about. And finally, do not rule out Eto’o feeding off Henry, apart from a generous spread from the Ronaldinhos and Messis. Afterall, Henry is no 1-dimensional netter with no other credentials sans goals. He could just play the role of a lifetime as a forward playmaker or something. All said and done, Henry at Camp Nou is great news for all Barca fans, and might just make them bookis’ favourites for the next Champion’s League.
arsenal are out the top 4, make way for reading/spurs
Dan your not an ignorant small minded Reading fan by any chance are you? Arsenal will not finish below fourth for as long as Wenger stays. We manged the same points as Liverpool with Henry not playing on form for most of last season so what will change?
—- messi ———- ronaldinho —–
——- eto’o————————–
———————henry————-
eto’o will stay as a lone striker…
henry will do what he did at arseal be foward but drop from the wing to attack and allow ronaldinho to play a more central role….
The thing that will change is that you won’t have Henry AT ALL, which could lead to Van Persie befcoming lazy knowing that he is guaranteed a first team spot, plus, Henry still scored ten goals last season and won you’s vital points: Man U, Charlton, and others… so Arsenal are definitely going to be challenged for 4th spot.
Nig, I think that your assumtion that the four cannot play together at the same time. I have watched Barcelona the past two seasons extensively, and having seen Ronaldinho play relatively effectively on the left and Messi on the right, I think that Eto’o and Henry can complement each other up front.
As a result we will have a Barcelona playing a 4-4-2 tactic right? NOT NECESSARILY. They might, if they manage to add Chivu to their squad play with 3 defenders, Deco, Xavi and Iniesta in the middle of the park, with Iniesta plaing in line with Ronaldinho and Messi. Alternately they could play Iniesta further left and have Ronaldinho creating havon form his favourite AM/C position. But this would mean that they will not use any wide players sine Iniesta is not really a winger. It is unlikely that they need wide players anyway with the kind of skill both Henry and Eto’o lack in the air (headers).
This, however, could not work from a defensive point of view; with no wide players, teams like Man Utd and Liverpool could run the show from the wings if no opposition is presented.
I think that a safe bet for Barca next season will be to let Deco, Xavi and Iniesta battle for two positions in the M/C and play all of their attacking superstars. They will be the next ‘Galacticos’…
Bye Henry we will all miss u though it sucks that you are going to Barca but best of luck
what manager would not want to play four of the best footballers in the world.All four will start barca play beautifull attacking football and this will not change.henrys ability to make perfect runs will guareentee he starts if anything eto may miss out but my money is on them starting all four and averaging three goals a game on paper it appears barca will be unbeatable next season
Henry would no doubt play in the La Liga with his head up. What bigger dream would a striker have than to have the duo of messi, eto’o n ronaldinho feed him good and accurate passes up front. He has the talent and class to fit in the technical and smooth flowing soccer of the La Liga. With his pace and break neck dribbling prowess, Henry is sure to make his impact felt in the la liga. And believe me if he doesnt play up to his standards, he is sure of playing pretty well in the obvious fashion war between the capital and the catalans. With his charisma n enviable arrogance, Henry cuts the image of the new Prince of Nou Camp. Put simply, catalonia stand up for your new Beckham(fashion icon) and the last king of the English Premiership! You all know that the new King is Our Christiano Ronaldo..Long Live Christy..please dont be a Henry ooh! lots of love from Nigeria
I for one think that Henry will cause a classical “Veron syndrome” at Barca. They signed a big name who has to play and to accomodate him they will have to change a system that works perfectly good. As I said, a classical case of Veron syndrome in the making. Of course, only time will tell if I’m right. Signing of Chivu is a nice peace of business though.
I dont care what any one says, I have just read his last Interview as an Arsenal player on arsenal.com, and I can tell he really does feel sad about leaving us.
When a great world-class player leaves Arsenal we always think of them as a traitor, but he says he put in 100% in every week while at Arsenal and that I do Beleive, I have seen him play on tele but never in real-life, When I think of Thierry Henry I will not think of him leaving for Barca but him breaking Wrighty’s record of Goals, Him kissing the turf of Highbury after the last ever game at Highbury…
Thierry Henry, Every single Gooner loves you…
Good luck at Barca
No mention of recent $28m signing Rodrigo Palacio from Boca Juniors?
He’s a decent player.
Suppose there’s been no mention because he hasn’t been signed by anyone…
The Palacios deal is yet to be made official. It has been happening behind the scenes for about 6 months now…
personally i think one of the midfielders, most likely Deco, will get dropped and have Ronaldinho drop back into that position and Henry will accomodate the left wing position. Thats the only way i see it working with all four…..
i would of thought ronaldinho was on his way out.
But if he does stay i can see him playing a more deeper/central role. A 4-2-3-1 formation does sound perfect for barca with henry, ronaldinho and messi interchanging behind etoo. It really is reminescent of the galacticos era at madrid.
If all of Ronaldinho Messi Eto TH Deco are in the squad next season (*IF*) thn I guess Eto or Deco cud be on the bench. Eto’s been a bit volatile at times this season, and doesnt seem loyal to Barca’s cause on a long term basis.
I dont think TH wud be on the bench.. what a shame if tht wr to be the case. However, I think one of the above 5 wud be sold by Aug 31st. My bet is Deco. The other 4 (Eto to a lesser extent) can play multiple roles n so Rijkkard can juggle thm arnd.
I’m not so sure with this line up with Henry coming. It’s becoming more of a real madrid team, by signing all the stars. My opinion is no more than three stars. Get rid of Deco
we are fuckd thsi time henry he is old i dont think he can play better we have to think about our back not the front orget about it if madrid can play and win the liga with these kind of looser’s what will happen if they gonna start2007/2008 season….
Excuse me mr erique iglasias or what ever youre name is.Youre not gonna buy fabregas. Arsene sold Henry to Barca just so his whole team will revolve around the idea of cesc. And real dont want reyes who is by the way ON LOAN form ARSENAL to real madrid because they think hes too expensive.
barca o7-o8
———————-valdez——————————–
—-edmilson——–puyol—–thuram—————gio——
————————–marquez—————————
—————————————xavi—————
———————-ronaldinho—————————-
messi—————–etoo—————————henry
Barca are surely on the downward spiral if last season be any indication, the same Galactico policy and attitude that messed up the best club in the world will come back to haunt Barca. Henry or some other will remain benched for prolonged periods and one of them will be another Michael Owen in the making. How many superstars can you accomodate in a team and that too all forwards? Henry will never be the player he was at Arsenal where he ruled and the rest followed. Watch out for big ego clashes and outbursts like Eto’o had against Ronaldinho and more troubles at the Nou Camp.
no its truu that cesc os gone i saw it on sky sports tv cesc tald the repoter that if henry goes i am going and madrid took cesc it is a million euro deal its truu i neva bilived it b4 but now yes its truu cesc is going wanger is agreed real madrid gonna take reyes baptista is only 21million and reyes is 25millions so real took reyes etoo is gone i saw it on a website that calderon sayng that etoo wanna join madrid but not to sit on the bench and the milito brohers from zaragosa i mean they ‘r massive madristas they gone to madrid its gonna be 3 attackers for madrid reyes fabregas the spanish arsnal couple had gone to madrd next seson real madrid going to bomb barcalona trust me schuster is coach of madrid its mean all these players going to distroy barca bilive or not this is the truth
2007/2008 real madrid squad :
iker casillas
metzelder
gabi milito
sergio ramos
dani alves
cicinho
heinz
gago
diarra
fabregas
nasri
robhino
reyes
diego milito
etoo(not signed yet)
ruud vanistel roy
/subs/
marcelo
higuain
de lared
nieto
/out of madrid/
raul to (liverphool)
guthi to (newcastel)
pavon to (olimpiakos)
mejjia to (ossasuna)
raul bravo to (diportivo)
canavaro to ( napoli + juventus)
emerson to ( inter + napoli + juventus)
these are the players who gonna leve bilive it or not sky sports uk neva lies ceeyaa
henry is not gonna be the player he was at arsnal he is gonna be the next own like u said
yup thats right
capello is out of madrid now and benrad schuster is in
I think it is fair to say that while Henry’s best days are behind him,the slower paced La Liga will suit him perfectly. I think they will play all four with a view of “we’ll score more than you” attitude. I think what will trouble Henry, and inevitably start the “I wish I hadnt left London” stories is the racism in Spain. Henry wont tolerate it, he isn’t used to it and I cannot for the life of me see him stay for the duration of his contract. In fact I have a £100 bet on it.
i think something has got to give at Barca, theyve got to lose etoo or Gudjohnsen. They’ll be pretty much playing with 4 forwards if they don’t. They need to watch it or they’ll end up playing Newcastle type football where they might score 3 or 4 but run the risk of letting just as many in.
And as for Racism I think Spain need to sort themselves out! What’s the big problem, is it still 1940’s or has Spain just not developed yet?
Henry is bigger and better than all the racists. I think he’ll thrive in it, proving them all wrong.
And another thing if british fans were this racist Uefa would ban them from europe, as they should to spain.
The standard of English football is way better than the Spanish League always will be, from the premiership (most watched league in the world) 90 professional clubs competing in the FA cup, also Championship which is watched by more people than Serie A.
Don’t forget you buy our players when they are past it (HENRY, LARSSON, GUDJONSSEN) and the are still good enough to play in your league because the competition is crap, We buy your up and coming talent (e.g.TORRES, FABREGAS)and where they thrived in spain they will struggle at least for a year in the premiership.
Racism is a thing of the past in the Premiership you’ll never hear those monkey chants you hear when spain play , or when your teams play in europe. It’s an absoloute disgrace! Not to mention that all your best players are black!
And I’m sorry you only have 2 top teams in Spain, only One of which can compete in europe. (Barca) We have 4 teams that have potential to win the champions league, and as for the rest of the prem them teams are still top class! teams like Spurs, Newcastle, Villa, Everton, Blackburn,Middlesborough,etc. are far better than teams like Espanyol, Gimnastic? Ossassuna?
valdez
zambrotta
marquez
puyol
abidal
xavi
deco
ronaldinho
messi thats my team 4 nxt season.
henry
etoo
Well done to Soccerlens for removing racist comments from their site!!
You have gone up in my estimation!
Barcelona will still play the 4 3 3. Ronaldinho is not a natural forward he is a play-making attacking mid-minded player that prefers to make the beautiful pass over taking his own shot. La Porte already said that deco, ronaldinho, and eto, are untouchables… not to mention messi.
Look to the following players to be candidates for a move:
Edmilson or motta maybe both.
gudjonsen, marquez (who fell out of favor with rijcard before his injury) also add xavi to that list of possibles.
Saying the premiership is a better league cannot be further from the truth. The premiership is simply a better marketed league with plenty of money behind it. The spanish league has more technical gifted players that make plays that make u scratch ur head and say “how is that possible!?!”. Every time i watch the premiership its a header to the back of the net or an outside shot that catches the keeper by surprise. The few tecnically gifted players in the premiership always seem to be the star of the team… whereas in the spanish league he is just one of many. The difference in the leagues is made obvious by the great point gap between the top 2-3 in the premiership. True real madrid and barcelona always seem to be up there but not without compitition by teams like sevilla, athletico madrid, villa real, valenica etc.