My Issue With Henry’s Diving And Arsenal Fans
Thierry Henry is a fantastic player, and despite being a United fan I’ve gladly accepted defeat on one topic in any argument with Arsenal fans - Henry is undoubtedly one of the best strikers in the world and a class above Ruud van Nistelrooy.
But recently, Henry has taken the habit of going down under challenges far too easily, and it rankles me as a football fan and as an admirer of Henry to see such a classy player do this.
If you haven’t read the first few installments of this series, please read these articles:
- Henry Dives Again, Arsenal Fans Say: He’s Playing For France!
- Arsenal Fans: Henry Was Fouled. World: No He Wasn’t.
- Henry: I’m Not A Diver. World: Yeah Right.
- Henry Is A Diver? Even Angels Fall
- Pulling A Rivaldo
There are other great players who are just as guilty of gamesmanship, simulation, diving, cheating, whatever you want to call it. The 2006 World Cup has been a showcase for fantastic football, long-range goals and a vast array of diving techniques.
Luis Figo, Michael Ballack, Cristiano Ronaldo, Arjen Robben, Michael Essien, Mark van Bommel, Franc Ribery, Franceso Totti…the list goes on and on and on.
So why am I picking on Henry, and by extension Arsenal and Arsenal fans?
Is it because I think United players are angels? Hell no. We’ve done our fair share of playacting and nasty tackles. Football is full of good married with bad.
My issue is that at the end of the day, Henry has made such a big deal about fair play in the past that to see him act like this (twice in three games) is sad. I really, really like the guy, and I think that in both cases Henry could have taken the tackle, stayed on his feet and kept playing.
But he fell over, something I’ve never seen him do before.
What has changed? That’s what I want to know.
Everybody dives. Very few players stay on their feet.
Thierry Henry was one of those very few people. Now he isn’t. And football is much worse off for that.
as an arsenal fan it was a shame to see henry go down so easy. however in both cases he was fouled, so what’s the problem? and why slate arsenal fans for it?
http://soccerlens.com/arsenal-fans-henry-was-fouled-world-no-he-wasnt/1550207.html
Read my comments (the second last one) on that post.
On both occasions Henry was fouled. Do you also have a series of Ronaldo “diving” posts? I thought the Superman dive in the first half was a thing of beauty.
Ronaldo has never been a ‘fair’ player. Henry has had the ‘clean’ image for so long, and now, in the space of three games, it’s like he’s decided that he’s going to win this WC any way he can.
The whole Portugal team dived - if Ricardo had the chance, he would have taking a dive as well.
hmmm. you write an artice on a “dive” with clear contact from calvalho, but fair to mention ronaldo and postiga’s dives even though they are in the same game. anything to do with your manchester united links perhaps? i will admit henry milked it but there was still clear contact with his leg.
Mate, read the previous post. and my comment just above you.
also to your question “what has changed” i would say that after the champions league final, henry has realised that fair play gets you nowhere. our goal came from an eboue dive, and he was kicked all over the pitch by puyol (who didn’t get booked) and marquez (who eventually was booked after we were behind 2-1) and when he made a clearly clean tackle on marquez he was booked.
look at what happened with england. i would say our player are some of the most honest professionals in football, and it gets us nowhere. if you flap your hands asking the ref for a card and dive and waste time, then for some reason you seem to win 9 times out of 10.
i’m not saying i condone any of it because i don’t, however until players are sent off for diving/waving imaginary cards then they will keep doing it because they will not ALWAYS get booked for doing it. if they knew it warranted a straight red card however, i’m sure it would cut most of it out.
Not a dive - clearly not a dive. Carvhalo has previous, whether shirt pulling, tripping or pushing, he has made a career of it, particularly in the EPL. That was a nailed on pen tonight and your criticism smacks of the Clive Tyldesly school of MU fans.
As for the free kick from which France scored in an earlier game, I agree the TH exagerated to some extent but it was still a foul. This is the guy who could have had a Southampton defender sent off in the first minute of a Cup Final but stayed on his feet.
Now Ronaldo [ the Portugese variety]… now that’s another story.
That’s the thing, don’t you see? He’s put himself on a higher moral ground, he’s come out *blazing* after the Champions League final with things like “I’m not a woman, I don’t dive” blah blah blah - his point was, don’t fall over if you aren’t falling over. Don’t fall over on contact, because that’s what he (presumably) meant the Barca players were doing. To be fair, he’s killing his reputation right now. I’m not the only one who thinks so too - read the Guardian, Times Online, a few other places. I mean, once you’ve said I-don’t-dive-and-other-people-do you’d better protect that reputation.
Do take a look at the vid, he has this second when he can stand and chooses to fall. Again, I’m a huge fan of his football, and this is a bit of a shame, if you ask me.
Thanks for staying rational
The foul was bad, yes. But download the vid of the incident if you wish and see the replay.
Henry has been one of the ‘gentlemen’ of the game and such a great representative of the sport. To see him fall over when he could have stayed up (this is Henry dammit, the man with magic feet). It was easier to fall down, and he took that option.
I could sit here and talk about the Portuguese diving but that’s not a ‘debate’, is it?
He was fouled, but he milked it - welcome to the world cup. I wonder if the CL final actually wore him down. He may have realised if he had gone down to one or two of the kicks he copped all night, the result could have been different - hopefully it hasn’t changed him for the EPL
to be honest, i would respect thierry more if he dived. c.ronaldo, figo, deco were all pathetic. they seem to have vertigo because they have trouble staying on their feet. they deserved that and i was so pleased to see the tears on ronaldos face, the world cup wouldnt have been the same without them. if anything i hope hes learnt a lesson about respect and fair play… good riddance i hope he never comes back
Yeah, he could have stayed up, but he would have lost the fraction of a second which would have allowed him to put the ball in the net. The foul cost him the time he needed to score, so he would have been stupid to try to stay up, because it would have cost France a goal.
I tihnk it’s a different situation than your typical dive and I don’t think it’s fair to get on his back for him. There’s a difference between diving and going down when you’ve been fouled out of a scoring opportunity.
Please read my comments on this post:
http://soccerlens.com/henrys-a-diver-a-response/0530259.html
It’s the second comment. Further discussion of this topic should be directed to that post as well.
Thank you.
I think Henry changed his attitude after the CL-Final. He was beaten the whole night and got no whistle for the attacks of the Barca players. Because of the referees you have to go down or you will not get the call.
But do not get me wrong: Henry is not a diver. Yesterday it was a clear penalty. Nothing agains ManU but you have the diver in your team. I hope for you and for all Premier League Fans that Christiano “The Diver” Ronaldo will leave. If not I hope Wayne Rooney will welcome with open arms (around Ronaldos neck).
Henry learnt from the Champions league final with Barca that playing fair wins you nothing he got kicked repeatedly and stayed on his feet and got no support from the referee. I think he has made a decision to play as others do but probably hasn’t had the experience of others in mastering the art so can look more blatant, although as previously mentioned he WAS FOULED
Do take a look at the video, he lands, waits for a split-second, and falls. We were discussing players who won’t dive and the only ones we could think up at the time, sadly, Beckham, Zidane and . . well, no one! I don’t think it would be a big deal to me if a certain Mr. Rocky Dixon hadn’t been praising his “gentleman-liness” to the skies in the last four years. So that’s that, then. His balance is as good as among the best in the world, I’ve seen him double over and run out a few yards, straighten and SCORE - if you remember the Birmingham game. He RARELY falls. Those who’re saying he made a meal of it, I can understand. It’s not diving, fine. But saying that he fell over on that contact? THAT’S the joke. With his astounding balance, he would NOT have fallen.
great article mate. i’m a lifelong gooner and i agree with mostly everything you have to say. it absolutley appals me (and every football fan) to say it, but he dives because it wins games. Joe Cole, Wayne Rooney, Stevie Gerrard have all be guilty of it in recent games this season purely because of this fact. i think Henry’s folly was making his statements after that gut wrenching match in paris in May, and furthermore agree with some of the comments above; until something is done to rid our game of this abhorent play acting, then we can hardly find fault with our most admired and honest players joining in purely to get results.
Hasan, first of all, where have I said that Henry “fell over on that contact”? Please point it out, either on the Spain match or the semi-final. Thanks.
Secondly, are you trying to imply that my praise of Henry’s great attitude towards the sport on and off the pitch was not merited? Bar the theatrics against Spain, has he, or has he not been a great ambassador of the sport, his club and his country?
I really can’t understand why merited praise of arguably the most entertaining striker to grace the Premiership strikers such a bitter personal chord with you, and I say that because you yourself have centered your uproar over the recent issues around my praise of Henry (which was merited, as Ahmed Bilal also agrees).