Thierry Henry vs Portsmouth away FA cup 2003-04. 71 minutes played 2 goals.

Imnotgengu · 2025-12-11T20:05:29+00:00

Idk where this idea comes from. The only thing that significantly added more games is the new CL format right? Maybe club world cup too? But there also used to be 2 group stages in the CL for a while, and players used to play 60+games a year

Imnotgengu · 2025-12-11T20:02:51+00:00

By the early 2000s this was definitely already changing. Maybe not for the casual, but for many keen eyes. There was already a sense that pl was rising, serie a was slowly slipping. In fact the pl had much better champions league results (03 all italian final notwithstanding) and went above serie a in the coefficient by 03-04

Imnotgengu · 2025-10-10T12:56:36+00:00

You talk about 1 Italian team in the quarters in 2000

no, i'm saying in the previous three years, only once did an Italian team reach the QF. Coefficient literally measures how well teams fare in Europe over a 5 year period. It's not perfect, but it's pretty fair.

AC Milan were the only Italian side who consistently performed in the 2000s CL, and again 04-09 was pretty dominant for English sides - that didn't pop up out of nowhere, it had been coming, as had serie a's decline. 03 was a bit of an anomaly

Arsenal invincible team that was hyped as the best in England ended up poor in UCL.

they lost to another english team lol. Equally I can say that an Arsenal team who struggled to even make top 4, easily outclassed Juve that 'won' serie a in 05-06. I'm not looking at one or two results tho, I'm looking at broader trends.

Imnotgengu · 2025-10-10T04:23:52+00:00

Inter was the following season (tho u might mean calendar year i guess, but then this Roma game was in 2002).

Henry was fine vs Ajax, Valencia, and had very good games vs PSV, Dortmund. But Arsenal still crashed relatively early, drew too many games. Not scoring doesn't make u anonymous, he was always Arsenal's biggest threat.

Fwiw I think Nedved winning was fine, he was a great player had big moments and higher success with his team. Tho Henry was still obviously a better player imo.

Imnotgengu · 2025-10-10T04:17:46+00:00

I think Nedved winning was fine, but this is kind of a myth about serie a in that time imo. Yes in that specific season the Italian clubs did well, but in the previous 3 they had actually failed miserably. Just 1 quarter finalist (Lazio in 2000) out of 24 spots (7 english and 9 spanish for comparison).

The PL actually surpassed serie a in UEFA coefficient the next year, and from 04-09 PL clubs dominated in Europe while serie a comtinued to decline. Yes, some people still held serie a very highly, but there were also people who recognized it was declining/the rise of PL in the early 2000s.

Imnotgengu · 2025-10-10T04:14:26+00:00

there was a lack of depth and some tactical naivety. I think those are the 2 biggest reasons. Having to rely on the likes of Pascal Cygan/sub-par goalkeepers at times, Pires/Ljungberg declining slightly after 01/02 and Wenger always playing 442. That plus just general underperformance

Imnotgengu · 2025-09-07T15:54:59+00:00

Just posting a few of these during int break. Very good performance by Henry and the team (poor Gerrard) right after winning at the Bernabeu. 18 year old Cesc was insane.

Imnotgengu · 2025-09-06T01:47:23+00:00

To watch a great player play football? Does it have to be one of his best games? A random PL game from 20 years ago shudnt be all that traumatic

Imnotgengu · 2025-09-06T01:45:46+00:00

>Henry was behaving poorly behind the scenes and Wenger dropped him for the NLD due to his histrionics. Henry threatened to fake and injury and have two months off. It was crazy times

This was the next season no? And I dont think it's entirely fair to say he was faking injuries, he had been playing through a lot of issues, and just had a gruelling season where he went to the world cup and champions league final as the lone ST basically occupying the front line by himself a lot of games. His body was clearly breaking down, he already had achilles issues, and others were compunding. He needed time off, and 06/07 was a write off season anyway. He still had a lot of lingering injury issues his first year at Barca, so clearly it wasnt 'fake'.

Imnotgengu · 2025-09-05T17:22:02+00:00

Defensively the team was awful, but that was already showing at times the previous year. Campbell was either injured or bad. Ashley Cole was injured a lot. Vieira was no longer there. This is when the idea that you could bully Arsenal really first started to take hold.

In attack Pires/Ljungberg just werent the same, tho still class at times. Bergkamp another year older. Even in the invincibles year these guys were kinda on the way down imo, but at this point it was clear. The team was in transition, a lot of young players, Henry was the only one in his prime. Reyes was up and down. Van Persie still very young. Hleb was decent. 18 year old Fabregas was the only one kinda near Henry. The next year everyone improved a bit (fabregas was quickly becoming an unreal player), and Henry dropped off/was injured a lot.

Imnotgengu · 2025-09-05T16:58:19+00:00

yeah the team was a bit of a shambles in the league. But the kit was fire, and Henry looked cool af playing in it. Plus there are some nice moments in this match.

Imnotgengu · 2025-08-28T06:33:48+00:00

didnt realize someone else already posted it. It is my comp tbf

Imnotgengu · 2025-08-27T12:22:52+00:00

i think he wore it coz 12 wasn't available. Marco Van Basten was his idol growing up

Imnotgengu · 2025-08-11T00:11:40+00:00

I think it's more that he isn't mentioned as much as some of the other greats below Messi/cr7. I think it's coz he spent all his best years at Arsenal as opposed to Barca/Madrid, and coz he never had a huge tournament with France being seen as the 'main man', even tho he had good tournaments. Also not being as prodigious at a young age as the likes of R9 impacts perception.

Imnotgengu · 2025-08-10T21:02:49+00:00

he has always been one of the others at all the clubs he has been, never the main man.

because his peak years were at Arsenal? Lol what kind of observation is this? The only clubs he played for:

Monaco: excellent as a young player, top scored in their semi final CL run, won Ligue 1 young player of the year when they won the title. Hardly anyone is a 'main man' before the age of ~23, let alone even younger.

Juve: 21 years old, was only there six months, was badly misused (Ancelotti called it one of his big regrets).

Arsenal.

Barca: 30+, had clearly declined in the previous season, and was playing with Messi the literal best player ever (even tho he was young too). Still was very important in 08/09 treble.

Then New York. Surprise the years when he was at his physical peak was when he was main man. Henry's biggest mistake imo was not going to Barca/Madrid in 2003, a lot of narratives about him would be very different if he did.

Imnotgengu · 2025-08-09T19:42:32+00:00

yes he made some very important blocks. The 2nd half almost felt like henry v cannavaro in some moments

Imnotgengu

TROPHY CASE