Thierry Henry: With Pep Guardiola, I Learned to Play Football Again
The French superstar was almost 30 when he joined Barcelona
Former Barcelona and France striker Thierry Henry has recently revealed on Sky Sports that being coached by Pep Guardiola completely changed his way of viewing the game.
“I learned how to play football again at 30 years old,” he told Soccer AM presenter Jimmy Bullard.
”After what I had achieved at club level, Arsenal, Monaco, Juve - even if it was only for a short period - but also at international level, I suddenly saw the game in a different way - understanding space, understanding staying in your position, understanding you have to give 100 per cent at everything.
”Even when we used to pause to drink in training, you had to run, drink, run back to the drill - his attention to detail is second to none.”
Henry had already achieved legendary status before joining Barcelona, having won the Premier League, the UEFA European Championship, and the FIFA World Cup, among other honors. But with the Catalans he finally won a title that had eluded him - the UEFA Champions League.
Henry said that what could hold Guardiola, who now coaches Manchester City, back is that he can be “too clever sometimes.” “He gets in trouble because he sees many things that he wants to rectify and change,” the French striker said. “He would change a tactic sometimes five times in one half.”
Henry continued:
“If you stand between the right-back and the right centre-back and Sam [Eto’o] or me does the same on the other side, suddenly you hold four players alone. With Samuel Eto’o and me running in behind and Xavi and Iniesta on the ball out wide, Messi is dropping, so either you die or you die.
”Just from you being high and wide, and then coming back in, you are actually freezing four players because we are threatening to go in behind. [There were] so many things.”
“It’s like if I said to you, ‘Meet me in London’ and I don’t give you the address, just meet me in London. If you are clever, you might find me. But Pep gives you the GPS, the address, the car and everything.”
Source: barcablaugranes.com
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