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Why Henry Shouldn’t Have Started With Trézéguet

February 9th, 2007 | By: Laurie | 9 Comments »

I have a confession to make. The real reason I wanted to see an Anelka-Trézéguet pairing was (I’m sorry, David) so we could see if the striker problem really is Trézéguet .

We’ve done David Trézéguet -Thierry Henry before, most recently in the disappointing France-Scotland Euro ‘08 qualifer loss. And everybody blames Trézéguet because, well, Henry’s automatically above reproach, right? And especially now, with Trézéguet playing in Serie B for Juventus, the assumption is that he’s gone soft and has forgotten how to play with the big boys.

But what if that’s not the case? For me, the Faroe Islands game in October was tantalizing. Here’s France, the shark versus the Faroe Islands minnow, and all Henry and Saha can manage in the first 60 minutes are two goals. So Domenech subs in Anelka and Trézéguet , and Boom! Boom! Boom! Three more goals in the last thirty minutes, two of them Trézéguet’s.

So why is this? I read an interesting analysis of Henry’s style of play in The Guardian. It said in part:

“The Arsenal captain [Henry] has never hidden the fact that he does not feel totally comfortable when he has to share the attacking duties with a player in the number nine position. Henry never looks more at ease than when he is slotted alone on the left wing and the presence of Trézéguet hovering in the box seems to be more of a hindrance than a help to him. He links really well with players who stay in a right winger’s role like Olympique Lyon’s Sidney Govou or Manchester United’s Louis Saha.”

And if we go back to December’s anonymous Thierry Henry bashing, one of the criticisms was this same thing: ‘The coach, Raymond Domenech, built the team so Henry plays alone up front. But that has killed off Trézéguet.’

So Domenech takes the criticism to heart for France-Argentina, gives Trez another chance, but sets this up for failure by pairing him with Henry. Again.

Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Raymond Domenech apparently wasn’t listening. He played Trézéguet with Henry on Wednesday for the first 72 minutes, and when that didn’t work he subbed out Trézéguet for Anelka. The only knowledge he gets from that is that, yet again, the Trézéguet-Henry pairing doesn’t work. But didn’t we know that already?

If he’d been thinking, he would have used this game to isolate the problem. Is it Trézéguet, or is it the pairing of Trézéguet with Henry? This was a friendly. Nothing important on the line. So start Trézéguet and Anelka together and see if that works. And if not, well, Trézéguet is the problem and you know not to call him up again. How hard is that to figure out?

There’s a pretty good chance that Trézéguet won’t get called up again. The sad thing is, we’ll never know if this was justified.

Tags: Domenech, France, Henry, Trezeguet

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Comments

By Luis | February 9th, 2007 at 3:46 pm

In the final analysis, it’s up to the coach to fix it. Henry or no Henry, Domenech has to find the courage and creativity to try a few new options.

Posted from United States

By fab | February 10th, 2007 at 1:14 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NER5iYHqGfQ

Posted from Canada

By Anusree (aka La Diva) | February 10th, 2007 at 9:48 am

I watched the match after I came to know the score. I was just curious to see what went wrong. I’m quite sick of the way Trezeguet gets the blame for everything. I’m a Titi fan, but honestly, I didn’t see the same Titi who plays for the Gunners.

ps: Laurie, u gotta check out this video of zizou riding a horse.
http://www.dailymotion.com/flo_6/video/x1609a_zidaneelatf107

Posted from India

By alex | February 10th, 2007 at 12:47 pm

First Domenech. I would argue he’s not a good coach. France succeeded in Germany in spite of him and thanks to a couple of breaks – nothing wrong with luck! You need this in life and sports. As for Trezeguet, I feel for him. He has been a superb striker for France and Juventus. True, he is in Serie B but do not equate this with going soft. Serie B is a highly competitive league. More than people think. Of the two, while Henry is without question world class and in better form, Trezeguet does not fall as easily as Henry. Which brings me back to Domenech. This guy is rich. Hasn’t kept his mouth shut since he lost to Italy and continues to babble about Materazzi. Let it go, lad. Did he not notice the antics of his own players in Henry and Malouda? Deal with your own team, Ray. Zidane had no one but himself to blame no matter what the French PR machine had to say. I was in France soon after. It was ridiculous how some French fans viewed it. Talk about skirting accountability. At least French soccer magazines were having none of it. Don’t mean to rehash this but in my opinion France is better off without Domenech. Hopefully the superb Deschamps one day makes it there. Anyway, I’m afraid you’re right. Perhaps it is time for Trez. to move on. But I will say this: France has the talent to play two strikers or one or whatever they choose. They have more options than England. They’re pretty much like Brazil, Argentina and Italy in this way. Lot of depth there. Just my opinion.

By whb | February 10th, 2007 at 1:41 pm

How many French fans would be able to accept a national side without Henry starting? I think we can find a way to arrange the team to favor Henry, right? He is sooo fun to watch play.
Or France should invest in cloning and get us another Zidane…

Posted from United States

By Laurie | February 10th, 2007 at 9:50 pm

“Or France should invest in cloning and get us another Zidane… ”

Ooh, me! Me! I’ll contribute!

Posted from United States

By fab | February 11th, 2007 at 2:17 am

there are many instances of players who do well for club not not so much for country

would you say henry is one of these people?

Posted from Canada

By Laurie | February 11th, 2007 at 11:21 am

“How many French fans would be able to accept a national side without Henry starting?”

In general you’re right. I think this game could have been an exception. Trezeguet is Argentinian, so the French public really wanted him to play. (How many articles did I see these past couple of weeks about Trezeguet the Argentinian? Lots!)

And have you heard the ovations for Anelka the last two times he’s been subbed in? He’s not just my favorite bad boy, he’s France’s too. Everybody loves a redemption story, and Anelka has SO much talent.

So in this game, starting Anelka and Trezeguet might have worked. Possibly never again.

Posted from United States

By Laurie | February 11th, 2007 at 11:24 am

Alex, I still don’t get Domenech. I can’t decide if he’s brilliant or just lucky and benefiting from other people’s work.

I’m thinking I don’t agree with his Henry obsession, though. I’m not sure the team should be built around him the way it has been. (And Arsene Wenger agrees with me!)