John Terry and Jamie Carragher have no doubt that Arsenal legend Thierry Henry was the most frightening player they came up against during their playing careers.
Henry is revered in the Premier League thanks to his superb 174-goal stint with Arsenal between 1999 and 2007. He fired the club to two league titles – which includes the ‘Invicinble’ 2003/04 season – and two FA Cups, while he became one of two inaugural inductees to the Hall of Fame last year.
While the Frenchman was prolific in front of goal, he was also creative from his left-forward berth and registered 20 assists in the 2002/03 campaign – a record which went unmatched until Man City star Kevin De Bruyne replicated the feat in the 2019/20 campaign.
Terry and Carragher went up against Henry in his prime for Chelsea and Liverpool respectively and they are not ashamed to admit just how frightening he was.
When asked to pick out one player he was frightened of during his playing days while appearing on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football in 2017, Terry replied: “Henry. You would know, mate. He was so quick.”
Carrahger quickly interjected to say: “Honestly, I’m still terrified of him now!” Terry went on to reveal Henry was the only player who caused him to have restless nights on the eve of a game.
The Chelsea hero said: “He (Henry) was the best by far and he had everything. His movement, he was like a silent assassin, wasn’t he, because he score with his head, go short, go in behind, right foot, left foot. He was incredible. Literally, the night before games, he would be the one player in my career that I thought, ‘Pfft, [it is] gonna be a tough day tomorrow’. And you’d wake up… and no one had that effect me at all but him.”
Carragher went on to explain just why it was tricky to defend against Henry. Motioning at Terry, he said: “You would be thinking about him in a big game. You played left centre-back so you were okay – he was on the other side!
“The worst position to play against Thierry Henry was right-back not centre-back because he would always be running into that left channel. You’d have Ashley Cole, [Robert] Pires…
“I think if you’d asked me, ‘What was the most difficult position – not just for me, for anyone, any player – that you wouldn’t want to go back to’, it was being a right full-back against that Arsenal team of 2002 to 2004. The movement, the pace, things would be happening that quickly you couldn’t react to the first thing.”
