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Football London
Football London
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Luke Thrower

Jamie Carragher makes Thierry Henry 'fear' claim as he looks back on Liverpool vs Arsenal games

Former Liverpool defender and pundit Jamie Carragher admits he played differently when he faced Thierry Henry because of who the Frenchman was.

Henry wreaked havoc on many defenders in his time at Arsenal, where he was most impressive playing on the left or as a striker in his prime.

The forward’s ability to run behind the opposition backline with pace would cause problems, but that wasn’t all he had in his locker.

Rather, his dribbling, strength and finishing made him more than just a one-dimensional player, meaning he was able to get into the game in more ways than one.

His stats at Highbury and the Emirates speak for themselves. Henry scored 228 goals and assisted 106 times over 376 appearances for Arsenal across all competitions.

This means he was involved in a goal just over one every 100 minutes.

He was the Premier League top scorer five times, winning two Premier Leagues and three FA Cups at the club before moving to Barcelona, where he continued to pick up silverware.

Discussing the impact of Henry on defenders, Carragher admitted to CBS that he played differently when he came up against the striker.

"When I was playing against you [Henry] I don’t think I played the way I would against somebody else because it was you. And I think Kylian Mbappe and the great players have that effect on defenders," he said.

“Did you feel that yourself, not just against me or other defenders, when you were at your prime that there was fear in their eyes when they were coming against you?”

Henry added: “Yes because speed does make people scared. You install fear into defenders, but also at the beginning of the game I was always going to give it that five runs for no reason in behind to let you know I’m faster than you, so stay there so I can get my ball and maybe do that.

“But also, something that’s important, you need to have a lot of weapons. Because if it was only about speed, you wouldn’t have been scared because there was a lot of guys that were fast in the league at the time.

“If you add, as I mentioned, control, speed, accuracy, balance, left-foot, right-foot, it’s almost difficult or almost virtually impossible to defend.”

The conversation came about in regards to Paris Saint-Germain and France forward Kylian Mbappe, who has been likened to Henry in his prime due to his impressive skillset.

It also gives a glimpse into what both an opposition defender and the striker would think or act like in a game once they faced off, with little tricks like runs to get inside of their head.

It goes to show just how impressive Henry was at the time and the legacy he leaves at Arsenal.

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