“When he sees the match, he wants to play, but on the other hand, he feels a bit big (…) 23 players, we are all very happy that he is there. He knows how to win matches, especially in important tournaments. “During the 2018 World Cup, just before the semi-final against France, Eden Hazard said these complimentary words to Thierry Henry, the then assistant coach of the Belgium selection. The result, we know, was that the Blues won the Russian competition. But no matter what, Thierry Henry’s rating in Quiveren has never wavered. The playmaker, like his compatriot Romelu Lukaku, also thought that the number one spot in selection would be handed to him after the Qatar failure.
But what about his legitimacy as a coach in France? The question arises because the former Blues and Arsenal striker is now considered favorite to bag the position of Espers coach for the 2024 Olympics.
“As for A, you need someone to impose it”
Auditioned by the FFF on Monday 7 August, 45-year-old Thierry Henry was not necessarily a natural candidate for this exposed position. After two mixed experiences at AS Monaco (October 2018-January 2019) and IMPACT Montreal (November 2019-February 2021), he now works as a luxury TV consultant, be it in France, England or the United States . But in recent days his name has appeared on a short list of successors to Sylvain Ripoll, who was sacked in late July.
“An original idea, but quite interesting, like its competitors (Jocqueline Gourvenec, Sabri Lamouchi and Julien Stéphane)”, says François Blacquart, former national technical director of the FFF (2011–2017). According to this connoisseur of the secrets of youth selection, the second top scorer in Blues history (51 goals in 123 caps) has a real card to play: “He has the charisma and high-level experience needed for this position.” Player. Like A, you need someone who is influential and who has a very strong sense of what goes on in the international locker room. More than ever. »
“He is someone to be respected”
René Girard, former coach of the Espoires (2004–2008), plus. “He is someone who loves sport, who loves football and who loves broadcasting”, says the striker who also knew the striker as an assistant at the Blues (1999–2002). He has also highlighted this aura in the “plus” column. “Of course, his notoriety may have helped him. Titi is just nobody, we don’t talk about it in any way. He is someone to be respected. ,
It remains to be proved on the ground. At the moment, Coach Henry has yet to shine his extremely aggressive and ambitious principles of the game. His experience on the Rock came to an end, the fault of the locker room not always being receptive to his speech and crippled by injuries. He has a bitter and dismayed memory of the sequence, even though Leonardo Jardim was also lined up behind.
His counterpart Patrick Vieira told JDD, “Thierry was marked but he agrees that the experience was interesting.” He knows that he cannot control everything. He listens very well, analyzes situations and will come back because he is passionate. ,
Willingness to establish privileged contact with your players
Faced with the media, Thierry Henry places great emphasis on the psychological aspect and the importance of the human relationship between a coach and his players. “If I take over a team, it will be an important element my staff will lack”, even the Ulysses native assured last year at L’Equipe. A punishment was found during the COVID-19 crisis in Canada, where all matches were played outdoors. Then he faced players who were losing their composure and had to double down on his “pedagogy”.
This dimension may prove essential when one wishes to guide Bluets, toddlers too early to go off the deep end and already established in larger stables. The work he did at ASM with Sophien Diop, Benoît Badiachile or Romain Favre could work in his favour.
“The profile of players coming to espionage has changed, the profile of the coach may also have to be reconsidered. We are not as sure of the end of training as we were twenty or thirty years ago. You also have to know how to manage the ego now”, analyzes François Blacquart. “A balance has to be found between imposing discipline on them and adapting to the functioning of each player,” says René Girard. ,
As we can see, Henry’s profile depicts and serves as a stake. To mitigate the risks, Blequart advises that “the federation should surround itself with more experienced and experienced staff on the sidelines than would choose Lamouchi or Gouvernec.”
The name of the lucky winner should be notified by the end of next week. Eleven months would remain to produce a band capable of winning a medal in Paris. A dangerous mission regardless of the acclaimed technician. In any case, the image of captain Kylian Mbappe waving the trophy under the eyes of his youth idol Thierry Henry already makes more than one dream. Could this proximity between the two number 9’s influence the decision? Blacquart, like Girard, refused to believe it.