Wenger: "Henry deserved Award"

[SOBRIQUET]

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=394035&cc=5901

Wenger: Henry deserved award, not Cannavaro

Arsene Wenger has insisted it was a 'mistake' not to name Arsenal captain Thierry Henry as European Player of the Year - and that the World Cup was 'lowest level' of football.

  Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro took the prestigious Ballon D'Or - awarded by France Football magazine - ahead of countryman and Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, both of whom tasted success in Germany this summer.

France striker Henry, 29, meanwhile, was third - despite having helped Arsenal reach their first European Cup final and also reaching the World Cup final for a second time with Les Blues.

For Wenger, the decision was unjust.

'It is a mistake,' declared the Arsenal manager.

'It shows that the people who vote look only at the World Cup, which when you speak about elite football, in my opinion, is the lowest level in football that you can see at the moment.

'They make their decision on that.'

Wenger continued: 'If you see Italy playing against Togo or South Korea you cannot say that Cannavaro has a good game or even Thierry Henry has a good game, that he is the best player in the world - look at the players he plays against.

'To be consistent in a big championship like in England or in the Champions League for me would be much more appropriate than three weeks in the World Cup

[Bourbon]

Now me eh Henry's biggest fan....i respect him as a player. He deserves a bit more recognition that he recieves. Player of the year for epl can only go so far. the year that ronaldinho got world player of the year....i would have seen it as fair if henry had gotten it. Such is life.

[thane]

henry does remind me of rivaldo....dey both never got the recognition they deserve

[dinho]

i starting to get fed up of these Arsenal whiners and moaners.... between Wenger and Henry dem fellas could cry ah river and always have ah excuse..

furthermore i find his comments real disrespectful to a team like South Korea, i sure he was just a pun away from saying trinidad...

Ok so Henry had a good champions league campaign last year but he did not win it and also flopped in the final (then moan and sourgrapes he head off after)...

Furthermore he wasn't so good at the world cup, only really had 1 or 2 decent-ish games..

Is about time defenders and goalkeepers get more recognition anyway... Maldini, Baresi, Desailly, Thuram is men never get no props for nothing over de years... to me, this long overdue...

[black chinee]

Henry is ah boss.... he should be be given more respect than he gets..... for years he carried the team on his back

[Ponnoxx]

 All joke and fun aside I have to agree with Wenger...The man deserved it...at least over Cannavaro...He perform good in every competition last year and even make a decent impact in the World Cup getting France past Brazil...Cannavaro was a boss for Italy but I think All round it is no question Henry should have gotten it...They should not have given Zidane the Golden Ball for the World Cup, instead they should have given Cannavaro that award and Henry the European player of the Year...Wenger is also right about the football...The World Cup is the biggest football event in every right but in terms of organization of playing football, I think it comes second to club football..Simply because there is more time to play and get used to players in a club than when going back to play for the national team...That is the trick of the World Cup...Find the right chemistry and you could win..Simple as that

[Filho]

Cannavaro definitely did not deserve it...for what? It is based on your play for the entire year. The man played the entire year for a club that cheat its way to the Serie A title. That should automatically nullify him and his teamates from winning anything since their performances are now tainted by the leniencies of refs throughout the season..fouls weren't called when they should have been, offsides were given when they shouldn't. He still had to play at a high level, but he and his teammate got unfair assistance. His season was a fake. One could argue that is why they dominated Italy and looked absolutely pathetic in the CL. A great World Cup ain't enough to win European Player of the Year. I not saying Henry should have won it, but he sure had a better season than Cannavaro. His domestic and European club form were untainted and better than Cannavaro's. His efforts to qualify Arsenal for the CL and take them to the final were astounding. Cannavaro did have the better WC tho'

[KND2]

Award is for winners, Henry did not win anything, He performed well but came in second.

If they won the EPL, won the champions league and won the world cup there would no discussion.

Henry had his chance but he did not take it.

Why give the player of the year to a man who was in the 2 major finals and could not muster the goals to lead his team to victory.

When you get in the six yard box you have to finish
Henry did not finish.

[Touches]

Alyuh doe hate on Henry

The man is d best fwd in the EPL.

For Arsenal to even reach Cl final last year with the young squad and injuries was a fairytale in itself.

Me ent vex he ent win, but he coulda be shortlisted.

[trinbago]

Disagreeing about getting the award and who should get it  is one thing... but belittling the biggest tournament in the world for most countries and belittling the countries themselves shows no class  as a person, no matter how great you are or how many awards you receive in your professional field...

[Mango Chow!]

I don't think either one of them deserve it, but Omarldinho made a very good point: Defenders and goalkeepers generally don't get the recognition that THEY deserve.  I suspect that some of the people that vote for these awards are susceptible to their own biases like everybody else and one of the things (IMHO) that braodens Ronaldinho's appeal so much is that whether or not he has a bad WC (which so many people criticized him for) or a bad CL Final, or a bad game or a bad start to the season, he just puts his head down, continues to seem to have fun and try to play his game.  He doesn't go crying to the media for every little thing like a certain player and his coach always seems to be doing.  I have seen Ronaldinho make a meal of some tackles and sometimes I even think he complains to the refs too much for MY liking.....but I am one of his biggest fans, so, I take that liberty to over-criticize him.  Henry needs to stop his occaisional diving, constant gesturing to the refs (watch his actions ANY TIME a ref makes a call against him or his team)  and FINISH OFF THE BIG GAMES and when he and his coach stop talking so much in the media, more of the voters that count will give him their vote.

[Filho]

Award is for winners, Henry did not win anything, He performed well but came in second.

If they won the EPL, won the champions league and won the world cup there would no discussion.

Henry had his chance but he did not take it.

Why give the player of the year to a man who was in the 2 major finals and could not muster the goals to lead his team to victory.

When you get in the six yard box you have to finish
Henry did not finish.

Not sure if I like Henry for the prize, but educate yourself. Many players have won the award without winning anything. Do you really believe you have to win something to be the best player? Teams win games, not the individual player. You have to try to look at a player's performance independently of who is around him which I admit is virtually impossible, but it is an individual award, so you reward the individual performance..which can often be stellar compared to the team performance. In any case..Henry was the top scorer in the EPL last year. He wins a prize for that, and seeing it is one of the more direct individual measures of achievement a player can get in the EPL....one can argue that he did win something that is more pertinent to judging an individual award. By your logic, the best player of the year cannot come from a small club or that every member of every winning team in Europe deserves the award before Henry? The award is not supposed to be a popularity contest, but in the end that is all it is, so I guess I can't blame you for buying into that

[Carib-Briton]

Alyuh doe hate on Henry

The man is d best fwd in the EPL.

For Arsenal to even reach Cl final last year with the young squad and injuries was a fairytale in itself.

Me ent vex he ent win, but he coulda be shortlisted.

Big Time Pisstake.

Oh Well

You have to Remember Owen has won this as well & Henry not even shortlisted I don't mind owen but he weren't that great despite Liverpools Feats that year.

& Think of last year Shevchenko won European Player of the Year then didn't even get in the top 3 for World Player of the year For it to make any sense Ronaldinho should of won both

[Tenorsaw]

Gosh this man could bitch and moan.  That is the only thing ah don't like about Wenger. 

[Remie]

Given that Ronaldinho and Henry both didnt really perform to the standards that we expected of them at the World Cup and in the Champions League final, initially i would have given it to Cannavaro.

But after reading Filho post it reminded me about the whole of Cannavaro's club season for Juventus being a fraud i would have to agree so i would have given it to Puyol, the man who lifted the Champions League.

Puyol was outstanding for both club and country. Its a shame the rest of his team mates on the Spanish national side were not up to the job.

[Filho]

henry does remind me of rivaldo....dey both never got the recognition they deserve

Agreed..but Rivaldo did win European and World Football Player of the year in 1999