A Barcelona crashed out the champions league to Manchester United a few weeks ago, no Catalonia player was more distraught than Thierry Henry. The former Arsenal hitman played a bit part in both legs of the semi-final clash, coming on as a sub in and having little time to make an impact.
The united game was the tip of the iceberg in a season where so much was expected from the Spanish giants. They boasted the most formidable attack in club football, with Messi, Ronaldinho and Eto. With the addition of Henry, many thought the club would sweep all possible trophies with ease. But this was not the case. Since the early stages of La Liga they had been chasing rivals Real Madrid, who retained the crown on the weekend (Barcelona now have to applaud their rivals as champions in the next game- el classico). Not only that, they have been surpassed by Villarreal who currently lie second. Barca's poor away form has been blamed as well as injuries to key players.
Henry has been used by manager Frank Rijkard as a left winger, a position he previously held at Juventus, but it is clear that his preferred position is centre forward, where he played for Arsenal. Henry started his season brightly. Most notably, scoring a brilliant hat-trick against Levante. But a succession of injuries as well as being used as a sub have seemed to have deflated the French forward. Leading many to speculate that he is seeking a move back to Arsenal, but should he gave left in the first place?
Many footballers belong to one club. Like what Shevchenko is to AC Milan, or Stephen Gerrard and Liverpool. Now it may seem that Henry fits into that category, as he is rarely remembered for his time at Monaco & Juventus. Henry has vented his frustration of late, but vows to stay at Barcelona. All in all, it is his first season and perhaps some of the speculation and criticism has been unfair, but there is still time to prove the critics all wrong.
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