New writer ‘tda’ thinks that Arsenal captain (legend, hero, demi-god, etc etc) Thierry Henry deserved the Ballon d’Or. A bit late, but every man’s entitled to their opinion…
Gerard Houlier thinks Fabio Canavarro was not worthy of the title of European Footballer of the Year that was bestowed on the Italian captain at this year’s awards ceremony.
According to the former Liverpool and current Lyon manager, merely captaining your unfancied side to the biggest prize in World football is not enough.
And, strange as it may sound, he is right. It is difficult to see what has Fabio Cannavarro done to merit the title of European player of the year. He had an average end of season at disgraced outfit Juventus before moving to Real Madrid with Fabio Capello, where he has failed to set La Liga alight. The title, again, is player of the year, not of the summer.
It might even be argued that Cannavarro, though solid and consistent throughout the World Cup campaign, was not even Italy’s best player. Others caught the eye far more, especially the tigrish Gennaro Gattuso, a gutsier Roy Keane on speed. How Alex Ferguson may yet rue lavishing £17 million on Michael Carrick when he probably could have snapped up Gattuso for the same amount, if not less.
Houlier reckons Thierry Henry should have got the gong, but is there anything that amazing about banging in 20-odd goals a season for Arsenal every season for as far back as anyone can remember? I mean, when was the last time Henry did not have an amazing season? Would it not be more imaginative to give the award to someone who did something a little out of the ordinary in 2006?
Petr Cech at Chelsea, David Villa at Valencia or even Fulham’s vastly underrated Luis Boa Morte would have been far more daring and accurate decision, but the Ballon D’Or panel have decided to jump on the same kind of bandwagon they jumped on last year when Ronaldinho bagged the prize.
Henry would have been a better choice, especially considering the fact that he has never won the award, and that no French player has won it since Jean-Pierre Papin in 1991. Houlier is right in thinking the esteemed journalists who make up the Ballon’s panel are guilty of failing to think outside the narrow box of celebrity.
What do you guys think? For my money, Arsenal are right in whinging about the fact that Henry has never won the Ballon d’Or, but citing past excellence (at Arsenal, mainly) does you no good – Henry should get it on this year’s achievements, right?
Maybe it was because he was the losing finalist twice (once for Arsenal in the CL final, once for France in the WC final). Barca cheated, Italy cheated, now a horde of European journalists are cheating as well.
Typical anti-Arsenal propaganda 😛
And any fan who quotes Gerard Houiller or Raymond Domenech as a credible source has GOT to be kidding.
oh and … welcome to soccerlens mate 🙂
Barca cheated? when did that happen? Ronaldinho was a worthy winner last year unlike Canavaro this year. So don’t compare the two if you want to make sense.
Farbod – I was talking about people saying that Barca cheated Arsenal out of a deserved CL title.
If there was a lifetime achievement award, then yes, Henry should undeniably be up there receiving it. However, as far as last year went, I’m not sure. His team finished (just) fourth in the league, that’s a team he’s the captain of, which is below their expectations. They made it to the CL final, but on the back of great defensive performances, not Henry (Real Madrid goal I guess being the exception). Plus he didn’t exactly light up the final. Personally I didn’t think he was France’s best player at the world cup either.
If you want someone who deserves it on the back of their club and world cup heroics of last year only, surely you’d be better off arguing for Jens Lehman? He more or less single handedly won the FA Cup for Arsenal last May, saved them countless times leading up to CL final, played outstandingly for Germany and is also just a bit nuts, which always seems to help in the Balloon D’Or.
Finally, I realise where he was born, but surely Zidane is now French and has won the award?
Thierry Henry? You’ve got to be kidding. You’ve got to actually win something to be in with a shout – what of note has Henry won apart from the title of “most anonymous centre forward during big matches’. Runner-up just isn’t good enough for the Ballon D’or.
Are you kidding me with the suggestion of Luis Boa Morte? I mean he’s a talented player but has done absolutely squat on the european stage, and didn’t even have his best season for Fulham last year! I do however agree with your nomination of David Villa. Second top scorer in the league and very important at the World Cup. However, why on earth has no-one mentioned Klose? His goalscoring ratio for the last two years has been exceptional – at a team which does not boast the same quality as Bayern Munich – and he was vital during the World Cup run. I think considering Zidane is an absolute joke, he was anonymous for Real last season and was not even ever-present at the World Cup. I think that we should all accept that the award to Cannavaro was in part a goodwill gesture towards an angry Italian Football Federation.
Please do not mention Gattuso in the same sentence with Manchester United. We never needed him and Milan was never willing to release him. End of story. I’m happy with Carrick, anyway.
“guilty of failing think outside the narrow box of celebrity.”
Sorry, I somehow thought we were talking about Thierry Henry whose celebrity status cannot be called into question. In fact, he’s one of the most overhyped players of Europe. Of course, the fact remains that he should have got the award in 2004 but for France’s spectacular failure in Euro 2004. Shevchenko was lucky as his team didn’t feature at all in the tournament.
Henry has never ever deserved it. This year it had to be Ronaldinho or Cannavaro. Both had won league titles at the start of the measurement time scale. Ronaldinho won another league title and a champions league though flopped in the World cup while Cannavaro won a world cup at teh end of that scale. Henry at both ends of the time scale however won nothing except 2 golden boots and runners up places in the champions league final and at the world cup. Clearly he didn’t deserve it. It was either Ronaldiho or Cannavaro. I’m glad a real defender took it for once.