"Work rate was unbelievable": Wenger opens up on Arsenal hero, Henry, technology and more

Thierry Henry was a magnificent footballer. Winning countless team and individual honours, he is arguably one of the best foreign imports the Premier League has ever seen.

His former manager Arsene Wenger is another great of the league and the two of them were a force to be reckoned with when paired together at Arsenal.

Wenger knew Henry as a boy coming through at Monaco and then subsequently signed the winger with a view to turning him into a predatory forward.

He did so to devastating effect. But what if the French manager could have made him even better? Playermaker’s new technology, a company which the ex-Arsenal boss has invested in, could have done just that.

They’ve designed a tool dedicated to analysing player analytics and, while speaking to Football FanCast, Wenger theoretically detailed how their tech could have developed the Gunners’ record goalscorer.

“You can look at his game and the distances he makes – the accuracy of his passes. How many times did he use his right foot or left foot? How quickly when he gets the ball is he on the move?” Wenger assessed.

“If his first touch is to move the ball – if he turns on his first touch. The timing of his movement as well,” he added.

Henry was a player who would regularly move the ball on quickly, using his movement to outfox many a defender throughout his career.

If the striker had Playermaker’s technology available to him it would have added an extra layer of excitement to his career.

The tool they’ve created has so far been introduced to certain youth academies.

With that in mind, Wenger explained where Henry’s development could have been impacted, focusing on the pace of the former Barcelona man. “Thierry Henry was super quick but he can work on speed and develop real speed if you train at 14. Not many people know that,” he revealed.

“With a guy like Thierry Henry it was not a problem because he was naturally quick. But a guy with an average pace – if you miss that stage between 12 and 14, after that you cannot improve. It is important that you can measure at each age what you need,” Wenger said.

During the course of Henry’s time with Arsenal he scored 228 times, cementing himself as a legend of the club. To think he could have become even better is a frightening thought.

The Gunners’ previous manager has always had a studious mind and an admirable attention to detail. In many senses, he was the perfect man to take Henry under his wing. The levels the 41-year-old reached during the early 2000s was simply sensational.

However, science and technology in football has been around before that.

Detailing his early experiences with statistical data, Wenger explained: “I think it was 1999. There was a guy from Leeds who created the system and I met him. I worked on performance in the years 1987/88 with friends of mine on computers. We worked day and night to really measure the performances of players.”

When he arrived in England, Wenger was ahead of his time, introducing revolutionary training methods to the Premier League.

But he also made groundbreaking innovations at Monaco. “We were 20 years ahead at the time and we made some good improvements to judge players. We discovered some players that were not really stars and good players after,” he commented.

Is it any surprise, therefore, that Wenger unearthed so many gems when he was in north London? Judging by these comments arguably not. Henry came to England as an unknown, as did a host of French players including the likes of Robert Pires and Patrick Vieira.

In terms of signing footballers of this nature, it was unheard of in the English leagues, but the former Monaco manager was quick to ensure that statistics weren’t a substitute for basic knowledge of the game. “If you take only the physical data you never play Messi. That’s where the knowledge comes in,” he admitted.

Making further reference to the Gunners, he noted one player who perhaps wouldn’t have gained much from extra statistics.

“You discover players who don’t work a lot but they work in the dark because they are generous and they compensate. For example we had a player like Gilberto Silva. You didn’t see him a lot in the game but his work rate was unbelievable. He accepted the job that the rest of the team didn’t want to do.”

Wenger’s understanding of football is supreme and despite his inability to adapt to the modern game during his final years in Islington, it’s hard to question the amount of knowledge he possesses.

Where he could have taken his management with more technology, however, is something we’re unlikely to get a chance to see.

Wenger was speaking on behalf of Playermaker.

PlayerMaker is a sports technology company revolutionising the way football teams use data. Utilising cutting-edge motion sensors and advanced machine learning algorithms, their device tracks all technical, tactical, biomechanical and physical movement on and off the ball, giving managers and coaches a granular understanding of their players’ and team’s performance. Used by elite level clubs worldwide, the PlayerMaker device delivers a competitive advantage to some of the most forward-thinking coaches. To find out more, visit www.playermaker.com.

from FootballFanCast.com http://bit.ly/2WD4vG6