MOUSSA’S REWARD
Winless Henry suffers another setback as his Monaco reign goes from bad to worse
THIERRY HENRY has vowed to fight on after receiving a vote of confidence by Monaco after a crushing 4-0 defeat to Paris-Saint Germain.
The Arsenal legend has now failed to win in his first six games as head coach and his club are only off the bottom of Ligue 1 on goal difference.
The chaos on the Cote d’Azur has seen the Monaco president Dmitry Rybolovlev arrested on corruption charges last week and 16 players out injured, including Nacer Chadli.
Henry, who took over on October 13 after turning down interest from Aston Villa, will have only five fit players to work with during the international break.
The Frenchman said: “I had said before the match that it couldn’t get any worse – and now it is.
“It is always the same story: we have chances, we concede goals and we lose players. Of course the team is affected mentally and you see it with some basic errors.
“I am maybe going to start playing again. But you have to carry on, hang on.
“It has not always been easy in my life but you always have to try to keep moving forward.”
Monaco won Ligue 1 in 2016-17 with a squad including best spell at White Hart Lane. He replaces the injured Paul Pogba. Coach Didier Deschamps said: “He is one of our important players. He is playing a lot more and he is performing for his club.” Anthony Martial’s injury saw a call-up for Lacazette but the Arsenal striker had to withdraw with a thigh strain. Benjamin Mendy, Bernardo Silva, Joao Moutinho and Kylian Mbappe, but have since been in a downward spiral.
After selling Moutinho and Fabinho last summer, the Russian-owned club have now gone 16 games without a win to equal their worst run since 1968-69.
Henry has had to chop and change personnel and tactics and the January transfer window seems a long way away.
Vice-president Vadim Vasilyev insisted: “Henry is here for the long term. He is not a
It is always the same story: we have chances, we concede goals and we lose players. The team is affected mentally and you see it with some basic errors. I am maybe going to start playing again!
PSG Lille Montpellier Lyon St Etienne Marseille Nice Strasbourg Reims Nantes Bordeaux Rennes Angers Nimes Toulouse Amiens Caen Dijon Monaco Guingamp P W 13 13 13 8 13 7 13 7 13 6 13 7 13 6 13 4 13 4 13 4 13 4 13 4 13 4 13 3 13 3 13 4 13 2 13 3 13 1 13 1 D 0 2 4 3 5 1 2 6 5 4 4 4 3 5 5 1 6 2 4 4 L F A Pts 0 45 7 39 3 21 10 26 2 20 8 25 3 23 16 24 2 19 17 23 5 24 21 22 5 10 14 20 3 20 16 18 4 8 12 17 5 20 18 16 5 14 15 16 5 16 19 16 6 17 19 15 5 18 20 14 5 11 21 14 8 13 21 13 5 11 16 12 8 12 23 11 8 12 22 7 8 9 28 7 firefighter, otherwise we would have sought another profile. “We are the victims of a set of incredible circumstances.
“Any club, even Paris, would have problems with 13 or 14 players injured. But against PSG was not enough. It is not because this club is called AS Monaco that we are going to escape from the situation.”
Henry faces former Gunners team-mate Patrick Vieira (above) and his Nice side on December 7. Their old Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger said: “Thierry has the right understanding, the right knowledge.
“But there are two aspects as you come in as a new manager.
“The first impact is psychologically positive, and then you can work.
“The bad luck for him is that the first impact has not worked.
“So he will have to be given time, that is the most important thing. He will get it right if he is given time.”