Va va gloom for Henry as his fairytale return to Monaco turns into nightmare
ARSENAL legend Thierry Henry is enduring a baptism of fire early in his managerial career, with Monaco winless under him, joint-bottom of Ligue 1 and struggling to salvage a Europa League spot from a disastrous Champions League campaign.
The former France international and Monaco player replaced Leonardo Jardim in a bid to turn the fortunes of the club around after a calamitous start to the season but he has been unable to stop the rot and Saturday’s match at Caen could be his last in charge unless they secure a positive result.
Monaco have won just once all season — 3-1 at Nantes on the opening day — and have suffered two 4-0 defeats against Paris St-Germain, in the league and the Trophee des Champions.
In the Champions League, they lost 3-0 at Borussia Dortmund and 4-0 at home against Club Brugge — their worst-ever home defeat in Europe — to make crashing out of the competition a strong possibility.
As Henry put it after his depleted team, with an average age of just 18 years and 10 months, were beaten by PSG just before the international break: “We are battling to beat the drop — that is our only objective.”
His comments illustrates how far Monaco have fallen in a short space of time after their 2016-17 Ligue 1 triumph and Champions League exploits.
Henry is not responsible for many of their current issues, as many came to fruition long before his Stade Louis II return, but he is bearing the brunt of the problems as they smash unwanted records dating back to the 1950s and 60s. However, the 41-year-old knew the situation when he agreed to replace Jardim back in October after rejecting interest from fellow Championnat outfit Bordeaux and Aston Villa.
Part of Henry’s motivation in taking the job was to save his former club from relegation to Ligue 2, which is where les Monegasques were languishing when current owner Dmitry Rybolovlev bought them for a symbolic price of €1 before lavish investment. Since then, however, events suggest that the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European Championship winner is in over his head.
Henry inherited arguably Monaco’s weakest squad since the early days of Rybolovlev’s ownership, while an injury crisis has deprived him of many of his best players, such as Italian wonderkid Pietro Pellegri. It has not helped Henry, though, that his most experienced players suffered a crisis in confidence under Jardim that has only got worse — Radamel Falcao and Kamil Glik are shadows of their former selves.
Monaco also lurch from crisis to crisis off the pitch, with Rybolovlev under investigation for corruption — he was in police custody as the principality o u t f i t we r e thrashed by PSG.
All of this has created a poisonous atmosphere around Stade Louis II that is keeping more people away than usual and Henry already cuts an isolated figure, despite vice-president Vadim Vasilyev calling for unity.
“For now, it is impossible for him to work — he is doing DIY,” Vasilyev told a French newspaper. “He consults a list of fit players and composes a team based on that.
“Thierry is brilliant, intelligent, a hard worker, a child of the club and a great football connoisseur. He needs to be given some time and he also needs fewer injuries to be able to work”
Henry’s desire to steer Monaco away from what would almost certainly be a catastrophic return to France’s second tier is admirable. If he can succeed, it will be a noteworthy early achievement on his managerial resume. However, long-term, it is difficult to see what there is for the ex-Barcelona and Juventus man to gain, unless the Monegasque project is given a new lease of life. Sporting director Michael Emenalo, previously of Chelsea, illustrated over the summer that he had not fully grasped the nature of Monaco’s volatile project by bringing in the likes of 18-year-old Jonathan Panzo instead of players ready for first-team action.
Although the Nigerian knows what is expected of him now, with few talents left to cash in on and ageing players on lucrative contracts struggling for form, there is no guarantee that Henry will get the reinforcements he will need in the January transfer window.
By that time, Monaco may well be out of the Champions League and the Europa League, will likely still be struggling in Ligue 1 and could also have crashed out of the Coupe de la Ligue.
Henry’s struggles could be exacerbated by another great from Les Bleus’ glory days, as his former Arsenal club-mate Patrick Vieira, after a shaky start, has Nice upwardly mobile and coming to visit early next month.
Another former international colleague, Christophe Dugarry, fears Henry is on borrowed time. The former Birmingham striker, who now works as a pundit for a French sports channel said: “When I saw the images of him hugging the PSG players, or the coach, I wanted to say: ‘Titi, you are in commando mode, this is not the time!’
“I want him to be in the middle of his players and with the youngsters, giving them confidence. Even at 2-0 [to PSG], he has to be saying: “I want you to keep going, it might be the only Ligue 1 match you ever play in your life!”’