Thierry Henry: Pep Guardiola 'opened my eyes' to the power of pressing

Heinrich Griessel
11 September 2023

Arsenal legend Thierry Henry has revealed that Pep Guardiola was the manager who made him aware of the impact a pressing forward can have on a defence.

Henry, who notched up 49 goals and 27 assists for Barcelona between 2007 and 2010, admitted that the current Manchester City boss took his game to a new level in Spain.

"Being a manager is about asking the question: can you make your players more intelligent, understand football a bit better?" Henry told Bixente Lizarazu, as quoted by the official Ligue 1 website.

"Let's use Pep Guardiola as an example, I thought I was good at football but when I arrived there at Barcelona I just thought, wow, what is he talking about?

"Arsene Wenger, when I arrived to Arsenal, opened up my spirit and my mind as a continuation of what I learned at the academy at Clairefontaine. Pep Guardiola opened my eyes.

"It was him that made me understand that pressing was good. As an attacker in general, and you know this well, that you don't normally want to do these things. But then I developed a taste for pressing high and appreciate another area of the game."

Henry recently took over as head coach of France's U21 team, a year out from the Olympics which will take place in Paris.

Les Bleuets clinched a 4-1 win over Denmark in Henry's first game in charge, and they will next travel to Slovenia for a Euro U21 qualifier.