Unpredictable is Underrated: Appreciating Thierry Henry

Unpredictable is Underrated: Appreciating Thierry Henry

By Eric Beard

Some things - albeit in increasingly rare quantity - transcend time. 

Some artists find ways to extend their craft, their respective careers, into moments that make others stop.

It isn’t about turning heads. It isn’t about showing up to do the spectacular that is expected.

It’s about slowing down in a world that never stops. It’s about sacrificing the speed of life for a distinct purpose. To question. To challenge. To allow others to imitate, or simply enjoy.

Thierry Henry established himself as an invincible. Before that, he was a world champion. But alongside every achievement, Thierry remains the master of evading any recognition of the praise and hyperbole that fans and journalists prescribed to him every day.

There was a conscious ignorance, a near negligence when it came to publicly acknowledging his talent that made Thierry like no other. 

A refusal to focus on himself brought about an attribution of supreme confidence. Thierry could pull off the absurd, but there was always more.

More. More. More.

It was never enough. There was never satisfaction. Not after winning the World Cup. Not after an undefeated season with Arsenal, nor lifting every possible cup with Barcelona. Every time Thierry walked off, his attitude said the same thing: “I’m not done.”

This is why I, like so many others, stopped. I woke up at 6am on Saturdays to see him shine in North London. I felt honored to be in the stands as he sent Red Bull Arena into ecstasy. It wasn’t about the impossible; that term is thrown around far too often in sport.

More elusive than the impossible was the deeply unpredictable. Whether you were a defender or a traveling supporter, Thierry’s next move always seemed utterly nonchalant… until you stopped to process what he was doing, or just did. Thierry found a thread between the nonchalant and surreal that - at least in appearance - came naturally.

And, taking a step back, this trait extended to his career as a whole. No one saw him leaving Arsenal for Barcelona, and no one dreamed of Thierry living in New York City while he was playing in the same side as Zlatan and Messi.

But this was Thierry’s gift; it was that wry smile to stop and say, “you didn’t see that coming, did you?” Even more eye-catching was the fact that Thierry never revealed whether or not his actions fell in line with his ambitions.

Screams could follow tap-ins while 30 yard screamers off the underside of the bar were celebrated by mere shrugs. But one constant remained: there was always something more to reveal. 

Thierry knew what it meant to slow down. To make a touch feel like an eternity. To cut all motion from a match, only to leave opposition feeling foolish.

And again, Thierry has left us in the dark. No one knows what his next move will be. Whether it’s playing or coaching or coasting on the Amalfi coast for a few months, this is Thierry’s performance. 

He could return to Arsenal and still make an impact. He could… He could. He can. More than a career, Thierry kept us constantly imagining all possibilities. Decades have passed, but a continuity of sheer unpredictability remains. Thierry’s class truly is timeless.

This piece was written by Eric Beard. Comments below please.