Arsenal News 24/7Writer: Nick Simmonett 
Date:Friday November 17 2006
Time: 5:44PM
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Henry Set To Lose Out Again
If reports in Italy and Spain are to be believed then Arsenal skipper has once again lost out in the race to win the Balon d`Or. According to our continental counterparts Real Madrid`s Italian defender Fabio Cannavaro has won the top award.
While there is no doubt that Cannavaro was one of, if not the best defender at the 2006 World Cup, his season at Juventus could be easily discredited due to the Italian`s match fixing scandal and subsequent relegation.
Henry on the other hand was the top scorer in the Premiership as well as leading his club to a Champions League final and his country to a World Cup final. He was unfortunate to lose on both occasions.
Wenger has had his say on the matter: "If that's the case then congratulations to Cannavaro but for me there's only one candidate this year and that's Thierry Henry.
"He was the top goalscorer in England, the best player in England and the second-highest goalscorer in Europe behind Luca Toni.
"He played in the Champions League Final and the World Cup Final. He lost one on penalties and he lost the other in the last few minutes with 10 men.
"It's unfortunate and it's not right that he does not have the recognition.
"When you look at what this guy has achieved in his career as a player I can tell you there are some players in the Balon d'Or who have a lot to answer for when you compare them to Thierry Henry.
"For me the only one in contention with him was Samuel Eto'o, who won the Champions League and the Spanish Championship. He is the only one who could fight with Thierry this year."
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Your Comments
Its hard to argue against Cannavaro. He was superb in the world cup and throughout the Italian season. Whilst Wenger would of course support Henry his propensity for whinging and negative remarks suggesting a lack of sportsmanship after the Champions League final as well as his 'winning' of the free kick against Spain are likely to have counted against him
Sir_Harry
But how much credit can he get for his season with Juve considering what happened?
simmy8_2000
the free kick he won against spain was a foul, whether puyol hit him on the face or any part of his body, it was a foul, and what did he say wrong after the champions league final, the way we lost it, tat too to a offside goal, any player would show his emotions, you wouldn't know anything about that sir harry cuz your team has never played a game of such magnitude, and for me thierry deserves it, just like how we deserved it in 2004 when we went unbeaten, he deserved it more than anyone then and even now, cannavaro had a great world cup, but what did he achieve with juve, his entire season with juventus counts for nothing, and this is a player of the year award, not the player of the world cup, and to top that, cannavaro and his team were torn apart by thierry and co at highbury in the champions league, so i just hope this report isn't true and thierry wins it, cuz he deserves it more than anyone..
luckys_10
Cannavarvo - lack of loyalty should count against him - deserted the sinking Juventus ship didn't he?
merlin
that is not even a factor merlin, the point is his season with juventus was scrapped and it meant nothing because of the match fixing scandal, and yeh he had a great world cup, but this is not the world cup player of the year award, it is the player of the year award, and that's why just because he had a great world cup doesen't make him the most deserving candidate for this award..
luckys_10
Cannarvaro played a great season at Juventus and despite it being nullified his performances were excellent. And he certainly performed better for Italy than Henry did for France in the world cup. Henry's alledged foul in the world cup was the softest awarded despite it looking like he'd been shot by a sniper and a number of commentators found his action at that moment disappointing. And the constant bleating about the Champions League ... the winning goal might have been marginally offside, but the free kick that led to Campbell's goal was from a dive which even Wenger acknowledged. So instead of 2-1 it should have been 1-0 and it could have been argued that the goal after the Lehmann sending off could have stood making it 2-0 rather than the subsequent penalty being saved. It was Henry going on about how the best side lost, and Barcelona didn't deserve to win, how he couldn't ever join Barcelona, blah, blah, blah .. these sorts of incidents stick in the minds of those who make those awards. Henry may have had a great season but so did Cannavaro and it will be the odd negative thing which will count against Henry, principally his sportsmanship compared to Fabio. And Luckys10, why are you raising Spurs?, I didn't mention Spurs, the question is about whether Henry deserves the award more than Cannavaro and the answer is NO.
Sir_Harry
eboue went down easily i agree, but he went down cuz dere was contact though it was very minimal, and if there is even a little bit of contact and the player goes down, it's a free kick, if you dun know the rules sir harry, and yeh these sort of incidents stick in the minds of the people who give awards, but not incidents like the team being stripped of the title and relegated and they are stripped off everything they have achieved in the season, and cannavaro may have had a decent season at juve, but the fact is that counts for nothing, so his performances for juve should not be considered because those matches were fixed, it's simple as that, and these things are more important than henry saying some not so pleasent things about barcelona or anyone else..
luckys_10
the fact is whatever cannavaro did with juventus last season has no credibility, he was stripped of everything that he achieved with juventus, his performances mean nothing because the outcome of it was already decided, so it count's for nothing which we saw when juve were relegated and their title was taken away. And if FIFA doesen't consider all this before giving out it's most prestigious honour to a player, then i say it's all a big joke..
luckys_10
Well, based on your argument then Barcelona goal wasn't offside as the rules are the rules and the referee decided he wasn't. Those are the rules. And its an individual award so the decision made against a team has no impact on their judgement. They measure individual performance, conduct on the pitch and how the player carries himself in public. What happened to Juventus has no impact on their decision. The impact a player may have on the team will though and there is no doubt that Cannavaro led Italian through his indivudal performance. Henry was not the top scorer in Europe, nor at the World Cup. Cannavaro led his underated team to WIN the trophy, not merely be placed well, and was not booked during the finals. And despite what you say about Juventus, they were stripped of their titles and relegated for attempting to influence matches - there was no proof that they were successful so this will not influence the jury. People and history remember those who come first, not the runners up
Sir_Harry
the barca goal was offside as we all saw in the replay, it was a mistake on the part of the linesman, but the free kick which we won for campell's goal was according to the rules, contact on the player he goes down and a free kick, which was absolutely correct as per the rules..........but you cannot measure cannavaro's individual performance for his club, because they have no credibility to it, he may have had a great season at juve, played absolutely brilliantly, but u can never say how good those performances were because they were aided by illegally, his game along with the game of all his fellow players at juve were aided by factors which were illegal. they were rigged, and if there wasn't any proof about it, juve wouldn't have been relegated and stripped of their titles, and even if i agree with you that they may not have been successful, but there was an attempt on the part of juventus to do something that's against the laws and spirit of the game for which they were punished, so you cannot judge cannavaro's individual performance because his own performance was influenced by other factors which dont merit how good a player is..................and even at the world cup, ur claim that he led italy to glory through his individual performance is baseless, he had three other defenders with him on the pitch who were equally responsible for italy's victory, you don't win games just by keeping clean sheets, you win by scoring goals, and his fellow defenders grosso and materazzi not only played their part in the team's defending, but also scored crucial goals which led italy to victory, not just cannavaro's defending for italy which he didn't do it all by himself in the first place. and if a player his judged by his conduct on the pitch and how he carries himself in public, then thierry is second to none, and everyone knows that. do you watch every match of the italian league? here we follow thierry day in n day out, so you don't even know just how cannavaro is as you know thierry...and on the two occasions that cannavaro came head to head with titi last season, in the champions league and the world cup, theirry got the better of him at highbury, and the final ended in a 1-1 draw to be decided on penalties, so head to head, theirry got the better of cannavaro, and history remembers the winners, but history also shows that those who deserve it the most, dun always win it..
luckys_10
It's easy for people to suggest that someone who has captained his nation to a world cup victory is worthy of winning the award. It is also easy to say a player played well in a league that most people dont watch. The truth is he played well in the world cup, but his form for Juve was patchy at best. If we're talking about consistant players then Kolo Toure p1ssies all over him....Arsenal fan or not. In truth, Henry should win this one because of his consistant form over the last 5 years, but Toure is easily a better defender over the last 12 months than Canavarro....easily!!
Rocky7
Same Cannavaro that got ripped to shreds at Highbury by a certain Thierry Henry? The hardest thing to do in Football is put the ball in the back of the net, thats why strikers go for big bucks and defenders considerably less. Cannavaro had a good world cup but so did materazzi, Buffon, Grosso, Gattuso and Pirlo so the suggestion that Cannavaro single handedly won Italy the trophy is nonsense. It is about how the individual performed not what their teams won, I can give you a minimum of 10 Golden moments from last season from Thierry Henry, 9/10 players in world football just could not do what he does can you say the same for Cannavaro? The last world cup was 1 of the poorest in living memory so you have to judge over the season and on that basis only samuel Etoo comes close. If you watched Thierry Live every other week you would know what we are talking about.
iceman10
Ronaldo won world player of the year when he top scored in the world cup in 2002 and he played about 10 games for Inter Milan during that season so it shows you how they genrally come to their decisions. B***S***
iceman10
Why do they feel that defender has to win it it this year, it should be who ever diserves it the most. just when it looks like is henry's year to take it they feel that a defender has to take. If it has to be a defender why are they over looking Toure, jus cuz he is low key doesn't mean they have to over look his performance on the pitch, who by far puts in the most time and effort in a every game he plays.
Youngest in Charge
Henry not winning footballer of the year is a disgrace...by any objective measure Henry should win this year's award in a walk. It's just another sign that the EPL is looked down upon by the continent.
Shinobi
What I find interesting is that Wenger is coming out with these comments now rather than before the voting, I bet that has Henry scratching his chin!
Westl
Luckys_10, if you actually read the judgement made by the authorities in Italy, Juventus were relegated and the other sides penalised for ATTEMPTING to influence games. There was never any proof that it was effective and in fact they found decisions which went against Juve. Oh and I do watch Italian football. Also, the last time I checked the rules, football was a contact sport and outside of Arsenal, and the referee, nobody thought that was a foul. The bottom line is that though Henry is a great striker, Arsenal did not win anything in that season. He wasn't the top scorer, it was Toni. It can be argued that the rules have been changed to favour the attacker making defending even more difficult. If you don't concede, you don't lose. Strikers often rely on the creativity of others so while a defender has 3 other colleagues, a striker often relies on 1 or 2 creators. Everyone commentator rated Cannavaro as the best defender at the World Cup. Almost without exception the Ballon d'or winners come from teams who have won something, domestically, in a European tournament or internationally. If you take the emotion out of it, it was always likely to be a Barcleona or Italy player.
Sir_Harry
Rocky7, the judges are from UEFA so they would have watched Italian football. The award is given over a season, not a one off head to head, and I'm not sure if Cannavaro was actually delegated to mark Henry at Arsenal. Both Cannavaro and Henry are great players but if anything was going to tip the balance it was the soap opera that Henry created about potentially moving from Arsenal and this was then magnified by his behaviour after the Champions League final, where he all but accused UEFA of favouritism, slagged off the winners and said the best side didn't win. You don't behave like that, dissing the awarding body and then expect to pick up their award. If you want to argue about season performance then how about Toni who playing for a middle level team scored more goals than any other striker since the 1958-59 season. As I state if you look through the previous few winners it does seem that they either come from a side who has won their domestic league, a European competition, or the World Cup the year before.
Sir_Harry
And as 17 of the final 50 came from the Premier League you can hardly say the continent looks down on us, Shinobi
Sir_Harry
senderos had a perfect world cup,he scored and didnt concede a goal,so where is his nomination,he didnt concede but he still lost,sir harry why dont you admit the fact that it would stick in your throat if henry was finally recognized as the great player that he his,who plays for a team that you dont like,instead of arguing pointless reasons why he shouldnt win.
fran merida
I wasn't aware that Senderos won the World Cup or the Champions League or the Premiership last season? If you look at the list of previous winners, in recent history they have all played for teams that won something. Like a great actor/director not winning an oscar, sometimes their work occurs in a year when others have great successes and though it is embarassing to admit, it is much easier for judges to say the award has been given because they won something. I have no doubt that Henry will win the Ballon d'or one day and deservedly so, but it is unfortunate that his great work occured in a year in which his teams didn't achieve ultimate success. If the judges were going to step away from the norm, then certain incidences as listed above are likely to stop them. I would love Henry to win the Ballon d'or if only to stop you lot bleating about it, but if you take an impassioned and impartial view you can see why the award is likely to go to Cannavaro. And the award isn't a sign of greatness, because after all Alfred Hitchcock never won an oscar. In many ways the slight will aid Arsenal as it will make Thierry even more determined.
Sir_Harry
The award is for the best player. Henry can conjure a backheel into the goal, burst past someone with blistering pace or curl 1 in from 30 yards, he can do everything, he is the complete forward, how can you compare Toni to him? Defending is an art but it is far easier to destroy than to create. you can talk all you want about Henrys post match Barcelona comments but its not going to change the fact that there are at least 5 other defenders that were on a par with Cannavaro on last seasons performances and Only Etoo comes close to Henrys performance of effectiveness and creativity. If Uefa make judgements because they are offended by what a player says and not his performances on the pitch then the award is a sham. If you are trying to tell us that Henry has not deserved to pick up this award at some stage over the past 5 years then im afraid you dont know what you are talking about, he gets clapped at many an away ground, fans of the premiership were literally begging him to stay because he enhances the premiership so much, he deserves some form of recognition for his efforts, end of. I know it would be difficult to stomach for some of are rivals to see us with the worlds best player but on his day (which is most of the time) he is truly unstoppable.
iceman10
I agree that his teams did not enjoy ultimate success but he played as a lone frontman for both sides and his goals were vital. France were a moment of madness and 1 penalty kick away from winning the world cup so you can cannot use that as a barrometer for handing out this award otherwise its a sham and should be called the worlds best player who won something award.
iceman10
You might be interested to know that Ferenc Puskas never one the Ballon d'or. In 85 internationals he scored 84 goals. In 882 games he scored 569 goals. It is the way the awards are handed out. Toni scored 31 goals .. how he scored them is considered irrelevant. And if you look at some of the other winners, the guidelines are not just about how many fans clap in the stands. Mattias Sammer won in 1996, because of his season long performance and how he led the team in this case Borussia Dortmund to winning the Bundesliga in 1996. The key words here are LED and WON. Oh I agree it is surprising Henry did not win over the last 5 years so lets look at the winners - 2005 Ronaldinho (La Liga champions 2004-05), 2004 Sheva (Serie A champions 2003-04) 2003 Nedved (Serie A 02-03) 2002 Ronaldo (Brazil World Cup) 2001 Michael Owen and Liverpool getting the treble(FA Cup, UEFA Cup, League Cup) In the same period Arsenal won the FA Cup in 2005, the Premiership in 2004, the FA Cup in 2003, the Double in 2002 and unfortunately nothing in 2001. Henry was most unfortunate in 2002 where Ronaldo and Brazil won the World Cup and he was the leading scorer and in 2004 which was most unfortunate as he did have a slightly better record than Sheva. SO HENRY SHOULD HAVE WON THE AWARD IN
2004 but this year .. based on players coming from teams who win something .. the answer in NO
Sir_Harry
And if you look at the criteria for the award it is broken down under Article 10 as the following ........................................................
1) Individual and TEAM performances in the preceding year and the awards and achievements in the proceeding year.
2) Talent & Fair Play.
3) Career.
4) Personality & 'Radiance'.
...............................................................................................
Career and Talent/Fair Play in the previous year may have favoured Thierry but the Awards/Achievements go to Cannavaro. And if it came down to No4, Cannavaro has a reputation for never criticising players or opponents and having total respect for them at an end of the game. Sadly Henry's reaction on a couple of occasions particularly at the end of the Champions League will unfairly be held against him
Sir_Harry
Is this your view or the stats view? The best players should win awards like the Ballon d'or end of. same as the best player should win PFA player of the year and football writers player of the year. Ginola won the PFA award because that year his skills lit up the premiership, he won nothing, finished mid table but gave joy to the watching fans. On the basis that you have to win something only a select few can ever win the award making it an absolute sham. maybe Gallas should win the award? played all across chelseas back 4 and was quality in all positions (a skill very few defenders have) won the premiership, scored 30 yarders, helped france to the world cup final, on the above criteria if he doesnt win it he must at very least come 2nd?
iceman10
sir harry the foundation of your argument is wrong, if juve hadn't done anything wrong, they wouldn't be relegated, that is a fact, there cannavaro should not even be nominated for the player of the year award, he can be called the best player of the world cup, but not the best player of the year, and about the final, anyone who knows football knows that if you touch a player and he goes down, it's a free kick, simple as that, almost 90% of the penalties in football are given for the slightest of contacts, and we all will can disagree with it, but rules are rules, and iceman is right, just look at ronaldo who won dis award in 2002 just because he had a great world cup, but the last two years before that, he hardly kicked a ball, but thierry doesen't play for a italian or a spanish team, that is precisely the reason that is against him, and about his behaviour in the champions league final, what did he do wrong, he just lost the biggest match of his career, because of errors on the part of the officials, what's wrong if he goes onto say that? what is wrong if the player shows his emotions and speaks his heart out, and how can you say he was wrong when he said the best team didn't win, when you play 10 vs 11, how can you judge who is the better team? and if a player either comes from a side that won the domestic league, european competition or the world cup the year before, just how did ronaldinho get it in 2004? thierry scored 30 league goals, 40 for the entire season, went unbeaten and created history, something that happened again after over 100 years in english football, won the championship, and took his country to the last 8 of the european championship, and ronaldinho didnt even win anything, nor did he play for brazil that year or the year before in any major competition, then how come he got the award? it's all bull*****, the one who deserves it the most, very rarely wins it, but anyways cobblers to these awards, thierry will always be the greatest player in the minds of millions of people and we know he is the best..
luckys_10
personality and radiance!? Henry is 1 of the biggest personalities in world football, with the help of nike he started a whole campaign against racism, he regularly salutes other teams players.on the side of the pitch vs Villareal after we got to the final he congratulated Stevie G on his PFA award, he says your captain is his best opponent, people forget how he praised Larsson at the end vs Barca. The guy is a true superstar, not afraid to speak his mind and is 1 of only a handful of truly great players in the world.
iceman10
I think the 1 thing we all agree on is the award is a pile of s***! It just grates that these people cannot award true greatness without predjudice.
iceman10
Iceman10, its not the PFA award its the Ballon d'or. Regarding the stats I looked at the awards 2001-2005, who won the award and what the team they played for achieved and what they won. In all cases the winner of the award came from a team which won titles or cups ... it is a simple fact. Regarding personality and radiance, the jury expects everyone to behave with total sportsmanships at all times, always so any slight slip is noted. If you are interested in the criteria for the award it is at this link. Sorry but I don't have time to translate it into English .. its at the bottom. As it is run in conjunction with francefootball, it is indeed surprising that Henry has not YET won it
http://www.francefootball.fr/FF/ballon_or/index_bo.html
Sir_Harry
Luckys10, haha, I assume therefore that you will never criticise a player who goes down under the slightest hint of contact in the Arsenal penalty area again. Ronaldinho won the Ballon d'or award in 2005. It was Shevchenko in 2004. That season Henry scored a season total of 39 goals in 51 games. Sheva scored 29 goals in 45 games overall. You maybe confusing the Ballon d'or with the FIFA World Player of the Year award. Ronaldinho won this in 2004 but that decision from this comes from the head coaches of all the FIFA teams, who choose their top 3. It is a funny system in that Henry might have been most people's first choice but Ronaldinho picked up more second and third choices. Overall I think Henry should have won both the Ballon d'or and the FIFA award in 2004. However based on the criteria of the Ballon d'or, he should not win in 2006 because his teams did not win anything .. if Arsenal win the Premiership or Champions League this year, he will be the outstanding candidate in 2007
Sir_Harry
Don't you have to play for a big club to win the award?
HATEtheGOONS
Well I assume Arsenal consider themselves to be a big club as they are a member of the G14 group. The last player to win the Ballon d'or playing for a non-G14 team was Igor Belanov from Dinamo Kiev in 1986. Incidently that was the year Kiev won the Cup Winners Cup. The last player to win the title when his team hadn't won a major cup or league was in 1967 when Florian Albert of Ferencvaros won it. You see ... it is not a conspiracy against Henry
Sir_Harry
what about Gallas does he meet the criteria? im sure he does!
iceman10
Probably as he won with Chelsea but I guess captaining your team to the World Cup is a headliner. The last non-WorldCup winner in a world cup year was Stoichkov of Barcleona in 1994 and that year Barcelona won La Liga ... it looks like as a minimum you have to win your domestic league
Sir_Harry
What a b***s*** award!
iceman10
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