Arsène Wenger is convinced that Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira – members of his great Invincibles side who won the English Premier League with Arsenal FC in 2004 – will succeed as coaches as AS Monaco and OGC Nice respectively.
After 34 seasons in the dugout, from AS Nancy-Lorraine to Arsenal, via Monaco and Nagoya Grampus Eight, Wenger is currently enjoying some time out of management. But the Frenchman remains a keen observer the game, and is particularly enjoying the stunning emergence of Kylian Mbappé at Paris Saint-Germain.
Mibnd and body as a footballing one
“He has a combination of speed in his legs and speed in his brain, and the two come together very well,” Wenger told the Ligue 1 show on beIN SPORTS. “The pressure doesn’t look to be a burden on his shoulders. It’s more like an exciting project for him. And that natural speed of analysis, that maturity in his interviews, is absolutely impressive.
Watch: Mbappé’s first four-goal haul in Ligue 1 Conforama!
“You think God sent us this boy to show us how to play, how to behave, and so I hope that will continue and that in the future he goes all the way. His challenge now is ‘where is my next level?’, ‘am I capable of going to my next level?’, ‘do I have the guts and the motivation you need to go even higher up?’. That’s where his future lies, but this guy looks to have unlimited resources.”
Wenger is also watching the coaches closely, and he feels that Ligue 1 Conforama champions PSG have made a fine choice in appointing Thomas Tuchel.
‘Tuchel audacious and risky’
“I like him very much because he is a coach who is open-minded, who looks to me to be very intelligent, and he has a big passion for the game, and as well, he is a communicative coach. He’s audacious, he’s risky, and I believe he looks as well as to have a great future.”
But the Arsenal legend has a soft spot for two other managers: his former proteges Henry and Vieira, who are cutting their coaching teeth with Monaco and Nice respectively.
Vieira (l.) and Henry (r.) helped Arsenal go 38 games undefeated under Wenger in 2003/04.
“It’s good to see my former players being coaches. Because I had so many players in my career with the qualities to become top level coaches. But after it’s a life choice, do you want to sacrifice your life or not? I wasn’t sure that Patrick would dedicate his life to this job, you know. During his career it didn’t seem like he was really obsessed with becoming a coach.
‘Good progression’
Patrick Vieira has gone a long time for the job, he has learned the job at Man City, after he went to an intermediary step to take a first team in New York, and now I think he’s had a good progression in his learning process, I think he’s promising. I observe him since the start of the season, he is demanding with his players, he is demanding for the quality of the display, and he is coping well with disappointments.”
After a difficult start, Nice have now won five of their last seven games, drawing the other two, and they welcome AS Saint-Etienne to the Allianz Riviera on Sunday knowing that a win could take them into a provisional fourth place.
Watch: Monaco’s best performance ubnder Henry to date?
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“Patrick’s a competitor and once he takes a challenge he wants to be a winner. And the second thing, he was always like that, when he has his back to the wall he always finds the resources to come out and deal with the pressure. So that’s an important quality in this job.”
Completely dedicated
Henry endured a similarly difficult start to life in the Stade Louis II dugout, but there have been shoots of recovery in the principality too, with Monaco having won two of their last three league games, and Wenger is convinced Henry can bring the good times back to Les Rouges et Blancs.
“Less strikers become coaches because the striker has a huge individual responsibility,” he concluded. “But the difference is that Thierry Henry was always interested in the collective problems of the team, even when he was a player, even when he was a striker. And as well, you could feel he had always a huge passion for the game, he watched every single game.
“When you worked with him you knew there was no life outside football.”
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