Thierry Henry Sky debut: how did the new pundit perform?

Thierry Henry made his debut as a pundit on Sky Sports on Sunday, watching his old club Arsenal take on defending Premier League champions Man City.

There has been so much hype surrounding the arrival of the former Arsenal striker at Sky that there was almost as much analysis of his performance as there was of his old team's display.

Here's what the pundits made of Henry's debut.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Build up

"For what seems like weeks Thierry Henry's recruitment to the broadcaster's punditry roster has been trumpeted with a noisy enthusiasm that could barely be matched by the Second Coming," says Jim White in the Daily Telegraph.

But after all the hype, expectations may have been too high, believes Ed Malyon in the Daily Mirror. "After what felt like months of tantalising promo foreplay, Henry's paymasters had placed him on a pedestal so high that it had become difficult to see how he would match up and indeed, his opening statements didn't set the world ablaze."

First comments

Matt Butler in The Independent points out that Henry's first assignment was to watch West Ham v Hull - "clearly the amuse bouche to the main course of the day, Manchester City v Arsenal".

However, he was thrown an early curve ball by presenter Ed Chamberlin. "An early, and legitimate, test of whether a great player turned pundit will deliver on air is when asked to reflect on the fortunes of his former club," says the Daily Mail. "So when Chamberlin chipped up a lunchtime tester on whether Arsenal have gone backwards in the past 12 months, it was significant that Henry didn't duck."

Indeed the former Arsenal man said the Gunners had "gone backwards", "need to defend better" and were missing "a big piece" in their team.

Appearance

Henry, looked "immaculate" says Matt Butler of the Independent. "Graeme Souness in comparison, sitting next to him all unshaven and creased, looked like a beer connoisseur with a Special Brew specialism."

The Murdoch-owned Sun was also, unsurprisingly, impressed by Sky's new recruit. "His sombre suit, crisp white shirt with hankie and tie, would not have looked out of place at a boardroom meeting."

Style

He looked good, so how did he sound? "Importantly for the ratings... Henry hasn't come back from his sojourn in Major League Soccer with an American accent." says Jim White of the Telegraph. "The va-va-voom tones remain as smoky as ever."

His style appeared to seduce Simon Burnton of The Guardian. "Henry leans back, relaxes and speaks with mouth permanently creased in a flirtatious half-smile, leaving the viewer forever some imaginary tablecloth, candlesticks and tasteful mood music away from their own intimate dinner a deux with football royalty."

Performance

"Henry is understated but his studio work for the BBC in last summer's World Cup showed he can deliver intelligent, incisive analysis," says the Mail. And his views on whether Hull's Sone Aluko should have gone to ground rather than riding a tackle in the penalty box were "a flash of cynical realism", according to the Mirror.

He also had the gumption to take on Souness when challenged over his assertion that David Silva was Man City's best player and also during what the Independent calls a "heated disagreement with Souness about the merits of West Ham's Alex Song".

Conclusion

Henry certainly didn't disgrace himself on debut, but neither did he win over the critics.

"Post-game, Henry concealed his joy at the result far better than some pundits do, but as far as impact goes there was neither the acid lines you get from Souness or the incisive analysis of Gary Neville. In truth, it is what you'd expect from someone finding their way in the punditry game, but... it was obvious that the hype had done nobody any favours," says Ed Malyon in the Mirror.

That was a sentiment echoed by Simon Burnton in the Guardian. "It was, overall, a promising start. Perhaps the only downside of Henry's arrival is that it leaves a massive hole in Sky's schedules which, for the last six weeks or so, has been filled by endlessly repeated adverts for Henry's arrival."