Thierry Henry has had his say on Bradley Barcola and Jeremy Jacquet's starts to their Liverpool careers
Thierry Henry has been speaking about Liverpool pair Bradley Barcola and Jeremy Jacquet
Thierry Henry has been speaking about Liverpool pair Bradley Barcola and Jeremy Jacquet (Image: PA)
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Thierry Henry has warned it will take time for Bradley Barcola to settle at Liverpool following his £123m move from Paris Saint-Germain.
The Reds signed the France international at the end of the transfer window following a summer-long pursuit. But he has enjoyed an understated start to his Liverpool career so far, starting three of his first five appearances while waiting to provide his first goal contribution.
Having seen Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo both suffer injuries during the international break, with the pair two of the Reds’ best performers so far this season, the pressure will be on Barcola to make more of an impact when club football resumes.
But reflecting back on his own move to England, Henry warned that it will not be easy for his compatriot to make an immediate impact on Merseyside.
“People forget that the tactic, the team and how you play matters,”the Arsenal legend told Betway. “You can see that everyone who comes into Luis Enrique’s system shines – Kvaratskhelia, Dembele, Doue, Barcola.
“It’s not always easy when you’re used to a certain system and a way of playing, where everybody knows what’s happening at any time.
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“He just arrived in Liverpool, he doesn’t speak English, and it’s a different style of play with different intensity in the league.
“I had to deal with it the same way, and then that little switch happened and I was more comfortable. You start to speak English, you can joke around in the dressing room, you’re a bit less shy and people start to know what you’re about.
“It’s not an easy place to start, and he didn’t ask for his price tag, but it’s on his back.
“We all know that one-v-one, he is deadly, and he has pace. The only thing he needs to work on is his finishing, but that’s normal.
“If you see my finishing when I was 19 or 20 compared to the end of my career, it was so different. I became so much more sure about my game.
“With winning the Champions League back-to-back, playing for France, with the price tag and the quality that he has, people are not going to wait for him to become the finished article, so he’s going to have to deliver.
“There is going to be a level of expectation, and sometimes he is a bit raw in his finishing, but he creates a hell of a lot.”
Bradley Barcola and Jeremy Jacquet pose for a team photo before the UEFA Champions League football match between Liverpool and Atletico Madrid at Anfield
Bradley Barcola and Jeremy Jacquet pose for a team photo before the UEFA Champions League football match between Liverpool and Atletico Madrid at Anfield (Image: AFP)
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But while Henry has called for patience with Barcola, he admits he has not been surprised by Jeremy Jacquet’s stunning start to his own Liverpool career - having wanted to call the defender up during his time as France Under-21s head coach.
“It’s (his reputation) always been very high,” he said. “When I was the coach of the Under-21s I wanted to call him up, he was only 16 or 17, but he didn’t come because he had to take his exams.
“As much as he concentrated on football, he was also concentrating on getting his degrees. He’s very on-point in his head, and his family knows what he needs to do and how he can be successful.
“People told me that he has always been seen as ‘the guy’, but it doesn’t always work that way. Many times I’ve seen players who were ‘the guy’ at that age turn out not to be the guy, while sometimes it does go the other way.
“You can see that he already understands what he needs to do, especially in the physical part of the game. It also helps if you play alongside Virgil.
“But am I surprised with him dealing with the level of expectation? No, not really, because he was always in that situation in the youth system in France.”
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