I've all the time in the world for Simon Barnes but I have to disagree with him in one aspect here. I think the essence of a league season and champion can often be not perfection [as the invincibles came near to] but how a team responds to defeat or adversity and I feel that it is the 'Battle of the Buffet' and not the unbeaten season which shows the true core of Henry's and Arsenal under Wengers nature - have they been the same team since defeat and has he been the same player since being vanquished?
The same inability to respond to defeat was even admitted to by Wenger after their FAC S/F defeat by Man United in the 1998/99 season, a defeat which took them 3 seasons to recover from and I would suggest we are now into a 4th year of soul searching instead of celebration since the season of 'perfection'.

Steve Ryall, Co.Durham,

Thank you so much for that reminder James. Simon please take note. Henry is good but not the best. Arsenal & Henry came really good that season but may be you need to sit and watch all those matches again. Some they somehow managed to get a result albeit the sooooooooo great draw. They are not the best thing that happen to the premiership but they hacked it that seson...

Ugo, Port Harcourt, Nigeria/Rivers State

Yes, Henry has gone. Engineered a move away from Arsenal using David Dein as an excuse blah blah blah!
Typical of the Frenchman to show his arrogance in such a way. Great player to watch, but I`m sure there are plenty more great players playing in the Premiership at the moment who dont ever get a mention let alone the hype that goes around with Henry.
The greatest player ever in the Premiership? Your having a laugh!!
Was Henry as good as Cantona? Dont think so.
Henry was interested in 1 thing and 1 thing only...HENRY!
So ta-ta to Henry, it`ll be interesting to see who Wenger brings in to replace him.

Scott, bathgate, scotland

Henry is the best player I have ever seen.

Henry could do everything. He scored so many goals, most wonderful. The wonderful goals he did score your mind kind of said 'well yes Henry did that' where as most players you would say what a brilliant goal. He scored so many wonderful goals so often the surprise element had been taken away. And for a striker that did score so many goals I have never seen one set up so many goals for his colleagues and take great delight in doing so.

He will be a sadly missed next season, greatness I hope will be bestowed down on him once he hangs up his boots.

farewell my French friend, you will be missed but not forgotten.

James, Chester,

Simon Barnes bemoans "frank cheating" in the Premiership while praising the Arsenal invincibles of 03-04. How careless of him to forget that one of those many draws, at Highbury against Portsmouth, came via a penalty won by a dive from one of the biggest cheats the Premiership has ever seen, M. Robert Pires. Without that, the invincibles would have been the nearly men.

James, london, uk

The season of the Invincibles was one to be cherished. Wenger's magic came to fruition not only in such style, but also, this time, in results. To go through a whole Premiership season without a single loss is the stuff of dreams and was at the time magnificent. Personally, against this, the Champions League, FA Cup or Premiership title, without the perfection of the L0 statistic, are all of lesser significance. We had it for a season and maybe searching for it again in vain. That wonderful season now seems so far away and the players just ghosts of Highbury.

John M, Birmingham, UK

Yes - a minor quibble this - but poor grammer and elementary spelling mistakes really grate. So, please take care before hitting the submit button.

I have watched football for almost my entire 44 years on this planet - and played it, quite poorly, for half as long. I have seen a few masters in my time - Zindane, to me, remains without peer. Henry surely ranks way up there - his goals, and there were many, rank as works of art. Sublime in execution. I shall miss him - but I also think the timing was right for his departure. He was not captain material - I can't help but wonder if Arsene would have kept him on was he not captain . . .

P. Sharma, Oxford, UK

Henry is a wonderful player no doubt.. but Arsenal will recover pretty quickly i think..

Too much hype surrounded him.. he went missing too often on the big occasions - and for mine he hasn't even been the best Frenchman to play in the Premier League.. that honour goes to Eric Cantona- now HE was style and substance.. what a player.

Richard, Sydney,

DJB...a Manchester United fan, maybe?

Si, Deal, UK

Im an Arsenal and an Henry fan but as good as he was i think simon your a bit mistaken.
have you ever heard of Ronaldo (brazilian)? look at him when he played for PSV, Barca, Inter even real for a while and tell me he wasnt better than Henry, he had everything and even now his still putting in the goals for milan.

Theres to much hype surrounding premiership players.

john, Berry,

This is for the better. Arsenal need a strong captain and a tallisman that will not drain the youngsters confidence. Henry cares about one thing and that's Henry. This is not sour grapes as Henry has been a great Arsenal player but in all honesty I never liked Henry the man. Look at Dennis Bergkamp, Ian Wright, Tony Adams etc etc. they were men who wore the shirt with pride and never wanted a move elsewhere. Isn't it strange how we never had any stories of Bergkamp moving away. And finally, what a contrast this story has with the recent articles regarding Freddie Ljungberg. Freddie wants to stay and fight for his place!! This is the reason the supportants sing to Freddie from the heart!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stuart Smith, Cwmbran, South Wales

"Henry combined style with substance in a way that no one has ever done before in English football".....come'ed Simon, what about your namesake John? Talk about style with substance. And he didn't run off to the continent either, when the going got tough. There's only been one Johnny Barnes.

Eddie, Stockholm,

Although disappointing to Arsenal fans and Premiership lovers alike, the very fact that Henry has departed to Barca actually comes as no supprise. As a Brit and Arsenal fan currently living in the USA, I believe the real disappointing issue here is the manner of the 16m fee. The is no question that Henry contributed a enormous amount to us during the past 8 years and he will be missed, although I'm not conviced his departure will affect the teams prospects as much as soom say. The bad taste in my mouth arrises from Henry's 'letter of honesty' to the tabloids !! What a pathetic insult to Arsenal football fans. Using the convienient umbrella of David Dein's removal and Wengers 'supposed' non comittal to a new contract is far from Henry being 'honest' regarding the transfer. Henry has showed his true financial colours by engineering this deal via a get out clause last year. The result ? Arsenal sold short and Henry gets a very nice 'tax free' contract (which of course he will honor !).

Nick Broughton, San Diego, CA, USA

good riddance. if he wants to leave let him. terrible attitude and jealous of our talent behind him. If arsene wants to go let him too.

jameselliot, london,

"There have been players as fast as Henry, players as skilful as Henry, players as graceful as Henry: but never all three at once."


Rivaldo and Kaka are two who spring immediately to mind. Neither is quite as fast as Thierry but then Henry isn't as skillful as Rivaldo or as elegant as Kaka. There must be a fair few others too that have all three qualities in abundance.

Any chance of an article on Rivaldo when he finally retires from football, Simon? He seems, at least to me, to be a "Simon Barnes" type of player.

Mas, Derby,

Great piece,its a shame he lost the spirit.Once that is gone,all else is just not important.

simel, Swindon, England

Invincibles ? They lost games in the FA Cup, Carling Cup and Champions League. In fact they lost more games that season than United did '99, in winning the 3 main trophies. Still, they are a London team and so must be cossetted.

DJB, Manchester, UK

One in the eye for those who steadfastly maintain that the EPL only gets the best when they're past it. Enjoy, Barcelona. Great footballer but a little gauche for my English tastes - give me Phil Stamp or Jamie Pollock any day.

Nicholas, Newcastle,

You nailed it, Simon. The perfect Henry piece. You are the TH14 of the keyboard. I can stop reading all the sad words now and realise I saw (yes, even live) and cheered and adored an exceptional talent, and in a few years time when my eight-year-old says 'dad, why did we love Henry so much again?' i can answer, "read this."

tony, Wombarra, NSW

Sad to see him go. Excited about what Wenger has up his sleeve.

stan, London, UK

Well said.
Having supported Arsenal through some awful seasons in the past 38 years, it is only when you see the Arsenal of recent times that you appreciate how bad some of those Arsenal teams were, as they didn't seem quite as bad at the time. Or perhaps it is just that the football we have played in recent years has been so good. If Thierry Henry does indeed go (nothing official yet), then I think he should be remembered as a sublime player, the best in Premiership history and quite possibly the best British football has seen, although comparisons are difficult . Who else has been cheered off the pitch by opposing fans like at Portsmouth? Who else has scored and set up so many truly great goals? Who else has so many people who don't have to pay saying they would, just to see him? Who else, apart from the most one-eyed fan, isn't sad if he leaves our football?
A true great and its been my luck to see him play AND to support Arsenal through this era.

Simon Bullock, Kings Langley,