Who is the better player: Mbappe or Henry?

Who is the better player?

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giorno said:
Nah, not really. We don't particularly care and there are no acrimonious rivalries like that - mostly because we're not fans of players as a rule, we're fans of teams. So those comparisons might happen between active players, but those kind of historical ones, not so much. We mostly just don't care. Also no, while we do revere our past greats, we've had enough recent greats - and winning ones at that, world champions - that it's not blasphemy to compare them


AND FIGHT! @JPRouve :D

See above. Baggio vs Del Piero was a thing very briefly, Del Piero vs Totti more so, but again, not something people particuparly cared about. Only Roma and Juventus fans did and neither cared about what the others thought anyways, so. For the neutrals, it's Baggio anyways :D

Hardly carried them given how good those sides were and how well they did in the league. Plus they beat a United side in transition, and even managed to lose the title to them once anyways - if anything that was the season you could say Henry carried them, and they didn't win. Then Roman came along and that was that.

Funny thing is they were actually still a great team without Messi, but when Messi was on the pitch everybody else just sort of stood around waiting for him to win by himself. The Zlatan effect. Messi being Messi he still won the league twice and nearly got them in a CL final...

I would have been. Again, something that happened once and by a guy who scored over 90 goals in a calendar year, reaching a level of consistency in goal scoring that's never been seen before or after
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Didn't he scored 48 goals in La Liga in the 14/15 season while missing a couple of games because he was injured? With his average that season, that means that he would hit 50+ goals if he played all games. It's not like it matters, but its not like the guy was miles away from doing it either. Feels like it's something that could have easily happened, therefore I wouldn't be surprised.
 
Internationally it’s Mbappe but I think Henry has done it in the hardest league in the world where as Mbappe had it easy in France, will probably have it easy at Real Madrid. Henry for me.
 
Gonçalo Motta said:
Didn't he scored 48 goals in La Liga in the 14/15 season while missing a couple of games because he was injured? With his average that season, that means that he would hit 50+ goals if he played all games. It's not like it matters, but its not like the guy was miles away from doing it either. Feels like it's something that could have easily happened, therefore I wouldn't be surprised.
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Yes. But being able to play 38 games while juggling CL is itself something that doesn't happen
 
"The Thierry Henry finish" is almost automatic for Mbappé these days. Give him that angle within 25 yards of goal and you're hoping he hits the post basically
 
giorno said:
"The Thierry Henry finish" is almost automatic for Mbappé these days. Give him that angle within 25 yards of goal and you're hoping he hits the post basically
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Ohhhh somebody’s got the gooogly eyes and wants Kylian back… :angel:


:lol:
 
Club level, Henry.
International, Mbappe.

Pick the one you prefer, i'll go with club football, personally.
Talent-wise, probably not much in it.
 
I prefer Henry's peak at club level but I struggle to put him above for this simple reason, in continental competitions Henry has played 115 games, registered 51 goals and 16 assists. Mbappé played 61 games, registered 48 goals and 22 assists.

Now people will rightfully say that raw stats aren't everything but when the gap is that big, it has to represent something.
 
One thing i noticed when looking at their CL records is that they are a good example of the smaller teams that would be expected to (and quite often did) finish 3rd and 4th being more competitive in the '00s. Mbappe has come through in the era of those team regularly taking beatings, and even though he's unarguably been a prolific scorer against the bigger teams, he's certainly picked up his share of goals in those games.

Look at the games in which both scored/assisted where smaller league (outside top 6-7 coefficient) teams are losing by a GD of at least 3-4 goals

Mbappe:

17/18:
vs Celtic 5-0 = 1 goal
vs Anderlecht 4-0 = 1 goal, 1 assist
vs Anderlecht 5-0 = 1 assist
vs Celtic 7-0 = 1 goal

18/19:
vs Red Star 6-1 = 1 goal, 1 assist
vs Red Star 4-1 = 1 goal, 2 assists

19/20:
vs Brugge 5-0 = 3 goals, 1 assist
vs Galatasaray 5-0 = 1 goal, 3 assists

20/21:
vs Basaksehir 5-1 = 2 goals, 1 assist

21/22:
vs Brugge 4-1 = 2 goals, 1 assist

22/23:
vs Maccabi Haifa 7-2 = 2 goals, 2 assists

15 goals, 13 assists

Henry:

97/98:
vs Lierse 5-1 = 1 goal

02/03:
PSV 4-0 = 1 goal, 2 assists. Personally wouldn't include this as Dutch league was still quite good at this stage when compared to a decade later, but some might.

04/05:
vs Rosenborg 5-1 = 1 goal

05/06:
vs Sparta Prague 3-0 = 1 goal

3 goals against unarguably smaller league teams getting beatings.

Mbappe has 31 goals/10 assists against top five league teams in 53 games and 8 substantial tournaments regarding minutes played. Henry has 29 goals/15 assists in 67 games and about 10-11 substantial tournaments (depending on your view of 09/10). I couldn't be bothered to do the per minutes played stuff for each, and just did this quickly on transfermarkt so there could be a slight miscount or two in there. Personally i don't have a strong opinion either way on who is better, and there's no doubt Mbappe will be well ahead by the end of his career, but it's not hard to see Mbappe has benefited a lot so far (in terms of closing the numbers gap so quickly) from the increasing concentration of talent into fewer leagues/teams, and smaller sides becoming regular punching bags.
 
This just popped up on my feed.

Kind of summarises how I had generally thought about Henry during that time. He was magical and fearsome in the PL.

 
Henry was consistently brilliant in the best league in the world and Mbappe has chosen to play in a piss weak league up to now so at this point in time Henry gets the nod from me.
 
Bondi77 said:
Henry was consistently brilliant in the best league in the world and Mbappe has chosen to play in a piss weak league up to now so at this point in time Henry gets the nod from me.
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The PL wasn’t the best league in the World when he was dominating it.

Both played in France and both played in the CL and both played WCs… Mbappé has the bette record in international football.
 
Its all gone Shane Long said:
Internationally it’s Mbappe but I think Henry has done it in the hardest league in the world where as Mbappe had it easy in France, will probably have it easy at Real Madrid. Henry for me.
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The Premier League was definitely not the hardest league in the world when Henry did it. In fact, his best teams who were winning or competing for the PL never even made a CL semi final.
 
If Mbappé fulfils his potential in the next 5 years, he should be the better player and this is coming from someone who thinks Henry is the best PL player ever and easily a top 5 strikers this century.
 
Theonas said:
If Mbappé fulfils his potential in the next 5 years, he should be the better player and this is coming from someone who thinks Henry is the best PL player ever and easily a top 5 strikers this century.
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Yup, right now it's still a debate, but I fully expect Mbappe to take another step up now that he joined Madrid. And if he does, he'll be joining the Platini/Zidane discussion, leaving Henry behind.
 
I think anyone who watches them for 10 minutes will say Henry. Mbappe only becomes a better player when you start reading football instead of watching it (which I feel like more people do these days anyway). I think anyone who wants to present an argument for Mbappé will immediately start throwing numbers around, whereas with Henry, I think you simply say ‘just watch’. My view is similar regarding Messi and Cristiano. Comparing them is a nonsense, Messi is clearly better to me. Ronaldo only competes on Wikipedia.

Mbappe has certainly performed better for France when it’s mattered most though, and probably in the CL, although he can be wasteful in the tighter games I find.

Of course it’s all opinions and preference, but Henry far more of an artist and just so elegant with it.
 
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Rozay said:
I think anyone who watches them for 10 minutes will say Henry. Mbappe only becomes a better player when you start reading football instead of watching it (which I feel like more people do these days anyway). I think anyone who wants to present an argument for Mbappé will immediately start throwing numbers around, whereas with Henry, I think you simply say ‘just watch’. My view is similar regarding Messi and Cristiano. Comparing them is a nonsense, Messi is clearly better to me. Ronaldo only competes on Wikipedia.

Mbappe has certainly performed better for France when it’s mattered most though, and probably in the CL, although he can be wasteful in the tighter games I find.

Of course it’s all opinions and preference, but Henry far more of an artist and just so elegant with it.
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I am with you on Messi and Ronaldo for the exact argument you give. But I really think Mbappé has so much more to his game than just numbers. There is an excitement and anticipation when he is on the ball that is so rare and is exclusive to the very top tier of footballers. Henry was definitely elegant but Mbappé can be electrifying in a way that even without the numbers, he would be a very exciting player to watch.

The main argument about Henry seems to be his performances at international level. For me that's just part of it, for how good he was and the level he forces us to compare him against, he just did not stand out enough in the biggest CL games either. I remember one performance that could be compared to the all time greats and that's when he carried Arsenal to win at the Bernabeu with iconic goal. Apart from that, he and his Arsenal just didn't stand out at that stage for whatever reason. As I said before, I think when considering everything, he is easily a top 5 striker this century but I'd put Lewandowski, Suarez and Benzema just ahead of him purely because they produced more decisive performances in the biggest games and I see Mbappé as being capable of surpassing them all.
 
I don't know man, I watched him yesterday and he wasn't "best player in the world" good. Was a bit disappointed as i bet france to win by at least 2 goals. Maybe he will improve as the competition goes deeper.

Right now I would still think slightly Henry, but Mbappe still has many years to go
 
So far, Henry is the better player by large margn, but now that Mbappe is finally at Real, he has a chance to go next level. Interesting to see if he can and will
 
Henry gave me nightmares as a kid against us at Highbury back in the day. Mbappe I won't lose sleep over so for me it has to be Henry.

Cool, calm and collected just slots this away. Insanity. Still think about this goal often to this day whenever I see or hear his name.
 
Pintu said:
The PL wasn’t the best league in the World when he was dominating it.

Both played in France and both played in the CL and both played WCs… Mbappé has the bette record in international football.
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He has played in better leagues than Mbappe.
He has also won the two highest honours in international football.
 
Adz_99 said:
Mbappe will be by the time he retires. Henry scored 360 career goals. Mbappe is up to 280 so presumably catches him up in the next couple of years at his current rate of scoring, and he's only 25. He's not far behind in terms of assists too.

The difference between Mbappe and Henry is Thierry was a great player in his era but Mbappe is in my opinion the best player of his era.

Time will tell though. If he flops at Madrid and ends up in Saudi Arabia I may change my mind.
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I think eventually Mbappe will top Henry in terms of trophies (especially going to Madrid), which will also give him the World player of the year and this probably go down in French football as the better player.

However, when quoting goals surely we have to take into account the league the player plays in. Player for PSG in a much weaker league (in terms of quality and in terms of top teams fighting for the title) blemishes the ‘goals scored’ aspect to date.
 
Mbappe. He’s in a higher tier than Henry and will go down in history as the better/greater player.
 
Rozay said:
I think anyone who watches them for 10 minutes will say Henry. Mbappe only becomes a better player when you start reading football instead of watching it (which I feel like more people do these days anyway). I think anyone who wants to present an argument for Mbappé will immediately start throwing numbers around, whereas with Henry, I think you simply say ‘just watch’. My view is similar regarding Messi and Cristiano. Comparing them is a nonsense, Messi is clearly better to me. Ronaldo only competes on Wikipedia.

Mbappe has certainly performed better for France when it’s mattered most though, and probably in the CL, although he can be wasteful in the tighter games I find.

Of course it’s all opinions and preference, but Henry far more of an artist and just so elegant with it.
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Efficiency vs elegance. I was going to debate you when I originally read about the reading of the game as I like to think I can evaluate as well as watch. But I think I know what you mean. Before we all became analysts you could just tell who would be a great. Or when as you say you were watching someone creating magic.

I miss football when it was like this. Less evaluating and just enjoying it.
 
duffer said:
"Who is the better player..." is the thread title.

That was never a serious question between RVN and Henry.
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It actually was for a bit at the time. RVN was prolific and made quite an impact in the league.
 
It’s Mbappe but Henry is one of those “you had to be there” players. A lot of younger fans will never know the impact Henry had on the PL, the stats as good as they are only tell half of the story. He toyed with opponents in a way we’ve never seen and just had unreal ability to pull of the unthinkable, he was a true artist.

You can’t argue with Mbappe’s numbers and his consistency across competitions and this is what places him above Henry. In terms of actual ability on the ball Henry could do everything Mbappe could but Mbappe isn’t capable of what Henry was but it was really only the PL that saw the best of Henry.
 
Demyanenko_square_jaw said:
One thing i noticed when looking at their CL records is that they are a good example of the smaller teams that would be expected to (and quite often did) finish 3rd and 4th being more competitive in the '00s. Mbappe has come through in the era of those team regularly taking beatings, and even though he's unarguably been a prolific scorer against the bigger teams, he's certainly picked up his share of goals in those games.

Look at the games in which both scored/assisted where smaller league (outside top 6-7 coefficient) teams are losing by a GD of at least 3-4 goals

Mbappe:

17/18:
vs Celtic 5-0 = 1 goal
vs Anderlecht 4-0 = 1 goal, 1 assist
vs Anderlecht 5-0 = 1 assist
vs Celtic 7-0 = 1 goal

18/19:
vs Red Star 6-1 = 1 goal, 1 assist
vs Red Star 4-1 = 1 goal, 2 assists

19/20:
vs Brugge 5-0 = 3 goals, 1 assist
vs Galatasaray 5-0 = 1 goal, 3 assists

20/21:
vs Basaksehir 5-1 = 2 goals, 1 assist

21/22:
vs Brugge 4-1 = 2 goals, 1 assist

22/23:
vs Maccabi Haifa 7-2 = 2 goals, 2 assists

15 goals, 13 assists

Henry:

97/98:
vs Lierse 5-1 = 1 goal

02/03:
PSV 4-0 = 1 goal, 2 assists. Personally wouldn't include this as Dutch league was still quite good at this stage when compared to a decade later, but some might.

04/05:
vs Rosenborg 5-1 = 1 goal

05/06:
vs Sparta Prague 3-0 = 1 goal

3 goals against unarguably smaller league teams getting beatings.

Mbappe has 31 goals/10 assists against top five league teams in 53 games and 8 substantial tournaments regarding minutes played. Henry has 29 goals/15 assists in 67 games and about 10-11 substantial tournaments (depending on your view of 09/10). I couldn't be bothered to do the per minutes played stuff for each, and just did this quickly on transfermarkt so there could be a slight miscount or two in there. Personally i don't have a strong opinion either way on who is better, and there's no doubt Mbappe will be well ahead by the end of his career, but it's not hard to see Mbappe has benefited a lot so far (in terms of closing the numbers gap so quickly) from the increasing concentration of talent into fewer leagues/teams, and smaller sides becoming regular punching bags.
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Yes this has borne out in international football too. I don't know exactly what happened, but around 2011/12 the best strikers for any decent intnl team started scoring at least 3 goals every 5 games, loads of guys who wouldn't have touched scoring records in the past have ended up with over 40 goals for their country. I'd like someone smarter than me to point out what happened at this period, because even Messi and Ronaldo weren't scoring that much for their country up till then then they turned into goal a game machines and many others did too.
 
Henry, maybe Mbappe can surpass him but he's nowhere near yet
 
JPRouve said:
I prefer Henry's peak at club level but I struggle to put him above for this simple reason, in continental competitions Henry has played 115 games, registered 51 goals and 16 assists. Mbappé played 61 games, registered 48 goals and 22 assists.

Now people will rightfully say that raw stats aren't everything but when the gap is that big, it has to represent something.
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I wish Rooney got to play in this current statpadding era that every other player at a top team is benefitting from right now. He would have 80 England goals if he had been 10 years younger.
 
El Jefe said:
It’s Mbappe but Henry is one of those “you had to be there” players. A lot of younger fans will never know the impact Henry had on the PL, the stats as good as they are only tell half of the story. He toyed with opponents in a way we’ve never seen and just had unreal ability to pull of the unthinkable, he was a true artist.

You can’t argue with Mbappe’s numbers and his consistency across competitions and this is what places him above Henry. In terms of actual ability on the ball Henry could do everything Mbappe could but Mbappe isn’t capable of what Henry was but it was really only the PL that saw the best of Henry.
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It's weird how a player as highly rated as Henry was, has kind of been forgotten over time. I absolutely despised him at the time, as was the case with most of that Arsenal team (the hatred was real), but he was a mesmerising player on the pitch and one of the stand-out players in the league during his time here.
 
DJ Jeff said:
I wish Rooney got to play in this current statpadding era that every other player at a top team is benefitting from right now. He would have 80 England goals if he had been 10 years younger.
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I don't know about that. Current players don't actually have better ratios than former world class international players. As an example the player that he is closest to Rooney in terms of Role would be Griezmann and Griezmann has a worse ratio. Also France top 10 has one recent player which is Mbappé otherwise it's players from the 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 80s, 90s and 2000s, basically all eras are represented and Henry isn't one of them. Maybe if Rooney played for a different nation, he would have a better record but it's not an era issue.

In fact I looked at other top nations and current players are fairly rare at the top when it comes to goal ratios. Even Messi and Ronaldo have someone above them and they aren't surrounded by current players.
 
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Henry used to disappear in finals

In 14 finals he has played in, he has scored two goals (FA Community Shield 2003 and Confederations Cup 2003) and provided one assist (ucl final 05/06).
 
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