Who is the better player: Mbappe or Henry?

[Fortitude]

An offshoot of the: Is Mbappe the best French player of all time thread is people putting up their personal top 3's and 5's. Invariably, Henry enters these discussion with some of the caf truly believing he is a level above Mbappe. Perhaps fair comment from the angle of the EPL, but warranted at any other level? Is Mbappe not already a bigger big game player than Henry ever was? Is that controversial? If you think it is, why is it?

Beings as Henry is often considered the best player the English league has ever witnessed, it is understandable that some are not going to look beyond that, especially not for a 23-year old still playing football in France, but Mbappe has been valued as the most expensive gettable player on the planet since his Monaco days and that's not down to just potential. Even if you believe that he hasn't been the #1, there's arguably been only two other players who have been in his company for valuation (Messi of 4-years ago and Neymar). There's an obvious reason for that: Mbappe's trajectory has always been expected to be top echelon and nothing less. With that being the case, how can he be summarily dismissed when compared to Thierry Henry? On what grounds or metric?

Per the title, who do you believe the better player is, and why do you think that?

 

[balaks]

Henry was quite a bit better in my opinion. He had more to his game than M'bappe does.

 

[antk]

Depends how you define better, but regarding your "big game" point, Mbappé definitely already has more memorable performances in the CL and WC than Henry.

Different times though. Henry still the greater player to me but it probably won't last long.

 

[Remember the geese]

Henry definitely. He was more of a showman. Far more creative, skilful and just an absolute joy to watch.

 

[dinostar77]

Recency bias strikes again

 

[Who's Kissing Cameras?]

Taking stats out of the comparison as Henry played in an era (00s) where it was harder for top class forwards to hit 40/50 goals a season like we see today (CR7, Messi, Suarez, Benz, Mbappe, Lewa).

Prime Henry was just a more graceful player. He had more strings to his bow than Mbappe does now and was more clinical. In creating chances and link up play, set piece taking too. Henry is still the only player to score 20+ and assist 20+ in one Premier League season. Sensational. But yes, I am a bit biased as I am a Utd fan who saw Henry destroy this league for 6 years, he was unstoppable.

One thing though, Mbappe is only 23. I can see him reaching Henry’s levels in the next few years. He isn’t there quite yet. Pochettino said something similar in the punditry box today; Mbappe is unplayable with room and space and time, but can improve in tight spaces.

 

[Chief123]

Way too early.

After the age of 23ish, that’s when Henry became incredible and often unplayable. Mbappe isn’t there yet.

For those who are too young, Henry was something else.

 

[Rojofiam]

All these threads because he scored vs Australia, Denmark and Poland

 

[AFC NimbleThumb]

Did Anelka play golf?

Anyway, without Henry Mbappe doesn’t exist. Mbappe will be the better though, what he’s done at 23 is ridiculous.

 

[M Bison]

Henry by a distance for me, he was a different class in a tough league and in a very good Arsenal team. Obviously time is still on Mbappe’s side but he’d have to move to another league and show it week in week out as Henry did for me.

 

[galwayfa]

Genuinely thought this was a joke,
Mpabbe head and shoulders above

 

[JJ12]

Way too early to tell

 

[BerryBerryShrew]

Henry was truly incredible. For anyone too young to have seen him play: think of Harry Kane (goalscoring and playmaking ability) and add in lightning pace, fantastic dribbling ability, better touch and more skill.

Mbappé can get there in time, but is not there yet.

 

[Bwuk]

Mbappe for me. He's been unplayable in 2 world cups.

 

[Kanu]

Henry never performed for France like Mbappe has. Mbappe for me.

 

[balaks]

Genuinely thought this was a joke,
Mpabbe head and shoulders above

No chance

 

[EtH]

Henry, FFS. Everything is so much easier for attackers these days. Including international football which has been watered down to the point of who cares.

 

[Stadjer]

Recency bias strikes again

Thats no argument since someone else could easily say ''old people who think everything was better in the past''

 

[Cascarino]

Recency bias strikes again

While always a factor, nostalgia is just as present.

I was asked a while back to compare Henry to Suarez, Benzema, Lewandowski. The idea felt crazy, there’s no way you could have those three in the same tier as Henry, but then when you get listed all of their achievements you realise the gap maybe isn’t as big as first thought, and while I’d still comfortably choose Henry it’s probably fair to say nostalgia does play at least a small part when it comes to judging these players.

And that’s ok, I think that’s a lot of the fun when it comes to football, telling the youngsters that the current guy doesn’t come close to the old guy. I’ve been told plenty of times that Bale doesn’t match Up to John Charles, so I’ll look forward to telling little Tommy that Bale shits on whichever Gen Alpha Welshman they’ve nailed their flag to

 

[Sweet Square]

Henry never performed for France like Mbappe has. Mbappe for me.

Henry was France all time top scorer until tonight.

 

[2mufc0]

Mbappe has plenty of time to overtake him.

 

[EtH]

Thats no argument since someone else could easily say ''old people who think everything was better in the past''

It’s not an argument. It’s stating that the premise of the thread is ridiculous. Which it is.

 

[Raoul]

While always a factor, nostalgia is just as present.

I was asked a while back to compare Henry to Suarez, Benzema, Lewandowski. The idea felt crazy, there’s no way you could have those three in the same tier as Henry, but then when you get listed all of their achievements you realise the gap maybe isn’t as big as first thought, and while I’d still comfortably choose Henry it’s probably fair to say nostalgia does play at least a small part when it comes to judging these players.

And that’s ok, I think that’s a lot of the fun when it comes to football, telling the youngsters that the current guy doesn’t come close to the old guy. I’ve been told plenty of times that Bale doesn’t match Up to John Charles, so I’ll look forward to telling little Tommy that Bale shits on whichever Gen Alpha Welshman they’ve nailed their flag to

Nostalgia bias is far more of a factor than recency imo. People grow up with certain players and the mythology of the past is a hard thing to overcome when assessing players in the present.

 

[Sweet Square]

Tbh we’ve gone from is Mbappe the greatest french player of all time to now is he better than Henry, which is closer to reality.

The guy is very very good but it’s far too early to judge him against the greats.

 

[Redfrog]

Is this a joke ? I love Henry but what was he doing at 23 ?
Mbappé will be the all time goal scorer in world cups by the time he retires. He already won one while Henry did only on paper.
If Mbappé was playing in England, the question will never be asked.

 

[Rojofiam]

Mbappe for me. He's been unplayable in 2 world cups.

Henry never performed for France like Mbappe has. Mbappe for me.

So? International football is miles behind club football (especially the late stages of the CL) in terms of quality.

Mbappe can make claims when he wins something meaningful in club football and leaves the French league.

 

[balaks]

Is this a joke ? I love Henry but what was he doing at 23 ?
Mbappé will be the all time goal scorer in world cups by the time he retires. He already won one while Henry did only on paper.
If Mbappé was playing in England, the question will never be asked.

Never judge individual players on team based achievements. Utterly pointless.

 

[Kanu]

So? International football is miles behind club football (especially the late stages of the CL) in terms of quality.

Mbappe can make claims when he wins something meaningful in club football and leaves the French league.

You can see international football means more to the players, especially the World Cup. That's The stage where you want to perform. Mbappe has done better so far.

 

[Kanu]

Henry was France all time top scorer until tonight.

Still not as influential as Mbappe at World Cups.

 

[Andersonson]

Some people dont know this, but Henry was actually faster than Mbappe

 

[antk]

So? International football is miles behind club football (especially the late stages of the CL) in terms of quality.

Mbappe can make claims when he wins something meaningful in club football and leaves the French league.

Mbappé has been a lot better than Henry in the CL though, even if he has not won it yet.

 

[KirkDuyt]

Bit early to call? 23 year old Mbappe is better than 23 year old Henry if you ask me, but who knows, he might fall off entirely in 2 years or decide to take up drinking. Or he might win 10 balon d'ors and 3 world cups.

I like Henry better though.

 

[Jeppers7]

Henry did incredible things on a pretty regular basis, really incredible things.

 

[Redfrog]

Never judge individual players on team based achievements. Utterly pointless.

He probably scored more goals then Henry in world cups. Is that individual or collective achievement ?
Henry never even was the star player in the French team.

Henry was France all time top scorer until tonight.

Mbappé is 23 ffs. He will easily surpass his record. He has more then 30 right now.

 

[Rojofiam]

You can see international football means more to the players, especially the World Cup. That's The stage where you want to perform. Mbappe has done better so far.

And yet every team is tactically flawed with so many mistakes being made in every game. Whereas in the CL 1 small mistake can mean your team getting knocked out of the competition.

Other than Flick and Enrique, there are no elite managers in international football right now. Says it all really. If Guardiola or Klopp decided to manage a country, they'd be huge favorites for everything.

The current City and Arsenal teams would win the WC with ease. I'd even fancy United under ETH tbh. It doesn't take away from the WC. It's still probably the biggest stage. But miles behind tactically.

 

[Sweet Square]

Still not as influential as Mbappe at World Cups.

Mbappe has played one World Cup. Also Henry was maybe the most influential player in France win at euro 2000.

 

[JPRouve]

I don't think Henry was better, I also don't know if he was worse. Now if I had to pick one to save my team during a key game, I would pick Mbappé 100% of the time.

 

[Sweet Square]

Mbappé is 23 ffs. He will easily surpass his record. He has more then 30 right now.

Read the post I was responding to.

 

[Glorio]

I, like most United fans who watched the rivalry between United and Arsenal won't hesitate to say Henry. We saw him in our nightmares!!!
The man was living a cheat-code - the EPL was Thierry's world and everybody else was living in his play ground. He wasn't your typical striker, he basically ran games, and he did it with grace and a cockiness that you just had to respect

 

[Sweet Square]

Mbappé has been a lot better than Henry in the CL though, even if he has not won it yet.