Henry can’t do it alone

When New York fell behind a goal, their captain looked into his bag of tricks for help. Watching Thierry Henry shield a defender on a rare touch in the box, calmly settling the feed and turning on it only to miss a goal by mere feet shows you exactly what kind of skill he possesses.

It was also the type of one man show that was reminiscent of 2011 when Henry was forced to perform such majestic feats to keep New York competitive.

On this day, Henry was on an island. The defense was collapsing. The midfield followed suit. As he has made clear time and time again, when all else fails, he will do “what the game tells me to do.” On this day, that meant backtracking into the middle to gain possession, taking him away from the front lines.

His partner, Kenny Cooper, looked trigger shy without him up top. He was perhaps too deferential, prefering to dish out a pass to the top of the box instead of confidently taking and making his own opportunities.

Henry will do what he has to do to win, but it is proven that these types of team collapses take away from the captain’s strongest suit – scoring goals. When he isn’t in a position to do so, the team falls right along with him.