Thierry Henry Breaks Down Why He Has ‘Question Mark’ Over Bundesliga Players

Thierry Henry has explained why he will "always" question whether players who have built a reputation in the Bundesliga can adapt to life in England's top flight – and it makes for an interesting debate.

The former Arsenal striker, who is widely regarded as one of the Premier League's greatest players, was on punditry duty for Sky Sports ahead of Sunday's North London derby.

Here, he spoke about attacking midfielder Xavi Simons and whether he has the capabilities to adapt to the Premier League after a slow start to life at Tottenham following his £51 million move from RB Leipzig.

Since joining in the summer, Simons has yet to score in 15 games for the Lilywhites, despite a prolific spell with Leipzig that featured 22 goals and 24 assists in 78 appearances.

Speaking on Sky Sports alongside Jamie Carragher and Les Ferdinand, Henry touched on the demands of Premier League football, as well as how games are "really stretched" in Germany's top flight.

"It’s not easy to arrive in a team and perform straight away," he began. "We can see Florian Wirtz at Liverpool, but I will always have a question mark on people that perform in Germany."

Simons has struggled to adapt to life in the Premier League. Image credit: Getty

Henry continued: "That’s only me. I’m not saying that they won’t perform in another league. I’m just saying, because of the way the league is, they’re really stretched. So if you can run well, you’re going to have a lot of opportunities, goals, assists.

"People can run with you in this league, so it’s very difficult. And if we go back to what you were saying, Jamie, and what you asked Kelly (Cates) before – do you think the managers right now are letting their players dribble, or do they want to control everything to make sure they’re not going to get countered?

"Playing a low block all the time. It is not always easy to create. Look at Arsenal. We don’t create a lot of opportunities. We score a lot on set pieces. I’m not going to go back to the old story and everything, but you need to find a way to score goals.

"So you’re going to create way less than what we used to be able to do in our time because teams are playing low. They don’t try to bite or come out. So the spaces are tight."

He added: "If you don’t allow people to dribble and make mistakes, like I always say, the reward is in the risk. Where are you going? You’re not going to have the stats of creating. And if you don’t take your chances when you have one, well, you’re in trouble."

Henry says he will always have a question mark on players who join the Premier League from the Bundesliga. Image credit: Sky Sports

As mentioned by Henry, some teams in the Premier League are struggling to break down a low block, including reigning champions Liverpool.

Arne Slot recently said it was up to his players to find answers to opponents who employ a low block while using long balls.

"The main difference between this season and last season is the playing styles we face," he said back in October. "I've looked when we had a few days off at how many long balls we already had to defend - 178 in seven games and then United came and we had to defend 59 long balls.

"That's different from the first half of last season. The way to unlock it is a moment of magic, which we had in the first half of last season a lot with Mo [Salah], or a set-piece, which we had at Frankfurt as well, because that again was a low block. But two set-pieces unlocked the game for us."

"So, this is what I try to explain to them [the players] and what I try to explain to the media," added Slot. "What I try to do after the game, it was actually more of a compliment for the other manager that he found the right answer to our playing style."