Thierry Henry or Sergio Aguero?
Since last nights Manchester City game where Aguero scored a record 12th Premier League hat trick in a 1-6 win over Aston Villa, comparisons have been flying around social media about who the better player is between the Argentine and Arsenal’s record goal scorer Thierry Henry. In this blog I will be exploring who I think the better player was and looking further into some of their statistics to determine who had the bigger impact for their clubs. Before we get into the statistic here are some quotes that the footballing world have to say about these two:
“Thierry Henry is probably technically the most gifted footballer ever to play the beautiful game.”
Zinedine Zidane
“Sergio Aguero is the Premier League’s greatest goalscorer”
Jamie Carragher
Goals
Scoring goals is obviously a very important part of being a striker, therefore I have decided to kick start the comparisons by looking into who had the better goals per game ratio, best goal scoring season, how many golden boots they got and number of hattricks.
Goals per game ratio
Henry: 0.68 (175 goals in 258 apps)
Aguero: 0.69 (177 goals in 255 apps)
As you can see from this particular statistic Aguero slightly edges Henry for goals per game, by 0.1. Both strikers have been so clinical throughout their time in the Premier League and have an incredible record of scoring goals so consistently. However, in my opinion these two are completely different types of strikers as Henry was more of an all round player who could link up play and get assists, whereas Aguero is very much a poacher who is at his best in and around the penalty area. Henry used the quote “You give the ball. You share. And you see the joy in the eyes of the other guy”. It shows he loved to assist just as much as scoring, whereas Aguero is more of a player who loves putting the ball in the back of the net. These statistics back this up and prove why they will both go down as Premier League Legends.
Best goal scoring season:
Henry’s best goal scoring season in the League was in the 2004/05 season where he managed 30 goals in 37 games which is remarkable and proves the calibre of player he was. It proves how clinical he was in front of goal and highlights the importance of his finishing within the Arsenal side during this time. His second best campaign meant he scored 27 goals two seasons in a row from 2005/06 to 2006/07 both in 32 games. This shows true consistency throughout his whole time in the League and means his statistics stay around the same level for his whole career.
Aguero’s best goal scoring season is in the 2014/15 season when he managed to net 26 times in 33 games which is also a very impressive return, but 4 goals shy of Henry’s best return. His second best tally was in 2015/16 when he managed 24 goals in 30 appearances, of course he could still beat Henry’s best return and this season is on 13 goals in 16 matches. Aguero’s numbers are equally as impressive and also shows his consistency in front of goal, however on this particular stat is outdone by Arsenal’s goal machine.
Golden Boots
Henry managed to win the golden boot four times throughout his Arsenal career these were in 2001/02, 2003/04, 2004/05, 2005/06 which is the most out of anyone in the history of the Premier League. Another record that supports the fact that he was the greatest striker to ever grace English football.
Aguero on the other hand has only one the golden boot on one occasion in the 2014/15 season which is still a brilliant achievement but three behind Henry for this statistic.
Number of hat-tricks
Henry notched 8 hat-tricks in his time at Arsenal in the Premier League which is incredible considering the amount of assists he got as well, his last one coming in May 2006.
Aguero on the other hand has managed a staggering 12 hat-tricks for Man City in the league which proves the amount of class this man has when he’s needed to provide the killer touch, with his latest one against Villa last night. The Argentine pips Henry to more hat-tricks throughout his time in the Premier League and supports his case as to why he is one of the greatest goal scorers we have ever seen.
Assists
Another statistic which is looked at for strikers nowadays is how many assists they get along with their goals. This section will look at how many assists they have overall and what their ratio per game is:
Henry: 0.28 (74 assists in 258 apps)
Aguero: 0.18 (46 assists in 255 apps)
For strikers both of these returns are very good and it proves that they weren’t just there to put the ball in the back of the net, but their roles in the team were much more than that. Henry was just as good at providing as he was scoring and currently holds the record for the most amount of assists in a Premier League seasons when he managed 20 in 2002/03 and proves that as an all round player he was phenomenal. Aguero’s best return assists wise in a season was in 2011/12 when he got 9 assists. This is a huge difference and the first statistic that has had a noticeable jump between the two, with Henry getting 11 more assists than Aguero in their best proving campaigns.
Titles & Honours (Team & Individual)
Henry
Player of the season
2003/04
2005/06
Premier League Champion
2001/02
2003/04
Player of the Month
April 2000
September 2002
January 2004
April 2004
Golden Boot
2001/02
2003/04
2004/05
2005/06
Ballon D’or Top three finishes
2003
2006
Aguero
Premier League Champion
2011/12
2013/14
2017/18
2018/19
Player of the Month
October 2013
November 2014
January 2016
April 2016
January 2018
February 2019
Golden Boot
2014/15
Summary
Overall, I believe these two are the greatest foreign strikers to ever grace the Premier League and are both spectacular in their own ways. Even though they both have great goal scoring records they are completely different types of players as one will give you an extra dimension to your team through intricate passing and providing for your teammates whereas the other is a born goal scorer who’s main focus is putting the ball in the net. In my opinion, Henry was the better player overall as he made the game look so easy and effortless when he was driving at the opposition defence and brought more to the team then just goals. Of course Aguero doesn’t solely bring goals to Man City, however I believe if he was asked to play a role such of Henry’s at Arsenal he wouldn’t be as capable whereas Henry could easily fill Aguero’s role in the current City side.
Not only this, but if you look through the type of goals these two have scored throughout the years Henry has created his own chances on countless occasions through his pace and dribbling ability whereas Aguero tends to score more simple goals due to the creative behind him in the City side. The Argentine has scored some fantastic goals himself, but is more reliant on his teammates to create chances for him than Henry was. In addition to this, Henry’s involvement in the all round build up and how he started attacks from deep, keeping the ball moving along with what he brought to the team in terms of leadership was a class above Aguero.
As you can see in terms of goal scoring they are very evenly matched with Aguero slightly edging it in some categories, however if we are talking about who was he better overall player then the gulf in assists definitely creates the impression that Henry was more complete and could change a game in more ways than scoring a goal. For the these reasons I believe Henry was the better player!
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James Humphreys
Gunners Daily 