Premier League superstar's analytical approach to football will serve him well in front of the cameras
Thursday 18 December 2014 16:30, UK
What a great signing. Thierry Henry will be joining Sky Sports and I'm really looking forward to welcoming him to the team next month. And what a team of analysts we now have with Henry joining Jamie Redknapp, Gary Neville, Graeme Souness and Jamie Carragher.
First and foremost Thierry must be congratulated on a sensational career. He pretty much won everything football has to offer: La Liga, the Champions League, the European Championship and of course the World Cup. He scored 411 times in 917 games. He also won the Premier League and is an Arsenal legend.
Another former Arsenal striker, Alan Smith, summed it up perfectly on Twitter. "Quite simply, the most devastating player in Premier League history. Welcome Thierry Henry to your new career at Sky Sports".
I can't wait to pick Thierry's brains at Premier League games, particularly about the art of scoring goals, and re-uniting him with Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher.
What an exciting new chapter this should be for him. I can't wait to pick his brains at Premier League games, particularly about the art of scoring goals, and re-uniting him with Gary and Jamie, who described Henry as the toughest opponent he faced.
It was good to hear Henry say this week that when he watches matches he pauses them constantly "to make my friends understand why something happened or why it shouldn’t have happened". That bodes very well for his work on Sky. It's going to be fascinating.
We had another great goalscorer in the studio on Super Sunday - Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. What a buzz it was to be in the Old Trafford tunnel just before kick-off and reminisce with Ole and Jamie Carragher about the great fixture that is Manchester United v Liverpool. The referee, Martin Atkinson, said to Jamie as he passed, "you used to referee this game!".
United got sweet revenge for the two defeats last season, largely thanks to their clinical finishing and inspired goalkeeping from David de Gea. It was interesting to hear first Solskjaer describe it as the best goalkeeping display he'd ever seen from a Man Utd keeper at Old Trafford - and he'll have seen a few from Peter Schmeichel and Edwin van Der Sar - and second, Gary Neville explain De Gea's improvement on Monday Night Football.
Gary took some stick for the analysis he did on De Gea after the goal he conceded at White Hart Lane nearly two years ago but he always said he could develop in to one of the world's best goalkeepers. That is what we are seeing now.
The 3-0 defeat was another major setback for Liverpool, who were beaten by their fierce rivals and in the process lost a seventh Premier League game - they lost six all last season. Salt was then rubbed into the red wound on Monday night when Everton went above them and pushed Liverpool into the bottom half of the Premier League table.
The red side of Merseyside badly needed a boost and they got it at Bournemouth on Wednesday night.
Graeme and Jamie then drew their old team against Chelsea in the semi-final! That immediately resulted in Liverpool's price drifting to win the competition.
Sky Bet odds to win the Capital One Cup
10/11 Chelsea
9/4 Tottenham
7/2 Liverpool
25/1 Sheffield United
Could Wednesday’s result be one that turns the tide at Anfield? We see Liverpool again this weekend in another of the Premier League's classic fixtures: Liverpool v Arsenal. In fact it's a proper pre-Christmas Super Sunday treat as before the game at Anfield it's derby day in the North East: Newcastle v Sunderland. A brilliant day's football, which starts at 12.30pm on Sky Sports 1.
Last week I was one of the doubters. Now I'm a believer again after The New One put me firmly back in my box with a brilliant display in the International Hurdle at Cheltenham.
I doubted whether he had the speed and slick jumping needed to win a Champion Hurdle but that was the best round of hurdling I've seen from him and the way he attacks and relishes the Cheltenham hill means Faugheen is going to have to be every bit as good as people believe he is to beat him.
Sky Bet now go 3/1 about The New One for the Champion Hurdle and he looks absolutely rock solid.
The other star performer at HQ was Kings Palace, who is now 6/1 for the RSA with Sky Bet. That's actually a very tempting price as he's one novice whose Cheltenham target is absolutely set in stone.
He's a complete natural over fences but the one factor that niggles away at me is that he was my Festival banker in this column last year after an equally impressive start over hurdles but fell in a hole in the Albert Bartlett.
I'm looking forward to dropping in at Ascot on Friday to watch the Sky Bet Supreme Novices trial. At a time when small fields seem to be blighting a lot of meetings this race looks set to have a cracking field. I'm hoping to also meet Rich Ricci for the first time after the exciting news that he'll be joining us on the Cheltenham Festival Preview panel at Elland Road on March 4.
The next two stars of the training ranks will be Harry Fry and Dan Skelton. To demonstrate their rapid rise they train the front two in the betting for the Ladbroke Hurdle on Saturday.
I spoke to Dan a couple of weeks ago and he said the stable was primed for a pre-Cheltenham charge. The horses have been in great form and he unveiled a real star at Newbury on Wednesday in Value At Risk. He is a horse to follow.
Shelford is the horse worth following this weekend in the big handicap hurdle, a race Skelton won last year so he knows exactly what's required. This has been the target for Shelford since the five-year-old landed the Silver Trophy Handicap Hurdle at Chepstow in late October. He looks highly progressive and still on an attractive mark.
