So its official: Henry was a much better player for Arsenal than Bergkamp

[Boss]

really? henry wasnt great the season he left us. was injured for a lot of it. he gave his all to this club and he loves it and so do the fans. you only have to see the reaction everytime he has at the ground to see how much he loves us and how much we love him. he left after giving his best to us. so many Arsenal fans were delighted to see him win the CL. but he won everything pretty much with us

Injured for most of it yet still pulled out 10 goals and 5 assists in 16 PL appearances. Overall contribution of 12 in 24 appearances. A conversion rate Bergkamp has only bettered once, during his best ever season for us (1997/98). Henry scored 30+ goals for us five seasons in a row, Bergkamp never reached 20.

As I keep on saying, they're both top players but if you match them up there's only one clear winner and I don't see how any rational, non-emotionally blinded person can't see this.

[Boss]

I think most people saying they don't care about Fabregas leaving genuinely don't care that he left. Myself included. I want players who are committed - and though it might be hard for glory-hunters to understand - there are more important things than wanting to count your team trophies. I didn't want a team centred around somebody who didn't want to be here; what we've found recently is that more players are taking responsibility (from Jenkinson onwards) and the workrate going up is clearly visible.

Regarding Henry, being the 'best' is subjective based on whatever criteria you want to choose. In terms of footballing talent, I think Bergkamp was better. I'm not 'butthurt' by Henry leaving for thinking that, and you're being childish for suggesting so. Unlike the Cesc situation, I was of course disappointed that Henry wanted to go, as many would've been, but at this stage nobody would be annoyed with Henry's decision. I think Henry was the better all-rounder but Bergkamp was unique and best at what he did.

In any case, this thread was started about a statue. A statue should honour club legends and those that have contributed the most to Arsenal. You don't need to be the best player to be the bigger club legend. Messi must be close to becoming the best player of all time but if Messi joined us tomorrow, he wouldn't be a club legend automatically. Nevertheless Bergkamp's contribution to Arsenal's success starts before Henry came. There's not much difference between Henry and Bergkamp in terms of ability or contribution. The intelligent observer will look beyond goals and trophies. Pretending that there is a clear right answer is childish/WUMing.

Being better ability wise means nothing if you don't prove it. Ofc Bergkamp proved his class, but Henry did a lot, lot more (as mentioned above).

Re: club legends, they're both so and will always remain so. My debate was about ability, skill, who's the better player etc and I think I've backed that up well enough. The scenarios aren't so different that it's difficult to compare them (like in the case of Pele/Maradona, where Pele is better stats wise but Maradona won most of his trophies 'single-handedly'). They both played for the same team at pretty much the same time. Henry did a lot, lot better while playing for said team and also performed internationally (in terms of trophies) and with another club (Barca). Just because Bergkamp may be able to control a ball 0.12% of a second faster doesn't make him a better player.

[fakeyank]

Injured for most of it yet still pulled out 10 goals and 5 assists in 16 PL appearances. Overall contribution of 12 in 24 appearances. A conversion rate Bergkamp has only bettered once, during his best ever season for us (1997/98). Henry scored 30+ goals for us five seasons in a row, Bergkamp never reached 20.

As I keep on saying, they're both top players but if you match them up there's only one clear winner and I don't see how any rational, non-emotionally blinded person can't see this.

Th14 is the better player. I'd put him alongside all time greats. Part of the reason why he is not looked as highly as DB10 by some may be because he did not stay at Arsenal all his career. Chances are even IF he wanted to, AW's policy of over 30s would have had him looking elsewhere.

TH >> DB as a player
DB >> TH as a loyal Arsenal player

[Syn]

Being better ability wise means nothing if you don't prove it. Ofc Bergkamp proved his class, but Henry did a lot, lot more (as mentioned above).

My debate was about ability, skill, who's the better player etc and I think I've backed that up well enough.

You haven't. And you need a crash course in logic if you think you have. All you are doing is looking at goals but they played different positions and had very different roles.

[Olivier's xmas twist]

Th14 is the better player. I'd put him alongside all time greats. Part of the reason why he is not looked as highly as DB10 by some may be because he did not stay at Arsenal all his career. Chances are even IF he wanted to, AW's policy of over 30s would have had him looking elsewhere.

TH >> DB as a player
DB >> TH as a loyal Arsenal player

If only we had on of them now ahey.

[Master Splinter]

The intelligent observer will look beyond goals and trophies. Pretending that there is a clear right answer is childish/WUMing.

Pretty much.

[Olivier's xmas twist]

Everything BOBN has said in this thread is spot on.

Henry and Bergkamp were both brilliant players, but Henry was on a whole other level. Scored and created for his teammates, won everything that could be won (bar WPOTY due to pathetic fixing) and ran the show for us for 5+ years whereas Bergkamp only did so for a couple.

Laughable how people spout nonsense like Bergkamp's goals were better than Henry's, that's all subjective and shouldn't be used in a real debate. Henry v Madrid, Liverpool, Charlton, Sparta Prague, United etc were brilliant goals, easy to pick and choose.

People on here are still butthurt that Henry left us to win things, that can be the only reason.

Tbf id say its 1in 10 what i would say were angry at henry leaving, most were happy to see him go, we all knew he had to move on and had a better chance of winning the CL with barca then us, though he could have won it for us.

I think you'll find more were hurt over Cesc Joining barca then Henry.

[BOBN]

Everything BOBN has said in this thread is spot on.

Henry and Bergkamp were both brilliant players, but Henry was on a whole other level. Scored and created for his teammates, won everything that could be won (bar WPOTY due to pathetic fixing) and ran the show for us for 5+ years whereas Bergkamp only did so for a couple.

Laughable how people spout nonsense like Bergkamp's goals were better than Henry's, that's all subjective and shouldn't be used in a real debate. Henry v Madrid, Liverpool, Charlton, Sparta Prague, United etc were brilliant goals, easy to pick and choose.

People on here are still butthurt that Henry left us to win things, that can be the only reason.

aye, just look at the opposition.

meanwhile bergkamps best goals were against leicester and newcastle

[Cripps_orig]

Both quality players

Couldnt give a fuck who was better than who

We had both and im damn glad we did and better yet, at the same time

/thread

[Marc Overmars]

Bergkamp was a Spurs fan. #justsayin