La Liga - Henry laments positional change
Thierry Henry fears his scoring instincts have been dulled by playing on the left wing instead of centre forward at Barcelona.
"Honestly, it can be a problem," Henry told French sports daily L'Equipe in an interview on Friday.
"When [France] played in Spain in February, I was lost up front, I didn't know where to run. My reflexes in front of goal are not what they used to be.
"Hopefully, I will play up front again with France before the Euro [2008] finals," he said.
Henry became France's all-time top scorer in October and has netted 44 goals in 98 internationals.
He remains coach Raymond Domenech's first choice for the Euro 2008 finals in June despite competition from Lyon's Karim Benzema and a resurgent Nicolas Anelka.
The former Arsenal forward joined Barcelona last year but has failed to live up to expectations from fans and media.
"You can't compare with what I used to do with Arsenal. It is impossible," Henry told L'Equipe.
"Here, I am the guy who plays on the left, only the guy who plays on the left. Once again, you can't score as many goals whether you play in the box or, like I do, you start running 60 yards from goal.
"I have never run so much in my whole career."
Henry was deployed as a winger during an unsuccessful early-career stint at Italian side Juventus, before being converted to a prolific centre forward by Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.
Despite his complaints, Henry naturally assumes a position on the left of the pitch even when playing as a centre forward, and it was from the left-hand side that Henry scored many of his most famous goals for the North London club.
Reuters / Eurosport
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Barca official says camouflaging player indiscipline
Wed 09 Apr, 04:42 PM
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BARCELONA (Reuters) - Barcelona are using player injuries to hide the fact that a number of players have been sidelined for indiscipline, a high-ranking official at the club said on Wednesday.
The comments came just hours before Barca play the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Schalke 04 and are certain to increase tension at the club following their recent poor run of results in the league.
"Look at these gentlemen who aren't working, who aren't doing anything, who haven't played for quite a few weeks. Well, they were sidelined by the club some weeks ago," president of the club's economic commission Xavier Sala Martin told Catalunya Radio.
"Although we are disguising things by saying there are injuries and all that, these gentlemen have been sidelined and they are trying to isolate them from the rest of the squad."
Sala Martin is not part of the board of directors but his position as the head of the economic commission means that he takes charge of the club during a presidential election as he did in 2006.
Barcelona said they had no immediate comment on Sala Martin's declarations.
Sala Martin refused to name the players in question, but his comments will only fuel recent speculation surrounding injured players Ronaldinho and Deco who have been absent from the squad in recent weeks.
Ronaldinho was out of action for a month with an unspecified injury but pulled a leg muscle as he was about to return to action last week and is expected to miss the rest of the season.
Deco has been out since last month with a calf injury.
Sala Martin defended the rest of the Barcelona squad, saying they should not be tarred with the same brush as any players involved in incidents of indiscipline.
"It is unfair that because of the behaviour of one, two or three who are partying all day and that only go to 22 training sessions out of 60 that all the players are being lazy," he said.
Barcelona fans voiced their discontent at the club's recent run of poor results with angry protests against the president Joan Laporta, players and coach Frank Rijkaard after their 0-0 draw at home to Getafe on Sunday.
They hold a 1-0 advantage going into the return against Schalke.
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