Not a lot of people know this, but Karl Henry took a pay cut to join the Wolves.
A few more supporters might remember him arriving at Molineux with only a pair of boots to his name, hoping to impress in a pre-season game for a club he loves.
Most fans however, know him as ‘the crab’, who has been written off more times than a British Touring Car at Brands Hatch.
Not by me.
In a statement to rival Peter Barlow at a Weatherfield alcoholics anonymous group, my name is Ben Smallman and I am a Karl Henry fan.
Saturday’s morale boosting win against Blackpool offered a long list of positives with so many players impressing, not least O’Hara, Jarvis and Adam Hammill from the brief time he was on the pitch.
But amid the malaise of the Molineux mud, I only had eyes for King Karl, whose diligence and selflessness stood out most.
His quiet efficiency alongside O’Hara suggests that we might have found a partnership that we’ve been looking for all season, despite many fans clamouring for him to be dropped at Mick’s earliest convenience.
Yet what has he done – or continues to do – that fans find so abhorrent?
He dared to get injured and have a hernia operation in his first season when we were riding high in the league, losing his place to Darren Potter for the play off semi-finals against the Albion (and a few games before that).
His reward for such a promising first season was a partnership with one of the flakiest, inconsistent and most anonymous midfielders in Seyi Olofinjana, who doubled Henry’s workload in every game with that passive, wistful air of obliviousness of which the Nigerian became famous.
And then, he spent the entire 2008/09 season defying four – sometimes five – narrow midfields almost singlehandedly, as our swashbuckling 4-2-4 formation wreaked havoc for much of the campaign.
That he provided a platform for Kightly and Jarvis to prosper might have warranted a pat on the back as he held aloft Stan Cullis’ favourite piece of silverware.
Instead, the flat capped cretin in front would grudgingly concede that our skipper had improved, but not to requisite Premiership standard and should be flogged forthwith.
We all know what happened next, as Henry starred in 34 league games, including a man-of-the-match performance at home to Villa that still defies explanation. We finished 15th.
And to complete the journey, he is now called up into Fabio Capello’s provisional England squad, just five games after returning from a nasty injury.
In today’s age of instant, disposable consumption, it’s hardly surprising that Karl Henry’s stature sticks out like a sore thumb.
Nobody reads a book when Benidorm is on the box. Few call a friend when they’ve poked them on Facebook. And when conversation stretches to 140 characters on a twitter page, it’s no wonder so many slobber ‘NOT BACKWARDS!’
They want the ball in the opposition’s third with more urgency, like the 3 star McDonald’s assistant with their Big Mac Meals.
With 200-odd appearances, a championship winners’ medal, a Premiership armband, a provisional England selection and four years of exemplary service under his belt, Henry’s pincer-like movements haven’t done too much harm have they?
Some crab.
Great blog.
I’ve been at loss to why everyone is moaning about Karl. His job isn’t flashy, but he keeps the ball superbly and his tackling is a real asset.
His performances since his return from injury haven’t always been great, but his displays against Man United, and Blackpool are the very reason Capello has got his eye on him.
Of course people start to praise him as a player when he’s called up to the England squad.
In form he’s a good player, no doubt about that. But there’s always room for improvement.
And he’s stopped acting unprofessional, getting unnecessary red cards, dirty tackles.
Good luck to King Karl and England. It will bring him more confidence and international experience. Up the Wolves
On the contrary Karlir. I hear people just stopping short of taking the mickey since Karl got the provisional England recognition, insinuating that Capello must have been smoking his crack pipe again.
And Jordi Gomez tackle aside (stupid and apology given), he’s never been a dirty player.
In fact, I always thought he could improve if he was a bit dirtier, which is ironic considering Patrick Barclay and others think he is the spawn of Satan!
Great Blog!
It’s about time this local lad got some support! Against Blackpool, we set up with 2 wingers, Dave Edwards bombing forward at every oppurtunity and Jamie O’Hara prepared to pass the ball all over the park, yet people still find it necessary to have a go at Henry for passing it sideways! It’s beyond me. He does the stuff that nobody else is able or interested in doing. One example I remember from the Man Utd game a few weeks ago was when Christophe Berra missed a header from a long Van Der Sar clearence late in the game. Who had dropped back into the centre back position to cover? That’s right….Karl Henry! If he hadn’t done it, who knows what could have happened, but he did do it and we don’t have anyone else who would have done it!
Karl Henry, at his best, is a vitally important player for Wolves and someone I reckon a lot of other Premier League teams wouldn’t mind having around.
He started the season superbly, breaking up play, getting around the pitch and using the ball cleverly. It was the best I’ve ever seen him play. That set the benchmark.
However, since the Wigan sending off and the injury, he hasn’t reached those heights. We’re still getting the tracking back and positional play he brings to the side, but his distribution has been poor at times and, perhaps unsurprisingly, he seems afraid of putting the tackles in.
There were signs of improvement against Blackpool after a poor game at the Hawthorns, so hopefully we’ll see the best of our skipper during the run-in.
What I would say is that it irritates me when the crowd get on his back every single time he passes the ball sidewards or back. Yes, I agree, at times you need to get the ball forward quickly and keep the momentum going in an attack, particularly if you’re chasing a game.
But for the most part, it’s better to keep possession and work the ball around than to aimlessly lump it forward to nobody in particular. Something I’ve noticed quite often too is that when Karl has the ball, very few people offer up for a pass. You’ll quite often see him twisting and turning and looking for an out-ball, but because nobody’s offering, he has to retreat. It’s not always his fault.
Without doubt, he sometimes needs to take the game by the scruff of the neck more when in possession and believe in his own ability. If he can add that confidence to his game, he’d be some player.
That said, he’s been a terrific player for us and very rarely lets us down. Hopefully he’ll be a Wolves player for long into the future.
It would be interesting (but tragic!) to see if there is any interest in signing him should we be relegated. I think Everton were linked at one point.
I think Henry was great at the start of the season, but (until Blackpool) had been poor since his return from injury. He is good at breaking up the play but is guilty of not getting the ball forward quickly enough at times IMO.
People who dont like Henry dont understand the technical side of the game.
We are very lucky to have a player like him as they are not ten a penny!
A lot of the time its the players around him who make him look negative by not making themselves available.
I understand the need for this type of player I just don’t think he is good enough. One game against Blackpool he is now King Karl, yet against the Albion last week, he was the worst player on the pitch.
p.s. I’m plotting my own version of this post titled ‘I love you Ronald Zubar’
Goal against West Ham away last season…..phhhhoooaarr!!
Henry had a poor game at the shit, and was rightly criticized.
He has been an excellent player, at times, and like the old cliche, needs to press on to that next level, whatever the hell that means.
Maybe he has to elbow someone in the side of the head, 10 yards from the ref, to get an England call up??!!
I find it interesting, 4 days after a win which was brilliant, that here we are on the blog, scratching around for something, anything, meaningful to write, coz we are bored, and have nothing negative to say for once.
Bit like some of those arse licking E and S journalists!!
Come on, someone start a controversial thread!!
FOMM
Good Blog, although I do have to disagree slightly.
Karl Henry is a great player, he’s one of the best athletes at the club, and on his day no one will get passed him. Of course there is a massive BUT coming, he isn’t the most football minded player.
I think Karl plays his best when we have a 5 man midfield and we’re not relying on him to initiate attacks. He is superb at hassling and hurrying the opposition and his tackling is strong and (usually) fair. These are great attributes for a holding midfielder and plaudits should go out to him.
Where I think Karl struggles is when we play 442, he seems to become a bit more indecisive and gets caught in possession. This could be because he is always looking for the simple pass but has less options. He has tried a few wonder balls this season which have not come off and hasn’t contributed with many, if any, goals this year.
The main criticism with Karl is his inconsistency, he can play a blinder in one game but then have a stinker the next (see WBA – Blackpool!). If Karl could improve his passing range, consistency and score a few goals I don’t see any reason why he couldn’t play for England – we’re in need of a good holding midfielder (Barry is shit).
Good points Putney.
I just think with the 4-4-2 argument, it is more to do with the way we set-up as a 4-4-2.
In Mick’s second season, he would often line up with Darron Gibson or Stephen Elliott on the right, and even Potter on occasions (god forgot how average we were back then!!)
On the left would invariably be Ward, who actually kept Jarvis out the side for long periods.
It was a very narrow 4-4-2 back then, and Henry always looked our best player because the wingers basically weren’t wingers.
When we do it today, the wingers have chalk on their boots and play so wide that an arctic lorry could trundle down the middle of the pitch.
We did it against Liverpool when Meireles was the extra man. Poor old Henry was on his own next to an anonymous Milijas, while Jarvis and Hunt played next to the touchlines.
On top of that, it was Henry’s first game back after injury.
Talk about a baptism of fire! Yet all I heard was grief towards the poor sod.
I think if we play 4-4-2 with Henry it would work fine, as long as one of the wingers isn’t an out and out wide man.
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head their Ben!
Not sure about that, but ta all the same Putney! Come to think of it, can you think of many teams that play with 2 out and out wide men in 4-4-2 systems? I know Man Utd have Nani, while Wenger has historically preferred Eboue to Walcott. (not sure Wenger plays 4-4- mind)
Wonder if Adam Bate or Oli can throw some light on it?!
Not sure if these teams always play 442 but…
Man Utd played with both Nani and Valencia at the start of the season but they started using Giggs and Park more when he got injured.
Villa like to play with Downing/Albrighton and Young/Agbonglahor.
Spurs have Lennon and Bale with Van Der Vaart behind Crouch/Defoe.
Birmingham have played with both Bentley and Larrson recently, with Zigic and Martins up front.
Then Man Utd have Carrick holding, Villa have Reo-Coker ,Spurs have Palacios and Brum have Ferguson and they all have decent, consistent defenses!
Good calls there Putney. I think the biggest factor is being flexible. Those teams you mention are so fluid. Ours seems particularly one dimensional when we go 442. For what its worth, I hope we stick with the same 11 until the end of the season, although I would love to see more of SEB somehow!
great blog… he is an essentiel clog in our midfield. we havnt got anyone else fit or good enough to do the job he does. we dont need him to get up and down(like edwards) we dont need him to spray 30-40 yard oasses(like milijas or o’hara) his job is to sit and break up play and protect our sometime dodgey back 4, and win tackles and give it simple to the playmakers in the team. personally he a far far far better player in 4-5-1 due to different reasons.. 1 he aint got the legs or engine to get box to box when we play 4-4-2 and also he aint got the range of passes to unlock defences in that system which you need!!! as long as mick plays 4-5-1 he is first name on sheet, cause no one else does that job any better, but if we play 4-4-2 he wudnt be in my starting 11. as a central midfielder in a 4-4-2 system u need to close further up the pitch and also still protect ur back 4 and i honestly dont think he can do that!!! the system we playing at moment, we got a bit of everythin, 2 flying wingers, o’hara with the creativity, edwards with the box to box and henry just sweeping up and holding in front of back 4.
Of course he took a pay cut to join us. He was unwanted at Stoke, and rightly so.
While doing a decent job, at breaking up play, there are countless players, who does the same job, just better.
Henry is not unselfish, he’s simply unable to do anything, but try to win a few tackles, then pass the ball on, as he doesnt have the techincal skills to do better.
He cant dribble, cant make long crosses, cant even win headers, yet some of you guys talk about him, as he’s the new Makalele.
Yes, he does win a tackle or two, but not nearly enough to merit a place in the team.
By comparison, Jones won more, when he was playing in midfield, when Henry was out.
I agree, Henry is very limited, he doesn’t actually win that many tackles, a week ago after his woeful performance against Albion, people were suggesting he should get dropped and now there is a blog saying he is a king!
Hi Danny. Glad I got yours and the above comment…makes for a better blog! Understand that many don’t share my love-in. After atkins, sedgley, osborn, corica, sanjuan, dowe, emblen, samways, van Derlaan, Ferguson etc, I’m just happy for small mercies! Funny that his detractors refer to makalele, the best defensive midfielder of a generation who del bosque built a team of galacticos around. Got to be a compliment in there somewhere?! If you were the gaffer and you sold him, it would be interesting to see which teams would be in for him.
Sedgley – player of the season at Ipswich – w*anker of the week at Molineux! What a disappointment he turned out to be! Didn’t we let Venus go the other way too (who was their player of the year in the next season!)
Dont start me on Corica. “the australian Georgi Kinkladze” – I still laugh out loud every time I hear McGhee has been sacked by his latest club – never has a managers words done more to make other fans hate our club!
Adam B will probably confirm that I had Osborn 11 on my shirt when I was about 14 so what the f*ck do I know. Yes some truly ordinary players over the years that give it perspective, I just feel Henry has been very poor at times this season.
god forbid he’d have a bad game against the shit. he’s consistently been great and i have no idea what all your problems are with him. he breaks up the play very well and against blackpool he passed forward 4x as often as he did backwards. i agree sometimes he does pass backwards too often but if he does start passing successfully forward he’d be a very good premiership player.
This is where I disagree, he has been poor for many, many games and I don’t see him as this guy who goes round breaking up the play. I am happy to be exposed by stats on tackles won by Henry in the prem this season though of course.
Good blog Ben and absolutely spot on. The work Henry does in a 442 or often in a 424 largely is taken for granted. Even in the championship Henry was often playing against 2 or 3 opposing midfielders, while our wingers were isolated and bypassed. Its MM tactical setup where we use 2 midfielders against three ie Bolton & Liverpool at home being classic examples, where we struggle. If we only play 2 in midfield, with Jones or Mijas, those guys lack of pace makes it even more difficult for Henry and the team..
At Man Utd away this season Henry was awesome, and on Saturday Henry was back on form. Someone else recently commented that Henry was not a Broadbent, and thats right, but he is our tackler, our back four protector, our only combative midfielder ( young Algerian is another ) and a 4 man midfield with Edwards bombing on lets Henry do his job.
For me he should be the first name on the team sheet every week, and if MM gets his tactics spot on like Saturday, then those blinkered supporters would not be so critical of our captain.
Cheers Mark. Anyone would think you sit somewhere near me with comments so similar!! (I think you pricked my ears with your 4-2-4 observation long before I’d have noticed)
I do think we’ve got to stick with this team and this formation from now on. Hopefully Hammill wasn’t too badly injured on Sat. I was at a loss to know why he was dropped at WBA? We look a damn good team right now – if Mick sticks with it.
think he was replaced by foley at wba, to do a doubling up job on thomas and to stop shorey bombing on from full back!!! think mm got it spot on personally, horses for courses 🙂
Cor blimey Ben you know how to rattle cages mate!
I’ve got splinters firmly up my arse about Henry. I read yours and Putneys exchange of comments and tactics…. It was nothing short of football porn!
I know he is good and the best thing for me is I can see he can improve which really is a good. I reckon old Capello isn’t a mug so I’ll go with his judgement. Pick the sod AND play him. Let’s see how good he can be.
Scott Parker or Karl Henry?
No contest for me – Parker wins hands down IMO.
Parker is more box to box for me. I thinks he’s a great player mind.
Football porn…I like that, but not sure if its a good thing or not?!
Speaking of which, remember that picture of Peter Beardsley tackling Ruud Gullit with his cock hanging out his shorts. That was football porn!!
I hoped for some varied responses which is what we’ve got. I think there’s far more Karl Henry lovers on here than haters, so that’s got to be a good thing!!
Hahaha!!! I remember that pic!! “Great tackle” I think was the strapline!!
It was a positive on the porn btw – great comments and read.
I’ve read the blogs and for me he’s to inconsistant,He does have the odd
good game.But where he plays in midfield he needs to be more creative
as well combative.One thing i wish is when he gets into space infront of
goal is to have a shot instead of looking for the pass ,and then perhaps he
would get the plaudits from the crowd ..As said when we play 451 he seems
to have a better game…My Appraisal is ! cauld do better !
I disagree, basically.
KH was a monster early in the season, our stand-out player, and he was (rightly) being touted for an England call-up.
Then came the Zamora tackle (which was a perfectly good tackle, in fact exemplifying his form up to that point). The negative publicity flowing from it seemed to pray on Henry’s mind and he started puuling out of 50-50 tackles which he had previously being going into with relish. Then there was the desperate Wigan “over-compensation” to that problem, followed by his injury. He’s looked poor ever since he came back from that, and certainly nowhere near his early season standard.
Yes, he looked quite good against Blackpool last outing but, to borrow a saying from another sport, Geoff Boycott’s granny would have looked quite good against Blackpool.
I’d drop Henry for the rest of the campaign without blinking, and go with a midfield five of Edwards, Milijas, O’Hara, Hammill and Jarvis.
Stephen Ward here.
Thank you all for a whole day of blogging without slagging me off.
Typical Ward. Makes a late appearance, and then contributes next to nothing!
🙂
Best comment of the season!!!!!
Brilliant.
Made me loff out loud and spill me coffee.
that is hands down the funniest thing I have ever read on this site.
kudos
I like Karl, he’s a superb athlete and he does an essential job in many ways. Football-wise he’s a bit limited though and you never expect him to create or score a goal. I always remember his effort in crossbar challenge on Football a.m. About 25yds left of the goal and a foot off the ground. Class!
I like Henry, and with the midfield we have in there atm we need a player like him. If we have O’Hara, Edwards, Jarvis and Hammill all going forward we need someone to protect the back four (and boy does it need protecting), break it up and do the simple thing, give it to one of the afore mentioned four and get the attack going.
He has done a job for us, but this way OTT Ben. Dut to his limitations he is absurdly described as “selfless” – no, hes “limited” Ben.
Would you honestly prefer him in that position than a midfielder who still has defensive aptitude, but is much more expansive and has greater ability on the ball? I’m not talking about someone striding forward at every instance, I’m just talking about someone who can sit in that hole and play a more diligent pass, Kevin Foley is my man.
Maybe we have been spoilt in recent years – I just think about Rae or Ince could break up the play and still manged to make great passes and get forward to chip in with a goal or two.
For once Ben, I cannot agree with you.
Looked a decent enough player at the start of the season and then got affected by unjust negative press. Not been the same since Wigan away.
Essentially a limited footballer who is off form, plays too many hospital passes, restricts any forward momentum we build up, adds nothing to the side at the moment. Talk of him breaking up play is news to me as I didnt see a tackle at the Emirates or Poorthornes.
The player which drove us forward against Blackpool and took the game by the scruff of the neck was the guy who should be captain (O’Hara).
Similarities with Parker and Makalele are laughable.
On a seperate issue, i see Doyle has been firmly named as Mick’s number 1 striker, which means SEB will stay on the bench.
I have to say, reading some of Mick’s comments about SEB, they’re not exactly morale boosting, i mean, considering the arse kissing of Ward and Henry. Is he useless in training?
I think SEB should start as he offers goals, which Doyle doesn’t. It feels like we play a 4-6-0 at the moment
Quite agree, Doyle was bought to be a striker, and he doesnt.
I have never been a big fan of SEB, but then again, I am over here and did not see much of him during the two pre Prem seasons, except the goal that mattered most, home to QPR!!
So, Doyle for me is nowhere near as good as he was last season, he seems to have lost the will to shoot, and SEB was in the right place twice last weekend, despite Ward’s attempt to put the ball out of touch!!
I say give him a start against Spurms, what have we got to lose?
FOMM