Ronaldo and Henry were “unplayable” – Souness reflects on managerial career

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Former Newcastle United and Blackburn Rovers manager Graeme Souness has hailed Cristiano Ronaldo and Thierry Henry as “unplayable” during their Premier League careers.

Ronaldo and Henry set the league alight when they were involved with Manchester United and Arsenal respectively, causing defences numerous problems. NaijaBet.com

In two spells with Arsenal, Henry scored 175 Premier League goals and is the league’s fifth all-time top scorer, while Ronaldo scored 84 goals in 196 games for United. NaijaBet.com

And Souness, who had the displeasure of managing against both, recalled how his team talks went when trying to stop their skill.

“When you were having a team talk, trying to convince your defenders they could do a job on [Ronaldo] or Thierry Henry, you knew it was a wing and a prayer,” Souness told the Times.

“You can lay your traps, double up on them and have a cunning plan, but they find a way. You would be on the touchline with everything crossed because you can’t stop them. They were unplayable.

“I told Lucas Neill when I was at Blackburn playing against Thierry to ignore everything else at corners for us and just get as close to him as possible and, if he looked like getting on the ball, foul him on the halfway line. Don’t get in a race with him. If he gets turned, you’re dead. Just foul him and take the card.”

Both Henry and Ronaldo would later leave their clubs in the Premier League for spells in La Liga with Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively, though Henry would return.

Souness’ Premier League history

Souness spent nine seasons as a Premier League manager, with spells in charge of Newcastle, Blackburn, Southampton and Liverpool. NaijaBet.com

Starting out with the Reds, where he made his name as a player, Souness took the club into the early period of Premier League but was unable to build on their former glories, leaving in 1994.

A year at Southampton between 1996 and 1997 will unfortunately be most remembered for Souness’ part in Ali Dia’s only Premier League game, though he did return for one interim game two year later.

Souness next returned to the Premier League in 2001 with Blackburn Rovers, spending four years at the club before leaving for Newcastle, where he struggled, eventually ending his managerial career in 2006.