Thierry Henry unhappy despite France U21’s 9-0 thrashing of Cyprus | OneFootball

Arnaud Kalimuendo, Maghnes Akliouche, Chrislain Matsima, Rayan Cherki and Mathys Tel all got on the scoresheet as the France U21 side ran riot against Cyprus on Tuesday night, however, manager Thierry Henry was left frustrated by his side’s first-half display.

Henry has now won all four of his games as France U21 manager. In that time his side has scored an impressive 19 goals and they sit top of their group for qualification for the upcoming U21 European Championships. Whilst Henry can certainly be happy with what he has seen so far as manager of Les Bleuets, he was far from impressed with what he saw from his side in the first 25 minutes against Cyprus.

In his post-match press conference, he seemed to be sending a message to his players. “[Cyprus] are the team that, with the ball at their feet, has done us the most harm in the first 25 minutes. I didn’t like that; I didn’t like that at all. I liked the result at half-time, but not the result. Understand the message,” said the former Arsenal forward. Henry was notably frustrated with his side’s work out of possession and notably his side’s pressing. Despite Henry’s criticisms, the 9-0 victory over Cyprus was the France U21 side’s biggest in their history, beating the previous record, which dates back to Les Bleuets’ 7-0 victory over Yugoslavia in 1985.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle