Thierry Henry provides words of advice for Christian Pulisic

Former Arsenal legend Thierry Henry made a recent guest appearance on CBS Sports’ new show Kickin’ It. The retired striker currently works for the network’s Champions League coverage on Paramount+. Nevertheless, Kickin’ It is a separate unfiltered interview show hosted by Kate Abdo, Clint Dempsey, Charlie Davies, and Maurice Edu.

In the first part of the two-part interview, Henry covered a plethora of topics. This included discussing a specific match that helped turn his Arsenal career around. However, Thierry Henry was also asked about USMNT star Christian Pulisic. The attacker recently joined AC Milan after a fairly unsuccessful spell at Chelsea.

Thierry Henry wants Christian Pulisic to take risks with Milan

Henry asserted that Pulisic’s mindset is different from when he plays for his country versus when he is with a club. The Frenchman called on the American to not worry about making mistakes on the pitch for Milan.

“As a creative player if you don’t try to make mistakes, you cannot succeed,” stated Henry. “I can see on the national team, he feels like ‘I can make mistakes.’ When you play on the big club, you play the ball one time and it’s a mistake and the next time you touch it is 15 minutes after. People remember every time you touch the ball that you lost it.”

“The international team he plays with that confidence. We were all creative players, so you have to score. So, if you feel like in your head you can’t lose that ball then you might as well step out of the field and don’t play.”

Premier League’s brightest stars are not afraid to make mistakes

Henry’s point of taking risks is statistically backed up by other top players in the Premier League. Despite having stellar 2022/23 campaigns, Bukayo Saka, Mohamed Salah, Marcus Rashford, Gabriel Martinelli, and Kaoru Mitoma all finished top 10 in the league in unsuccessful dribbles. Saka recorded 100 total unsuccessful dribbles in league play last season. Despite this, the Arsenal winger was named the PFA Young Player of the Year.

During his time with the USMNT, Pulisic has averaged a goal or assist about every 1.5 games. Nevertheless, he averaged a direct scoring involvement at Chelsea about every three games. The American is, however, off to a quality start in the early stages of the Milan career. Pulisic has already scored two goals in his first four Serie A matches with his new club. He will look to regain his starting spot against Verona on Saturday, Sep. 23. Coverage is available on Paramount+.

PHOTO: IMAGO & PanoramiC