Rico Henry

Rico Henry

jbee said:
I remain unconvinced that any of our other left back options offer more than a fully fit Rico.
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Agreed.
I think he's been looking better and better each game he's played since coming back from injury (was concerned initially it was looking like he might have lost his pace but that faded and he got quicker).
Despite Ajer doing a decent job in the last match I still think he's the best left back we have.
 

Rico Henry

Isleworth_Bee said:
Starts in the below sides for me

Bees
Wolves
West ham
Leeds
Burnley
Sunderland
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Probably true but as far as I’m aware none have shown any interest and most when buying players have gone for youth, height and athleticism over experience this season. The exceptions have been Walker at Burnley and Xhaka at Sunderland. Both players of a much higher level at least in the general public view than Rico.

Rico is a great player who I think we’ll have a significant place for in the squad beyond this season but probably less and less as a regular starter. But few clubs in the PL or aiming for PL are investing heavily in 29 year olds as he will be next season. It’s why it was astonishing and desperate how much Newcastle paid for Wissa. But again Wissa’s stature and record among players in his position is somewhat higher from the outside than Rico’s.

Even at Rico’s pre-injury peak when we thought he should be in Southgate’s England plans nobody was making offers that were of interest to BFC or tempting him to press much for a move.
 

Rico Henry

hanworthbee said:
I could not tell you the starting LB in any of those other clubs to know if Rico would start ahead of him
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It’s probably going to be a few months before we understand who the ‘starting' LB is at Brentford! It seems to me that Keith selects the tactics for each specific opponent which determines the formation and, only then, makes a decision on the best fit player for that formation against that opponent, hence Ajer against WHU.

So, depending on injuries we may never know!
 

Rico Henry

jbee said:
I remain unconvinced that any of our other left back options offer more than a fully fit Rico.
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Well, Hickey did a job on Mbeumo, Ajer did a job on Bowen, KLP filled in very effectively last season … hope that Rico has been working on his final ball over the last couple of seasons because that was the difference between being a “solid” Premier League left back, and an international class one
 

Rico Henry

I love Rico. He's been a constant throughout our rise, he's always given his all, and he's developed so much as a player over that time.

But, and I don't know why, he hasn't got his "match fitness" back. He's making decent decisions, but he's then losing awareness of where the ball is, or where he needs to be, for a split second. Against Grimsby, it's fine: he just recovers using his pace. But against top opponents?

I don't know why it's taking him longer than with others to get back up to speed, because it does look like rustiness, but I hope he can overcome it soon.
 

Rico Henry

stomalomalus said:
I love Rico. He's been a constant throughout our rise, he's always given his all, and he's developed so much as a player over that time.

But, and I don't know why, he hasn't got his "match fitness" back. He's making decent decisions, but he's then losing awareness of where the ball is, or where he needs to be, for a split second. Against Grimsby, it's fine: he just recovers using his pace. But against top opponents?

I don't know why it's taking him longer than with others to get back up to speed, because it does look like rustiness, but I hope he can overcome it soon.
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KA said a couple of weeks back that all the players had to develop their on pitch relationships and that the ones returning from injury were taking longer to combine that with their recoveries.

But (maybe look away) it is also possible that Rico’s peak has been reached and his negatives now stand out in the context of where we’ve developed to since he got injured. Principally it’s his lack of attacking output even when he was established and played week in week out with a settled team. Our development as a team has been such that we aren’t just looking to do it with one FB but both and we are expecting Rico’s second skill of being the pacy last line defender to be taken by Kayode who also goes forward. So his skill set even at full match sharpness is too limited for a starting place even ahead of a right footed CB in Ajer. There’s still a role as a closer sub but perhaps that’s it now when all fit. Even against Grimsby he didn’t look to be better at LB than Sepp and Benji as they switched between themselves at RB.
 

Rico Henry

Admittedly I only watched the highlights. So I may be speaking out of turn.

But it looked like a number of openings came for Grimsby on “his side”.
 
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Rico Henry

BFC1997 said:
Admittedly I only watched the highlights. So I may be speaking out of turn.

But it looked like a number of openings came for Grimsby on “his side”.
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Nelson gave him very little support for a good part of the first half.
 
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Rico Henry

BFC1997 said:
Admittedly I only watched the highlights. So I may be speaking out of turn.

But it looked like a number of openings came for Grimsby on “his side”.
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They were attacking down that side with 3 players early on. Nelson did not cover back, and Jensen didn't drop in enough. Rico had his hands full trying to snuff out multiple threats.
 

Rico Henry

AB said:
KA said a couple of weeks back that all the players had to develop their on pitch relationships and that the ones returning from injury were taking longer to combine that with their recoveries.

But (maybe look away) it is also possible that Rico’s peak has been reached and his negatives now stand out in the context of where we’ve developed to since he got injured. Principally it’s his lack of attacking output even when he was established and played week in week out with a settled team. Our development as a team has been such that we aren’t just looking to do it with one FB but both and we are expecting Rico’s second skill of being the pacy last line defender to be taken by Kayode who also goes forward. So his skill set even at full match sharpness is too limited for a starting place even ahead of a right footed CB in Ajer. There’s still a role as a closer sub but perhaps that’s it now when all fit. Even against Grimsby he didn’t look to be better at LB than Sepp and Benji as they switched between themselves at RB.
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But it wasn't his "attacking skill set" that was off against Grimsby, it was those moments when he lost the ball. Or little moments of inaccuracy. His clearances were not well placed multiple times, for instance. That was a strong part of his game.

It just feels like he's not reached the same level mentally that he was at before injury. And that he needs a little more time.
 

Rico Henry

stomalomalus said:
But it wasn't his "attacking skill set" that was off against Grimsby, it was those moments when he lost the ball. Or little moments of inaccuracy. His clearances were not well placed multiple times, for instance. That was a strong part of his game.

It just feels like he's not reached the same level mentally that he was at before injury. And that he needs a little more time.
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Yes, but I think he’s got a job to get the match time to get back to his best defensively because he doesn’t even at peak provide as much as we’d want from the rest of the FB role.
 

Rico Henry

AB said:
Yes, but I think he’s got a job to get the match time to get back to his best defensively because he doesn’t even at peak provide as much as we’d want from the rest of the FB role.
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I reckon he does provide what we'd want at peak. And I'm not convinced he can't get up to speed without first team football. Because it appears to be some kind of...I don't know..."fog". I don't remember him like this ever.

Anyway, pure speculation, I don't see him day in day out.
 
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Rico Henry

gashbee said:
Impossible to direct any negativity towards Rico....he's got masses in the bank. 6-8 games on the spin and he'll hopefully be back to his best.
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At the moment I cannot see him getting that. I think he is behind on the pecking order of Ajer and Hickey (depending on fitness). Also it will be interesting to see Meghoma progress and this could be Henry's last year with us
 

Rico Henry

Isleworth_Bee said:
He was solid last night. He had NO support in their 20min "onslaught".

I still dont agree with others saying the squad has moved on from him.
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We all saw Rico outpace Salah at full pelt in 2021 and not only beat him to the ball but play a controlled pass to Raya. That’s not the guy to have to have support to cope with Grimsby.
 

Rico Henry

AB said:
We all saw Rico outpace Salah at full pelt in 2021 and not only beat him to the ball but play a controlled pass to Raya. That’s not the guy to have to have support to cope with Grimsby.
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Really? You think that a full back can comfortably deal with a team that overloads his side.
 

Rico Henry

AB said:
We all saw Rico outpace Salah at full pelt in 2021 and not only beat him to the ball but play a controlled pass to Raya. That’s not the guy to have to have support to cope with Grimsby.
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When you have 2-3 bodies running at you and overloading you?

He wasnt in trouble because he was in a foot race.
 

Rico Henry

stomalomalus said:
I love Rico. He's been a constant throughout our rise, he's always given his all, and he's developed so much as a player over that time.

But, and I don't know why, he hasn't got his "match fitness" back. He's making decent decisions, but he's then losing awareness of where the ball is, or where he needs to be, for a split second. Against Grimsby, it's fine: he just recovers using his pace. But against top opponents?

I don't know why it's taking him longer than with others to get back up to speed, because it does look like rustiness, but I hope he can overcome it soon.
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He needs a run of regular 1st team game time to get that back. I'm sure he will given the chance.
 

Rico Henry

ruislip bee said:
He needs a run of regular 1st team game time to get that back. I'm sure he will given the chance.
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There is definitely ‘something’ missing at the moment though. I hope that it’s simply time and games that’s required. It was (another) major injury, and he’s that much older having to return from it.
 

Rico Henry

JANORAK said:
There is definitely ‘something’ missing at the moment though. I hope that it’s simply time and games that’s required. It was (another) major injury, and he’s that much older having to return from it.
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He reminds me a bit of Sergi. He was out of sorts when he came back at the end of 2019-20 and he took him a good half season of starts before he came good again. RH doesn't have the benefit of starting and aside from his appearance in January 2025, was out for something like 16 months.
 

Rico Henry

Playing and starting every week is the 'aim' of every player, but minutes and gametime every week is probably more a realistic achievement of every squad player.
Any squad that has Rico in it is a better one for Brentford.

But Hickey v Mbeumo and Ajer v Salah has proved we have talented people that can play the designated LWB role not forgetting KLP.
So nice that it is that Rico plays every week, Andrews planning the duels to be specific to the opposition is an interesting development on play the same XI every week.

Think Rico is in a good place, but the days of automatic choice is only for the elevated few, Kelleher, Collins, Henderson, Dams, Thiago. The spine of the team.
The rest is up for grabs in training and to show their worth.
Rico is on the bench at the moment and after 18 months of gym work and lonely days, thats a forward step in Rico's world and the next phase of his career.
 

Rico Henry

100watts said:
A prepostion perhaps? A little over the top on the explanation marks my dear fellow. Never use them myself unless referring to Westward Ho!
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“Below” : can be preposition or adverb …

Westward Ho! : great song by Police Dog Hogan …
 
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