Henry takes inspiration from Gunners at ´weird´ Euro

Thierry Henry was trying to look for the positives here on Saturday after Holland had pushed France halfway through the Euro 2008 door marked exit.

“We'll try and look for the good things, even if it's difficult. We didn't play badly, we created chances,” he said 24 hours after getting routed in the battle of Berne.

The Barcelona striker scored the consolation goal in the 4-1 demolition as well as watching a lob sail over Edwin van der Sar's bar and claiming one of his shots had been deflected by the hand of Andre Ooijer.

“We still have a possibility of qualifying, we're not defeated,” said Henry after the defeat which left France requiring a win over Italy and for Romania not to beat Holland to make it past Group C and into the last eight.

The former Premier League star took heart from his experience in England, explaining: “It's a long time since the French team lost as heavily as that.

“I remember one year when I was with Arsenal we lost 6-1 at Manchester United, but that didn't stop us winning the double the season after.

“Sometimes it's difficult to take, but we played against a great team last night who had 100 percent success in front of goal.

“We've got one point, luckily for Italy they got that penalty (in their 1-1 draw with Romania), if not they'd be in a difficult position this morning.

“We have to beat the Italians, and we'll be hoping for good news after our match (over the Romania v Holland result).”

Like his manager Raymond Domenech, Henry, who answered questions in three languages – French, English and Spanish – said it wasn't worth worrying about whether Marco van Basten would field his reserves on Tuesday.

“I don't know whether they'll make changes but we can't concern ourselves with that. We just have to do what we have to do.”

He paid homage to the Dutch team of 2008, singling out in particular the number ten, Wesley Sneijder, who put up another herculean performance against the French.

“One of their best players for me is Sneijder. He's had an outstanding season for Real Madrid, he's one of the Dutch side's keys, they've got so many keys!

“What they did against us and against Italy wasn't just down to luck.

“They're creating their chances and deserve to be where they are right now. But remember, people were saying Germany were amazing – there's a lot of weird stuff happening in this Euro – you never know what's going to happen.

“Holland are one of the favourites but a lot of teams can still win it.”

Henry has been around long enough to appreciate that this is not the first time France have got themselves into a tight spot.

“Once again we're in this situation and I hope once more we can lift our heads and get out of it.

“We'll try and prepare the best possible for Italy.”