Thierry Henry was determined to stress the positives after his first match in charge of Monaco ended in a 2-1 defeat at Strasbourg.
Goals from Adrien Thomasson and Lebo Mothiba secured victory for the home side and extended Monaco’s dismal start to the new Ligue 1 campaign to one win in 10 games.
Henry’s men had Samuel Grandsir sent off midway through the second half and had to settle for the consolation of a Youri Tielemans penalty in injury time.
💬 Thierry Henry : "J’ai un peu tout vécu comme émotion dans ce match (…) Ce n’est pas le scénario rêvé. Mais je veux rester positif, pour pouvoir aller de l’avant."#RCSAASM pic.twitter.com/4XJpx0ztu8 — AS Monaco 🇲🇨 (@AS_Monaco) October 20, 2018
Henry told a press conference: “I want to keep talking about the positives rather than the negatives, otherwise we cannot move on.
“We had opportunities, but we were 1-0 down at half-time and after Samuel was sent off it got even harder, but we tried to continue playing, even with 10 men.”
Henry admitted individual mistakes cost his side dear at the Stade de la Meinau, in particular the meek way in which goalkeeper Seydou Sy – one of four changes in Henry’s first line-up – let Thomasson’s effort slip through his hands.
“It was not easy,” added Henry. “We tried to put something in place that worked from the beginning, but we let in a goal that I do not need to describe. It was a human error and I do not need to overwhelm anyone.”
Strasbourg boss Thierry Laurey admitted his side had to ride their luck to claim their three points, and insisted his Monaco counterpart would go on to achieve success.
“I wish him good luck – I was very happy to see Thierry Henry return to Ligue 1 because he has a perfect knowledge of football and its history,” Laurey told a press conference.
“He is made to become a very good coach. I told him, ‘You have not had success today but if you hang on things will turn’. I am not worried about him. He needs to be allowed to get to work.”
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