Isolated Henry blames ‘sickness’ in heart of camp

THIERRY HENRY admitted he felt “isolated” in the French squad and spoke of a “sickness” at the heart of the World Cup camp.

“I could have been the older brother but I wasn’t anymore,” said Henry. “I felt isolated, it doesn’t matter who by.

“They didn’t talk to me as they used to. Before they talked to me more. But when you don’t have credibility in a group any more it becomes difficult.

Henry believes the Anelka controversy was not the reason behind France’s exit but rather the rot had already set in.

However, the Barcelona striker insists the squad were always united.

“I don’t know whether the Anelka matter was the triggering factor,” continued Henry. “There was certainly a sickness.

“But I don’t think you can talk of clans. I can tell you that I never saw any fights, I didn’t see anyone put any pressure on whoever.

Meanwhile captain Patrice Evra has broken his silence about the fiasco and blamed coach Raymond Domenech for ‘starting a war’ with the press, which contributed to the fall-out over Anelka’s exclusion from the squad.

Evra also insisted that every France player was behind the decision to strike and not train last Sunday, and that he felt Domenech had made him a scapegoat for France’s troubles.

“There was a front-page headline which hurt everyone and led to lots of problems, but maybe that was a result of everything that had gone before,” Evra said.

“That explosion was a result of the build-up, and the coach had made it into a war with the press.”

Domenech had refused the press more than 15 minutes per day with his players and not allowed any media access to training-sessions.

Evra added: “The main reasons for the fiasco are sporting ones, we messed up the World Cup on the pitch,” he said. “It’s true it was a fiasco, we are really down and we have to lift up our heads and get on with it,”

Evra was scandalised that the French federation did not allow him to speak to the press and apologise for their behaviour after the defeat to South Africa.

“For the first time in my life, my freedom of speech was threatened. As captain of the squad, I wanted to apologise for what we did and explain our position. People needed to hear from France’s captain what had happened and why — so not being allowed to speak hurt, it hurt me a lot.”