no way was he better than shearer. Shearer scored more goals for worse teams. Im a huge henry fan but shearers records speak for themselves

Shearer probably scored more over the years but Henry is without doubt the superior player. Teams were terrified of him, no one could ever say that of Shearer.

Well terrified this and terrified that. Shearer scored more goals so that makes him more valuable. It makes no difference if you are a C. Ronaldo or a Van Nistelrooy as long as you keep the goals coming.

how can you say that people were not terrified of him. Whenever teams came up against Newcastle he was the player that they were worried about. It doesnt matter if it was Man United or Sunderland they were always worried of him scoring a goal.

You're pretty blinded by bias if you can't see that Henry was a better player than Shearer could ever hope to be.

Henry scored 174 goals in 254 games for Arsenal.

Shearer scored 148 in 303 for Newcastle.

Henry has therefore the superior record. Additionally he achieved the top assist tally three years running which Shearer had minimal impact on.

Shearer had a much better ratio at Blackburn but the Premiership was a far weaker league in those days. Where Man Utd now have Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic they had David May and Gary Pallister. Moreover in that era teams were far more attacking with most universally playing 4-4-2 with attacking wingers and two attacking midfielders. Nowadays most teams play a 4-5-1 and everyone plays a holding midfielder. So not only are the players better but we play more defensive.

Additionally Shearer failed to ever guide Newcastle to any success despite his goals where as Henry carried the entire team for years, leading them to two titles and a Champions League final. Shearer on the other hands won one thing his entire career at a real low point for the league when there was really only one other decent team in the whole division.

Finally Henry had a lot more to his game than goals, even though he beat Shearer in that area anyway.

Henry didn't exactly guide Arsenal to the title and a Champions League final. The title was won when they had Bergkamp and I think Vieira too, forgetting of course the rest of the team (e.g. Pires). Henry scored 30 goals a season and Arsenal managed to win, Shearer scored more goals than him but Newcastle just aren't title material. If he played for another team I am sure he would've won the title many times (e.g. with Blackburn)

Incorrect. Newcastle were title material with Shearer in the team, they aren't now that's for sure but they were. He won it once with Blackburn mostly because Man Utd messed up bad. Shearer did not score more goals, Henry did. In the time when they both played in the same league at the same time Henry scored much more goals, got way more assists and won many more trophies and awards.

And how old was Shearer again at that time?

Shearer was 26 through to 36 during his time at Newcastle.

You're not making any sense, he retired in 2004 and he is now 37 years old (was born 1970). Meaning he retired when he was 33-34 years. My question was how old was he when Henry played for Arsenal and by the way Shearer is EPL all-time top scorer averaging a 25 goal/season.

Oh yeah he won all these honours including "best player of the decade"
In football

* Premier League Winner: 1994–95 (Blackburn Rovers)
* Premier League Runner up: 1993–94 (Blackburn Rovers), 1996–97 (Newcastle United)
* FA Cup Runner up: 1998, 1999 (Newcastle United)
* Le Tournoi Winner: 1997 (England)
* Euro 96 Golden Boot Winner: 5 Goals
* In the awards to mark ten seasons of the Premier League, Shearer was named as: Overall Player of the Decade, Domestic Player of the Decade, Outstanding Contribution to the Premier League and Top Goalscorer.
* In recognition of Shearer's contribution to both English domestic and national football he was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2004.
* Listed on the FIFA 100 list of "greatest living footballers".
* Highest-ever Premiership goalscorer: 260 goals
* Most Overall Goals Scored for Newcastle United: 206
* Most European Goals for Newcastle United: 30
* Top scorer for club: 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1998-–99, 1999–00, 2001-–02, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06
* Captained his country 34 times at senior level.

Henry has received many plaudits and awards in his football career. He was runner-up for the 2003 and 2004 FIFA World Player of the Year award;[9] in those two seasons, he also won back-to-back PFA Players' Player of the Year titles.[12] Henry is the only player ever to have won the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year three times (2003, 2004, 2006),[13] and the French Player of the Year on a record four occasions. Henry was voted into the Premier League Overseas Team of the Decade in the 10 Seasons Awards poll in 2003,[52] and in 2004 he was named by football legend Pelι as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers.[53]

In terms of goal-scoring awards, Henry was the European Golden Boot winner in 2004 and 2005 (sharing it with Villarreal's Diego Forlαn in 2005) and is the first ever player to retain the award.[15] Henry has also been the top goal-scorer in the Premiership for four seasons (2002, 2004, 2005, 2006).[3] In 2006, he became the first player to score more than 20 goals in the league for five consecutive seasons (2002 to 2006).[54] Henry is currently third in the list of all-time English Premiership goal-scorers, behind Alan Shearer and Andy Cole. Given his accomplishments, France's all-time goal-scorer is today regarded by many coaches, footballers and pundits as one of the best footballers in the world.[8][55][56][57] In November 2007, he was ranked 33rd on the Association of Football Statisticians' compendium for "Greatest Ever Footballers".[58]

Henry has plenty honours too.

True, but Shearer was won the "Player Of The Decade" meaning he was better than Henry when he played, Henry has never won that award. Shearer has bagged lots of goals each season with every single team he played for, Henry is barely getting a goal or two every third match in Barca (10 goals sums his La Liga season pretty well up).

Well we were discussing the best Premiership player of all time so his Barcelona form is irrelevant. Shearer slowed down to a crawl in his later years anyway and finally the "Player of the Decade" award applied only to the Premiership and Henry never competed for a full decade, so he can hardly have that held against him.

Shearer was the best ever forward in the prem. He scored the most goals and fact that "Shearer slowed down to a crawl in his later years" is not a negative. He still managed to score goals when he lost his pace. When henry was here he was not too old, he was in his prime.
A forwards job is to score goals, Shearer done that more then Henry. You say that Henry could not be included in the 'Player Of The Decade' award that Shearer got, but how come he was included in 'Premier League Overseas Team of the Decade'. Im not being biased, its clear to see that Shearer was better then Henry.

i would'nt say shearer is better than henry but the man deserves his accolades.... for one he is one of the best players british footballers of the past 15 years, but thats just my opinion.....

So right now. You're the manager of a team who would you take Shearer in his prime or Henry in his prime? It's a total no contest.

1. Shearer, he managed to score many goals with a team which can't be compared to Arsenal

2. Depends on which team you choose, a team like Barca wouldn't fit Henry.

looks like boro will be getting biggest home victory after today

Oh no, they just gave up a goal to make it 7-1.

8-1 now