Gerry Armstrong Column: Ron and ZZ are tops but now I hope that it's

If there is one player who deserves to land the World Footballer of the Year award it's Thierry Henry.

What a performance he pulled out of the bag against Inter Milan, and it has to be one of the great displays.

But what I love about Henry is that not only does he score with ease, but if you look at it, he created 60 per cent of the other Arsenal goals.

It was fabulous performance that left Inter shaken and very stirred.

Kolo Toure was awesome with Sol Campbell, while Edu has settled in to prove a real rock.

Henry has been consistently brilliant, even when the rest of the team hasn't, and that fact plus their failure to win a European Cup could possibly count against him and for Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane when it comes to voting time.

As for the result, there's no question it will go down as one of the greatest Arsene Wenger has ever achieved.

Let's hopes it's not the last.

I'VE been thinking a lot about the state of football in Northern Ireland of late, and every time I come to one conclusion..it's in a right old mess.

The pounds 8m injection to Irish clubs from the Government is great news and will make an enormous difference.

But there are two big problems.

Firstly, and I know I keep banging on about this, but it's about time we had just one body governing Irish football.

Football in Northern Ireland cannot afford - literally - to have the Irish FA and the Irish League, so put them under the one roof.

Not only does it make financial sense, but that way you can have the game going in one direction.

We asked the big questions, now we need some big answers.

We need more harmony.

The second point is we must get the community involved, because at the moment they're not.

Grassroots is key. We saw it in the Milk Cup, which attracted up to 5,000 spectators. Those at the tournament felt a part of what was going on.

The Irish League cannot afford to appeal to just the fan, it has to appeal to the community as well.

When I was playing for Northern Ireland, we took the team around the grounds for the training staying in hotels from Ballymoney to Coleraine to Donegal Celtic.

It was Bryan Hamilton's idea and it worked a treat. And that's what we need to replicate in the Irish League.

DON'T be surprised to see Rivaldo heading out of AC Milan and to England during the British Christmas window.

I hear he's very unhappy and it's not surprising when you consider he is fifth choice on the striking rota behind Andriy Shevchenko, Filippo Inzaghi, Kaka and Jon Dahl Tomasson.

Rivaldo certainly wouldn't have any worries fitting into the English game, but maybe the 31-year-old's wages would, even though there would be no fee. Manchester United I hear are very interested.

A LOT of fans will see this afternoon's big clash between Manchester United and Chelsea as being a 'title decider'. It isn't, but it will give a very indication as to who will pick up the silverware next May.

My feeling is that today will end in a draw, and that's not because I'm sitting on the fence (Ed..are you sure?).

United have seen the likes of Phil Neville come to the fore, but Chelsea have really shown themselves to be a tour de force.

Damien Duff is just fantastic, Adrian Mutu brilliant and Frank Lampard is proving to England that he can be the scoring midfield they desperately need.

But for me the difference today could lie in Claude Makelele, a stunning buy from Real Madrid and one that Zinedine Zidane has said was a mistake.

He just makes the team gel..nice move Mr Ranieri!

WHAT a shocker that was for Man City this week, losing to Polish side Groclin in the UEFA Cup.

They'll want to bounce back today against Middlesbrough, but I don't fancy their chances seeing as Steve McClaren's men have shown they can really dig deep of late.

RANGERS will do well to get their SPL title challenge back on track now they are out of the Champions League.

Celtic need a point in Lyon, but they're a tough French side and I fancy this will be one point too far for Martin O'Neill's men.

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