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Klopp: Henderson has the most difficult job in 500 years of Football

Following the lead of one of the most legendary figures in the history of Liverpool football club is certainly not a easy mantle to take on,  just ask Jordan Henderson.

While it is human nature to compare what has come immediately before, in the case of taking over the armband from Steven Gerrard  it is certainly a unfair comparison to make.

Gerrard was the man for the moment, the true talismanic figure, the heart and soul of the club.

He was one of us, and knew the ups and downs of what a Liverpool fan goes through and we lived all the memorable moments and disapointments through him.

Henderson was by and large a outsider who had questions attached from the moment he joined the club from Sunderland in 2011.

Be it the transfer fee, his unique running style, his frequent injuries or his overall impact in games, it is fair to say that the 28 year-old has had his critics over the journey.

However one man that has had his back though all the difficult moments is Jurgen Klopp.

He saw fit to keep Henderson in the role of captain after taking over from Brendan Rodgers, and despite there being calls before every season for another player to be given the role, Klopp has kept the faith.

The manager is widely recognised in having a unwavering belief in his players.

He is also someone who knows how the footballing landscape lies, and he is well aware of the criticism that his leader has taken over the journey.

Just like a protective father, he was more than willing to fight the cause of his midfielder.

The Telegraph reported Klopp as saying:

"Hendo, from my point of view, is a brilliant player. He's our skipper, he's a fantastic character. 

"If I had to write a book about Hendo, it would be 500 page, so I'm very positive. 

"The most difficult job in the last 500 years of football was to replace Steven Gerrard.

 

"In the mind of the people it was like if it's not Stevie, then it's not good enough. 

"And he has dealt with that outstandingly well so he can be really proud. Now we have to think of the future and he is a very important part of our team.” 

Henderson isn't widely seen as a playmaker, but on Friday night he produced arguably his most telling creative impact in quite a while where he set up a goal for Mo Salah and scored one himself coming off the bench.

His reaction to his first goal of the season against the Saints showed that it certainly meant a lot to him.

Over the last few years, Klopp has transformed Henderson from a roaming midfielder into a holding one who thrives on the big games which calls for seasoned campaigners with level heads.

However, Klopp believes that his leader has the versatility to play any role if asked.

 

henderson1_600.jpg
 

"I've seen him a lot like that. That's Jordan.

"When I came in and thought first about the team, Hendo was a box to box player. 

"We made him a number 6 and that's good. I think it's helped him a lot to play in different positions. 

" I told him already that that doesn't mean he will never play as a six again. He thinks it makes sense, and that's absolutely true. 

"We play different systems. Milly (James Milner) and Hendo were both really pumped up. It helped us a lot.”

He may not be everyone's cup of tea, but as someone who was there in 2014, he knows the pain of a failed title challenge all too well well and doesn't want to relive that anytime soon.

He may not be Stevie in terms of presence and playing ability, but in a few weeks time he may well be a title-winning captain.

And that is a pretty special thing to have on your playing CV.

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4 hours ago, dave u said:

More of a Carrick than Nicky Butt I'd say.

I think Carrick was a really clever, classy player. Far better on the ball than Henderson, but less energy in the press. Think he's probably a level or two above Henderson. While it's not nice saying it, our performances often have not befitted the position we are in - and vastly that is due to the lack of creativity and composure in midfield.

 

Despite the negative reactions to the opinion, Butt started the 99 CL win for United. I'm not quite sure how good people think Henderson is in isolation of some of the all-time-best players in the positions around him.

 

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2 minutes ago, Carvalho Diablo said:

Strange, I always considered Carrick and Butt a couple of gimpy shithouse. 

Butt,maybe? But Carrick was an excellent player and one we should have signed from Spurs instead of Man U.

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I like him and have always went to bat for him. I think some of the shit he gets (albeit on the internet) is embarrassing and I was made up for him the other night.  

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10 minutes ago, RobbieOR said:

I like him and have always went to bat for him. I think some of the shit he gets (albeit on the internet) is embarrassing and I was made up for him the other night.  

I don’t really see much shit, to be honest. He’s very difficult to hate. People generally just don’t overrate him like they do with some of our players. Maybe I just expect the Captain of Liverpool to be not just good enough to start for Liverpool every game, but also be one of the best players in the world. Hendo has great industry and you can absolutely see he has value to the team, especially tactically, but he’s hardly Gerrard level. I reckon it’s faor to ask him to put in a top performance more regularly than he does. It’s not hating him or being a shithoude to say these things, mate. Ive seen our truly world classs was players get worse thrown at the TBF. 

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You read these twats on twitter and they make some of the wums we’ve had on here over the years seem like Rinus Michels. Some of the crap you read on there from fickle obvious nouveau fans is pathetic, I don’t even think they’re wums.

 

 

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9 hours ago, TheHowieLama said:

Certainly the poor fella who had to tell Robinho he was actually at Manchester City had a tougher gig.

Is he the same fella who told the Brazilian Muller that he was signing for Everton and not Liverpool? Tough job that.

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10 hours ago, Numero Veinticinco said:

Maybe I just expect the Captain of Liverpool to be not just good enough to start for Liverpool every game, but also be one of the best players in the world. 

The last time I expected the best player to be captain I was at school

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10 hours ago, Lizzie Birdsworths Wrinkled Chopper said:

Twitter is normally just some fella called Numero calling him brutal and saying he’s a paedophile.

And this Numero fella, is he saying that Hendo is a fiddler or that he, himself, likes to play grassless cricket? 

 

Asking for a split personality. 

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30 minutes ago, Barnesey said:

I don't think you are really that obtuse

That’s nice of you, but I’m pointing out that I’m not doing the schoolyard ‘best player is Captain’ thing, I’m seriously saying that one of the criteria for a Captain should be that he’s an integral member of the first team. I don’t think it’s unfair on Hendo to say that he isn’t that. 

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10 minutes ago, Numero Veinticinco said:

That’s nice of you, but I’m pointing out that I’m not doing the schoolyard ‘best player is Captain’ thing, I’m seriously saying that one of the criteria for a Captain should be that he’s an integral member of the first team. I don’t think it’s unfair on Hendo to say that he isn’t that. 

To be fair, Henderson tends to start the bigger games. He gets rested at times because the quality we have in midfield is pretty even, especially when the worst performing midfielder this season has been the most expensive one. 

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