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Jordan Henderson, MBE: World Club Cup, European Cup, European Super Cup, Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup & Charity Shield Winning Captain of Liverpool (and massive sellout)


dennis tooth
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Are people still seriously doubting Hendo? That’s slightly hilarious and quite concerning at the same time.

There really are some absolute whoppers following us. Here’s a good article from the guardian if anyone missed it.

Revamped Jordan Henderson holds up extremely well in Liverpool’s midfield 

Nine years after a failed experiment with England, Henderson’s energy is being harnessed to great effect in a holding position

 
Published: 18:30 Friday, 27 December 2019
 Follow Jonathan Wilson

In November 2010, Fabio Capello gave Jordan Henderson his England debut in a friendly against France, operating alongside Gareth Barry at the back of midfield in a 4-2-3-1. In the second half, after Barry had been replaced by Adam Johnson, Steven Gerrard dropped in alongside him. It did not go well. Henderson didn’t start another game for England until a friendly against Denmark in March 2014.

But then why would it have gone well? Henderson was not a holding midfielder, even before you begin to consider the nightmarish difficulty of trying to play as a holding midfielder alongside Gerrard. Not for the first time people at Sunderland wondered whether Capello ever bothered to watch them play. One of the reasons Darren Bent left, two months after Henderson’s international debut, was that he felt his chances of England recognition would be greater if he played somewhere, anywhere, else.

 

How could anybody who had watched Henderson regularly, anybody who had seen his energy and stamina and desire, his ability to cross a ball with his right foot, think he was best deployed sitting in front of the back four? He had played on the right for Sunderland as he emerged from the youth system before Steve Bruce had moved him into the centre, but it had always been somewhere where he could run. He was like a setter: if he wasn’t running, running anywhere, lolloping about with ears flapping just for the sheer joy of it, he wasn’t happy.

It was an issue that followed Henderson to Liverpool even after he had overcome Brendan Rodgers’s initial intention to sell him. Even after Jürgen Klopp had taken over Henderson always seemed the misfit, the one most likely to be replaced. He just didn’t seem to have the tactical discipline to operate as the deepest of the midfield three. His – and Liverpool’s – real breakthrough last season came after Fabinho had taken that deep-lying midfielder role and Henderson had been shifted to a freer role on the right of the triangle. Hendo Unchained turned successive games against Southampton, Porto andChelsea last season.

The narrative had him returning to his rightful position to discover his destiny, leading to the emotional celebrations with his father after lifting the Champions League and the development of his trademark trophy lift – and who from Sunderland has ever needed one of those before? (The narrative may also note Liverpool’s indebtedness to a small area to the south of Sunderland: Henderson grew up in Herrington, a couple of miles east of Penshaw, home of Alan Kennedy, the left-back who scored decisive strikes in two European Cup finals for them. Bob Paisley, who won six league titles and three European Cups as Liverpool manager to go with the championship he won as a left-half, came from Hetton-le-Hole, about four miles to the south.)

 
Henderson fires a shot past Leicester’s Wilfred Ndidi.Photograph: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images

But what happens after the grand finale? Madrid in June could easily have been Henderson’s finest hour. What else did he have to prove? Realistically, nothing. There was a league to win after 30 years, and Liverpool surely now will do that, but that was a collective ambition. Henderson himself had done everything that had been hoped for him and more. The ugly duckling, a player whose curious gait had led to him being written off by Alex Ferguson, had become a swan.

Except there was a niggle. He wanted to be a swan – an ungainly swan, it’s true, one whose paddling is very definitely visible above the water – who could play as a holding midfielder. Fabinho’s injury in November was one of those moments that could have derailed the season. Henderson stepped in. His greatest quality, perhaps, has always been his willingness to learn. Those who saw his uncertain first game in central midfield for Sunderland, away at Birmingham, doubted he would ever make it in the middle; within a matter of weeks he was undroppable.

In four league games with the 29-year-old at the back of midfield over the past month Liverpool have conceded one goal. Three of their five league clean sheets this season have come in that spell. He played as the holder as Liverpool beat Flamengo in the Club World Cup final.

Against Leicester on Thursday, although it was Trent Alexander‑Arnold who stood out with his goal and a part in the other three goals, Henderson was just as vital to the win. There was all the familiar energy, three tackles and an interception.

 

Jordan Henderson pictured during Sunderland’s FA Youth Cup semi-final against Manchester City in Ma2008.Photograph: Christopher Lee/Getty Images

 

But what was notable about Liverpool was the way, after that frenetic opening 10 minutes or so when both sides looked vulnerable on the counter, that they took control of the game, pressing high and holding possession. Nobody who started the game finished with a higher pass completion rate than Henderson’s 93.4%, a stat that includes a remarkable 10 accurate long balls out of 11 attempted. He is not Xavi or Andrea Pirlo, and never will be, but at the King Power Stadium he had more in common with them than might ever have been expected.

Capello got it wrong nine years ago but Henderson is becoming the player he wanted him to be. Other midfielders have proved unable to change but Henderson is always developing, always improving.

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36 minutes ago, magicrat said:

Hendos issue has always been between his ears . He is a very skilful footballer.

Klopp seems to have finally got his head on the right way round 

Yes, his hairstyle has definitely improved. 

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13 hours ago, moof said:

Hendo is a top player. That’s not in question anymore 

 

4 hours ago, VladimirIlyich said:

Never really was in question for a few of us.

You’d have thought so. 

 

But reading the last two pages, seems the ones who have been slagging him off in the past - STILL can’t admit how massively wrong they were & just look like bigger cunts! 

 

Embarrassing stuff, but not surprising! Haha :D

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  • 4 weeks later...

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2020/jan/24/liverpool-wolves-jordan-henderson-most-important-player

 

Quote

Jordan Henderson shows why he may be Liverpool’s most important player of all

Sachin Nakrani

Roberto Firmino’s winner at Wolves grabbed the headlines but Liverpool’s captain was, yet again, an immense figure

 

‘As the final whistle blew one man in red was not there, for he had walked to the far side of the pitch in order to acknowledge the 3,000-plus travelling supporters.’

As the final whistle blew on a cold and misty night in the Midlands, Liverpool’s players allowed themselves a moment to congregate in the centre of the pitch and celebrate yet another win. Backs were patted, hugs were exchanged and, not surprisingly, breaths were caught after what was the league leaders’ toughest assignment of the season so far. But one man in red was not there, for he had walked to the far side of the pitch to acknowledge the 3,000-plus travelling supporters who had made the trip here. In turn they saluted him, and rightly so. He was not only their captain but also the main reason this proved to be another joyous occasion for their side.

Jordan Henderson was outstanding here, scoring his side’s first goal, assisting their second and in general performing with a level of authority, commitment and skill that continues to mark him out as arguably Liverpool’s most important player right now. That may seem an absurd assessment given those he has around him, most notably Alisson, Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Roberto Firmino, all of whom contributed in their own ways to this triumph, but neither is it outlandish to suggest that without Henderson, Liverpool would be a notably diminished outfit. They may still be top by a distance, but they may well not be looking at a campaign in which they can not only clinch that long-awaited title but also achieve invincibility.

Seriously, he is that good, and has been for some time. Indeed, it is hard to remember the last occasion that all those old doubts and uncertainties about Henderson’s top-level credentials came to the fore. Opposition fans no longer have a stick to beat him with, and the angst that use to grip Anfield whenever discussions took place regarding Henderson’s suitability as Steven Gerrard’s successor has all but vanished. The current captain is not, and never will be, as great as the old one, but in his own right he is some leader and some talent.

That was evident throughout this contest, starting with the manner in which he gave Liverpool the lead after eight minutes – a header that was as powerful as it was accurate – to the way in which he controlled the tempo of their play from a deep-lying midfield role. Most crucially of all, he kept those around him focused on the job in hand, when they were largely on top in the first half and then after the break when Wolves performed with a level of intensity and purpose that for a while looked as if it was going to overwhelm their hosts and bring about what would have been their first league defeat in 386 days.

Watching Henderson in the flesh it really is noticeable how much he communicates with his teammates. He is constantly talking to them, constantly telling them where to be and where to go and, when required, handing out a good old-fashioned bollocking. This was the case on 27 minutes when he told Alexander-Arnold in no uncertain terms to drop back after a Liverpool attack had broken down.

“He played an unbelievable game tonight,” said Jürgen Klopp. “He was really shouting at everybody, keeping everybody on their toes, but it’s not just about shouting, it’s about what you say and he only asks for things he expects from himself.”

Of that there is little doubt, for this is a player who has gone on a journey of dogged self-improvement ever since he joined Liverpool in June 2011. Having led the side to Champions League glory last season Henderson is now, as Klopp said himself on the eve of this game, able to let his “natural quality” shine. That is particularly evident in his range of passing: short and quick, long and searching, he can do the lot. He showed that throughout this contest, most tellingly with the perfectly weighted delivery to Firmino on 84 minutes that led to the Brazilian cancelling out Raúl Jiménez’s equaliser with a thumping close-range strike.

It is now 40 league games without defeat for Liverpool, making them the first team to achieve that milestone since Chelsea in 2005. They have also re-established their 16-point lead over Manchester City in this most one-sided of title races and, with 15 games remaining, the sense that they will not only become champions but also remain unbeaten grows stronger.

Wolves came as close as anybody has this season to beating Liverpool with what was a typically dynamic and rugged display. They forced their opponents, who had been weakened by Sadio Mané’s withdrawal in the first half with a suspected hamstring injury, into retreat, and, on occasion, into full-blown panic. But ultimately Liverpool stood firm, their quality and resilience on this most testing of occasions personified by the man who, barring the most spectacular of collapses, will hoist the Premier League trophy in a matter of weeks: Jordan Brian Henderson.

As Klopp went on to say: “We couldn’t be in this situation without this type of character.”

 

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Excellent again. That’s a really hard job he had today - same for ox and Gini too, but he did really well. 
 

ambitious with his passing when he could be too.

 

i was listening to the radio before the utd match and and someone suggested he’s possibly the best midfielder in the country right now based on form and it might be right. That’s a hell of a rise.

 

the commentator suggested he could be player of the year, savage said not but then unconvincingly said Mane.

 

i think Hendo is in with a huge shout of getting it (maybe writers) as the puff pieces will grow and grow now, and in don’t think we have a hugely standout runaway candidate other than him.

 

fit a while it seemed nailed on between mane and sterling but both have dropped from the headlines and firm they started the season in. Our league form isn’t based on one players goals or one defenders impact like seasons past.

 

trent has to nailed on for young player too.

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  • Paul changed the title to Jordan Henderson, MBE: World Club Cup, European Cup, European Super Cup, Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup & Charity Shield Winning Captain of Liverpool
  • dave u changed the title to Jordan Henderson, MBE: World Club Cup, European Cup, European Super Cup, Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup & Charity Shield Winning Captain of Liverpool (and massive sellout)

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