2018/19 Season Report Card - Jordan Henderson

[tlw content]

I love Jordan Henderson. Not to the extreme where I'll tell you he's the best midfielder in the world. I may love him, but I'm not blinkered to the point of delusion. He's really good though, much better than many give him credit for. Some of our own fans are the worst for that too. Hopefully that might change now he's a European Cup winning captain, but I won't hold my breath on that.

 

I googled Hendo's name just then as I was looking for some stats on appearances and stuff. When you do a search it comes up with a box that says "people also ask". The top one said "What does Jordan Henderson do". What does he do? WHAT DOES HE DO???? He captains the European Champions, that's what he fucking does.

 

To be fair, I couldn't care less what fans of other teams think of him. If Spurs fans want to convince themselves Eric Dier deserves to be ahead of Hendo in the England pecking order, have at it. I'm not arsed. If Everton fans think Andre Gomes is better, good for them. I don't care if the rest of the country can't see what he brings to a team. When our own fans are among the critics though, that's a different matter.

 

The unwarranted sneering about our skipper just makes me feel overly protective of him. I expect it from rival fans and it's fair game. With the amount of piss taking I do about rival players, it would be a little precious of me to get upset about them throwing shade at Hendo. It irks me when I see the lack of respect towards him from our own fans, although it's almost exclusively on social media it should be said.

 

It’s a weird phenomena because barring the occasional moan and groan here and there, he doesn’t get that kind of treatment from the matchday crowd. The 'LFC family' on Twitter though? Different story entirely. Usually the overall perception of a player doesn’t vary too much from stadium to social media but in Hendo’s case the difference is huge.

 

I don't think anyone has ever split opinion more, and I genuinely don't get it. I mean how can you watch Jordan Henderson play and think he's not a good player? Just how good he is comes to down to personal opinion. I probably rate him more highly than most but there will be others who think even more of him than I do. 

 

It blows my mind though that there are people who watch Henderson and think he's just an average player who only passes backwards and sideways. I know he's not Souness or Gerrard, but if that's the bar being set for all of our midfielders now then they'll all fall short. 

 

Those of you who don't spend too much time on social media probably think I'm exaggerating here, but I'm honestly not.

 

Have a look at the replies to this tweet from This is Anfield. That's typical of any Henderson related tweet. 

 

The replies to this official announcement by the club were even worse. 

 

 

When he signed that new deal earlier in the season, I looked at the replies to the above tweet and I wanted to go on a fucking killing spree. People were reacting like he was Christian Poulsen or Salif Diao.

 

 

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[Pureblood]

The haters should hang their heads in shame after reading that masterpiece.  

[Dr Nowt]

Hendo was unfortunate from the off in being somewhat tarred with the same brush as that sad contingent of British dossers Kenny signed in 2011. Was tough to watch us being sent into reverse from the refreshing side tearing up the league in the second half of his returning season.

 

Bellamy was obviously never considered in the same vein because he hit the ground running and was a known quantity, but Carroll, Adam and Downing signing in the same period was just another thing not helping Hendo’s cause. Along with a large number of muted early performances of his own, it felt like he kind of became guilty by association and immediately had it all to do to win doubters over.

 

Now look at their respective finest moments:

 

Biffa: Winner against Everton in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.

Adam: Ate his own body weight in sausage meat during a single sitting, summer 2011.

Downing: Shushed Red Knight in front of the nation.

Hendo: Lifted big ears.

 

Well in, bonny lad!

[dave u]

Knew TK would be the first to reply. Expected a neg for only giving an 8 though.

[RobbieOR]

Great stuff. He deserved his moment in the sun as much as anyone. 

[Numero Veinticinco]

Good end to the season, ever since he moved forward. In the other position, he’s a 6/10. Lately an 8 or 9. His attitude... 15. 

[KMD7]

Impossible to read Dave as the post is covered with TK's Jizz.  I've repped it anyway as Hendo is ace

[Tj hooker]

Loved the way he lifted big ears the slow burner and then a full on celebration great stuff as you say Dave haters are gonna hate but I love the lad it's all about the team with Jordan. 

[The Guest]

I didn’t know that about asking Klopp and Milner to lift it.  It just brings everything flooding back with an extra bit added.  What a guy.

[Mikhail]

6 hours ago, Lizzie Birdsworths Wrinkled Chopper said:

Hendo was unfortunate from the off in being somewhat tarred with the same brush as that sad contingent of British dossers Kenny signed in 2011. Was tough to watch us being sent into reverse from the refreshing side tearing up the league in the second half of his returning season.

 

Bellamy was obviously never considered in the same vein because he hit the ground running and was a known quantity, but Carroll, Adam and Downing signing in the same period was just another thing not helping Hendo’s cause. Along with a large number of muted early performances of his own, it felt like he kind of became guilty by association and immediately had it all to do to win doubters over.

 

Now look at their respective finest moments:

 

Biffa: Winner against Everton in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.

Adam: Ate his own body weight in sausage meat during a single sitting, summer 2011.

Downing: Shushed Red Knight in front of the nation.

Hendo: Lifted big ears.

 

Well in, bonny lad!

I love comparing Henderson's career to Phil Jones

 

I remember how the media tripped over themselves to tell us that Jones is gonna be a sure thing, he's a future Man United legend and captain and when they spoke about Henderson we usually just got a that's a lot of money to spend on a young lad...

 

Looking at them now Phil Jones' career highlights are basically pulling the gurniest faces possible and finding new ways to drive his face into the pitch without getting a concussion...

 

I love Henderson I just wish he scored more because no player gets me more amped celebrating a goal 

 

[aRdja]

Honestly these player reports are so great @dave u. Really enjoying them. 

[mattyq]

Great report, Dave

Love a bit of Hendo. me

[sir roger]

Love me a bit of Hendo , but not sure about the tap-dance before the trophy lift.

[aws]

4 hours ago, Tj hooker said:

Loved the way he lifted big ears the slow burner and then a full on celebration 

That little jig would have been so much better if it wasn't for his dodgy gait. 

[VladimirIlyich]

Always liked him because I always saw how much he tried and put the team above himself. To think he was almost swapped for Clint Dempsey. Massive face palm.

He's also a very decent human being based on the stuff he's done in the local community too.

[Bob]

On 24/06/2019 at 19:54, Mikhail said:

I love comparing Henderson's career to Phil Jones

 

I remember how the media tripped over themselves to tell us that Jones is gonna be a sure thing, he's a future Man United legend and captain and when they spoke about Henderson we usually just got a that's a lot of money to spend on a young lad...

 

Looking at them now Phil Jones' career highlights are basically pulling the gurniest faces possible and finding new ways to drive his face into the pitch without getting a concussion...

 

I love Henderson I just wish he scored more because no player gets me more amped celebrating a goal 

I wish he scored more goals because I want all of our midfielders to score more goals, whether they give it the beans or not.

 

Its quite right to laud him right now. He fully deserves it, and was genuinely excellent in the final 3rd of the season, but I can’t help but feel he’s getting his game overstates now to “redress the balance” and it’s not really right.

 

hes obviously a good captain in many ways, @dave u‘s right to point out how the players and manager clearly feel about him as captain, and I don’t want to be sour, but plenty of the criticism he’s received (not counting Twitter wankers) has been deserved.

 

he should score more goals. Plenty of times he has missed really, really good chances, and they’ve cost us plenty of times.

 

however, in his very good spell this year he was creating chances and assisting goals, which is great to see.

 

if he continues to be the positive force he was late this year, then brilliant. If he adds goals, too, that would be better.

 

if he reverts back to more of the player he has been for plenty of the time he’s been here, then I’d say it’s fair to criticise that.

 

it won’t mean he isn’t a European cup winning captain. It won’t mean he isn’t very well appreciated by his teammates and manager. It will mean he’s not living up to what it’s known he can be. Hopefully it won’t happen, hopefully this years success is the first of many and we sing his name loudly as he lifts more trophies in the future. Hopefully.