Forest Gump || Jordan Henderson

It's official, 5 years on 100k pw, this lifted my spirits

It was always a non issue with Henderson to be honest and we all saw it coming, he wants to play here and has showed it.

Now I can whine a bit . 100K, ffs; that's too much , we should have kept it within 80K

no point crying over 20k as we needed this deal to be patched up quick

Fahim89 wrote:no point crying over 20k as we needed this deal to be patched up quick

Arre broh, I was having a bit of fun. First time in many days.

LOVE IT!

He's legit, and I think he'll be captain for a long time. Without Gerrard's shadow hanging over him he will continue to excel and grow as a player and a leader.

Yes, I can see him staying with us for years to come. An excellent choice for captain, too.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/jordan-henderson-injury-liverpool-fc-10054478

Sucks. Mystery injuries are the worst.

Apparently he didn't need any surgery and have returned from USA.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/liverpool-fc-captain-jordan-henderson-10089484

A long-term layoff for Henderson could easily derail our season every bit as much as Sturridge's injuries last season.

While filling his position with a warm body should not be terribly difficult, as we have the midfielders to cover, replacing his contribution will be much harder. Henderson was just beginning to display the sort of control and distribution from deep that we had seen from Gerrard over the past few seasons. Sure, he lacked a bit of the hollywood-ball potential (though, he has hit a few in his time...). However, he is composed in possession, and his ability to pick an incisive pass from a deep position has grown exponential over the last calendar year. Regardless of the role he's given (runner, distributor, presser, etc.), he runs the midfield. To be perfectly honest, I attribute much of the lack of composure during the last two losses (West Ham and ManU) to Henderson's absence from the midfield.

I fully acknowledge that there are "better players" in the squad. A case can be made for Coutinho, Sturridge, Sakho and maybe even Firmino once he finds his legs on Merseyside. However, we appear to be absolutely ill-equipped to replace Henderson's contribution. Of course we have quality midfielders. Can has the potential to be a "Yaya Toure-eque" midfield, but he needs time to develop. Milner, while he's not performed well recently, does have redeeming qualities. He provides industry and an engine in midfield, and he can press relentlessly from a CM position. However, he lacks the composure (at CM) and the ability to dictate play from a central-midfield position. Beyond that: Rossiter is too young: Lucas is a different animal all-together; and Allen is a pure shuttler, offering nothing of what Henderson brings to the attacking game.

Could other players step up in his absence? Possibly. And, if we are to achieve our stated goal of top4, they will need to. I can see a capable midfield partnership being formed between Can, Milner and Coutinho. However, someone will need to step up in order to replace the qualities lost with Henderson's absence.

It will be perfect if we can play Coutinho in a 3 man midfield as we have numerous times. Specially now that Henderson is missing !

Helmer wrote:It will be perfect if we can play Coutinho in a 3 man midfield as we have numerous times. Specially now that Henderson is missing !

No, I think we have moved on from that. Coutinho is nowadays so firmly established as our central attacking midfielder, that I just don't see him dropping deeper again. Lallana, on the other hand, I could well see in a midfield trio.

Art Morte wrote:No, I think we have moved on from that. Coutinho is nowadays so firmly established as our central attacking midfielder, that I just don't see him dropping deeper again. Lallana, on the other hand, I could well see in a midfield trio.

That's truly unfortunate, as Coutinho is deceptively capable in defense, where Lallana is... frankly he's just not. Yes, he presses well, but pressing in the final third and defending well are very different things. Allan in midfield will just be a mirror of Milner, without the physicality.

Moreover, we will just get to see Lallana's trademark inefficiencies in deeper (typically more crowded) positions. He slows play, runs into blind alleys, is not positionally disciplined. None of these are things you want in a central midfielder.

I would much rather see Coutinho, Can, and even Rossiter used at CM.

What a performance from the captain.

He was everywhere, pressing everyone, winning the ball more than anyone on the field and immediately looking to attack. Played in some really nice passes and switched the play nicely. His off the ball work (dangerous runs and defensively) was on point as always.

Finally:

Great performance by the captain last night. Bossed Arsenal's midfield at times and made some brilliant runs from midfield that are his trademark.

But the best thing for me was at the end of the game he took Benteke to the edge of the box and have him a good talking to for at least 5 minutes. Even after Benteke's protests he didn't give him an inch, pointed square at the 6 yard box and basically told him that's where he needs to be.

Not the clearest photo but the best I could muster from row 12 of the upper centenary.

What a player he's turned into. Best midfielder in the league. Him and Can will likely form quite the partnership for LFC moving forward for the forseeable future.

When a "great" performance from your captain can only muster you a draw at home, you realize how mediocre you've become.

Yeah, of course it depends on how loosely you use the word "great", but I wouldn't call Henderson's display against Arsenal that. He did well, but not a "great" performance.

ExtremistEnigma wrote:When a "great" performance from your captain can only muster you a draw at home, you realize how mediocre you've become.

Except Arsenal are top of the league, have one of the best teams if not the best team in the country and if not for having the worst keeper of the top half of the table we'd have won easily? Liverpool completely controlled the match outside of a few spells in a large part due to their midfield.

It is what it is I guess. Some people are never happy.

You can be happy with a player's performance without thinking it was a great performance to be honest.

ExtremistEnigma wrote:When a "great" performance from your captain can only muster you a draw at home, you realize how mediocre you've become.

not sure about mediocre but even Arsenal played hoofball proving that we are so bad defensively when teams attack us in that way.

Art Morte wrote:You can be happy with a player's performance without thinking it was a great performance to be honest.

I agree. I was more referring to 'how mediocre we've become' given who it was against and the run of play being mostly in our favour.

VIDEO: Captain Jordan Henderson vs Burnley Football Club. RTs appreciated. pic.twitter.com/nHwAV9NtiQ

— Sam (@f1rmino) August 20, 2016

Is it the Klopps worst footballing/tactical decision of his career to play a player like Henderson in such a role

Dump him from captaincy. Not sure if it's the pressure of being captain or his injured foot but something's affecting his game and we need a leader on the pitch. He is not that. We're turning into Arsenal. I don't like it.