30 Nov 2011

HENDERSON or SPEARING: Who should take Lucas's place...?

Lucas Leiva has been superb for Liverpool this season, but after his injury against Chelsea yesterday, it unfortunately looks like he may be out for quite a while. Liverpool will undoubtedly miss the Brazilian, but his absence presents a major opportunity for Jordan Henderson and/or Jay Spearing to stake their claim in the centre of midfield.

Many fans have been frustrated this season with Kenny Dalglish's preference for playing Henderson out of position on the right, but Lucas's forced absence provides a perfect opportunity for Hendo to get a run a run of games in his favoured central midfield role.

Given his price tage, it seems likely that Henderson will get the nod ahead of Jay Spearing, who played very well against Chelsea last night. Would that be the right decision though?

Henderson has more of an attacking edge to his game, and seems to prefer playing higher up the field than Lucas, but Spearing is arguably more suited to the defensive-midfielder role.

Of course, there's also the Steven Gerrard option, but he's still recovering from injury and there's no firm date set for his return. Additionally, the Captain will be short of match fitness, and that will take time to build up.

So - who should be Lucas's replacement: Spearing or Henderson?



I personally would go for Henderson, but only because I think he offers more in an attacking sense than Spearing. Lucas does a fantastic job for the team but I would argue that a dedicated defensive-midfielder is not essential when Liverpool play at Anfield, especially against the so-called 'lesser' teams.

My team for Fulham:

---------------------- Reina

Kelly ------------ Skrtl ---- Agger ----------------- Enrique

------------------- Adam --- Henderson

Kuyt ----------------- Bellamy ---------------------- Maxi

---------------------- Suarez

Jaimie Kanwar


60 comments:

  1. I agree with your formation and selection Jamie.  But if Stevie comes back, I'd like to see him replacing Adam.  I do think (my opinion) that Steve will be better suited in a deeper "Alonso" position now that he is getting older and not the box to box player he once was.

    I think Henderson will come on playing in the centre. He has improved recently too. 

    Get well soon Lucas!

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  2. We are playing fulham away... Probably KD will field Spearing

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  3. I would love to see Kelly at RB too because he's just brilliant there and Johnson tearing down the right wing but still helping in defence. Two of them are playing so well it be a shame to drop either.
    ---------------------- Reina

    Kelly ------------ Skrtl ---- Agger ----------------- Enrique

    ------------------- Adam --- Henderson
    Johnson ----------------- Bellamy ---------------------- Maxi

    ---------------------- Suarez

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  4. Kelly a head of Johnson?  Your mad....

    ---------------------- Reina
    Johnson ------------ Skrtl ---- Agger ----------------- Enrique

    ------------------- Adam --- Henderson
    Johnson ----------------- Bellamy ---------------------- Maxi

    ---------------------- Suarez

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  5. Guys, let's not fool ourselves, here. We need a DM to replace a DM, if we have one. The closest that we have to Lucas is Jay Speo. It is unfortunate that people will only appreciate the value of a DM when he is not in the team and the team is under pressure. Liverpool's defensive record this season can directly be attributed to the work being done by Lucas and his partner in shielding the back-four and our golie.

    In this regard, JS should take the nod ahead of Hendo. Hendo is not strong in making tackles and destroying opposition attacks: Let us and KK bear that in mind. Let me hasten to remind you that the absence of a strong DM contributed to Kevin Keegan's Newcastle not taking the Championship...you know the season.

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  6. You should remember that Lucas is Defensive midfielder and Adam is not good one in defensive zone so if you sacrifice attacking more than defensive you gonna put our team in danger of losing point. I preffer to start with Spearing in the midfield than Hendo coz Spearing will offer to us the service of Lucas than Hendo.

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  7. Coates,in my opinion would be a better candidate.

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  8. If he is mad then what are you???
    You have Johnson playing in 2 positions at once !!!
    F*ck me try thinking before berating and he never said ahead of he said playing with!!!

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  9. Spearing is not a Liverpool 2nd string player never mind vying for a 1st team spot!!!
    That answers that then!!!

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  10. I would love to see Carrol ....I think he'll score against Fulam

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  11. dont think he,ll be missed at all both mentioned are far better footballers

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  12. Tbh, I'd promote Coady into the first team squad setup (said I'd have done it last season really) and see what he's made of in those games where we still want to play with a holding midfielder, seeing as we have no other specialist holding midfielders in the squad.

    Spearing is barely any more of a holding midfielder than Henderson is imo. His biggest strengths are his energy and enthusiam to get around the pitch, and his ability to launch a powerful shot pretty quickly. He is too small, too weak, and too attack minded to be a straight replacement for Lucas.

    Henderson has much the same failings as Spearing - he is a lot taller, but probably physically weaker and even less aware of his defensive responsibilities. Still, he is a couple of years younger and surely is the future of LFC rather than Spearing, and as such he should get the nod ahead of Spearing, with the hope that he develops into the player that we hope he can become with games in his natural position.

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  13. btw, Maxi and Skrtel are doing their best to prove me wrong (still not changed my mind yet though!) but Kuyt has looked typically useless pretty much all season. And his defensive work is ridiculously overrated - at his age and level of ability, the guy doesn't deserve all of these chances to play his way into form and should be relegated to the bench/reserves/transfer list asap

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  14. Not sure Kuyt and Maxi down both wings will be such a great idea. Both of them have no pace. Defenders have an easy time with them and they offer little creative action. We will need to either play one or the other. Kuyt is also not in the greatest of form and I still feel he is more effective upfront.

    Henderson is now starting to find himself in the team on a regular basis, he has played 2 minutes less than Kuyt in the EPL this season so I do not think it is a question of Henderson or Spearing.

    Henderson has now cemented his place in the team so Spearing will depend on where Kenny wants to play Henderson for the period of Lucas being out. Henderson will either play down the right which will see Spearing in the center. Unless Kenny plays a 3 man midfield or Henderson behind the striker then Spearing will get his chance. If Henderson plays alongside Adam who I can guarantee Kenny will not be leaving out as we need a CM who can dictate play then Spearing will only be used as a sub.

    Saying all this, Spearing deserves a chance to prove himself and this is his best opportunity.

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  15. and a big up to Lucas, his last two matches have been without a doubt his best in a red shirt. If his injury is serious, I wish him a speedy recovery.

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  16. Totally agree about Kuyt, he is getting worse by the minute. Why we even play him down the wing is becoming more of a mystery to me. Johnson should be the player that replaces him and Kelly should be our permanent RB. What a match the young man had last night. If only Johnson was as good defensively.

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  17. in my opinion it is a great chance to see henderson playing in the middle of livs midfield for the first time

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  18. are you another one Jamie that is obseesed with Kuyt on the right side of midfield. What does he offer? Hard work? Isn't that a pre requisite for any pro? Awful on the ball, no pace or skill nd chonically slow. At times he's our best right back. laughable really. Never rated the guy at all persoanlly No penetration and a true momentum killer on the counter. so easy to defend against.

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  19. This is the reason I have faith in Kuyt:
    http://www.liverpool-kop.com/2011/10/dirk-kuyt-some-amazing-stats-as-he.html

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  20. how about with this formation:             
                                              reina         kelly            carragher              coates              enrique                       henderson                spearing       bellamy                       adam                            downing                                       suarez this is definitely a perfect formation that would suit every player, we can attack as a team and defend as a team! Lucas hope you get well soon!

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  21. how the f**k did that come out like that! that's not how i wrote it!

                        reina                                                                                    
                                                                                                                  
    kelly    carragher    coates   enrique                                                              
                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                  
            henderson       spearing                                                                                    

                                                                                                                  
    bellamy           adam           downing                                                                               
                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                  
                       suarez                                                                                               

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  22. So we do not know how serious the injury to Lucas is but this might see more of an attacking edge to our play. We are Liverpool and I am sure we will be fine without Lucas. We did not struggle against the mancs when he went off and Chelsea did pile on the pressure without Lucas but we kept a clean sheet.

    My team for Fulham

                         Reina

        Kelly     Skrtel    Agger    Enrique

      Downing  Henderson  Adam  Bellamy

                    Suarez   Carroll

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  23. Mate Carroll shouldn't even be in the bench never mind in the starting 11! We would get nowhere with that formation. As i mentioned above Downing on the left Bellamy on the right, Adam just in front of (Henderson and Spearing). this formation would definitely be best suited. Every individual would shine in this positions. We will (Attack) = (Defend) as a team!

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  24. Jonjo Shelvey is being recalled from Blackpool to cover for Lucas.  I pray to God that Lucas is back soon... but sadly, it is possible that he is out for 5-6 months.

    Henderson looked good last night playing in the center. He is a good technical player, but in my opinon lacks stability and grit, and cannot be relied upon as 100% as Lucas week in and week out. Spearing and Shelvey are both young, but have more aggression and have a good crossing/scoring from the long shot ability. None of them is a 100% replacement for Lucas.

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  25. Not sure Henderson has the abilty as yet to dictate play from our midfield and Spearing falls short of that category too so reckon your midfield 2 will not be the best idea and it does not really matter which sides Bellamy or Downing starts the match as they will change sides every now and then anyway.

    Adam needs to be in the middle of midfield and I am sure Kenny will agree with me on that.

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  26. Spearing has good crossing/scoring from long shot abilty? What matches have you been watching?

    Shelvey is still young but he can score goals. Whether he will break into the first team now is another story.

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  27. right firstly ur saying henderson hasn't got the ability to dictate in the middle,- where is he positioned in ur formation? henderson and spearing can defend alot better and dictate play in the middle, Adam should support suarez just behind as he's got more attacking ability, he's so weak at tracking back. If only i was in kenny's position i'd get the best out of this team for definite! lol 

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  28. I tell you which one. Not a big match. Just a reserves game v Sunderland a few days ago. Where Spearing and Coates both scored.
    Take a look:  http://rutube.ru/tracks/5037294.html?v=0cdfeb26ecc704f6d1a83a76824c0c8d

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  29. Henderson is in the middle and your point?

    Maybe you do not know the meaning of dictate?

    Will Henderson be able to lead our midfield?

    Adam will do the talking and Henderson can do the walking.

    Do you get it now?

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  30. Okay so that is one match from the reserves...

    Can you now go find the other matches where Spearing has good crossing/scoring from long shot ability?

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  31. My point was that he has an ability if he is given a chance.

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  32. Reserves vs 1st team football = One hell of a diffrence and so far Spearing has not shown that he can score since being introduced into the first team.

    He needs to prove himself and as I said in my previous post above, now is his best opportunity.

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  33. huh what an absolute crap coming from you! - (Adam will do the talking) what is this? And by your stupid logic (talking) will dectate play?? lol! Mate players are paid to play football. (TALKING) is for the manager alright!

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  34. I give up, you will be proven wrong when the team sheet is made available which will see Adam in the middle of midfiield so there is no need for me to try and explain anything else to you :)

    Obviously you are also oblivious to sarcasm too?

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  35. Carrol is not playing well enogh to get on he doesn een deserve bench spot and as for paul brosnans comment how do you work out spearin is mot even a second string player he is a red through an through he deserve his shot more than hendo does he played well on tuesday and he can attack aswell KK will make the coorect decision and also like to see glen on the wing that would give us more of a attacking side i think .

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  36. I would give Coates a chance at CDM. Either that or move Agger up to CDM and play Coates with Skrtel. Coates is too good not to play, and is impossible to get past, he's also as good as Carroll in the air. I'd also buy another CDM in case Coates doesn't work there, and as a back up. Conor Coady, Martin Kelly, Jordan Henderson and Jay Spearing are all potential holding midfielders too, but I don't think any of them will be able to aspire to the standard of Lucas Leiva, whereas I think Coates showed last night against Chelsea, he can play at that level right away. He, Lucas and Bellamy were head and shoulders above everyone else on the field.


    So, for me, it's Coates at Fulham on Monday.

    Having said that, I hope Lucas' injury is not nearly as bad as first feared, and he misses 2 games instead of 6 months. Crossing my fingers and praying. He's our most valuable player, along with Suarez and Reina.

    Fox

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  37. Disappointed at some of these posts here, no imagination what so ever.
    why not try something similar to last season where we seen three cb playing. with LB and RB getting a bit more of an attacking edge. for an eg (not necessarily my first choice)

                         Reina
                skrtl   agger   carra
    Johnso                               enrique
                    spearo  adam
    bellamy                              downing
                           suarez

    i personally think that spearo should get a few starts though as reina has said himself hes the hardest working in training and i think not only deserves it but can do the job pretty well. hendo can come on as a decent sorta impact sub.

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  38. i love kuyt and not fair to him hendo gets nod ahead of him on right. hes our ji sung park. big game specialist

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  39. you all underappreciate kuyt

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  40. for once jamie knows what he is talking about. kuyt one of our most reliable players

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  41. what do you mean not on the bench. he doesnt deserve a place at liverpool. not an lfc player. no footwork. no pace. no finishing. even his heading of late has been poor. no workrate. no penalty skills. not 35m. not replacement for nando. not partner for suarez. 

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  42. No pace, no skill, no creativity, stifles every break he's involved in, can't shoot, can't pick a pass, takes too many touches when we need urgency. He holds the record for being the longest serving Liverpool player not to win a trophy...no coincidence.

    He works hard and creates a black hole of play on the right wing. That's a good quality against the big teams, but he's not about to unlock Stoke City away.

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  43. This is a tough loss. Took 2 years of playing in the EPL for Lucas to come good as a defensive midfielder.

    Of course just as every pundit and for that matter LFC fan realised his value he's now probably incurred the worst injury of his career.At least we have strength in depth. Fingers crossed Stevie G is available soon.His injury to me makes it more likely that Liverpool will start most games 4-5-1 or 4-2-3-1.  Personally I would like to see Adam play a little more advanced.  

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  44. We have never been short in midfield talent. Either recall Shelvy or give a chance to Spearing or others who would eventually be better than Lucas. We wont know unless we try to give others a chance.

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  45. "dont think he,ll be missed at all both mentioned are far better footballers" What have you been smoking eh? Lucas is the best dm in the whole league.

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  46. I agree with your formation, although I would swap Kuyt with Downing as I dont think Kuyt has been as effective this season.

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  47. You may not have noticed, Mirror, but Ji Sung Park is a bench player that gets rolled out every now and again.

    The same as should happen with Kuyt.

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  48. Your article on his barren spells serves to illustrate why I don't have faith in Kuyt.
    http://www.liverpool-kop.com/2009/11/dirk-kuyt-and-curse-of-barren-spell-aka.html

    And for those obsessed with stats - watch the Champions League final against Milan again for illustration of just how meaningless a goal can be in evaluating a player's performance...

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  49. tbf Spearing hasn't really been given an opportunity to prove himself in the first team. But he has consistently shown his ability to hit long shots when he has been playing regularly - i.e. in the reserves

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  50. Yes, you're right Jay - that has to be taken into consideration too. Ultimately, I would rather have Johnson on the right, but that's seemingly never going to happen, so unless we buy a dedicated right winger, I can't see anyone else in the team that can play there effectively.

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  51. My formation:

                                  Reina

    kelly              Skrtel           Agger          Enrique

    Johnson                 Henderson                 Maxi

                                  Adam
                      Suarez             Bellamy

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  52. ---------------Reina---------------
    Kelly-----Agger-----Coates-----Enrique
    Downing-----Adam-----Henderson-----Maxi
    ----------Bellamy-----Suarez----------

    Thats the best formation in my opinion. All our best and most deserving players are being included.  

    1. Kelly and coates were our standout defenders during the chelsea match. They are both too good to be wasted on the bench. Although I`m starting to like the agger/skretel partnership I think agger and coates  would be awesome. Johnson= liability. He either plays on the wing or he don`t play at all.
    2. Downing and Maxi can interchange sides if they want but both of them should play. Kuyt is not, has never been and will never be good enough as a winger or striker. He should keep the bench warm.
    3. Spearing deserves to play for us, but only in the reserves. Same thing with shelvey. He should be returned to championship club blackpool. Also I hate them and they are both f*cking ugly.
    4. Adam cannot be dropped. He is one of our best attacking midfielders.
    5. Henderson is starting to show his worth. He did a superb pass to bellamy that splited chelsea`s defense and led to our first goal on tuesday. He should be played until captain gerrard comes back.
    6. Caroll is not worthy of being suarez partner in attack. Bellamy is our best option. Maxi, Bellamy and Suarez playing together is bound to cause havoc with opposition defenders.

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  53. Talking about Stoke away or alternatively a cold day/night at the smaller teams is so cliché  these assumptions have come about but no-one has bothered to back this up with any stats.
    Skysports said this about Torres when he came over from Atletico but everyone saw what he did to these teams.
    The same was said about Suarez but his first goal was ironically against Stoke on a cold night too.
    We have British players who fail to perform on these cold nights but that is not highlighted because media and fan bias with regards to local players can be so ridiculous at times.
    Jamie highlighted Kuuyt's contribution overall which stakes very well against any top player since 2006.
    He does look ungainly on he pitch but that fools many to believe he is lethargic but conveniently forget he has been either our top scorer or at least in the top 3 since he joined up.
    Players should be judged on their contribution not popular opinion. for example many experts wrote off Lucas as a flop based on his period of adjustment to the prem, even though at 20 he joined LFC at younger age than Carroll but now many of these experts are furiously back pedalling and now hailing him as one of the best in his position.

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  54.                      Carroll
    Downing         Suarez                Maxi
                 Adam           Henderson

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  55. Stevie will need to learn some positional discipline, something I'm not entirely convinced will happen. If JH can learn to anchor, he's certainly got the legs to do what Lucas does. I'd think if Spearing had the goods & the confidence of the coaches he would've seen a lot more playing time by now, so I don't expect him to replace Lucas.

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  56. DK takes a mean penalty, though!

    You've got a bright idea there, though — DK at right back. Could be his future.

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