Despite much-improved form this season, Jordan Henderson is still something of a bit-part player for Liverpool, and after another fine display against Aston Villa at the weekend, Reds legend John Aldridge has called on Reds boss Brendan Rodgers to give the midfielder more pitch time.
In his column for the Liverpool Echo yesterday, Aldo admitted that he'd been one of Hendo's biggest critics last season, and couldn't see 'why the club had spent so much money on him' or 'what he brought to the team', but now, he could see the midfielder's value. He observed:
"He’s becoming a very important player for Liverpool. He’s a valuable member of this team now, and one who I believe should be starting more games"
With 48 appearances last season, Henderson featured more than any other first team player, including Luis Suarez, Daniel Agger and Pepe Reina. This year, he's still well up there, and with 37 appearances so far, he's only 4 behind Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez.
With Joe Allen out for the rest of the season, Henderson should get more starts, but it will be difficult to fit him into the team if Rodgers continues to employ the Suarez-Sturridge partnership.
If Sturridge had played at the weekend, it's probable that Henderson would've been on the bench, and with the current set of players, I don't see how it's possible for the midfielder to start most games. Rodgers just can't fit Hendo, Downing, Sturridge, Suarez, Gerrard, Lucas, and Coutinho into the same team on a regular basis.
Reds hero Steven Nicol advocates signing yet another midfielder, which could marginalise Henderson's role even more. He told TalkSport:
"I still think they have to make a signing in the middle of the park. I don’t think Jordan Henderson has shown or has had a run of games in the middle of the park to show he can [take over from Steven Gerrard].
“He can certainly do it physically. He can get around the field but whether he has the knowledge and the understanding of the game to play in there we have yet to see.”
Is Henderson good enough to ultimately take over from Gerrard?
Jaimie Kanwar
NOTE: Please stick to the Comment Policy (Click to read)
In his column for the Liverpool Echo yesterday, Aldo admitted that he'd been one of Hendo's biggest critics last season, and couldn't see 'why the club had spent so much money on him' or 'what he brought to the team', but now, he could see the midfielder's value. He observed:
"He’s becoming a very important player for Liverpool. He’s a valuable member of this team now, and one who I believe should be starting more games"
With 48 appearances last season, Henderson featured more than any other first team player, including Luis Suarez, Daniel Agger and Pepe Reina. This year, he's still well up there, and with 37 appearances so far, he's only 4 behind Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez.
With Joe Allen out for the rest of the season, Henderson should get more starts, but it will be difficult to fit him into the team if Rodgers continues to employ the Suarez-Sturridge partnership.
If Sturridge had played at the weekend, it's probable that Henderson would've been on the bench, and with the current set of players, I don't see how it's possible for the midfielder to start most games. Rodgers just can't fit Hendo, Downing, Sturridge, Suarez, Gerrard, Lucas, and Coutinho into the same team on a regular basis.
Reds hero Steven Nicol advocates signing yet another midfielder, which could marginalise Henderson's role even more. He told TalkSport:
"I still think they have to make a signing in the middle of the park. I don’t think Jordan Henderson has shown or has had a run of games in the middle of the park to show he can [take over from Steven Gerrard].
“He can certainly do it physically. He can get around the field but whether he has the knowledge and the understanding of the game to play in there we have yet to see.”
Is Henderson good enough to ultimately take over from Gerrard?
Jaimie Kanwar
NOTE: Please stick to the Comment Policy (Click to read)
aldo comes out and states the obvious now rodgers hand as been forced ,i would have respected him more if he had said a month ago when most fans could see it
ReplyDeleteI think Henderson is one we should keep around for a good long time. Great attitude, excellent physical attributes and reasonably versatile.
ReplyDeleteI don't however think he is a first team player. I think he deserves games, but I think he should just be a very well valued squad player.
That said, his form in the second half of this season has warranted more games, and I think in that respect Rodgers has given him a slightly raw deal.
Regardless, I think if we keep him at the club for another 5-6 years, we can easily get our money's worth.
Henderson looks a good player,great engine, he scores goals but no Gerrard replacement, we need one tho because gerrards going to be 33, I heard today we was going to go after shalkers CAM 10 million plus skrtel....
ReplyDeleteHendo is a good player he's the under 21's captain for England, he has energy and pace, and has shown some quality this season for club and country.
ReplyDeleteLFC need to nurture and aid his development, he's still to young to judge, but i feel next season he will only get better with experience.
whether or not he will be the next Stevie G? the jury still out I'm afraid, but if he becomes half the player he'll still be a decent footballer!!!
its rags me off when he gets compared with Gerrard ..of coarse hes not the next Gerrard Stevie is a one off like souness and Kenny where ...what hendo offers is dedication fitness and the ability to keep it simple ...look at the game at villa he was marking beteke on the corners ..im not saying he was great at it but what other midfielders on our books could remotely mark him....i wasn't his biggest fan in his first season but i always thought he had potential ,,,but this year hes been outstanding in my opinion and thats with rogers trying to make it as hard as possible for him by favoring his pet poodle Allen....I still think Rogers will try and offload hendo to try and pave the way for allen ...i also think hes only playing him because his hand is forced like Jc says...thats what worries me and annoys me about rogers hell take the credit as though he had a plan ..rogers = no plan = no clue
ReplyDeleteAh so now we should keep Henderson after giving him hell, Lucas gets praised now as a key player after being booed and slated when he joined us. Proves one point. It's easy to be an armchair manager and fan. Get behind your team and players through good and bad like you mean it.
ReplyDeletehendos a better man than me because id of stuck two fingers up at rogers when Allen was injured and said dont come running for help now after the shit you've give me and told him to shove it.... Rogers treatmnet of hendo has been a disgrace that the main reason i have it in for Br so much....hes a f*cking snidy twat
ReplyDeleteI've always felt Henderson had the potential to succeed at Liverpool. He's a good player when played in his best position i.e. central midfield. My concern is that Rogers will want to find a place for Allen, who is, arguably, for the price paid, a worse buy than Charlie Adam was
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion Hendo should start every game alongside Lucas and Gerrard in the middle. He had a poor 1st season i fairness but always felt he would step up and now he is. I think people also forget just how young he still is when judging him... Talk of him taking over from Stevie.... Well that's another story!!!
ReplyDeletewe have a strong line up with midfielders if all stay fit. hendo has come into his own more this season. i rated him last year too, but i felt shelvey was the better option. i think shelvey will come into it next season as hendo has come on now. as far as allen is concerned, he started really well in a poor team and then he started to make errors he previously hadnt. he looks shot of confidence at times. but in him, there is massive potential for years to come. with all 3 of the midfielders mentioned above, i would say are still yet to emulate gerrard in his pomp. lots of works to be done for them all. Lucas will start to take on more responsibility in bringing through this crop. the future looks bright.
ReplyDeleteHenderson was £16m wasn't he.
ReplyDeleteyou can support liverpool and be critical of tactics and players ...me i just cant take to rogers ..i find him disingenuous ...but im still a 100% red ...
ReplyDeleteand do think this guy or ericksen will fill gerrards boots not a chance....if these guys have one or two good seasons they will be off and sold to barca or somewhere ...thats the reality....stevie is a one off who stayed at the club ....face facts the next player we buy who remotely becomes as good as gerrard will be sold as fast as you can say brendanrogersallenupthearse
ReplyDeleteAldo,like Redknapp,Lawrenson and other ex reds seem to find it easy to manage LFC from a paper column or television studio.Their comments usually made depending on which way the wind is blowing at that particular time,safe in the knowledge they'll never really be held to account and have to stand over them.Aldo could have said this 8,10 or 12 weeks ago. Why not ? Personally l think Henderson should start in the middle,but lets be honest,quite a few slaughtered him not so long ago.
ReplyDeleteOur owners wouldn't sanction that,a player would only be sold if the manager wants him to be... Our owners are not stupid, they want CL football for £££ they have to spend ££££ to make more money in the long term.
ReplyDeleteThe sad about KK's reign was too many players were bought too soon and KK felt he had to play all of them. Whereas in the past it would take a season before a player even broke into the squad! Hence thats why its taken so long for Downing and Henderson to prove themselves. Downing had a reasonable season last year from the perspective that he set up many chances only for them to be missed! However the final result knocked his confidence. Its taken public bollockings from Rodgers to force Downing to come to the fore and similarly henderson too faced rejection early in the Rodgers regime.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair to KK now most of his purchases seem to make sense. If we had paid 6-8 million for Henderson we would all be raving about his potential. At 16 million people ask for results now. However its not his fault we overpaid in an overpriced market. Remember Fergie too paid over 20 million quid for young - and he hasnt exactly set the world alight either! Maybe next season we might all be saying what a bargain Allen was!!!!
Disingenuous is an interesting term to describe him. I personally like BR, but I think there's some truth to that term. Especially after he rejected our initial interest in him last year when we were courting Roberto Martinez. If he wanted this job so badly, you would think he would come running at it given the opportunity.
ReplyDeleteThe one thing I will say though, as it relates to the club, is that he has really tried to embrace the history.
I could do without all the over the top praise for the players, which I know is one of Jaimie's biggest issues with him.
Agree with most of you guys, we can see the qualities Hendo has and what he offers the team. I say it often, just play the 4-3-3 and sacrifice an attacker. What's the point of starting 5 attackers, we saw what happened at Southampton. We have not controlled any game this season using 4-2-3-1.
ReplyDeleteAlso agree that BR may dump Hendo in the summer in favour of Allen. If he does that I hope it costs him his job, because nobody at all can argue that Allen has been or is currently better than Henderson. If BR does that, he deserves to go.
You and a few other don't like him, well more liverpool fans love our new style, scoring more goals, even legends are backing Rodgers, saying this is the best football we've played for ages, yes we've made mistakes but over time this will go, we wasn't expecting CL, if we finish 6/7 then the season will still be classed as success. We need CBs this will be done in the summer.
ReplyDeleteyou are so right... I feel 100% like you do...
ReplyDeleteBR is not a master tactician or anything. He is just clueless and has only a plan A. The Southamptom game shows how stupid and unbelievably stubborn he is... I lost all respect for that guy... We lost because of HIM... If hendo was playing, we would have dominated that midfield...
Allen might come good, but BR is so bent on showing he made a good signing and that is ruining the fan's opinion of Allen... Performance wise, i think hendo is awesome... His runs are his best attribute... You see the distance he ran for his goal last week-end... Reminds me of lampard... Unbelievably cool finish too, considering he ran like two thirds of the pitch in few seconds... Another improvement of Hendo is his long passing... I saw his game against Sweden under 21, and his long passes were awesome... He is definitely better than shelvey and allen at the moment...
And yes, he is definitely not the next gerrard, he reminds me of lampard though...
Whether he's good enough or not to take over from Gerrard is irrelevant. We should never get ourselves in the position again where we're overly reliant on one player like we have been on Gerrard. So whether we get another midfielder who can be considered to be among the top five midfielders in the world or not, it should be about the team and how to get the best out of that.
ReplyDeleteI would like to see Jordan Henderson built up as Versatile player.He can able to replace S.Gerrard but he must start playing at defenders position to let him to understand and can read technical of games.This experinance very usefull for him to develop his skill very well and future.Untill now i hope he can playing CDM or Holding ball but he cannot tackle down very well and effective.Nobody afraid to beat him because he is not too dangerous.He is too scare to try the ball and not confident playing.3 thing he must improve is always keep try shooting the ball and danger about tackle down the enemy.Last is must very brave dribble the ball.If he can improve it,he will succes.
ReplyDeleteNo one can replace gerrard each player is different stevie is absolutelt fantastic give henderson more time he with gerrards help can and will become a brilliant player
ReplyDeleteWhy would they be off to Barca if we're winning trophies at that time?
ReplyDeleteI think Shakthar's Fernandinho is the player who can fill Gerrard's boot
ReplyDeleteWould like to see him play more and should have played more, considering the Allen situation. Not sure what sort of CM he could develop into. Always liked his crossing on the right wing at Sunderland but doesn't have the overall game to cut it out there, especially in this system. I generally don't rate him, never did but he is here now, have to get on with it and hope he at least becomes a decent squad player. Needs to show more of a presence in CM, especially if he wants to make up for his average technical ability but it is hard to improve it/prove it or develop it when you aren't playing games. He had a poor first season, so this one is a improvement and kudos to him for improving but quite a long way off the standard/ambitions (top 4) at this club. He has time on his side but I'm not hopeful. The overall quality/form of the CM pool of players is questionable to say the least. Gerrard aside, its been meek.
ReplyDeleteNope. Sorry but would prefer Alonso back or even Shelvey take Gerrard's role.
ReplyDeleteDisgrace is a bit strong, but I see where you are coming from.
ReplyDeleteIt is the fact that Henderson just seems to get on with his job that makes me think he should be here for a good long time. He may be one of our less cultured performers, but he is probably the most honest.
I've always supported him and wanted him to succeed (my default setting for LFC players, which seems obvious, but appears increasingly rare) but especially since that Blackburn games last season when he effectively had to play right-back and right-mid simultaneously.