Henderson: There is a lot to improve on
LONDON: Midfielder Jordan Henderson believes Liverpool need to be “more streetwise” after they suffered a late scare in Sunday’s 4-3 Premier League victory at Arsenal.
The visitors raced into a 4-1 lead but failed to kill off the hosts who then scored twice to set up a nervous finale.
“The second-half performance at times was very good especially when we went two or three goals in the lead,” England international Henderson told the club’s website yesterday.
“But ... we need to manage the game better especially when they scored the second and gathered momentum. We just need to be a little bit more street-wise.”
Philippe Coutinho’s sublime free kick for Liverpool just before halftime cancelled out a 31st-minute opener from Theo Walcott who also had a penalty saved by Simon Mignolet.
“We came in after the first half knowing we could play better,” Henderson said. “The manager (Jurgen Klopp) said a lot of things we needed to improve on in the second half and I felt we did that.”
Three quickfire goals from Adam Lallana, Coutinho and Sadio Mane at the start of the second period established a three-goal advantage for Liverpool.
Klopp celebrated with his players on the sidelines and he took some of the blame for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Calum Chambers reducing the deficit for Arsenal.
“I have a big, big part in the excitement in the last half hour,” said the German, “because it’s not allowed to celebrate the fourth goal when there is still half an hour to go.”
Former Sunderland midfielder Henderson added: “We opened the path for them again. We’ve got to be a little bit more disciplined at times.
“There are a lot of things to improve on and work on but a lot of good things as well.”
Liverpool travel to Burnley for their second league game of the season on Saturday.
Liverpool’s win at Arsenal might have been the highlight of the opening weekend of the Premier League in terms of drama, but there were plenty of deficiencies for the managers to ponder.
Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger, bemoaning the ill effects of the European championship on his pre-season, will hope returning players give his squad a lift, even as he was given new injury headaches.
Wenger had to field an inexperienced centre-back pairing of Calum Chambers and debutant Rob Holding, with Laurent Koscielny given an extended rest after reaching the Euro 2016 final with France little more than a month ago.
While the makeshift defence conceded four goals, the decision to play Euro 2016 semi-finalist Aaron Ramsey also backfired, as the Wales midfielder was substituted early with a hamstring injury. Alex Iwobi also left with an injury.
Ramsey succumbed to exactly the sort of injury that Wenger had sought to avoid in leaving out Koscielny, midfielder Mesut Ozil and striker Olivier Giroud, and Wenger admitted the squad was undercooked for the season.
“Physically, we are not ready. You are in a catch 22 situation with the Euros,” Wenger told reporters.
“When they are not ready and they play this kind of game, they get injured, like Ramsey today. Or you give them a needed rest and you start the season without many of your players.”
Wenger has been working to get new players in to solidify the defence. But he also pointed to bad luck after Per Mertesacker and Gabriel, two other options in the centre of defence, were injured in pre-season training.
Despite coming out on top of the seven-goal thriller, Klopp also said there was room for improvement.
He would not be drawn on questions over the implications of the result for two of the biggest contenders for the title and focused on his team’s tactical shortcomings. While he did not rule out a foray into the transfer market to improve the team, Klopp said he would look to get more out of the players he already had.
“Improvement in my understanding is about training and using the quality you have. We were far away today from showing our whole quality,” he said.