No longer a Gerrard Lite, Henderson’s won us over
EMLYn HuGHES, Phil Thompson, Graeme Souness, Steven Gerrard. Between them, Liverpool’s European champion captains have quite the trophy cabinet.
nine European Cups, five uEFA Cups, 16 league titles, four FA Cups, eight League Cups and three uEFA Super Cups.
They made 272 international appearances and played 2,211 times for Liverpool.
Jordan Henderson won the League Cup in 2012. He was subbed in the 58th minute with Liverpool 1-0 down to Cardiff.
He is closing in on 300 club appearances and has 38 for his country, having at last established a regular place. But even so, there is something rather underwhelming about the man who will lead Liverpool in Kiev’s olympic Stadium tomorrow night. on the face of it, at least.
And there is the deception. For no player this season has as thoroughly confounded expectations, changed perceptions and won as many new, unimagined admirers as Henderson. He won’t care about that. He doesn’t require endorsements from the press gantry or the hinterlands of social media when he numbers Jurgen Klopp and Gareth Southgate among his biggest fans.
Yet it is a quite remarkable turnaround. In time, Henderson may even become fashionable — just as his colleague James Milner is, now it is too late to pick him for England.
Klopp’s Liverpool feed off energy and no little emotion and it says much for Henderson that the manager chooses him to personify those qualities.
Equally, it shows how far Henderson has come this year that when Southgate named Harry Kane as England captain for the World Cup, there was genuine surprise — not to mention disappointment in some quarters — that Henderson had been overlooked.
If he lifts the trophy in Kiev, Southgate’s haste in making the call may even come in for criticism, when previously he would receive brickbats for daring to name Henderson in the squad, let alone as England’s captain.
So what changed? Henderson changed. Less Steve Gerrard Lite, more David Batty Max.
Acceptance of his talents and limitations changed, too. With Liverpool’s superb victory over Manchester City in April came recognition that a midfield can function successfully without a world- class ball player at its heart, if necessary.
Henderson, Milner and Alex oxlade- Chamberlain did not bring the passing range of Kevin De Bruyne, but they demonstrated strengths which are just as valuable, certainly collectively. Henderson has identified other milestones in his development — not least being left out of the Europa League final against Sevilla two years ago — but that was the night his wider relationship with those outside the dressing room began to alter.
It will be argued that important voices within the game always recognised Henderson’s worth — even if the fact that in two of his four finals with Liverpool he was withdrawn before the hour and unused suggests they had a strange way of showing it.
Yet Klopp made him captain, succeeding Gerrard in 2015, meaning his gift as a ‘leader of men’ — Southgate’s description — was acknowledged more readily than his strength in central midfield. Henderson was given the armband more enthusiastically than a place in the team. He has had to work harder to convince of his technical gifts. That is the sea change this season.
‘He is a very good footballer, a brilliant player,’ Klopp said. ‘If someone cannot see his value, what can I do?’
Yet plenty couldn’t at first, including one here. Liverpool’s numbers when Henderson started, against when he was rested, were not greatly different. His performances for England were also limited, Henderson’s weaknesses further exposed by a general lack of creation in midfield.
THoSE flaws remain. If anyone is expecting Henderson to outwit Toni Kroos or Luka Modric in Real Madrid’s centre with his passing tomorrow, they will be disappointed.
The day England find a player of Modric’s calibre, Henderson’s position will be under threat — and the same might even be said at Anfield. Yet in a team missing that spark of invention, he is the next best thing.
Instead of attempting ambitious passes that are not his forte, instead of trying to fill the hole left by match-winning, inspirational Gerrard, he has been reinvented as a destroyer with nuance
to his game, as a Batty-type, hard-working, tough-tackling, conservative in his use of the ball, but tidy. It is what Liverpool, and England, need.
Both teams have excellent forwards, vibrant wing-backs; neither need to come through the middle every time. They do require dynamism, however, they do demand tenacity and a high work- rate. Henderson delivers. Shorn of the demand to be the next Gerrard, he is at last playing to his strengths.
Against Roma in the semi-final first leg, one tackle on Cengiz Under midway through the first half appeared to reverse the momentum of the game which, until then, had been with the Italians.
In his way, Henderson bossed midfield that night, as he had done against technically superior Manchester City.
If Liverpool are to defeat Real Madrid, he will probably have to boss it in Kiev, too — as strange or unlikely as that may seem.
As much as Liverpool were the underdogs in Istanbul in 2005, their midfield were not.
Gerrard and Xabi Alonso were a match for anyone in the world, as was subsequently proved. Nobody would boast that of Henderson, Milner and Georginio Wijnaldum, Liverpool’s likely starters this time.
Yet, can they win? Of course they can win. Henderson is among the footballers of the year this season. If he can turn those perceptions around, anything is possible.