A THREE CARD TRICK Trio of styles just magic for Jordan
STRIKE A BALANCE: Henderson says he has to get used to different styles of playing
ENGLAND’S top players are having to adapt to different styles of football in their quest for success at club and international level.
THREE
Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson admits it’s a real challenge as he prepares for Wednesday’s Champions League match against Red Star Belgrade at Anfield.
The England midfielder favours the Premier League because of its intensity and reveals that Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions squad want to bring that style to the international stage, because it’s a more exciting brand of football.
And England were certainly involved in a thriller last Monday night when they won
3-2 in Spain. That was a match Henderson,
28, missed through suspension and he claims that Champions League games are a mixture of the Premier League and the international scene.
The spotlight this week will be on the competition which used to be known as the European Cup, with Cristiano Ronaldo returning to Manchester United with Juventus on Tuesday, when neighbours City are away to Shakhtar Donetsk.
Then the following night it’s Liverpool, last season’s beaten finalists, against Serbia’s most-famous club and Tottenham in Holland to play PSV Eindhoven.
Henderson says of switching styles at the highest level: “To start with I do find international football different to the Premier League.
“The Premier League is unique in that every week the intensity is very high and very physically demanding. International football has a different rhythm to it.
“We want to make that intensity higher because that’s the level we play at for our clubs week in, week out – it’s playing exciting football.
“Then we come to Champions League football and that is probably a mixture. You sometimes have to play other Premier League teams in the Champions League but then there are matches against the likes of Barcelona.
“They are a fantastic team and they gave a fantastic performance against Spurs at Wembley. So I would say the Champions League sits in between the Premier League and international football.”
Henderson admits that Liverpool didn’t adjust very well in their last Champions League match in Italy against Napoli almost three weeks ago.
They lost 1-0 and the Anfield skipper said: “You’ve got to adapt as a team, although I didn’t think we performed well against Napoli.
“It was a different type of game and atmosphere for us. We didn’t cope very well with that.
“But then I felt we bounced back in our next match in the Premier League against Manchester City. We gave the type of performance that we want.
“But as I say with these different competitions and styles you have to adapt.”
Liverpool will be striving to do that against Red Star in their bid to conquer Europe for the sixth time – and for the first time since 2005. GAMES TO PLAY