The Liverpool captain insists the team are trying to find consistency
With the Reds 2-nil up with 10 minutes to go on Saturday afternoon, most would not have expected a collapse on quite the scale we saw against Sunderland.
Roberto Firmino and Adam Lallana had conspired to put Liverpool a couple of goals ahead in a game that, until 80 minutes were on the clock, they had utterly dominated with close to 80% of possession.
But, predictably, Sunderland needed just one shot on target to halve that deficit and another to cancel it out altogether. Many pointed to the fan’s walkout in the 77th minute distracting the players but, at the end of the day, these are supposedly top class professional footballers that should not be losing concentration quite so readily.
And Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson has promised fans that the players are working on finding consistency and there were some positives to take from the draw.
Speaking to Liverpoolfc.com, Henderson said: “We have to take responsibility as individuals and a last 10 minutes like that was not good enough.
“I thought the performance level for 80 minutes was very good.
“We dominated most of the game, scored a couple of good goals and then the last 10 minutes wasn’t good enough really, for whatever reason.
“When you dominate the game for so long at 2-0 then they score from a set-piece or a free-kick to go to 2-1 with five or 10 minutes left, you know they are going to chuck more bodies forward.
“But for the whole game I think they have only had those two chances and they have scored.”
True, perhaps, but Liverpool conceding from the opposition’s first shot on target has become an annoying theme of the season. Whilst at the same time, arguing that Sunderland only had 2 shots is one thing, but that they scored from both is again cause for serious concern.
He continued: “From our point of view it is not good but for most of the game you have to take the positives as well.
“To be leading 2-0 at 80 minutes you have to see the game out, it is a good lead.
“You have got to see it out. We have to work on it, we have to be better at doing that.
“We haven’t been very consistent, especially in the league, and that is what we need to improve on.”
While Henderson insists the team are looking to improve, and the quickfire games for the foreseeable future means there will be every opportunity for that to happen, it will have to happen fast if something good is to be salvaged from a largely disappointing season.
