One of the biggest doubts I have over the move for Jordan Henderson is about why we are prioritising central midfield when there are plenty of other areas that need strengthening. In my mind, maybe using as much as £20million (if David Ngog is not included in the deal) of our transfer budget, with perhaps £8million more on Charlie Adam, doesn’t seem to be at all logical when we are struggling in positions such as left back and on the wing.
I am prepared to put these doubts to the back of my mind because I trust in Kenny Dalglish’s judgement. After all, who are we to question one of the greatest manager’s in the game and as he stated himself, he would only spend money on players who he believed could improve the squad. Obviously King Kenny believes that Henderson will do just that.
At just 20 years of age, Henderson certainly has a lot of potential, and what I have been able to gather from some Sunderland fans is that he is certainly Kenny’s style of player. Very composed on the ball, Henderson is very adept at passing under pressure and when tightly marked. Delivering crosses and putting through balls in tight spaces is something that would have attracted Kenny and Damien Comolli to Henderson as he would certainly fit in to the pass and move philosophy that the Reds will be playing under Dalglish.
However, it is important to emphasise that Henderson is nowhere near the finished article. Starting off as a winger who can expertly cross the ball, the young Englishman has found himself in more central positions as he has settled in Sunderland’s first team eleven. According to reports in the papers too, Kenny wants to bring Henderson to Liverpool as a central midfielder primarily.
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I saw a couple of Sunderland games live this season before really knowing who Henderson was, and he did stand out for me as a quality player. He definitely doesn’t look like a winger to me though, as he seemed to have the power and drive of a box to box midfielder, but appeared pretty poor when he had the ball approaching the byline.
If he is to be our winger than my optimism for next season immediately dampens. As a central midfielder though, I’d be very happy to see him competing for a spot in a central 3.
If we still brought in Adam after this signing though would mean I’d definitely want to see at least one of Aquilani and/or Meireles move on, otherwise I’d start to worry about the formation to be used next season.
I’m sad to lose Hendo. Great energy, ball control, passing and crossing. Certainly he’s been bought with Carroll in mind as far as the crossing goes becuase he can play well on the wing.
Whats more is that he has gotten goals for us and I’m sure this part of his game will increase.
20mil is a good price for us though and we have a replacement for him in-huose called Jack Colback.
I’m OK about getting Ngog as part of the deal. I think he has the potential and work rate and nice touch and hopefully he’ll evolve into a useful striker for us. But I hope he’s not costing us more than 4-5mil. reports said 7mil which I think is far too much for him.
More about Hendo: It think he has the mental strength, but his form did dip last season which is slightly worrying for you. But I think he’ll be a very good player for you. Good luck Jordan!
TO me this says that King Kenny is strongly leaning towards playing a 4-3-3 next season. I would expect another big name striker to give some depth and for Dani Pacheco to finally break through.
we could be very unpredictable next season and i think thats a very good idea we have so many different options available to us and the buying of players has only started ,i think our formation on the first game of the season will be very interesting id love to know now who we re going to be playing !if you look at the list of midfielders attacking and defensive we have and what i think will be a great double act of laurel and hardy lol up front they should have plenty of service available from all angles .ynwa
“Is it blind faith? We will have to wait and see”,
paradoxical, waiting to SEE if our BLIND faith will be justified ! 🙂
this is new steven gerrard…..
Who says KK isn’t still going to buy a left-back etc? Just because he goes out and buys Henderson doesn’t mean he isn’t still going to strengthen the other areas.