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Right or Centre Midfield: Where should our £16m signing play?

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I have read many opinions from Sunderland fans who believe Henderson best position is on the right hand side of midfield. With the lad’s crossing ability, there is an argument to be had that this is where the player’s future lies, and Kenny Dalglish certainly feels that this is where he has the ability the play, going by his team selection on Saturday.

Of course, it was only one match we have seen Henderson play the position on Saturday, and we should certainly take into account Black Cat fans who have seen the player, play week in, week out, but if Henderson is to play on the right hand side, he will need to make sure he gets into more threatening positions on the wing. He didn’t put many crosses (if any) for Andy Carroll on Saturday and didn’t really play wide on the touchline. This may not be the player’s fault of course as Kenny may have asked him to play more tucked in, but he will need to show a bit more in future matches.

If he doesn’t, it is not necessarily much of a concern for the player as Hendo has the capabilities to become a consummate central midfield player. His pass completion rate and chance creation stats for last season demonstrate why the Reds rated the player so highly to purchase the player for a 8 figure sum, and I feel his future in the Reds may well be playing alongside Lucas who at 24 years of age would mean the partnership that could be struck up could last nearly a decade if all things go well.

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19 comments

  • Red Sky says:

    should be back at Sunderland…we really do not need him. Waste of 16m

  • M. says:

    No, not Right or centre; best ‘ll be at the bench. What a wastage of 10mn for being English. He is worth of 3mn, ok another 3mn for being 21, rest 10mn for the passport. valued around 6-8 mn.In France, Spain, Holland & Germany there are many such JHs,

  • Cosey says:

    Bench. Good utility sub. Glen Johnson/Kuyt right mid, Kelly at right back.

    • teesomethang says:

      i hope kenny does this.puts glen on rite side of mid,kelly on rte back.he must buy cahill and lavezzi and we will win the lig.hendo must be on bench

  • bchan says:

    you lot need to get behind the manager and his decisions. we’ve signed hendo for years to come, not for the first few games. the young man has played one competitive match and you’re already saying to ship him back to sunderland. absolute disgrace.

    personally i think he’s best suited to play through the middle. his best attributes are his passing, composure, and energy. he would work best in a midfield 3 as a link man, preferably with a ball winning midfielder behind him.

    however, i think he can play out right if we have the right player behind him. against sunderland, Flano didn’t really get forward enough to support him. Hendo naturally wants to come inside a bit, and if we have Johnson playing behind him and getting well forward on the line, then I think he can be very effective as a right midfielder.

    • Ben says:

      Well said. Another unfortunate side effect of the H&G era seems to be the fickleness of our ‘fans’ these days! Maybe they preferred it back then when we had to sign players like Poulsen rather than up and coming talent?

    • Tony says:

      Exactly. He’s one for the future.

      I think he’s been signed to give Dirk a rest out wide on the right, and to give us an option if Dirk is needed upfront. Given time to settle in properly and get into the swing of things, I think he’ll be awesome.

      Kenny knows talent.

  • lee says:

    I’ll agree 100% with everybody here, he’s just good for the bench for the time being, not worth 16 million, just like lucas was 3 years back.. for the time being we have better players than him at the club, so why risk by playing him, rather keep him on the bench and play kuyt or downing on the right, or suarez on the right and acquilani behind the another wasted-money carroll!

    • Rupurt says:

      You mean Andy Carroll? The player who is tied for 6ths for goals last season after being injured for more than two months and switching teams midseason? The Carroll that had more league goals than Drogba, Rooney, Torres? What a cesspool of clueless fans the world of football is.

  • Digger Barnes says:

    bchan has got it right, you lot are a joke and a disgrace.

    Go support Man City or Barcelona you fair-weather muppets. Hendo’s only played one game for us and like Carroll, he’s been signed with one eye on the future. Kenny’s building a young squad that should challenge for years, not a “team” of foreign mercenaries on £200K+ per week.

    The modern internet fans annoy the hell out of me. If you don’t like what the club does then go “support” your local team whoever they may be, cos I’m sure none of you are scouse.

  • Rupurt says:

    It amazes me how some of my fellow can be such pr*cks. Henderson had the highest pass completion rating of anyone on the pitch vs. Sunderland.

    Have a feeling he will play on the right mostly while he is young and transition to a center roll as he gets older. He is a good player. Anyone who says otherwise is either blind, or an idiot.

  • 3PHD says:

    worse player: Lucas Leiva

  • Mark says:

    U obviously don watch liverpool much..lucas was one of our best players last season..he may not be scoring spectacular goals or providing assists…but without him lfc would just be half the team..last season he had made the most number of tackles which shows how much he protects our defence and disrupts the rhythm of the opposition…

  • hadi lfc fan says:

    play him where he want to play

  • Rupurt says:

    Kenny picked Henderson on Saturday for one of two reasons and both are completely legitimate:

    1. He thought that Henderson would have the bit of magic that many player seem to have when they play their former club.
    2. He rates Henderson higher than Kuyt. Henderson missed 4 passes out of 32. Kuyt 5 out of 13.

    Clueless some fans are.

  • jonesey says:

    Only players who can go past people should play on the right and this guy is no Ray Houghton BUT he is a good player in centre midfield – so play him there. Kenny will be trading in 8 players before August is out with at least 6 leaving hopefully not on loan. come on jordan lad

  • H says:

    If Hendersons main attributes are crossing/passing and energy, I would play him on the RM… make him our Beckham type player. Ideal for AC!

    Additionally he shouldnt get a look in at centre mid: Gerrard (when fit), Lucas, Adam, Meireles (sp?), Aquaman all should be ahead of him!

    My current line up for this season (when fit), would be:
    Reina – Johnson/Kelly, Carra/Skrtel, Agger, Enrique/Auruelio – Lucas – Suraez/Hendo, Gerrard/Meireles, Aquaman/Adam, Downing/Rodriguez – Carrol/Kuyt

    I would be happy with any combination of the above… when you look at the players, i recon that the squad depth is actually pretty good in midfield and upfront!

    Part of the problem last weekend was the lack of playing time for that team. I believe that is the reason why we didnt play as well as we could have.

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