JORDAN Henderson – signed for £16m from Sunderland last summer accompanied with bags of potential and promise. He came to the club fresh with ‘Young Player of the Year’ award at Sunderland after some energetic performances along with some lavish praise to the tune of ‘the best young British footballer there is’ from his former manager Steve Bruce.
Similarly, Lucas Leiva came with an intensified reputation when he was signed for a nominal fee of £5m from Brazilian club Gremio in 2007.
He arrived at the club being dubbed a ‘box-to-box midfielder’ and after winning the ‘Bola de Ouro’ (an award for the best player in the Brazilian league which the likes of Zico, Romario, Robinho, Falcao, Kaka, Tevez and more recently Neymar have won) it was only natural that the pressure was firmly on a long-haired 20-year-old Brazilian.
It took Lucas three years of hard work trying to dislodge the excellent Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano, add into the mix the inexcusable booing from some small sections of the home support at his performances along the way; and it didn’t look like Lucas Leiva would ever make the grade at Liverpool.
This is where Jordan Henderson had an advantage; he’d already had a year’s experience of the league under his belt at his home-town club of Sunderland. That doesn’t mean that the stick that Henderson has received from press and fans alike is suitable. Nowadays there is a certain type of fan that believes players over £10m must be an instant success and hit the ground running (i.e. Suarez) or they’re deemed to have failed. But then you just need to remind yourself of what Lucas Leiva was performing like when he first joined the club, he is the perfect example of how much a player can improve and grow into becoming a quality player given time and the right opportunities.
Last season was the season when Lucas transformed into the player that all Reds hoped he would become, destroying attacks and using the ball wisely when in possession; a far cry from the meek young Brazilian who only showed irregular flashes of quality. A performance against Yaya Toure at Anfield last November will always stay with me, bullying the 6’3’’ man-mountain all game and dominating the midfield, he went on to dominate many more midfielders before his untimely injury against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. The fact that Lucas made the most tackles of any Liverpool player in the Premier League this season after only having played in just 12 games tells you just how much we’ve missed his dismantling abilities in the centre of the park.
Henderson has featured in a massive 37 Premier League games this season (Lucas only featured in 18 Premier League games in his first season) which is probably a lot more than he thought he would play in his first full-season at Liverpool. Sometimes he’s been a victim of his own versatility when being played on the right of midfield as he played there frequently for Sunderland. I think we can all see that he is a born central midfielder, whenever he has played in his favoured position he has performed to a much higher level, and with the impending new manager I believe he must be used wisely. Henderson, like Lucas, also has some promising stats from this season; he has the most interceptions of any Liverpool midfielder with the huge number of 54. It’s the duels won and aerial duels won where he must improve. He won 40.9% of duels and 41.9 of aerial duels – compare this to our lynchpin Lucas, whose stats read: 63.4% duels won and 52.5% aerial duels won and you can see the difference in the progression of both players.
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If truth be told about Henderson’s first season at Liverpool; in too many games this season he has looked far too nervous. It comes with the territory when signing for a massive club with a big transfer fee. A great goal against Bolton at home in just his third Premier League game for the club and some encouraging performances early on gave us an insight into the type of moments he is capable of.
Further down the line when you look at his performance in the FA Cup Final, you can see that he was far too eager to get rid of the ball when in possession, in doing so making more and more mistakes. Hopefully with the regular training with the likes of Gerrard and Lucas these types of habits will become less and less as he becomes more confident and relaxed in the team and acclimatises much smoother; ready to perform to a much higher standard next season.
Dalglish told it best when he said about Henderson in October of last year: ‘I don’t know his best position yet – but I know his best club and that’s this one. We just want him to play and enjoy playing. He’s a talented footballer with a great future in front of him and we are just delighted he chose to come here. He’ll be here for a long, long time and he’s going to be a tremendous asset for us.’
‘He’ll be here for a long, long time’ is the words of the King, and it couldn’t be any truer. The lad is only 21 years of age and has many years ahead of him and with most of the bedding in done this season I believe we’ll begin to see the true ability of Jordan Henderson next season, just like we saw the true quality Andy Carroll at the end of this season. The £16m of the money paid was banking on the potential of Henderson; if he can develop at even half the rate of Lucas Leiva then we’ll have some player on our hands in the coming years.
This doesn’t mean that the fans should get on the lads back though, if these types of problems are still not as ironed-out as they should be in time for next season. If ever we feel the niggling’s of doubt about Jordan Henderson ability again, we should take a look to the advances Lucas Leiva made in a red shirt which proves that with plenty of support, patience and time – Jordan Henderson can prove all his doubters wrong.
Comments appreciated!
Statistics taken from: http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/team/first-team/statistics
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Lucas Leiva looks and plays like a jackass. And the same could be said of Jordan Henderson. Period!
Idot
Fool!
You’re the ass News Bot!
Don’t know a good thing even if it slapped you in the face!
Find another club to support… Well actuality I mean criticize! Jack Ass!
Jordan Henderson has massive potentiel which I’ve been saying for ages. What he needs is to be put in a system that suits him! A. System which shows off his passing ability and guile. As soon as he’s in that situation the naysayers above will start singing a different tune! I do hope Brendan Ridgers gets the Liverpool job because that role occupied by Leon Broton at Swansea will be the making of Henderson. Any person who knows anything about football can see that!
If Brendan Rogers comes Henderson won’t get in the team!Niether will Adam or Spearing!
This might be going back a bit for some of you, but I remember a gangling center half arrive from Partick Thistle called Alan Hansen who didn’t exactly inspire confidence with some of his early performances, one match in particular against Man Utd was especially embarrassing. My point point is, young players need time and support, don’t judge too early.
good point and fully agree, we are talking about a boy who is 21 years of age, and has been thrown into a liverpool team low in confidance. give him time to develope and i am 99.9% sure we will she how good he will become. To many LFC fans expect to much to soon this goes for players/managers/owners. you are to quick to forget 18 months ago we where 1 day away from going bankrupt!!!
Well said. Agree completely.
Henderson’s nerves HAVE been his downfall – he’s clearly in awe of StevieG and he always looks for Gerrard when they’re both on the pitch. He has only looked anything like the Young Player of the Year when in Gerrard’s position in central midfield. He’s definitely not the new Lucas Leiva – he’s the new Steven Gerrard in waiting, but there isn’t a vacancy. Yet. I’d like to see him in that central role in all the games when Gerrard is rested or God-forbid injured.
That’s gotta be the the funniest comment so far.
You’re saying that a player that epitomizes everything Gerrard isn’t is the new Gerrard. He’s the anti-Gerrard. Sadly and precisely so.
Kid has no heart.
It’s amazing how people can’t see what’s right in their faces. And how willing you all are on sacrificing another season on the hope Hendo and Shelvey might learn something. Yeah, let’s play the SAME PLAYERS next season and expect new results, goals, skills and fantastic plays.
Yeah, that’s how football actually works. Dalglish’s downfall wasn’t anything but playing these overrated, heartless idiots. But now Rodgers is going to play them and they’ll start scoring goals galore.
Give me a break, ffs.
Let’s see who is proved right over time?
Give the guy a chance, Henderson looks far better then Lucas ever did when he started playing for us. Future captain in the making, he never gives up, tries 110% in all games. Not his fault Liverpool as a club we just clueless this season, can’t say Gerrard or anyone had a storming season, so lay of Henderson. The guy will be class.
What has happened to us Liverpool supporters, just bitter and no support for the time, Come on guys
You can have the biggest c*ck in the world, but if you don’t have confidence you wont be using it much. Where am i going with this……confidence is everything
liverpool has more talented midfield like jonjo shelvy , so why do we keep on saying about giving more chance to henderson and not to shelvy…shelvey is the next gerrard…!
Henderson or no Henderson, all we need come next season is better performance and good result. Bring a good coach to solve this Henderson, Lucas, Jonjo unending midfield problem before it is too late.
Yes
Something I;ve been saying all season.He’s 20, Leiva was poor for 2 years but now is our best midfielder. Henderson will improve, be patient. He retains possession well, works hard and is technically sound. He lacks confidence in the last 3rd but that will come.