The 24 year old has really stepped up his bid to become the new captain next year
Midfield
Lucas Leiva – The Brazilian looked, for all intents and purposes, to be surplus to requirements and potentially on his way out of the club at the end of 2014. Come the turn of the year and he was indispensable to LFC again, in a way he hadn’t been in over 2 years. Put plainly, Lucas showed why a specialist defensive midfielder may have seen the Reds lift the Premier League last season and was a pivotal figure in turning the teams’ season around. He should return from injury soon and will hopefully further galvanize and already in form team. Rating – 7.5/10
Joe Allen – While not having played a great deal this season, his forced reintroduction last month has seen Allen playing some of the best football since he joined the club. The current set up may not get the best out of his passing game but Allen has adapted to the role and has turned in some great displays of late. Rating 6/10
Steven Gerrard – The last few months of Gerrard’s Liverpool career may not go exactly as planned, with Liverpool resurgent and the captain no longer anywhere near the peak of his powers. Many will point to a tally of 11 goals in his 30-odd games this season as proof that he can still do it, but that would be ignoring the fact that the majority of those were penalties or set-pieces and Gerrard has too often been shoe-horned into a side that has since shown itself to be much better off when not attempting to accommodate the aging captain. Rating – 6/10
Jordan Henderson – The deputy has recently stepped up to show himself a worthy successor and is all but certain to be the club’s next full-time captain. At the start of the season, Henderson was given the aim to score 10 goals by Rodgers. At present, he has 6, having scored some beautiful strikes of late. However, it’s in the 11 assists across all competitions that Henderson’s best attributes are best exemplified: his selflessness – something every great captain needs. We’ve seen it already this season and last, that Henderson is prepared to lead from the front and sacrifice himself for the good of the whole team. One of the Reds’ players of the season. Rating – 8/10
