Liverpool legend John Aldridge has praised Reds captain Jordan Henderson after his performance against Southampton last Friday.
The England international came off the bench and made a real difference at St Mary’s Stadium, scoring the crucial third goal that put the game to bed.
Aldridge was very impressed: “Jordan Henderson is a leader – and he showed that when coming off the bench at Southampton,” he wrote in his Liverpool Echo column. “I was delighted with his goal.
“He is capable of doing that more often, but his role in recent seasons under Jurgen Klopp is sitting in front of the back four and being alert to break things up. He doesn’t get into the opposing box an awful lot. He is instead the buffer for the back four. His run for the goal last Friday was more like the old him, a brilliant run and a brilliant ball from Roberto Firmino.”
OPINION
Aldridge is spot on, here. Henderson has always been under appreciated for his offensive contributions, with the school of thought being that he is a safety-first, sideways-passing holding midfield player. However, he can get forward and he can grabs goals, as he showed on Friday. He brought a real energy and bite to proceedings and it wasn’t long before he was driving Liverpool forward in a manner reminiscent of the man he replaced as Reds captain. He was all over the pitch, but crucially he made the difference in the final third. It’s hard to see, after this second half display, Jurgen Klopp dropping his captain to the bench for any more of his team’s Premier League games this term. Henderson is too important to this Liverpool side and we saw that when he wasn’t playing and when he was against Southampton. Perhaps we’ll start to see more of him from an attacking sense with Fabinho now installed as the destroyer in midfield, but we’ll have to wait and see.
