OPINION
Paul Robinson implied that Jurgen Klopp should be concern about his midfield options at Liverpool due to Jordan Henderson and James Milner getting on a bit.
The Sky Sports pundit claimed the midfield area for the Reds boss still has a question mark over it as while Milner and Henderson are both quality players at the highest-level, they’re getting on and Klopp won’t be able to play them for a full season like he would ideally want.
“I think it is (whether the midfield is a question mark) yeah,” said Robinson on Sky Sports News (11:35am, Wednesday, August 21st).
“He’s got Milner and Henderson who are quality players at a top-level, they’re getting on in years and I think that he will need to rotate, I don’t think they will be able to play a full season like he wants them too.”
There are two main reasons why Robinson is wrong to make such an implication.
Firstly, grouping Milner and Henderson together just seems wrong.
While Milner is getting to a stage where his minutes have to be managed at the age of 33-years-old, Henderson is only 29.
Robinson speaks as if the ageing pair are nearing a stage where the Reds should be thinking about putting them out to pasture, and Henderson definitely isn’t near that point in his career just yet.
The 29-year-old midfielder racked up four appearances this season, registered 44 appearances in his 2018/19 campaign, 41 in his 2017/18 season, 27 in his 2016/17 campaign and 26 outings in his 2015/16 season.
So if anything Henderson is proving that he can play in even more games as time goes by if anything, with his 2016/17 and 2015/16 campaigns being the two seasons where he struggled with a few minor injury problems.
Also while the midfielder didn’t always complete 90 minutes in his appearances last season, he didn’t exactly look tired come the end of the season as he played the full 90 minutes of the Reds’ last four league matches and impressed by playing more as an attack-minded midfielder.
So if Klopp wants to utilise Henderson across all the Reds’ games this season, then it’s a challenge the midfielder will no doubt lap up.
The second reason why Klopp shouldn’t be concerned is because the Reds coped with Henderson and Milner not playing every single minute of every single game last season.
As previously mentioned Henderson didn’t always complete 90 minutes last season, only 21 of his 44 outings saw him play a full game (Source: Transfermarkt), and it’s worth pointing out Milner dropped in and out of the side last season as although he featured 45 times, he completed 90 minutes on only 17 occasions.
Yet in case Robinson missed it, the Reds finished second in the Premier League and won the Champions League trophy due to having the likes of Georgino Wijnaldum and Fabinho to call upon.
While the Reds didn’t sign any new central midfielders in the summer, it’s worth noting that Adam Lallana and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain can both play centrally and they’re both fit again after injury-hit campaigns last season.
So with that in mind, it’s hard to figure out while Klopp has any reason to be concerned about his midfield especially in regards to Henderson and Milner’s ability to cope with the fixture schedule like Robinson implied.
