OPINION
You have to feel a little sorry for Jordan Henderson. The Liverpool skipper gives his all every game, and yet there still seems to be a core group of supporters who question his effectiveness. And judging by the reactions of England fans on Tuesday, that criticism has carried over to the national side too. It’s not altogether clear as to why. Sure, Henderson wasn’t at his best in the thrilling 5-3 win over Kosovo on Tuesday, but nor was he a disaster either. In fact, for large spells of the game, he kept things ticking over quite nicely on the centre of the park. It wasn’t always eye-catching or glamorous, but he looked every inch the elder statesmen compared to the youth of Declan Rice and the haphazardness of Ross Barkley. Perhaps, in some respects, that is Henderson’s issue. Whether it is in the red of Liverpool or the white of England, his designated role in a side is to glue things together, playing the simple balls and running the hard yards for the sake of his team. Last season he averaged a pass completion rate of 87.2%, as per Whoscored, as well as an average of 1.5 key passes per Champions League match in Liverpool’s run to a sixth European title. In short, he does the basics well, but it would appear that for some people, that isn’t enough.
Live 4 Liverpool have gathered some of the best tweets below:
https://twitter.com/THuff1994/status/1171502668843347968?s=20
https://twitter.com/kierhenry/status/1171502723646148609?s=20
Jordan Henderson is dreadful. Should be nowhere near the England team.#ENGKOS
— Dan (@17Dan17) September 10, 2019
WTF does Jordan Henderson actually contribute to this team? That midfield of him Barkley and Rice can cope in the qualifying rounds, but are nowhere near good enough against top teams.
— Brian Carter (@biffo60) September 10, 2019
Sterling and kane absolutely world class in there own rights. Sancho the young upcoming flying wide player. Thats a scary front 3. If england could just find a really truely world class centre mid that could be trophy winning team. Henderson and rice cant cope with better teams
— Dan Clarke (@Clarkey_1987) September 10, 2019
https://twitter.com/Mpho_QurAh/status/1171507266379321344?s=20
What exactly is the point of Jordan Henderson ??
— Robbie Carter (@RobbieCarterDFC) September 10, 2019
