Danny Higginbotham heaped praise on Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson and suggested he could do more than people think.
The Sky Sports pundit claimed that people see the Reds captain as just being a defensive-minded midfielder, but stated that the 29-year-old had already proven he can do far more than just sit in midfield as he can be utilised in numerous different roles.
Higginbotham suggested Henderson’s display in the 3-1 win over Manchester City on Sunday proved that and proceded to use words like sensational, brilliant and undefendable to describe his latest performance.
“He has shown that he can be an all-round midfielder as well,” said Higginbotham on Match Centre (Sky Sports, 10:38am, Thursday, November 14th).
“When you look at his position against Man City at the weekend, in my opinion, it was a tactical approach, as it was something Jurgen Klopp looked at.
“He probably went Raheem Sterling is Man City’s danger man and we don’t want him to have a lot of room to run into and it becomes pretty evident when you see the clips that usually when Liverpool are attacking, the furthest wide player on the right is Trent Alexander-Arnold, but Henderson took that position.
“And I think that was in order to keep Alexander-Arnold and Sterling close together in order to not leave space behind so Trent Alexander-Arnold didn’t do as much attacking, but Henderson took the chance.
“You can see Alexander-Arnold wasn’t flying, usually he wants to get forward but he had to be defensive, and you look at Henderson and people have said at times, he is just a defensive midfielder but he is a clever player, he is intelligence and his delivery for the goal was nothing short of sensational.
“I think he has proved he can play a number of positions in that midfield area and he does it so well.
“He is a leader, there’s been a lot of talk about how he got involved in the Sterling-Gomez situation which shows his leadership skills, and this ball here (his cross v Man City) was undefendable and brilliant from Henderson.
“It was a joy to watch him play at the weekend and when people say he is just a player who can sit in the midfield, well he has shown he can do far more and he’s excelling at one of the best clubs in Europe.”
OPINION
Henderson is like Marmite, you either love him or you hate him and it’s clear Higginbotham absolutely loves him. The pundit was simply asked whether Henderson was an important player for Gareth Southgate’s England side and seemed to take that as his opportunity to dismiss any misconceptions there were about Henderson’s ability. However while the midfielder did wow on Sunday, it’s easy to see why people doubt he’s anything more than a defensive midfielder. The 29-year-old has only contributed one goal and one assist to the cause in his first 11 league outings of the season and hasn’t exactly been a creative spark considering he has only averaged 0.4 shots and 0.5 key passes per game (Source: WhoScored). Yet while it’s understandable that people dismiss Henderson’s attacking qualities, you do feel he is better than what people think. Higginbotham pointed out that Jurgen Klopp opted to adjust the midfielder’s position against Man City, and he flourished, so it’s just as easy to assume that when he’s playing deeper, it’s because his Reds boss believes that’s where he will benefit the team most on that occasion.
