Former England international Alan Shearer has included only one Liverpool player in his Premier League Team of the Week.
Plenty of people likely would have expected several Reds stars to show up in Shearer’s XI after Jurgen Klopp’s team eased to a 3-0 victory over Bournemouth on Saturday.
However, there was no place for the likes of Joe Gomez, Naby Keita and Mohamed Salah, all of whom put in excellent performances at the Vitality Stadium.
Instead, the Premier League’s official Twitter account revealed that only captain Jordan Henderson made it into Shearer’s side.
Some big calls from @alanshearer ?
Agree with his #PL Team of the Week? pic.twitter.com/RPkx6RJUqH
— Premier League (@premierleague) December 10, 2019
OPINION
Look, there’s no doubt that Henderson deserved his spot in this team, but where’s Keita? The Guinea international was absolutely sensational against Eddie Howe’s team, so he will likely have felt hard done by that he missed out on Shearer’s Team of the Week. But let’s focus on Henderson, because he doesn’t get enough credit. The 29-year-old is such a crucial part of this Reds side, and he put in one of his best performances of the season against Bournemouth. The statistics demonstrate as much. As per WhoScored.com, Henderson had one shot, which was on target, and produced two key passes and one successful dribble. Overall, he made 151 passes, a staggering total which was 33 more than any other player. The fact that he completed 92.7% of those passes is ridiculous, quite frankly. Nor did he shirk his defensive duties, though, making two tackles, one interception and one clearance. Indeed, it’s down to the Liverpool skipper that Klopp’s team haven’t missed the hugely influential Fabinho since he went down injured against Napoli.
