Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson feels ready to step up and lead after his struggles last season
Jordan Henderson is in a tough place. He’s currently Liverpool captain, lead scapegoat, and experimental defensive midfielder – and he’s still struggling.
Last season Henderson was restricted to only 23 starts due to his injury troubles. He started the season in his usual form, playing precise long passes and helping the team. Once injuries struck, he was clearly rocked.
When he did feature, he still struggled for proper match fitness. His performances were less than stellar, and he suffered a significant amount of criticism.
Now he seems to be better, and his quality is surely returning. Despite his critics, he’s up there around the top of the Premier League stats In passing, tackling and balls played forward.
The captain spoke to Liverpoolfc.com about how he feels ready to lead this team, saying –
“When you’re not playing it is difficult to feel that you are the leader of the team. You want to help but I couldn’t,”
“That’s a big difference with this season. I feel good, I feel fit but there are a lot of leaders in the team, it’s not just me. “
“There are big characters in the dressing room and we have a very good group of players so I don’t see it as reliant on me…there are people around me who are just as big as leaders and who can drive the team on.”
“I’m in a much better place, I feel very confident and feel I am ready to lead this team and win things.”
Henderson also went on to praise Jurgen Klopp and his methods.
“He’s very special on the training pitch and as a person,”
“His team talks are unique and I think all the players buy into what he wants and what he is trying to do. If everyone does that we’ll go far.”
He then added comments about Leicester City, who Liverpool welcome to Anfield this Saturday.
“We have to give Leicester a lot of respect, the bottom line is they are champions,”
“We wanted to win all the first three away games at the Emirates [Stadium], Burnley and White Hart Lane and even though we didn’t do that I feel there was an obvious show of intent, particularly in the second half against Arsenal and at White Hart Lane. “
“We are not far away from where we want to get to.”
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I’ve always supported Jordan Henderson, because I believe he’s better than most make out. If he returns to his previous form, he can be a real asset to our team.
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