Henderson

[Mystic]

It feels like I'm creating a thread about the merits of Henderson every couple of months, but surely no one can disagree now, he's been playing great and definitely deserves to start the next match and allow Allen or Lucas to get the rest they need. He's a great honest player who's got a great future with us and will get better, chuffed to see him getting the recognition he deserves on here.

And yes, he's better than Shelvey.

 

[RolandG]

Hendo is coming to terms with his position within the squad. He is not the rabbit caught in the headlights anymore. His improvement has been steady and his confidence is showing in his play. Keep it up lad.

Better than Shelvey? I don't think so but the jury is out. Time will tell.

 

[RedZeppelin III]

he's been decent of late but i don't think i'd go as far as the say he's been 'great' . He has improved but frankly that's nothing to shout too loudly about because he was fucking wank before .

He does deserve to start at the moment , especially considering how shite some of the others have been doing in there but long term i'd be surprised if he reaches the levels we truly require . Well that's if we want to get back to top 4 and being a contender. If we don't then he'll probably be an ok squad member.

Shelvey isn't anything special either .

 

[juniormember]

Playing 'great'? I think you're letting the shittiness of Lucas, Allen, and Shelvey to cloud your judgement here.
He's been better than them in recent weeks, but that's about it. Our midfielders, excluding Gerrard, have cost something like 40m quid, and they're playing like 2m pound players right now.
I agree in that Henderson should be playing ahead of the pair currently, but I don't expect anything 'great' from him.
He harasses players and is no longer scared of receiving the ball, but needs to do better to have a place in the team or squad in the future.

 

[Oncy]

Hes better than Allen.

 

[Woland]

He runs like he's got a full nappy.

 

[LarryHagman]

Henderson's totally average. He can run faster than Lucas and Allen, I suppose that's something. He doesn't have 1% of Shelvey's nous.

 

[Halmeister]

I like Henderson. Always thought he showed promise and potential, albeit without doing too much. Don't quite get the abuse he receives when there are far worse players around him.

 

[Mystic]

I like Henderson. Always thought he showed promise and potential, albeit without doing too much. Don't quite get the abuse he receives when there are far worse players around him.

Yep, it boggles the mind really. He's been great lately (yes great), lets give him the credit he deserves.

 

[Woland]

Great? At football or something else?

 

[Woland]

Great is what Suarez is. Great is what Gerrard can be and often still is, like that through ball from his own half for Suarez against Sunderland. That was great. That goal Johnson scored against West Ham was great.

Do I need to recalibrate great for Henderson? When Henderson is great what does he do? Nutmeg two players and score? Or waddle about passing the ball back to who he just got it off?

 

[Halmeister]

Hahaha.

I think Mystic is going a bit over the top with 'great'. But he does have the potential to be a good player.

 

[Mystic]

Great is what Suarez is. Great is what Gerrard can be and often still is, like that through ball from his own half for Suarez against Sunderland. That was great. That goal Johnson scored against West Ham was great.

Do I need to recalibrate great for Henderson? When Henderson is great what does he do? Nutmeg two players and score? Or waddle about passing the ball back to who he just got it off?

Great is when you're one of the better players on pitch, what you described above is fantastic. If this is an argument of semantics then fine, he was good and I'm a lot more positive than you.

 

[Woland]

It's not really a semantics thing. I mean a 'good' player is surely someone that is good enough to play for a good Liverpool side week in week out. Someone who can demonstrate better than average ability in this league on a consistent basis. On that criteria Henderson isn't good, never mind great.

When you start calling things great you haven't really got far to go. Henderson will never, ever, be great.

 

[Mystic]

Your hatred will consume you Woland.

 

[Woland]

I'm a lover not a hater.

I don't hate him, he's just not very good.

 

[Brizzle]

You're like a dog with a bone Mystic. He doesn't add anything to the team just yet.. Not a great tackler, ball distributor, dribbler, shooter or generally lively in anything he does.

All I ever see him do is run into spaces and play a 1 touch 1-2 with someone near him and then leg it around with no real purpose.

Always happy for players with potential to get playing time but at the moment players like Shelvey and Suso show a lot more to their game and deserve to be ahead of him in the pecking order.

 

[Fabio]

Jack of all trades, master of none.

That's Henderson.

Sadly that's better than most of what we've got at the minute

 

[Mystic]

You're like a dog with a bone Mystic. He doesn't add anything to the team just yet.. Not a great tackler, ball distributor, dribbler, shooter or generally lively in anything he does.

All I ever see him do is run into spaces and play a 1 touch 1-2 with someone near him and then leg it around with no real purpose.

Always happy for players with potential to get playing time but at the moment players like Shelvey and Suso show a lot more to their game and deserve to be ahead of him in the pecking order.

Rubbish, he's been one of our better players the last month. Just because he doesn't score a goal or do a cute shimmy everyone thinks he's shit, the problem is, the other players who do those cute shimmys rarely do anything else all game, Henderson always puts in a shift, and his distribution and even some of his build up play over the last month has been much improved. My bone isn't that I think he's the best player we have, but more-so that the ridiculous criticism he gets here is completely unwarranted, he's been playing better and offering more to the team recently than Shelvey and Suso by a long shot, people need their hate figures though I guess.

 

[keniget]

He's been decent enough when given an opportunity recently. Certainly better than some of the others, as you say. Many people wanted him in the side yesterday so I don't think you're flying in the face of popular wisdom here... it's just that you're being a bit over the top in your praise for the guy. Perhaps because you think you need to be. You don't.

 

[nealmac]

As others have said, it's Allen's shittiness that's making Henderson look great. Although I do admit, he's made a big improvement from last season's performances. And his confidence does seem to be thriving.

 

[Mystic]

He's been decent enough when given an opportunity recently. Certainly better than some of the others, as you say. Many people wanted him in the side yesterday so I don't think you're flying in the face of popular wisdom here... it's just that you're being a bit over the top in your praise for the guy. Perhaps because you think you need to be. You don't.

Yeh maybe, there's always been an over the top agenda against this guy, which is probably why I am.

 

[Delinquent]

I think if you said he'd been "better than shit", or even "decent", you might have got a more reasoned response Mystic. He should certainly be starting ahead of Allen or Lucas, neither of which is covering themselves in glory at the moment. But "great" he isn't, and as soon as either Allen or Lucas remembers how to play football again, I expect he'll find his opportunities even more limited than they are currently.

 

[juniormember]

Great is when you're one of the better players on pitch, what you described above is fantastic. If this is an argument of semantics then fine, he was good and I'm a lot more positive than you.

Haha, I think you need to reacquaint yourself with the phrase 'great player'.
Suarez is a great player. Gerrard WAS a great player. Messi's a great player. Ronaldo's a great player.

Henderson is NOT a great player.

 

[Markeh]

So far this season Allen and Henderson have been going in opposite directions in their performances.

He gives us running his balls off for 90mins which I'm not sure anyone else can do apart from Suarez, that adds 2 things to the team - someone always closing the opposition down and someone always on the move looking to take the ball.

He also doesn't look like a feeble 14yr old when trying to win the ball back from someone.

 

[Sunny]

It's not really a semantics thing. I mean a 'good' player is surely someone that is good enough to play for a good Liverpool side week in week out. Someone who can demonstrate better than average ability in this league on a consistent basis. On that criteria Henderson isn't good, never mind great.

When you start calling things great you haven't really got far to go. Henderson will never, ever, be great.

And on that criteria probably only Agger, Skrtel, Johnson and Suarez qualify as good at the moment

 

[Woland]

And that's why we're 8th.

 

[Sunny]

And that's why we're 8th.

Aye

 

[mark1975]

I like Hendo, give him a run and we'll see where he's at.

 

[mark1975]

And on that criteria probably only Agger, Skrtel, Johnson and Suarez qualify as good at the moment

I wouldn't lavish too much praise on the defenders personally at the moment. Maybe they're being overexposed, but yesterday just highlighted basic errors of judgement, ie not getting tight to the best striker in the league, repeatedly giving players more than half a yard to shoot, pick a man out, move into space etc. Not good enough, either system needs to change (personally I think it does, when we lose the ball we're fucked) or we need to invest.