How Henderson has battled his way into Gerrard's shoes

[King Binny]

[article=http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/449898/How-Jordan-Henderson-has-battled-his-way-into-Steven-Gerrard-s-shoes]STEVEN GERRARD may continue to prove age is just a number long after his contract is due to expire in 2015. And after more than 15 years as the heartbeat of the club, it is difficult to imagine a Liverpool midfield without its captain.

But as he approaches his 34th birthday, with the minds of Liverpool’s fans starting to ponder the previously unthinkable, one man has shown impeccable timing in underlining his credentials as a successor.

With Gerrard absent, nursing a hamstring injury, Jordan Henderson was destroyer-in-chief in a 5-0 demolition of Tottenham which prompted the White Hart Lane powerbrokers to sack Andre Villas-Boas.

And the fact his all-action performance was played out in front of England boss Roy Hodgson will have done his hopes for making the World Cup finals next summer no harm at all.

It seems a far cry from his early days at Anfield, two and a half years ago, following his £16 million transfer from Sunderland. Back then, despite the fee – or perhaps because of it – he struggled to hold down a first-team place.

Henderson’s story started on Wearside, as he was nurtured by Sunderland from the age of nine, the son of a fitness teacher mum from East Herrington. Perhaps she should take the credit for his incredible stamina – a trait which could be ideal for the rarefied and humid air which England will encounter in Brazil.

Sunderland development coach Kevin Ball said: “Jordan is not only a very well brought up kid, but he was always so willing to learn. He never stopped.

“If the coaches here – Elliott Dickman, myself, or any of the others – ever told him to work on something, he would work on it. So much so there were even times when we said he had to slow down. That’s Jordan to a T. He never stopped working at his game.”

Henderson began to make his name in the club’s FA Youth Cup run five years ago, when they reached the semi-finals. Against Norwich in the early rounds he hit a 40-yarder; in the last eight he came up against future Anfield team-mate Jonjo Shelvey and fired in a last-minute goal to knock out Charlton.

In the last four, Sunderland went down 2-1 at home to Manchester City before winning the return leg 1-0, with Henderson scoring a beauty, although it was not enough to rescue the tie, lost on the away goals rule. Ball, a Wearside hero having played 340 league games for the club over a nine-year career, had seen enough when Henderson turned 17 to predict he had a glittering future.

“I spoke to one of the other coaches here who had also been watching Jordan and whispered, ‘He will play for England one day’. He agreed with me. I never told Jordan of course.

“But there was something about him. He had unbelievable talent, but coupled with such a great attitude and such a level-headed personality.

“I keep in touch with him all the time to this day and nothing has changed in Jordan. He is still exactly the same lad as he was – and for that he has his parents, family and friends to thank. This is the feature of him which makes all the difference: whenever there is a problem, he finds how to fix it.

“He had some tough times at Liverpool at first but, typical of Jordan, he will battle and scrape through it. He always did with us at Sunderland and he has done precisely the same at Anfield.”

Henderson fulfilled Ball’s prediction three years ago, starting alongside Gerrard in the centre of England’s midfield in a friendly against France, but had to wait 18 months for his next cap.

His form at Liverpool this season has been eye-catching and against Spurs he delivered the kind of display so often the preserve of his club skipper. “Jordan was outstanding and people are now beginning to see that there is a lot to his game,” said Ball.

“He has always had a great engine, but Jordan can do everything – he has got a few tricks, can pass a ball fantastically and hates to lose.

“He is a very competitive lad and yet it is the fact he is so well grounded which will hold him in such good stead. He left with our very best wishes. He was a terrific player and, just as importantly, he was a terrific professional.

“Who knows how far can he go in the game? But football has always meant everything to him and that won’t change.”

Hanging up in the Sunderland academy is Henderson’s shirt from his England debut. “Good for the youngsters to see, isn’t it?” said Ball.

“It just shows what you can do.”[/article]

 

[Glen C]

Hendo played well but he's not gerrards' successor. They go from one extreme to the next. From saying he's shit before to now this.

 

[King Binny]

[article=http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/pitchside-europe/henderson-staking-claim-gerrard-heir-073902136.html]If asked which Liverpool player had created the most chances from open play this season you'd be forgiven for thinking Gerrard, Suarez or Coutinho. You'd be wrong, however, and many would be shocked to hear that the correct answer is in fact Jordan Henderson, with 27.

Slightly bizarre criticism of the midfielder's running style from Sir Alex Ferguson led Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers to claim that he was the most improved player in the league back in October. At the time few who weren't of the red persuasion in Merseyside gave the statement much credence but some eye-catching performances since have led many to sit up and notice.

His display, which included a goal and an assist, at White Hart Lane last week was undoubtedly one of his best in a Liverpool shirt. The 23-year old attempted more passes than any other player on the pitch (63) and with a 92% accuracy, including four key passes, seven out of seven accurate long balls and one accurate through ball. He pulled the strings in the absence of Steven Gerrard, stepping up to the plate to replace a man who will inevitably need to be phased out in the coming years.

Henderson will never be given the burden of doing that outright as no one is ever likely to replicate what Gerrard has done for Liverpool. The one-team player is becoming extinct. However, the Sunderland-born midfielder's dramatic improvements across the field, in more ways than one, should certainly see the handover from Liverpool's captain marvel go that bit smoother.

His work rate has never been called into question but as he matures Henderson is more efficient in his movement and his stamina is a real asset to the side. His creativity is not something that has been given much thought since arriving at Anfield but his decision-making and execution in the final third has improved dramatically and is perhaps the biggest development in his game to date.

Henderson's aforementioned tally of 27 key passes from open play is just two fewer than he managed in 30 appearances last season and one fewer than he managed in 37 in his first campaign at the club. Meanwhile, his average of 16.8 accurate passes per game in the final third is more than twice that of last season (8.2), his three accurate through balls match his tally from 2012/13 and a total of four big chances created is only bettered by 11 players in the entire division.

Elsewhere, only Lucas has made more tackles at the club this season (44) and he's the only Liverpool outfielder to start every league game to date. The one criticism this season could perhaps be that Henderson still doesn't score enough goals and it's one that can be directed at a number of young midfielders. English fans have been used to seeing the likes of Lampard and Gerrard chip in with double figures in years gone by but the latter hasn't been a regular goalscorer for some time now. Indeed, when considering goals from open play Henderson has as many as Gerrard (five) since the start of last season.

From a player that some felt was surplus to requirements at the club less than a year ago, the progression has been dramatic. He's now all but a shoe-in to be part of Roy Hodgson's World Cup party and when Lampard and Gerrard do decide to call time on their international careers Henderson could well be one of those tasked with filling the void.[/article]

 

[King Binny]

[article=http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/dec/17/jordan-henderson-liverpool-rise]Sir Alex Ferguson started it, Brendan Rodgers finished it, and amidst it all was a young man left wondering why everybody was suddenly talking about his gait. It's fair to say that Jordan Henderson could have done without the criticism Manchester United's former manager delivered in October, but the manner in which the midfielder has performed since only adds to the sense that he has truly arrived at Anfield.

"A beautiful boy to train," was Rodgers' assessment of Henderson following his excellent display in Liverpool's 5-0 victory over Tottenham on Sunday, with the Liverpool manager having described the 23-year-old as "the most improved player in the Premier League this season" shortly after Ferguson's critique of the player, contained in his latest autobiography, became public.

While that is debatable, there is no doubt Henderson is progressing. He has started every one of Liverpool's 16 league games, as well as their Capital One Cup third-round defeat at Old Trafford in September. Indeed, the only match Henderson has not started this season is the second-round victory over Notts County, but he still made his presence felt by scoring an important and well-taken goal in extra-time having come on as a 65th-minute substitute.

Not every performance has been impressive, but few now doubt that Henderson is an important element of Liverpool's midfield, providing energy, drive and assurance in possession, traits all seen in the rout of Spurs, when the midfielder made up for the absence of Steven Gerrard through injury with arguably his best showing for the Merseysiders since arriving from Sunderland two years ago, one capped by his first league goal of the season from a position just behind Luis Suárez. Little wonder the former England Under-21 captain is now also back in the senior squad and realistically setting his sights on a place in Roy Hodgson's World Cup party.

Rewind a little over 14 months and all this would have seemed rather fanciful. Back then, Henderson was unsure of his future at Liverpool following a poor first season at the club – "at times it was painful watching him," says James Pearce, a football reporter for the Liverpool Echo – and with Rodgers keen to sign Clint Dempsey, Henderson was offered the chance to move to Fulham as part of a swap deal. "He told me that he wanted to stay here and fight," remembers Rodgers, and with that Henderson slowly but surely established himself in a side now harbouring realistic aspirations of reclaiming a place in the Champions League.

That Henderson did not take the easy way out and swap Merseyside for a life by the Thames is not surprising. This, after all, is a player who has never had it easy, never run from a challenge. Having joined Sunderland, his boyhood club, aged seven, Henderson came perilously close to not making the grade there. Four scholars from the same academy group were given professional contracts ahead of him and it ultimately came down to a choice between two regarding who would get the fifth.

Sunderland's youth staff, headed by the academy manager, Ged McNamee, ultimately decided to promote the baby-faced midfielder with the man-sized lungs.

Even then, however, Henderson faced difficulties. Aged 16, he had been diagnosed with Osgood-Schlatter disease, a painful condition that affects the upper part of the shin bone and most commonly occurs in teenagers who play sport. "It's a growing pain thing," explained Henderson in an interview with the Guardian earlier this year. "I just shot up immediately and I didn't have any kind of physique to deal with it. I was tall, all arms and legs, and a bit gangly."

Physically unorthodox he may have been but Henderson progressed through Sunderland's ranks and, aged 18, made his debut for the first-team midway through the 2008-09 season, prior to a loan spell at Coventry during which he fractured a bone in his foot. He returned from that setback and to the Stadium of Light where a regular first-team place beckoned but, yet again, came a bump in the road.

"Jordan instantly took to being part of the first team, whether that be playing wide on the right or in central midfield, but among the fans he divided opinion," says Graeme Anderson, sports writer for the Sunderland Echo. "There were those who admired his stamina, athleticism and passing range and could see that he had the potential to be a star, and others who just didn't see what he offered the team, who felt he was neither one thing nor the other or the sort of player who could run a match. Normally, the Sunderland crowd instantly take to a local kid and back him no matter what. But that was not the case with Jordan; he had to win a lot of people over."

That he did and in June 2011 came the then 20-year-old's £20m move to Liverpool. "I'm over the moon," said Henderson at the time. He would soon, though, come crashing down to earth.

"Jordan would be the first to admit that he found it difficult to adjust to the pressure and expectation of being a Liverpool player," says Pearce, with the player admitting himself to feeling overwhelmed soon after his arrival at Anfield. "When you come to a club like Liverpool you need to perform straight away and consistently. Looking back, I don't think I did that," he said.

In Henderson's defence, there were mitigating circumstances. He was a young man living in a new city and, as he soon realised, playing for a club with taxing expectations. Added to that was the fact that then manager Kenny Dalglish initially deployed Henderson on the right side of midfield, a position he had filled at Sunderland but not one he favoured and certainly a requirement he could have done without during those early stages when it was hard enough getting to know new team-mates in a completely new environment.

Henderson did, in fact, make a quick impact at Liverpool, scoring a finely-taken goal in the 3-1 home victory over Bolton on 27 August 2011. But, overall, the 2011-12 season is one he will not reflect on with great fondness. As Pearce adds: "He looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights; passes would inevitably go sideways rather than forwards."

What especially did not help Henderson was his association with what was a generally poorly throughout and executed series of signings in the 2011 calendar year. Andy Carroll (£35m), Stewart Downing (£20m), Charlie Adam (£7.5m) were additions which now make all Kopites wince and, in April 2012, cost Damien Comolli his job as director of football.

There is no doubt that Carroll, Downing and Adam were costly mistakes but Henderson, it was always felt, could prove value for money. He was young, clearly rich in potential and, as Anderson outlines, in possession of the right character to make it as a top-line professional: "Jordan doesn't smoke, drink or gamble and when he was in Sunderland the only time you'd really see him out was at the supermarket. He has always shown total dedication to becoming a footballer." Henderson's refusal to join Fulham last summer backs up the view of him being someone with the heart to succeed and now, under Rodgers, he is blossoming.

"Henderson has progressed hugely over the last 12 months," says the football writer Richard Jolly. "Rodgers' coaching seems to have helped; there is a sense he is being briefed on precisely what he is expected to do in each role and there is a growing maturity to his game; his passing in particular is becoming more perceptive.

"The question is whether he becomes [Steven] Gerrard's long-term replacement or, if Rodgers makes a major buy, he reverts from being a regular to a squad player. If, say, Willian had joined in the summer, he might have begun several games this season on the bench."

That could well have been the case and it remains true that for all the progress Henderson has made, he remains a work in progress. Yet a general improvement is beyond question, with the weekend display at White Hart Lane suggesting he has what it takes to become a truly pivotal member of Rodgers' team.

"Jordan deserves huge credit for the way he has transformed his Liverpool career," says Pearce. "The biggest compliment I can pay him is that he looks like he belongs at Anfield these days. He is now one of the first names on the team-sheet and tactically he has improved massively under Rodgers and is playing with real confidence. He still needs to pose more of a goal threat in the final third but that will come. The exciting thing for Liverpool is at 23 he's still learning and developing."

During the tough times, when those in Merseyside and beyond were questioning Henderson's capabilities and wondering whether he would go down as one of Liverpool's most expensive flops, the policeman's son from Sunderland claimed he never read the sports pages or heard what was being said about him on the radio and on television.

He admitted, however, to becoming "more down than anyone if I hadn't played particularly well" and, as such, nobody could have blamed Henderson if he had walked away when the chance presented itself. Instead, a man used to setbacks fought on and once again prevailed.

Time will tell just how far Henderson goes at Anfield, but what is for sure is that he has already made great strides. Not bad for someone who apparently runs from his knees.[/article]

 

[keniget]

A swap deal for Dempsey. Fucking hell.

 

[Glen C]

 

[Mersey86]

Nice compilation. Shows how influential he was in the game. Another excellent performance.

 

[Cerberus]

Nice compilation. Shows how influential he was in the game. Another excellent performance.

Not bad for someone who can't run properly.

 

[Hansern]

Some of his passes yesterday were sublime

 

[Judge Jules]

Hendo played well but he's not gerrards' successor. They go from one extreme to the next. From saying he's shit before to now this.

He could turn out to be. It is a bit early to be talking in such terms though, that much is true.

 

[red_maradona]

Some of his passes yesterday were sublime

his pass to release suarez for sterling's goal was brill.

 

[mark1975]

He could turn out to be. It is a bit early to be talking in such terms though, that much is true.

Quite, he could turn out to be, but he's never going to top what a brilliant player Gerrard was in a million years, no one could, but he's going about it the right way and putting in a shift too. We've a few players there with the perfect mentality and passion for the shirt.

 

[Ijg]

Never realised how good he was against Cardiff but watching that wow, he set up all 3 goals, he was brilliant, like has been said, he's never going to match Stevie but he's not doing a bad job so far.