I saw something in him from day one. He looked nervous as fuck in every match, yet worked his bollocks off, never stopped stepping up or shirked responsibility, & the worst thing that could be levelled at him was his reluctance to try to impose himself on games.
With hindsight it's easy to see why, at first the fee & expectation bothered him & then the marauding, yet by his standards, ineffective, Gerrard playing quite literally where Henderson needed to play, meaning he couldn't try to do what he is best at without stopping on extremely important & we'll respected toes.
However you could see his quality throughout, hence why I stood an argued his corner time & again.
Allen I've done similarly with, cos you can see his quality.
I often compare the two of them with Carrick, Utd fans wrote him off time & again, but his awful form now shows you how much he imposed himself on that Utd midfield the last couple of seasons.