Jordan Henderson‘s Liverpool profession has not been with out its struggles and criticism, however by way of the adversity, a fearless chief has emerged and etched his title into historical past.
It is a squad filled with legends. It nearly feels as if we’ve received too many and that the credibility of the time period is compromised by the sheer quantity, however in any case it has achieved it’s a group of gamers who’ve properly and actually cemented their place among the many greats.
Irrespective of the place you select to attract that line, Henderson is a bona fide Liverpool Soccer Membership legend. The membership’s present longest-serving participant has damaged new floor as a captain and etched his title into historical past.
In Paris, he grew to become the primary Englishman to captain a workforce in three European Cup finals, and having prolonged his keep at Anfield till 2025, it will take a courageous man to guess towards him including to that tally earlier than his race is run.
It might, nevertheless, be inaccurate to declare that his Liverpool days have been plain crusing. Henderson arrived on the membership as a part of a Kenny Dalglish-led rebuild in 2011 for £20 million, a wholesome sum even in at this time’s cash.
He had his doubters on the time and in reality, they’ve by no means solely dissipated. He drew lazy criticism for sideways passing and was written off, dismissed as restricted earlier than his profession had time to collect any actual momentum.
In 2012, Brendan Rodgers famously tried to make use of Henderson as a makeweight in a deal for Clint Dempsey, however the Sunderland-born midfielder resolutely stood his floor and simply three years later was appointed membership captain, changing a departing Steven Gerrard. Even then eyebrows had been raised.
The burden of the armband
His tenure as captain has surpassed anybody’s wildest desires.
The most important of sneakers required filling when Henderson took the armband in 2015. Nonetheless, in evaluating the place the membership was in at that stage to the place it presently resides, you’d be hard-pressed to discover a Liverpool captain who has overseen a greater interval.
Having now carried out the pigeon steps with each single membership trophy in his arms, the place does Henderson sit among the many all-time nice Liverpool captains?
Even probably the most optimistic of Liverpool supporters would’ve struggled to envisage a interval of glory fairly just like the one Henderson has overseen because the chief.
Throughout that point he has been an integral a part of every thing that has made Liverpool the success story it’s. Jurgen Klopp mentioned it himself:
“Nothing we achieved in the previous few years would have occurred with out him, that’s straightforward to say.”
5 males have lifted the European Cup as captain in a Liverpool shirt, and Jordan Henderson belongs in that firm.
Influential throughout soccer
On the pitch and within the dressing room the person has been exemplary, however his work as a public determine is what has set him other than the remaining. Henderson all the time finds himself on the precise facet of morality relating to core points, performing fervently in assist of the LGBT neighborhood and anti-bullying teams, in addition to finishing up intensive charity work.
He additionally acted because the unofficial captain of the Premier League amidst the Tremendous League proposals in April 2021.
Burnley skipper Ben Mee defined how Henderson rallied his friends, saying: “You already know issues are severe when Jordan Henderson sends a message to the Premier League captains’ WhatsApp group.” It is a man clearly revered by counterparts and teammates alike.
Henderson’s significance in maybe probably the most strenuous season within the membership’s historical past is unquestionable.
He turned out 57 instances for the Reds in 2021/22, a season which noticed Liverpool go all the space on each entrance, a season the place we had been 180 minutes from successful the lot. Not solely was that greater than every other participant within the squad, however it’s also probably the most any participant has appeared in a Klopp-managed workforce over the course of any season.
That affect has all the time been there, at the same time as a growing midfielder. Henderson was despatched off late on within the dramatic 3-2 victory over Manchester Metropolis through the title run-in in 2014, an incident to which Rodgers attributes extra significance than the notorious Steven Gerrard slip 14 days later.
Persistent seeds of doubt
If every of his managers and friends can recognize the influence Henderson brings to the desk, the place do the occasional waves of criticism come from?
Liverpool’s unflattering begin to 2022/23 was all the time prone to appeal to scapegoats, and on this event, there have been many.
The trendy soccer supporter is as fickle as they arrive, and the frustrations linked to the membership failing to signal a everlasting midfielder in the summertime have been exacerbated by the early heavy reliance on elder statesmen reminiscent of Henderson and James Milner.
There have been examples up to now of Henderson taking part in by way of the ache barrier when his colleagues have wanted him, as seen towards Barcelona when a knee damage required painkilling injections, and it will come as no shock if it transpired this was a contributing issue to his personal early season struggles.
Gamers with a mindset and temperament as robust as his don’t change into poor gamers in a single day. Take Goodison Park final December as a paradigm of what the person continues to be able to on the peak of his powers.
Doubt is one thing which has stalked him his total profession, and one thing which fuelled his success and continues to drive him on each season.
It’s a unhappy state of affairs, however within the coming seasons we’ll see every member of this nice Liverpool workforce depart for pastures new or hold up their boots altogether, such is the pure cycle of soccer.
Few if any will obtain the send-off that Jordan Henderson will obtain. His is maybe the best story of all of them. He started preventing for his place on the membership, he went on to change into skipper and win the lot.
With three years remaining on his present deal, there may be nonetheless ample time to carve out extra success for himself and for the membership, and he’ll little doubt proceed to play a pivotal position on and off the sphere.
We’re unspeakably lucky to have this group of gamers and this captain, and although the street received’t all the time be easy, it’s all the time price remembering that.
