After last season, where he seemed to struggle more often than not and was arguably the most divisive player amongst fans, Henderson has seemed to come into his own and has matured into a notable part of our midfield.
However, in the system and philosophy that Brendan Rodgers is implementing into our team, does Henderson have a place?
With our usual three-man midfields, with either a 1 and a 2 or a 2 and a 1, there are clear and specific roles for each player.
With each, there is the defensive role that Lucas Leiva fulfils. Here, the Brazilian is tasked with marking the opposition’s number 10, or generally going in for tackles with the defence sweeping up behind him. Further, in our natural positioning of the team as a whole, Lucas is actually part of a three-man defence, usually dropping in between the centre backs with the fullbacks bombing forward.
With the recent 2 and 1 midfield set up, Steven Gerrard takes up the other central position as a deep-lying playmaker. Our captain aids the defensive side with aggressive tackling and closing-down, and has the freedom to pick long passes and make forward bursts when we have possession.
With regards to the 1, now a role taken by Luis Suarez, the player is tasked with supplementing the attack. This position, which we can refer to as the attacking midfielder’s position for lack of a better term, is clearly the one with the most freedom in our team: when Suarez takes it up, he drops deeper to link up play on the occasion, but more often than not is forms a two-man attack with Daniel Sturridge.
With the other type of midfield, the 1 and 2, which we used mainly at the beginning of the season, the 2 were tasked with keeping the ball and recycling possession. They had to basically serve the team both in attacking and defensive transitions.
Jordan Henderson, at some point this season, has featured in all of these midfield roles as well as part of the attacking three occasionally.
When considering Henderson’s skillset, it is tough to find a place to him with regards to the above.
Henderson’s main strengths lie in his great athletic ability, endless energy, crossing ability, and neat-and-tidy passing. Henderson’s approach to the game is a very team-centred one, where he clearly strives to help out wherever he can and really put in a shift for the cause.
When playing in the Lucas role, Henderson does not seem to have the intelligence to get into the right positions to foil attacks. Further, he is not able to make his energy worthwhile in defence as he lacks aggression and bravery in the tackle and closing-down. Also, his ability to mark players is negligible.
When playing in the Gerrard role, Henderson does fare a lot better as his late runs into the box are very wisely picked. However, Henderson lacks the vision and ability to make good long passes and once again, the lack of aggression holds back the defensive side that Gerrard does very well.
As a number 10 or attacking midfielder – where Henderson featured many times under Rodgers – he does play well, but certain limitations inhibit some attacking play. For instance, whilst his forward pressing is good, Henderson lacks the intuitive one-touch play needed when playing in crowded areas like the opposition’s defensive third. Henderson is also unable to lay off well-weighted through passes in tight areas and his first touch is often a let-down.
On the wing Henderson is very good. His work rate truly comes into play here and, as we saw against the recent 2-2 draw with Manchester City, he does well in quelling opposition wide-play. His bursts cutting-in from the left is also solid.
The idea behind a Rodgers team is that each position is responsible for a zone, and that is coupled with tactical discipline and pinpoint transitions. As a result, we do not particularly need high energy box-to-box players like Jordan Henderson. What we do need are intelligent players with tactical nuance and discipline with the required technique on top.
I do like Jordan Henderson and have no doubt that he will blossom into a very good player. I am by no means saying that Jordan Henderson is below par or has nothing to offer, I am merely questioning how he would fit into our team once Brendan Rodgers has the tools to fully implement his style.
Follow Kerushun on Twitter @_kpil
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