Henderson Ponders Klopp’s Good Midfield ‘Problem’

Photo by Nick Taylor/Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images

The captain came up big in the game over the weekend.

After Jordan Henderson’s crucial goal against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, Jurgen Klopp finds himself with a conundrum: a lot of exceptionally talented midfielders to squeeze into three spots.

With the way Fabinho is coming along, those three spots may have effectively dwindled down to only two, since he seems undroppable in his current form. In the running to fill those spots are the likes of James Milner, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Naby Keita, Xherdan Shaqiri, Adam Lallana, and Georginio Wijnaldum — and that’s just the first team.

Then there’s Jordan Henderson, who added to his list of good qualities by scoring a rare and very valuable goal on Sunday against Tottenham Hotspur.

“We have got a lot of good midfielders and we’ve got different players that can do different things,” said Henderson.

“I suppose that’s good for the manager because it’ll depend on certain games and certain teams that we’re playing and who fits that particular game. But I feel as though we’re all performing to a high level and we’ve just got to continue pushing each other in training and in games. Ultimately, we all want the same thing, we all want to be successful and we all want to help each other.”

The strain of this is already showing with Keita and Oxlade-Chamberlain chomping at the bit to get themselves more involved in the team this season. With the heavy fixture list in November and December, tired legs and rotation will see most of those players on the pitch. This Wednesday is another League Cup game against Arsenal where Klopp will likely field a highly rotated team.

As for his equalizer? Henderson insists that he doesn’t, “really care who scores goals as long as we win.”

Over the course of the first 10 league games, Liverpool have, indeed, won nine of them and drew the tenth. October was a difficult month for them, facing Leicester, United, and Spurs, but in November they will take on Manchester City for league dominance.

Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com