IF Liverpool beat Manchester United at Anfield today, Jordan Henderson will be a crucial step closer to lifting the Premier League trophy.
As and when the seemingly inevitable happens, Henderson would become the first man to captain Liverpool to the title since Alan Hansen in 1990.
He’d be doing what even the revered Steven Gerrard never achieved, putting him in the company of greats of the game.
So is he a Hansen? A Gerrard? A Souness maybe?
Actually, no. In fact, in some respects he’s not even a Stephens or a Snodgrass.
Looking at Henderson’s output in comparison with other Premier League players in his position tells us that he’s no standout performer. At least, not in the traditional sense.
Lots of things go into making the model midfielder, and there’s no better place to start than passing ability.
This season Henderson — who was voted England fans’ player of the season earlier this week – has been Liverpool’s heartbeat. He plays an average of 60 passes a game, more than their other midfielders.
But sometimes he has more trouble finding the right man than a contestant on Love Island.
For Henderson, 81 out of 100 of his passes have been accurate so far this season – almost one in five of his passes goes astray.
Granit Xhaka’s number is 87 out of 100. So Henderson’s passing accuracy is 7.5 per cent lower than the Arsenal man’s.
That doesn’t necessarily matter if it means he’s taking more risks with his passing than other central midfielders. So let’s look at how many chances he’s creating directly and how many assists he gets.
But the number of goals Henderson’s set up this season isn’t that great.
At Wolves, Joao Moutinho has provided six assists in the 31 goals they’ve scored, or 19.4 per cent of the total. Henderson’s made the last pass in only two of Liverpool’s 50, or four per cent. So his assists are down two thirds on Moutinho’s.
Assists aren’t always a great measure of output, though. Because sometimes a striker might make a mess of the finish.
A better indicator of passing penetration is chances created. And, again, Henderson is no great shakes in Premier League terms.
Adjusted for the time they both spend on the pitch, the Liverpool captain is only two-thirds as creative as West Ham’s Robert Snodgrass.
If not cutting through defences with his passing, what about as a ball carrier? Again, it’s all a bit Meh-nderson.
What about the goals he scores? At this season’s rates, Henderson’s averaging a goal every 11.4 games. Whereas John Lundstram at Sheffield United manages one in every 3.8 games.
It’s worth looking at his defensive output, too.
Adding together the tackles, interceptions and blocks Henderson makes and comparing it with, say, Dale Stephens at Brighton, and you see he’s no defensive wall.
Even adjusted for how Brighton spend longer out of possession than Liverpool, Henderson’s defensive output is 15.9 per cent lower than Stephens’s.
Surely Jurgen Klopp must see something in Henderson other than that the armband fits him nicely and he’s a bit shouty.
Well, as with all things with Klopp, it’s all about the collective. And, without being a standout figure himself, Henderson’s contribution to Liverpool’s overall work is really good.
Henderson lifting the Premier League trophy has become something of an inevitabilityCredit: Reuters
We can get an idea from the goals scored and conceded both with him on the pitch and with him off it. In the 1,443 minutes with their club captain on the pitch, Liverpool have scored 35 goals.
In the 447 without him, they’ve scored 14.
With Henderson on the pitch, an average of 2.75 goals are scored every 90 minutes.
Without him that goes up beyond four goals, with more than double the number conceded.
It’s all about control. And that’s why it’ll probably be Henderson lifting the Premier League trophy, not Snodgrass, Stephens or any of the others.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
