Liverpool were able to secure their place in the knockout stages with a 1-0 win against Ajax in the Champions League on Tuesday night. However, the performance of captain Jordan Henderson may have Jurgen Klopp concerned.
A solitary goal from Curtis Jones proved to be the difference between the two sides on the evening, but the Eredivisie side looked threatening throughout the 90 minutes and were perhaps unfortunate to leave with nothing, with only a brilliant late save from Caoimhin Kelleher denying Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.
Henderson made his first start for Liverpool since recovering from injury in the win although the stats suggest that he wasn’t his usual self against the Dutch giants.
As per SofaScore, the 30-year-old had just 56 touches of the ball during his time on the pitch and completed 36/44 passes, resulting in a pass accuracy rate of 82%.
Whilst his passing was fairly impressive, as he made three key passes against Erik ten Hag’s side, it was his defensive contribution that might have worried his German manager.
The England international made no tackles during the game, was dribbled past once and won zero of his four duels, suggesting that the Ajax players often had the better of the former Sunderland man.
Considering the lack of midfielders available in Klopp’s side at the moment, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, James Milner, Thiago and Naby Keita all sidelined, he will be relying on players such as Henderson to be at their best as we approach the busy Christmas period.
The former Borussia Dortmund boss was full of praise for his captain in January of this year, saying:
“He is exceptional; he is outstanding. Gini (Wijnaldum) and Hendo, especially, because they have had to play the biggest number of games this season.
“What they do is just incredible – absolutely incredible. I do not take that for granted for one second. If anybody who is with us still doesn’t see the quality of Jordan Henderson, then I cannot help them.
“Is Hendo the perfect football player? No. Do I know anybody who is? No. But is he unbelievably important to us? Yes.”
Therefore, Henderson will arguably have to perform a lot better than he did on Tuesday night in future matches, as the Reds attempt to retain the Premier League title, with their next match seeing them take on Wolves at Anfield on Sunday evening.
And, in other news… Liverpool made a big mistake in releasing “absolutely incredible” midfield maestro