Andy Reid and Dion Dublin hail the pairing of Jordan Henderson and Thiago Alcantara, yet felt on BBC Radio 5 Live (02/04, 12:55) against Watford the Liverpool duo ‘goes unnoticed’.
Henderson and Thiago left Reid and Dublin in awe on Saturday as they pulled the strings at Anfield. Jurgen Klopp fielded the duo together in a Premier League fixture for just the 24th time since the Spaniard’s up to £25m transfer from Bayern Munich in September 2020.
Over those outings, at least one of the pair has not started in midfield on 15 occasions, as well. Henderson made eight appearances with Thiago also playing at centre-back amid the Reds’ injury crisis last season. They have now started eight in midfield together this term.
Klopp fielded Henderson as the anchor behind Thiago and Curtis Jones for Watford’s trip to Liverpool on Saturday afternoon. The fixture marked Henderson’s 27th Premier League game and 24th start so far this term. It also marked Thiago’s 18th outing and 12th start.
BBC pundits argue Henderson, Thiago pairing for Liverpool ‘goes unnoticed’
Former Republic of Ireland midfielder Reid loved how Thiago was able to dictate the flow of the game for Liverpool against Watford, with Henderson plugging away behind him. It also sparked Dublin to suggest the partnership is perhaps underrated, despite its success.
“Really, the pairing with Thiago and Jordan Henderson in there, it sort of goes unnoticed sometimes,” Dublin claimed. “It’s that good.”
“They dovetail so well,” Reid replied. “If you look at Jordan’s qualities and look at Thiago’s, they’ve got very, very different qualities, but very, very strong qualities. Jordan can do all the other bits, he can break play up, he can win second balls, he can get about the place.
“That frees up space for Thiago to then get on the ball, build the play and keep it ticking over. What I love about him is that he changes the pace of the game, the game is played at his pace.
“If he wants to speed the game up and they need to get back into it or to up the pace a bit, then he’s able to do that. If they want to slow it down and get a bit of pressure, draw a team out, he does that brilliantly well. He controls and dictates the pace of the game.”
Liverpool dominated much of the time spent in possession against Watford on Saturday as Thiago and Henderson impressed. Jones also enjoyed his fair share of the ball, and was as safe as his praised partners with a 79% success rate from 29 passes, per WhoScored.
Henderson completed 78% of 50 passes and Thiago completed 71% of 59 during Jones’ 62 minutes on the field. Jones also created three goalscoring chances to the two by Thiago and Henderson. No player for either side made more than the 21-year-old by that stage.
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