It was always going to be a difficult job succeeding a great, and injuries in his first season didn’t help, but now there is an opportunity for Henderson to prove he’s really worthy of the captain’s armband.
It is fair to say that Jordan Henderson has not really had the easiest time of things since taking over the captain’s armband at Liverpool.
In fact, you could say that it took a lot of guts to say yes to a job he was never going to say no to – as he was taking over the captaincy from one of the club’s greatest ever players in Steven Gerrard.
There will be some people that he will never win over. Last season in particular saw plenty of criticism head Henderson’s way. It was also a season that saw him suffer from a persistent heel problem, a broken foot and a knee ligament injury which all adversely affected his campaign, either because of spells on the sidelines or a drop in performance. For some of his detractors it gave them plenty of ammunition.
It continued into this season as he was learning a new, deeper role, which did not go according to plan as the Reds went down 2-0 to Burnley a Turf Moor on the second weekend of the season.
Improvement has followed, culminating in a key role in the 4-1 win over Leicester City and a fantastic strike against Chelsea that was key in giving the Reds all three points in another big win.
A strike from distance that wins the game would be something that would make his predecessor proud. While such contributions are welcome for the side, there needs to be some slack cut for him to be the kind of captain he wants to be.
If you were to watch him for 90 minutes, you would realise that he is a player that never shuts up. Prior to taking up the armband, he was not afraid to give any player a telling off, regardless of their stature or ability. One recent interview in the Liverpool Echo suggests he knows that he has a lot of doubters that he needs to win over.
Given Liverpool’s start to the season, and the way he is growing into his new role in the side, he should be afforded some time to be the captain that he wants to be. He isn’t going to be the all action, drag the club through games they shouldn’t win skipper like his predecessor, purely because he is not that type of player.
Jurgen Klopp seems pretty content with Henderson at the moment both in the side and with the armband. While no one is above scrutiny in terms of their performances, he should not be compared with the captain he succeeded, he should be allowed to find his own way.
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