Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp heaped praise on club captain Jordan Henderson, saying that he has had the ‘most difficult job in the past 500 years of football’ which was replacing Steven Gerrard.
Henderson produced his best performance of the season in the match against Southampton by scoring a goal and providing an assist after he came on as a substitute. Henderson’s goal was his first goal in 18 months.
Speaking about Henderson’s performance, Klopp said, “That goal meant so much to him and to us. He’s just a fantastic boy. He deserves all the praise but he doesn’t get too much of it. Hendo, from my point of view, is a brilliant player. He’s our skipper, he’s a fantastic character. If I had to write a book about Hendo, it would be 500 pages.
The most difficult job in the last 500 years of football was to replace Steven Gerrard. In the mind of the people it was like ‘if it’s not Stevie, then it’s not good enough’. And he has dealt with that outstandingly well so he can be really proud. Now we have to think of the future and he is a very important part of our team. When I came in and thought first about the team, Hendo was a box-to-box player. We made him a No.6 and that’s good. I think it’s helped him a lot to play in different positions. I told him already that that doesn’t mean he will never play as a six again. He thinks it makes sense, and that’s absolutely true. We play different systems. Milly [James Milner] and Hendo were both really pumped up. It helped us a lot.”
After beating Southampton, Liverpool next take on Porto on Tuesday.
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