Heās missed almost a quarter of the season. Heās only played in 30 games.
I donāt get the Henderson impact on Liverpool. Itās a narrative thatās only come about this season, and only halfway through the season. Heās been pushed forward because Fabinho is doing the work behind him. Heās a much better player than Henderson.
Henderson will run about and huff and puff but heās not going to punish you with goals and assists.
He might be a good lad in the training ground and at the dressing room, but he is only a slightly above average midfielder in the Premier League. Liverpool would have won the league without him
De Bruyne is a genuine world class talent and has literally won matches by himself for the last few seasons, getting up around 10 goals and 20 assists. (when he wasnāt injured)
He asked Klopp to push him on last year as he wanted to impact the team more up top / felt he wasnt a holding player.
Iād agree with your assessment of him- but every team needs an engine , he covers the whole pitch ā no team was ever made up of 11 silky footballers.
KDB is the best player in the league by a distance - he had a quiet start and was injured tho.
Look at the stats when Henderson doesnāt play compared to when he does. They are very favourable towards Henderson. There is no doubt heās missed when heās not there.
I wouldnāt have been against De Bruyne getting it but if heās had such an a great season how have City lost 9 league games? They won the league last season after he missed most of it with an injury.
De Bruyne missed 20 games of last season and they racked up 98 points without him. Iām not denying his ability but they can motor on without him. Liverpool on the other hand always struggle without Henderson
Laporte mate. Theyāve been playing with a back 4 of Walker/Cancelo Fernandinho/Stones Otamendi and Mendy/Zinchenko
Theyāve already scored 97 goals this season. More than last season with a game left.
Think of it like this, if Liverpool lost Van Dijk, whether or not Henderson was there wouldnāt make much of a difference. He doesnāt add goals and assists.
De Bruyne is actually playing deeper this season because of Fernandinho dropping back and has had his best goalscoring season. He isnāt lazy either. He does a good bit of running about and tackling. Not as much as Hendo obviously.
I think De Bruyne stats arenāt as recent but shows similar variance. On 2018/19 when he missed half the season, City had Gundogan, Bernardo Silva, David Silva etc to fill in. Liverpool hadnāt that type of back up. Squad depth plays a huge importance in the stats. Henderson is important to Liverpool because they have noone else really. De Bruyne is important to City because they have noone else like him
Exactly so itās quite similar? With Henderson we are a better team evidently, 9 defeats in 29 without him is very poor considering our brilliant run over the last 24 months in the PL
yeāve lost 4 in the last 2 seasons, which ones wasnāt he playing in?
He missed the Arsenal loss. He played against City this season. He missed Watford
He played when City won in 2018/19. So heās played in half the games ye lost in the league in two seasons.
I presume heās played in most of the games yeāve lost in the Champions league in that time too.
His importance is because a replacement just isnāt as good. Thatās the simple truth. Heās handy
Henderson seems to be motivated by adversity. Heās been shit a lot of the time but then when his place is under threat he reacts and plays like a man possessed. More consistent this year and Liverpool went out of Europe and FA Cup when Fabinho returned from injury and it was no coincidence. Fabinho isnāt as good as people make out cos Henderson done a better job. Just a pity he waited til after fabinho joined to start playing well.
Heās a proper leader, that is missed when heās not there. Itās telling when he wasnāt on the field during his injury spell. He missed 3 games in February, where they fell over the line against West Ham (should have lost), lost to Watford, and stumbled again past Bournemouth.
Between the 7th december and his injury Liverpool conceded 1 goal. During his injury spell then of 3 games we conceded 6 goals. It was his leadership and controlling of the game that Liverpool badly missed.
They stumbled over the line in lots of games, with and without him. Thatās what they did this season. Look, heās obviously a grand lad and a decent player, but to give him an individual award over KDB is ridiculous given what KDB has done this season
Liverpool were letting in goals before Fabinho got injured. Once Henderson dropped back they conceded very few. His return coincided with that shit run as u rightly point out.
Oh I know, KDB is an incredible and in terms of quality he deserves the award, but Henderson has been the most important player in the far-away best team in the league
