Liverpool thrashed Premier League new-comers Norwich 4-1 at Anfield as the Reds ushered in the 2019/20 Premier League season.
There were huge positives to the game – Bobby Firmino, Virgil van Dijk, Mo Salah and Fabinho were all excellent, just to name a few.
There was also the outstanding negative that Alisson Becker suffered an injury which will see him miss the rest of the month, and potentially most of September.
But it was the performance from the team, as a whole, that has picked up captain Jordan Henderson’s interest. In his last competitive game, he capped it off by lifting the Champions League trophy, and wants to keep up that standard.
“It was the start of the Premier League, we wanted to go out and start really well, which we managed to do,” he told the club’s official site.
”We scored some brilliant goals and played well in the first half. In the second half we created some chances, but could have controlled the game a little bit better.
”There’s still improvement [to be made] but overall we’re delighted with the result and performance.
”It wasn’t so much defensively, we gave the ball away sloppy at times and we didn’t control the game with the ball, so in the transition we weren’t in great positions. That’s one thing we can improve on.
”But it’s the first game of the season – there’s going to be things that we need to improve on, look back on and work on. That’s only a positive for us. We’ll learn from tonight and want to improve in the next one.”
It’s excellent to hear the skipper talking like this. Yes, we won comfortably, but let’s not forget who we were playing – a team that has just been promoted.
If we had been up against Arsenal or even Wolves, the outcome could have been quite different. Henderson is spot on in his assessment of the game.
He’s not accepting mediocrity, and it’s important that we support that attitude throughout the season as we hunt for more silverware.