The English media, generally speaking, has been criticised for overreacting to Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson missing a spot-kick in an international friendly with Romania.
The midfielder was brought off the bench at half-time, making his return to the field after four months out with a serious injury, and claimed a penalty when England had a 1-0 lead.
Henderson fired a fairly tame effort at the goalkeeper and it was saved easily. The Three Lions eventually saw out the 1-0 victory, but there has been a strong reaction to the Liverpool star.
Taking to Twitter some time after Monday morning’s newspaper splashes had made their way onto social media, @Watch_LFC shared images of the Express, Telegraph, Daily Mail and Metro’s takes on the missed penalty.
The English media is genuinely shocking.
All he did was miss a pen in a friendly… pic.twitter.com/7dbiwFlsl6
— Watch LFC (@Watch_LFC) June 6, 2021
MORE: ‘Missed bigger penalties than that’ – Henderson laughs off spot-kick miss in England clash
While we at Empire of the Kop can appreciate how frustrating it is to see the Liverpool captain being slated for such a meaningless act, manager Gareth Southgate has some explaining to do.
Speaking after the 1-0 win, the England boss said “maybe we’ll pull rank next time” when talking about Henderson’s missed spot-kick.
Even though it seems some members of the English media have taken the first chance to lambast the Liverpool star and run with it, Southgate has given them fuel to start the fire – and for something so meaningless.