Jordan Henderson’s quality has often come under fire given the midfielder’s proximity to world-class players in the Liverpool squad.
Rafael van der Vaart is the latest pundit to raise question marks about the Reds skipper, suggesting the Englishman, Joe Gomez and James Milner are all average players.
“I think we have become a bit blinded. We suddenly think Jordan Henderson is a crazy player,” the former Tottenham man told VI.NL (via HITC). “That’s just a very normal player. James Milner is also a very normal player. Joe Gomez is also a very normal player.”
Whilst we can agree that, on a technical level, the former Sunderland man is outmatched by the likes of Fabinho and Thiago Alcantara, it’s unfair to suggest that he’s been anything but a brilliant player for Jurgen Klopp.
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Lifting both the Premier League title and Champions League – amongst a host of silverware – the former being something a Liverpool captain had failed to do for three decades, it’s clear that the England international had more than a say in our success on the pitch.
Likewise, we’re struggling to understand criticism aimed at the way of Gomez as our title-winning centre-back partner to Virgil van Dijk and James Milner who, in fairness, is now 36 years of age.
At his absolute best, the former is unquestionably a world-class centre-half whilst James Milner has been another key standard-setter and a versatile option shunted wherever Klopp needed him following his move away from Manchester City.