Liverpool have struggled majorly this season, with the midfield being labelled as the biggest problem by the majority of supporters.
Jordan Henderson, along with Fabinho, has been the most criticised player so far this season, but what is the captain doing so wrong?
We are going to break down the stats provided by @pranav_m28 behind Jordan Henderson’s season so far and explain what sort of problems his difficulties are causing.
Successful passes after Recovery:
One of the major prolblems with Henderson’s performances this season has been the amount of times he has given the ball away.
The stats show that his ball-winning stats aren’t actually that bad and are better than Thiago Alcantara’s but 35.2% of his passes fail after successfully recovering the ball.
Henderson LOSES 35.2% of the balls he recovers, within the next action, by making a poor pass (hoofing).
His recovery stats look good and comparable to Thiago's, but there is a huge difference between the quality of these recoveries and the actions succeeding them. pic.twitter.com/j0u3Q5wNpN
— Pranav (@pranav_m28) January 26, 2023
A worrying insight into these stats show that Henderson has only completed SIX progressive passes after winning back the ball in the entirity of this season, averaging 0.45 per game.
The majority of Henderson’s completed passes have been backwards, which has only proved to put the defence under more pressure.
The blame isn’t entirely on the captain, with Fabinho also having a woeful season in the centre of midfield alongside him.
In comparison to the 35.2% of successful passes coming from Henderson, Thiago completes 81% of his passes after winning the ball back which proves the huge gap in quality between the two player so far this season.
You could even compare Henderson’s stats to those of Joao Gomes, who Liverpool were linked with in the summer.
He is pretty good after recovering the ball as well. He made 130 ball recoveries, and 89 of those sequences ended in a successful pass. Some nice-looking progressive passes as well. pic.twitter.com/y9qernQyQB
— Pranav (@pranav_m28) January 25, 2023
Gomes wins the ball significantly more than the Liverpool captain and is also a lot tidier in possession of the ball, this could’ve been a top quality signing from the Reds.
Hopefully Henderson can turn his season around, he is vital to this Liverpool side when he is playing to the best of his ability.
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