Jordan Henderson shakes his head and laughs at the allegation English football’s grandest rivalry has been reduced to the status of the Dog and Duck versus the Red Lion. “That doesn’t bother us because we know we are not playing well,” says Liverpool’s vice‑captain, who believes Gary Neville’s withering assessment of what lies in store at Old Trafford on Sunday was “obviously said as a joke”. Not even pub team comparisons cause offence when a sobering reality dawns.
Both Liverpool and Manchester United were the target of Neville’s acerbic critique on Monday, but only one team heads for Old Trafford toiling at both ends of the field and with their season on a precarious edge. It is the team that strolled in to Old Trafford in March as confident Premier League title contenders and strolled out with a 3-0 triumph that flattered David Moyes’ United. “We were flying at the time,” Henderson recalls. Liverpool have struck turbulence now.
Tuesday’s elimination from the Champions League by Basel was the latest setback to befall Brendan Rodgers this term and constituted an ominous start to a defining period for Liverpool. Henderson lay flat on his back after the final whistle, staring into space. Knocked down by exhaustion, knocked out by polished opponents built on a fraction of Liverpool’s budget, it was a fitting image of a club sent reeling. Henderson had two chances to become the hero in a stirring finale but there was to be no reprieve in a desperately underwhelming European campaign.
“I felt devastated to be out of the Champions League, especially as I thought we were good enough to go through,” is Henderson’s recollection of lying on the Anfield pitch. “There was disappointment and there was exhaustion because we had put so much into the game. We couldn’t have done any more by the end. We were delighted to be back in the Champions League after last season and looking forward to improving as a team and as individuals. To go out at such an early stage is hard to take but we have to learn from our mistakes and hopefully we will be back in the Champions League at the end of this season.”
Henderson’s analysis may apply to Liverpool’s late response with 10 men against Basel but his overall optimism is difficult to equate with this season’s evidence. Rodgers’ team have recaptured the form of last year’s irrepressible title challenge once so far, at Tottenham Hotspur in August, when Daniel Sturridge and Mario Balotelli featured together for the first and, so far, only time. Not even a five-game unbeaten run has enabled them to turn a corner and see light in the distance.
“Everyone knows it has been disappointing,” admits the 24-year-old. “We are disappointed as a team not to be higher in the league and in the next round of the Champions League but there is still a long way to go in the Premier League, we can still finish in the top four, we have the FA Cup, the Capital One Cup and the Europa League. There is plenty to play for. Of course, people are going to criticise when things aren’t going well. As players we have to take on responsibility and prove people wrong.
“You are always having to prove something in football whether you are flying or not. Last season we had to prove to people we could challenge for the league. People doubted us at the start of the season but we had to prove them wrong and this is no different.
“United are not a better team than us. I see the quality and character that we’ve got at this club every day in training. We’ve showed it in glimpses and we can definitely go to United and get a good result. But it’s all well and good me sitting here and saying that, we have to do the business. I’m not saying United aren’t a good team because they are and they’ve got fantastic players, but so have we.”
That Liverpool would struggle to adapt to life without Luis Suárez was a given. What has surprised is the detrimental impact his absence has had on so many former team-mates. Steven Gerrard’s playmaker role has been suspended without Suárez’s movement or the pace of the injured Sturridge to aim for, Philippe Coutinho’s lack of an end product has been exposed and Henderson is another yet to recapture last season’s heights. The England international has more goals than at this stage of last season, three to one, but the creativity and energy he brought to Liverpool’s title challenge has dipped.
He admits: “You are always going to miss such big players like Suárez and Sturridge. You are going to miss the link-up play, the goals, the assists and that is going to have an effect on the team. But you have to deal with it the best way you can. Rick [Lambert] has worked his socks off, got some goals of late and hopefully he can keep working hard for us, but as a team we need to be better from the back to the front. We need to take more responsibility and put in better performances. We know it hasn’t been good enough and we need to start putting it right soon otherwise we will not get out of this position. Ninth in the Premier League is not good enough for the quality of team that we’ve got.”
The Basel performance gave more credence to the argument that, without Gerrard, Liverpool do not possess enough leaders to inspire at the highest level. “It is right to a certain extent because Stevie has done it for so long now and it is up to other players like myself to step up to the mark and take more responsibility,” says Gerrard’s vice-captain. “I’m getting older now, I have got the vice-captaincy of late and am taking more responsibility all the time but we need to start doing that as a team, not as individuals.”
There is no better place for Liverpool to start than Old Trafford. “It is a great opportunity for us,” says Henderson, refusing to countenance the flip-side should United record a sixth successive win, but it is inevitable that pressure on Rodgers will increase without a positive reaction to the Champions League exit. The subject of the Liverpool manager’s future prompts an impassioned response from the Sunderland-born Henderson.
“We have full confidence in the manager because he is one of the best in the world. For me, he’s got everything,” he says. “This is not down to the manager, it is down to the players. The manager hasn’t changed. He’s still confident in the way he wants to play football and he’s doing everything he can for us, tactically and on the training pitch, to start getting results. It’s up to us as players to get them. People are pointing fingers at the manager and ex-players are coming out saying he’s getting the sack, but we all know that isn’t true. The outside world might accept that [it’s down to Rodgers] but as players we certainly don’t accept that. We know it’s down to us on the pitch.”
