He could live in Richmond.
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The first 6 seconds, that music is like a movie finally revealing the real serial killerâŚ
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sounds very similar to a lenny henry one from about 30 years ago⌠forget what it was calledâŚ
They are building dazzling new expensive properties with a sop to a few affordable properties in Kingston at the moment, maybe he can move in one of them.
At this stage the decision is not just his. Although he is from Sunderland, his wife and kids are unlikely to be as attached to the place as he may be.
It isnât.
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Plenty of people never want to go back to where they grew up.
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Hendo isnât the sharpest knife in the drawer, is he? What did he expect?
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Smashing player for us. Underrated for so long, then captained us to the title. Seemed a good fella.
Then in his later playing years it looked like he wanted more prominence than the club was going to give him (I suspect Salah isnât too far away with that sort of thing coming for him).
As a proud fella, rather than be a bit part player, helping to maintain the right culture, but not necessarily being a main man on the pitch, he decided to leave. Fair enough.
But to the Saudis? Ugh. Especially after being so prominent in the campaign to include and support the LGBT community.
At that point he made an unfortunate mistake. I appreciate that some reds will have been cut deep by the hypocrisy.
Then Hendo made his way back, via Ajax, and now back to the Prem. I have seen a couple of Brentford games and he still looks a decent player. Not good enough for us at this point, but that pass he did was sublime. He has vision and tenacity, along with lots of experience.
If he had it all to do again Iâd like to think that Henderson would have stayed at Liverpool and accepted a bit part role. He would have been loved, unequivocally.
As it stands, I hope we can find forgiveness and move on, though I very much accept that itâs a much bigger ask for the LGBT community, because they bear the brunt of some horrible attitudes and prejudice, still, which is appalling in this day and age.
Hendo was a very good player for us - not a great like Stevie, but nevertheless, very good. I hope he finds peace.
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I think his suspension in 2013 missing the Chelsea and Crystal Palace games cost us the title.
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Agreed, for me Gerrard infamous slip is irrelevant in that context.
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The type of player Hendo was (and yes, important) and the type of game it was, Iâm not sure the outcome wouldâve been different. Closer to no than yes.
Gerrardâs slip is was a blow, no hiding from that, but also for example Suarezâs performance (nowhere to be seen) that day. For such a creative side (though a very wild one andnot on solid foundations, conceding 50 league goals that season), it was like we abandoned everything that was good about us in possession. Our best chance was some sort of a half-volley by Allen outside the box. We kept sending early crosses against a solid deep block (I also thought it was a disgrace from Mourinho to count them out of the title race before the game).
We became too desperate too early, being a highly emotional side (and club, which is sometimes good and can work against us). Second half most of the players went completely into their shells. Passing it back to Gerrard, who went for those desperate long range attempts. It was the angriest I was watching a Liverpool game. Felt like we wouldnât score if the game lasted 2 days.
Chelsea had Atletico away a few days before, they could train basically one game plan for successive games. We didnât perform on the day and couldnât overturn the biggest moment which went against us. There were also other games where it went against us.
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The team was setup completely wrong. Mourinho came with a game plan to frustrate and waste time from the first minute. We should have let them and done the same thing and shut up shop for a point, leaving us just needing to beat Palace not rack up a cricket score. However I think he realised that Brendan didnât know how to do that.
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Just want to add my opinion about the Stevie slip. It was a miscontrol, first and foremost. The sort of thing he would usually control in his sleep, and as he was looking what to do next, the ball rolled under his foot. Ugh. When he tried to recover he lost his footing and Demba Ba was away.
I also tend to think that had Hendo not been suspended we would have won the league, but obviously we will never know.
Slot has brought a measure of calm to the side. At our best under Brendan, and even more Jurgen, we went at teams and dominated them, but the downside was that we didnât excel in calming the game down and controlling it enough when it was needed.
Under Slot last season we could do that, and even though our play has lost its way a bit so far this season, Iâm confident we will get it back.
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Another specific ex player thread.
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I am not far from Brentford. I shop in Lidl and Morrisons there. 
Maybe I might bump into him when I do the grocery shop. 
Brentford is a nice club with nice fans. There is a nice park called Syon park which is lovely. I have video sent to me when LFC came to play at Brentford and a friend was cycling with some other ladies and she saw the team and coaching staff strolling through Syon park for the usual pre-match morning walk.
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Have to say that Henderson was one of the luckiest midfielders out there.
I mean, dude was supposed to be displaced from the main team by Ox and Keita on the right side of the midfield and Fabinho at the No.6 position. However, Ox and Keita ended up struggling with injuries and thus Hendo retained his position in our starting 11.
I mean, with the way Ox played in the latter half of 2017/2018 season until his injury against Roma, he would have pushed Hendo to the bench permanently had he been healthy.
About the left side of the midfield, Klopp would have always picked Gini and later Thiago as his first choice there.
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Hendo had more good performances for us than Thiago, Ox, Keita, Can and Lallana combined.
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Oh yes Hendo was so bad that Klopp continues choosing him as the captain, the squad continues to respect his captaincy, yea the captain that won everything. You can call him lucky but I prefer to call him an inspiration that if you work hard enough, ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things.
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Ugh, we are mixing a ton of different periods here, forgetting some of Kloppâs principles that brought us success and also overexaggerating.
When Klopp took over, Henderson had one of those rare seasons affected by injury. It was a tricky one because it was a heel issue and couldnât get rid of the pain.
There was a chance for other players to come in and takeover, it didnât happen. The double-pivot stuff in Basel from Milner and Can was not up to level. Not that it was the only or main reason why we lost that final, mind.
We then started the 16/17 season with a change in shape from a 4-4-1-1 (as Klopp used to call it when he went double-pivot) to 4-3-3. Hendo at the base as #6 and Bobby as a false #9. Lallana was by form our best midfielder as a RCM #8 in that shape until he got injured, closely followed by Hendo in his deep role.
We slowly improved and managed to mantain a level, with two narrow finishes in the top 4 (we got a point less in 17/18) and the final in Kiev. Hendo was still at the base by that time and a while to go until Fabinho got going (which didnât happen at the very start of 18/19, but weâll get there). How we evolved to a very dangerous attacking trio and our full backs, we needed balance in midfield.
Oxâs form was real for a period, but also overblown in the memory of certain fans. Two goals against City didnât suddenly make him a world beater. Though for me, I believe he might have started in Kiev if he wasnât injured, but not instead of Hendo. Probably instead of Gini, judging by form and importance (Milner was so trusted by Klopp on both sides of central midfield and had 11 assists in that CL campaign) at the time.
I wanted us to test Kroosâ defensive transition aspect by putting a pacy player on his side and someone defensively more astute on Modricâs side. We went with Gini at RCM and Milner at LCM. I wouldâve flipped their sides.
By the end of that 17/18 season, yes, you can say judging by our moves in the transfer market (Keita, who was already signed in 2017 and Fabinho in 2018) and what almost happened (Fekir), Klopp was ready to challenge absolutely everyone in our midfield. But itâs not only that, it doesnât mean he would want to displace all 3 at the same time, but get quality in depth.
For me, I thought Gini, albeit a good signing at the time, was so-so in many games and probably the least good starting midfielder in that 2016-2018 period. And we were reaching a point where we were looking to further evolve our game and add more layers. Teams dropping, not willing to leave any space because of our front 3, us having more possession and then bloody needing to be creative with it.
So, summer 2017 is already decision time from us for Keita to be signed as a transfer record, that speaks volumes, but itâs still not towards Hendo. Gini reacted brilliantly from 2018 onwards, Iâm guessing because he felt the biggest threat. And his LCM zone is where Keita was best suited (or shouldâve worked).
Fabinho took a good while to get going and break into the team to become a regular starter. Some things were clear already in pre-season. Keita initially adapted well (then struggled), Fabinho needed time. He was dropping too deep between our CBâs when we did our build-up, while Klopp wasnât asking for that. Hendo picked up an injury I think and Gini had was one of our most in-form players when he filled in that single #6 role at the start of 18/19.
When Fabinho broke in, you have a situation where Hendo was still performing really well that fans were asking themselves, how do we fit both players in, do we flip the structure again (the constant shouts to revert back to â4-2-3-1â) or what. I remember some quotes at the time and it seems like Klopp was skeptical about putting Hendo at one of the two #8âs, but Hendo pushed to get a chance at RCM and took it with both hands. I think Porto away in the CL was one of if not the first game in that combination of the moment when it all clicked and for a while it meant Hendo wasnât looking back (instead of the odd dropping to replace Fabinho when he wasnât available or we were chasing the game).
I absolutely believe that we did only whatâs responsible, despite having a well oiled, hard working midfield, we constantly looked for ways to improve, without trying to overdo it. Itâs also connected to Lijndersâ arrival and our further evolution in possession. Then, yeah, it depends also how those signings do. But there are differences in skills and roles, we should not mix for example Oxâs direct style with Keitaâs or Thiagoâs for more control. Or bloody Fekir (who I think if it had gone through and worked, wouldâve been used as a backup to Bobby and Salah ) We can agree that all those players are different to what we had in midfield, but they would not bring the same things.
We always needed to have some of the hard working ones and Hendo, in his time here in general and also under Klopp, mainly wasnât in question. The likes of Gini pre-2018, Fabinho pre-winter 18/19 and Milner (as he was even shifted to LB for a season), yeah. The low-level or least good seasons Hendo had were his first here under Kenny when he was used as a right winger (mind you, he did get some games centrally in which he already did well, one was United at home). Then he had to survive (yes, thatâs the moment when you could truly call him lucky when he almost got traded for Dempsey, or so desperate to make it here that he rejected the move) and prove himself to Rodgers, which he did in the following 3 seasons (not forgetting taking the armband from Stevie).
So from the end of 2020 (possibly Hendoâs peak, with all the awards he got, even if I didnât objectivelly agree with some of them, or better to say they came as a recognition for a few years altogether) with a CL and a league title in our bag, we have a situation where Fabinho is fully settled at #6, Hendo is still a mainstay at RCM and Gini is mostly at LCM. Ox already had a few injuries and his ceiling at Liverpool is lower, even if he had 40+ games in our title winning season, canât forget that. Millie is always there and Keita isnât really cutting it, due to intensity of the team, league, some injuries and perhaps not having the right state of mind to battle with the rest.
What we do, we go and bring Thiago, at that moment arguably the in-form central midfielder in Europe who won it all with Bayern. We already know that he had injuries in the past, that he played less games in shorter seasons with a winter break in Germany, so heâs not being brought to be a 50+ games per season physical machine, but add what he does best, also knowing heâs right at his peak or by giving him a 4-year deal, weâll have him also post his prime. For me, heâs a better player than transfer. Just like you have better transfers than players. Shaqiri is one example of that. Business side great, player side⌠not really enough.
Again, whatâs Thiagoâs best zone? More left-sided. Bayern were mostly double-pivot at the time, so naturally Gini was again a target, just like when Keita was brought. But then Thiago got injured and when he came back, we tried him in all midfield roles, which was poor by Klopp in my opinion. He tried Thiago initially as a single pivot #6 and then also a few games at RCM (in that problematic season at CB when we needed to drop the likes of Fabinho and Hendo, who missed almost half the season through injury). That used to be a role where we wanted a player who could both offer security defensively and support offensively. Not really what Thiago is good at. Klopp did my head in at times with certain midfielder in different roles.
One more chance for someone to come in for Hendo while he was out, but where was that player, who took it? Hendo was again back at RCM for our brilliant 21/22 season (a few goals short of a quadruple), when we mainly did it through Fabinho, Hendo and Thiago in midfield. Keita was also pretty good that season with his 40 games.
Hendo was picked a rare few times under Klopp at LCM (if I remember well, to accomodate Elliott at RCM), but it didnât look good.
The 22/23 season we can say marks the end of most of that midfield.
You donât spend 12 years at a club (of which 8 and a bit as captain), coached by 3 different coaches, 492 appearances, 33 goals, 58 assists, winning 7 trophies by being lucky.
We can say he was a bit lucky when Rodgers wanted to replace him. Thatâs all. All the rest he did it by merit and in the few times he got injured, he always came back to win his place. And he survived the longest.
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