Another decent performance from us. Being pre-season it's always difficult to judge but we looked sharp in attack today.
We really could have done with another couple of games before the season kicks-off because you can see the difference Alisson brings to the side in terms of playing out of the back. We were much more willing to knock the ball about and invite teams onto us - today everything went to plan but in a proper game, with greater intensity that's going to come under more pressure and we could be at risk in the early weeks of the season as we learn to adapt to that.
I can't see Henderson playing over Lallana or Gini against park the bus type teams, doesn't score or assist enough for that imo.
I think he'll play the Alonso role against the stronger teams though with Keita and Fabinho playing similar roles to Gerrard and Mascherano.
Edit: Mo
Agree that in tougher games we may go with both him and Fabinho but I suspect it'll be Fabinho sitting and Henderson in the more advanced role. It's easy to sometimes forget that Henderson wasn't/isn't a natural sitting midfielder - he was very much a box to box player and has the energy and intensity in his game to play similarly to how we see Milner & last season Can played in the more advanced midfield role. I've not sure Fabinho has what it takes, from a physical point of view, to play in the more advanced roles and lead our pressing. Hendo definitely does.
Does Henderson’s foot (or heel?) issue still something that’s being managed, or is he completely over it? If it’s still something being managed you can see him being rotated in/playing a lot, but not being a dead cert.
I can't recall him having any issues with his heel since the season before last so hopefully it's something behind him.
There will be some rotation now I guess but imo Henderson is one of the first names on the team sheet when fit. Nice to have some options in there.
He's never been that previously, in fact I always got the feeling Klopp preferred Can to him when he had the option of choosing between them, particularly in the bigger games. One thing with Klopp though is that he doesn't just pick his favourites - if you get your chance in the side and you play well then it's your spot to lose. We've seen that with Can/Hendo before and particularly at LB last season - it took Robertson an age to get his chance in the side but he took it with both hands and Moreno struggled to get a look in after.
I just think with our midfield options, other than Keita (and that may have been different had Ox been fit), we don't have anybody that stands out over the others. We could go with Fabinho, Keita, Milner one week then, Fabinho, Hendo, Keita the next and then Hendo, Gini, Keita the next without there being any fundamental difference in how we play nor any noticable change in quality. It's only really Keita, with his driving runs and creativity, that we lack alternatives for.
