So that was your take away from his post? He clearly just disagrees with Henderson being the issue with us not scoring in the games you mentioned, seeing as we scored well over 100 times and I wholeheartedly agree.
Let's go over the games you mentioned and see what the real issue was, because it sure as hell wasn't Henderson.
West-Brom: well that's funny, he didn't even play in that game. Unless you mean the 2-2 draw? Then we still managed two goals and I'd say the issue was defensively, not offensively.
Stoke: could it be that it was down to Gomez and Moreno starting, both returning from injury, Alexander-Arnold playing next to him in midfield and Ings playing in the front three? Not exactly our strongest starting eleven.
Everton: a front three of Ings, Solanke, Mane and Klavan playing at LB. I'm sure the lack of goals was due to Henderson 'reining in' his fellow teammates. Or do you mean the 1-1 at Anfield? The game where we were up 1-0 and only drew because Calvert-Lewin decided to dive and get a penalty?
Newcastle: we all know how we conceded that goal and the amount of chances we missed. We could've easily won that game.
You say you're not here to bash Henderson, yet not a single game you mentioned was drawn due to Henderson 'reining in' his teammates or us dominating possession too much. We created plenty of chances in all of those games and the goals we conceded, we're stupid ones to concede.
You say that 'the directive from him seems to be to keep shifting the ball side to side'. Are you sure that's his directive? Because I think it's Klopp's directive to keep stretching play. Don't you think Klopp would be raging on the touchline if Henderson was asking his teammates to just dominate possession without purpose? Klopp always mentions being patient, waiting for the right moment, keeping the ball moving. That's the exact opposite of trying to dribble players with the chance of losing the ball when our whole team is high up the pitch.
The issue with your idea of allowing both fullbacks and both other midfielders to go forward, is that we will only have three players behind the ball, leaving us wide open for counterattacks. One fullback needs to stay behind or level with the ball, same with the player in the #6 position (usually Henderson) and he has to play it 'safe'. You can't be too adventurous with your passing in that position. His job is to shift play, keep the game ticking and try to avoid counterattacks.
You draw out defenders by good movement and quick passing, not by trying to dribble past your direct opponent, you'll run into the next one who comes out the shape and the opposition will just shift and fill in the empty space. Movement is down to the attacking players and the fullback joining the attack, not Henderson.
The issue? Ha so many talk in absolutes online. A issue. A factor. Not the factor.
Last time I checked, I can like a player and still criticise elements of their game, no? As I said, I'm not bashing the guy. But in many games we totally dominated but failed to win, we were sluggish with our circulation of the football. We didn't change the tempo or directness of our attack. I'm talking about games with 60%+ of possession. I'm talking about teams that predominantly had only one player in advance of our midfield for the majority of the game (essentially 6-3-1 or 5-4-1), and were barely interested in countering, only surviving. I'm talking about seeing Hendo in a number of games admonishing or gesticulating towards other players in ways I disagreed with, and how I feel that has influenced the way many of our players seem so tentative to take the lead in such games. That's all.
Am I supposed to just absolve a guy who is supposed to be our leader on the pitch (and in our dressing room) when I see him relatively frequently insist on another backwards pass from an advanced midfielder or FB, when we've had, say, 85% of the possession in a 10-15 min period, and there is no genuine opposition threat of a counter that Hendo and the two CBs wouldn't eliminate with ease, and we're still waiting for a clear cut chance on goal? I'm all for possession. I'm all for stretching the play. But if we're struggling to be crisp and quick enough in doing so, then alternatives should be encouraged instead.
Man City would have had at least 3 times as many chances created in such scenarios they faced. I never saw De Bruyne and Silva be admonished by Fernandinho for not passing back to him instead of taking on a defender or attempting a killer pass, after a minute or two of side to side failed to stretch the defence, even if such a move failed. Because when teams are so defensive, you know you'll win the ball back shortly, especially when you can press the ball high effectively like Liverpool and City.
Am I saying Hendo is useless? Am I saying he specifically caused us to not win any of these games? No. I am saying if we are to meet (and potentially exceed) the heights of Man City, we must be creating the high amount and quality of chances against teams that park the bus as they did. I am also saying that, from what I've observed, I feel Hendo has an influence on many of our players continuing to circulate the ball relatively sluggishly rather than try to break what is clearly a stalemate with a change of tempo or directness.
As for the games I simply used as examples, please let's not counter with things like a team including some of our rotation players not being good enough to beat the clearly worst two sides in the league, or that because we scored twice from only 3 shots on target in a game we dominated possession, that we did well enough with the ball and it's only the defence's fault.
We clearly have an issue with breaking down excessively defensive teams. Certainly, the lack of an influential #10-like player is a key factor. But if we don't end up signing one, it is critical that our other midfielders are encouraged to (like Coutinho did for us) take on defenders and play riskier passes just a little more often than we did last year in such games. Considering our lack of leadership in this particular team, it's important that encouragement comes from Hendo.
As for tactics, you know very well I was just referring to the games where we are totally dominating and our opponents haven't come to play at all. We're talking about five or six at the back. Why would we need more than 2 CBs and a DM to cover a lone striker? The three or four other players are all camped before the long string of defenders, and are of little threat.
Good movement and quick passing is great, but when 10 opponents are parked deep within a small space of the field, it can only do so much (especially if it clearly isn't being executed quick enough) as we saw in many games. The best way to make space in such scenarios is to initially stretch the defence by going side to side before getting one of your players to catch a slightly complacent or lazy opponent off guard by running at them. This then draws another opponent (sometimes two), and then frees up space for a teammate to receive a through pass on goal or into threatening space. Coutinho would do this often for us.
Anyway, I do respect that you disagree that Hendo has any responsibility for the way our team plays in such situations. It's just my opinion based on my observations of his influence on others. I hope that doesn't mean, at least, that you're satisfied with how we've ended up approaching and executing such games, and that we clearly can't continue to play them at one pace. Peace
