Naby Keita

[Doc_Piptorious]

Whoever we replace henderson with will obvs have to be a decent powerful midfielder, but what we cannot take for granted is his leadership qualities and how he is constantly organising and driving others on.

In time Henderson will probably take over the milner role.
Who can be the next captain

More than decent tbh.

The leadership role is a more interesting question if we are to take it as meaning someone with leadership an organising qualities in the centre of the field and not include those with the same qualities playing elsewhere in the team.

Henderson himself showed no signs of becoming on on and off the pitch leader when he first joined us and if anything for a couple seasons he looked like becoming the sort of player that faded when things got tough.


I like the idea of Jones growing into being a leader on the pitch for us but that is some years away imo.


As for who could be the next captain, and I often see the role of captain as being a little bit apart from that of being the leader as a team can have (and needs) many good leaders, I think if Henderson was unavailable for some reason at the start of next season I think we are lucky to have guys like VVD and Robertson who could do justice to the role of captain, and I would not discount TAA from growing into such a role quickly.

[Mark79]

If we’re not going to play Keita because we don’t trust him to stay fit or whatever reason, then we should absolutely sell him.

But when he’s on the pitch, he simply gives us another level.

These are based on his, Gini’s and Henderson’s Premier League minutes since Naby joined. And I know these 3 perform different roles, are asked to do different things etc, etc.

But looking at this, there’s no way this player can be accused of not contributing or performing when he plays.

Also, as a team, we score more and conceded fewer when he is on the pitch.

[ame]https://twitter.com/simonbrundish/status/1394689681917349898[/ame]

[Irishnev]

If we’re not going to play Keita because we don’t trust him to stay fit or whatever reason, then we should absolutely sell him.

But when he’s on the pitch, he simply gives us another level.

These are based on his, Gini’s and Henderson’s Premier League minutes since Naby joined. And I know these 3 perform different roles, are asked to do different things etc, etc.

But looking at this, there’s no way this player can be accused of not contributing or performing when he plays.

Also, as a team, we score more and conceded fewer when he is on the pitch.

https://twitter.com/simonbrundish/st...89681917349898

I saw that earlier and I see it with my eyes that as a team we perform better when Naby plays but when we play bad invariably he is scapegoated. He is unavailable a lot but compare him to Hendo in the same timeframe and not much of a difference

I do think we have curbed his freedom and I also think it’s just not a good fit for him or us. Best for everyone if he leaves

[badpiggy]

This is a really interesting Hendo conversation but from my position of football ignorance, I'd break the bank to replace him with Kimmich. Insane engine and drive. More creative than Hendo too based again on my limited exposure to him. Himself and Thiago back together with Fab? Sounds like one of the best midfields EVAHHH to me.

[Buzzo]

Why do the Irish hate Hendo? That’s what I want to know.

[Irishnev]

Why do the Irish hate Hendo? That’s what I want to know.

Hate

I think he is a great leader but overblown as a player - we as fans tend to do stuff like that......we are doing it with Phillips now. I think there are many players better than Hendo but as a total package he trumps most - put his desire, selflessness and team spirit in Balotelli, Berbatov or Pogba and imagine how good they’d be

I sometimes get a bit annoyed when we bitch and moan about Naby’s availability yet never mention Henderson’s. I want him in our starting 3 with Fab and Thiago but his time needs to be managed and we need to look to start planning for replacing him. In fact that is the same with many in midfield

[badpiggy]

Why do the Irish hate Hendo? That’s what I want to know.

chrizzo I ****in loathe him

[Buzzo]

Hate

I think he is a great leader but overblown as a player - we as fans tend to do stuff like that......we are doing it with Phillips now. I think there are many players better than Hendo but as a total package he trumps most - put his desire, selflessness and team spirit in Balotelli, Berbatov or Pogba and imagine how good they’d be

I sometimes get a bit annoyed when we bitch and moan about Naby’s availability yet never mention Henderson’s. I want him in our starting 3 with Fab and Thiago but his time needs to be managed and we need to look to start planning for replacing him. In fact that is the same with many in midfield

Still not having it. He is technically a very good player. Has loads of ability on the ball as an all round midfielder. Plus his effectiveness within our formation. He’s not Alonso, but he is an elite Prem midfielder, played pretty much every minute in one of the most insane winning and unbeaten runs in English football history. You don’t do that without ability.

The teams we have dominated, City, Bayern, Barca huge Euro nights Hendo played in all of them.

And Hendo played 125 games over the last three seasons so more than 40 per season.

Since Naby joined he has played three seasons and 76 games Hendo has played 112 in the same period.

Ireland hates Hendo

FWIW I think Phillips is an average player playing out of his skin.

[Mr Pink]

I don’t think you can compare the amount of games they are unavailable through injury when hendo plays double the amount of games as him- Henderson gets a muscle injury after playing twice a week for a few months... naby gets an injury taking the rubbish out.

Also I’m not sure are those stats comparing prem league game or all games? Like is it comparing Henderson’s performance against man city and co to Keitas league cup performance against Lincoln city?

I think Henderson isn’t the most talented footballer out there, but his leadership skills is second to none in the league, in my opinion. Since there hasn’t been a crowd, I’ve really appreciated the amount he does on the pitch- constantly shouting to everyone. When he plays, everyone plays better. I look at the Villa massacre- we defo wouldn’t have imploded as we did, if he was on the pitch. Also, when him and VVD were both out long term, it was disappointing that no one else stood up, and maybe someone needed to be asked to stand up as interim captain (when Millie isn’t there). I’d have liked to think robbo would have, he’s his country’s captain, and seems well able to be vocal and whatnot. The whole idea of giving the most senior player the armband is stupid too. In the last 2 games we’ve have 4 captains.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Why do the Irish hate Hendo? That’s what I want to know.

Why do the Scottish (well one of them anyway) love David Gray?

[Doc_Piptorious]

This is a really interesting Hendo conversation but from my position of football ignorance, I'd break the bank to replace him with Kimmich. Insane engine and drive. More creative than Hendo too based again on my limited exposure to him. Himself and Thiago back together with Fab? Sounds like one of the best midfields EVAHHH to me.

Nah if we are raiding Bayern for a Henderson replacement then Goretzka is your man.

Kimmich would be the Fabinho replacement

[Mark79]

I don’t think you can compare the amount of games they are unavailable through injury when hendo plays double the amount of games as him- Henderson gets a muscle injury after playing twice a week for a few months... naby gets an injury taking the rubbish out.

Also I’m not sure are those stats comparing prem league game or all games? Like is it comparing Henderson’s performance against man city and co to Keitas league cup performance against Lincoln city?

I think Henderson isn’t the most talented footballer out there, but his leadership skills is second to none in the league, in my opinion. Since there hasn’t been a crowd, I’ve really appreciated the amount he does on the pitch- constantly shouting to everyone. When he plays, everyone plays better. I look at the Villa massacre- we defo wouldn’t have imploded as we did, if he was on the pitch. Also, when him and VVD were both out long term, it was disappointing that no one else stood up, and maybe someone needed to be asked to stand up as interim captain (when Millie isn’t there). I’d have liked to think robbo would have, he’s his country’s captain, and seems well able to be vocal and whatnot. The whole idea of giving the most senior player the armband is stupid too. In the last 2 games we’ve have 4 captains.

It says in the post that they’re all Premier League minutes since Keita joined.

It wasn’t to make a comparison over injury records, their games missed aren’t comparable when one is playing more than twice as many minutes as the other.

It was simply to show just how effective Naby is when he actually is on the pitch. Which we all agree is not often enough.

[baitman]

...FWIW I think Phillips is an average player playing out of his skin.

Compare how long henderson got as a newbie in our team when he was a consistently sub standard £20M player...

Phillips is a freebie who is filling a gap much better than he should be and a worthy 4th CB at worse.

If we gave him as much time as henderson got then he could turn into a worldie.

[baitman]

I don’t think you can compare the amount of games they are unavailable through injury when hendo plays double the amount of games as him- Henderson gets a muscle injury after playing twice a week for a few months... naby gets an injury taking the rubbish out.

Also I’m not sure are those stats comparing prem league game or all games? Like is it comparing Henderson’s performance against man city and co to Keitas league cup performance against Lincoln city?

Naby got injured doing a quorn advert.

[frank the tank]

Still not having it. He is technically a very good player. Has loads of ability on the ball as an all round midfielder. Plus his effectiveness within our formation. He’s not Alonso, but he is an elite Prem midfielder, played pretty much every minute in one of the most insane winning and unbeaten runs in English football history. You don’t do that without ability.

The teams we have dominated, City, Bayern, Barca huge Euro nights Hendo played in all of them.

And Hendo played 125 games over the last three seasons so more than 40 per season.

Since Naby joined he has played three seasons and 76 games Hendo has played 112 in the same period.

Ireland hates Hendo

FWIW I think Phillips is an average player playing out of his skin.

i don't think Ireland hates Hendo. Although I do remember some dublin ****** on youtube outside Anfield giving out about Jawr-dun Hend-ar-sun being Liverpool captain.

I agree with most of what you said. I used to have the use of a season ticket (fella who was working abroad that didn't want to give it up) a few years ago and the old fellas around me in the main stand used to give Henderson an awful time altogether. This is the end of the Brendan era / start of the Klopp era. Even then though, i used to think that I'd not seen a player talk as much on a football pitch since Roy Keane. He literally was ****in everywhere talking players through. The guy was like the ****in duracell bunny - kept talking / shouting. I think Jurgen has pushed him to more and more of that on to another level.

I think Henderson is a brilliant captain - in that he gets the extra 2-3% out of some of the players around him. I think Virgil does something similar.

The one thing I would think Hendo is not great at is his shooting. In his position, in such a good team, he should be looking for 10 goals a season really.