Jordan Henderson is now invaluable – can Liverpool cope without him?

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/apr/17/jordan-henderson-liverpool-suspended

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As Jay Rodriguez danced through an almost nonexistent Liverpool midfield and shrugged off Lucas Leiva's feeble challenge before finishing past Brad Jones at the second attempt, he consigned Brendan Rodgers to a ninth defeat of his debut season at Anfield.

It was to be the final defeat of his first year at Liverpool but one that emphasised the failure to learn from mistakes that had defined it. Liverpool lined up in a 4-2-4 that day, as Rodgers attempted to blitz through Southampton by shoehorning Philippe Coutinho, Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suárez into the starting XI and pairing Steven Gerrard in midfield with a half-fit Joe Allen.

Beware the Ides of March. It resulted in a miserable 3-1 defeat, with the away side overrun in the middle and overworked by Mauricio Pochettino's high-pressing style.

After the game Rodgers commented:"It certainly wasn't how we have been playing in the past few weeks." It was a performance and result that was indicative of the club's direction during their five-year hiatus from Champions League football. Looking for a first run of four successive victories in more than two years, they fell apart. The momentum they had built from a late win over Tottenham Hotspur the previous weekend evaporated.

Significantly, it was the last time that Rodgers selected a league side without Jordan Henderson in it. The midfielder was belatedly introduced after Rodriguez had swept the Saints into an unassailable lead, a case of locking the stable door long after the horse had bolted.

Too late in that game, too late in the season, but not too late in the development of Rodgers' Liverpool. Henderson has started all 42 Liverpool league games in the 13 months since and become far more than an ever-present cog in the wheel. In that time they have lost only five, and won 28, while their goalscoring record has grown considerably.

From scoring 56 goals in the first 30 games of that season (1.9 a game), that tally has jumped to 107 (at 2.5 a game) since defeat on the south coast.

The only league action he has missed this season was the final 22 minutes of the 5-1 win against Norwich City in December.

While Sir Alex Ferguson has his own issues with Henderson's running style, it's unlikely Steven Gerrard would share them. Without Henderson's relentless efforts beside him, it is unlikely Gerrard's transition to a deep-lying midfielder this season would have gone so smoothly.

He is the engine room which allows Gerrard to sit, which supports a scintillating attack and protects an often shaky defence. He is the one constant in a perpetually rotating cycle of formations, from three at the back to midfield triangles and diamonds.

His rash challenge on Samir Nasri in the dying embers of Sunday's momentous 3-2 win against Manchester City betrayed a rare tiredness in the £16m signing from Sunderland. A heavy touch and lapse in concentration produced an uncharacteristic lunge and Liverpool's first red card since Jonjo Shelvey's against Manchester United in September 2012. Three games without Henderson present Rodgers with perhaps his trickiest challenge of the season.

The manager's tactical flexibility has underpinned Liverpool's surge, and when it has come through the necessity of personnel changes he has often found a way to make it work. Starting the season without the suspended Luis Suárez, he carried over a system from the end of the 2012-13 season that allowed Daniel Sturridge to flourish as the lone focal point of attack. It produced three dogged 1-0 wins, which propelled Liverpool to the top of the table.

Coutinho's shoulder injury in the 2-2 draw at Swansea in September coincided with the return of Suárez, who scored five goals in the five games for which the Brazilian was absent. The trio of Suárez-Sturridge-Coutinho started only one game before the turn of the year, a 4-0 demolition of Fulham.

An ankle injury sustained by Sturridge in training led to him missing seven weeks, while Gerrard's pulled hamstring ruled him out of action for half that time. A Gerrard-less Liverpool thrived in a 5-0 win at Tottenham Hotspur but they were also overcome in his absence during back-to-back defeats by Manchester City and Chelsea.

Since Sturridge's goalscoring return in the 5-3 win at Stoke City in January, Rodgers has had a full quota of his star players to call upon. It is little coincidence that stabilisation has returned 13 wins in 15 games since the visit of Hull on New Year's Day.

With hindsight that dismal performance at Southampton appears to be a turning point in Rodgers' tenure. It signalled the promotion of Henderson to be the embodiment of what the former Swansea manager wanted to achieve.

From a likely fall-guy in the botched attempt to bring Clint Dempsey to Anfield, the full extent of Henderson's transformation may only become apparent in his enforced absence. It could be the most difficult puzzle for Rodgers to solve in the pursuit of Liverpool's first league title in 24 years.