Jurgen Klopp admits Jordan Henderson ‘role changed’ vs Aston Villa

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Jurgen Klopp says Jordan Henderson has seen a role change. It comes as Liverpool beat Aston Villa 1-0 at Anfield on Saturday.

Jurgen Klopp saw his side overcome Steven Gerrard and Aston Villa this weekend. It was a tough game, with Liverpool forced to fight for the win as the visitors refused to give them much.

Eventually, Mohamed Salah won a penalty that he converted himself for the points. It’s a good thing, too, as the Reds struggled to create good chances here.

Villa did a good job of shutting down space around their box. It forced Liverpool to create from wide positions and the majority of their play certainly came down the flanks.

Including from Jordan Henderson, who played very, very wide on the right-hand side. After the game, Klopp admitted that there’s been a role change there.

Jurgen Klopp on Jordan Henderson role

“Yes, we worked on it [using Henderson wide],” he said after the game, per Liverpoolfc.com.

“Not only on the right side, we have similar things on the left side and I thought there were plenty of top situations [there].

“It’s just the formation is slightly different on the left side, Thiago is not as high in the formation so it’s more Sadio and Robbo. Yes, Jordan’s position on that side is pretty flexible, we just have to make sure that one of the three thinks about protecting as well, but as long as we keep the ball it’s all fine.

“Yes, his role changed slightly, that’s true.”

Now, we don’t think Klopp is talking about a ‘new’ change here. As we’ve written before, this is something Liverpool have looked to do all season.

Mohamed Salah drifts wider than every on the right, while Trent Alexander-Arnold is moving inside at a higher rate. Henderson – and Harvey Elliott before him – looks to switch with those two, moving in and out to create space for one another.

It’s working wonderfully for Liverpool. Henderson is enjoying his best season going forward in quite some time, while both Salah and Alexander-Arnold are thriving as ever. That is having an effect on the left-hand side and as Klopp says, things are a little asymmetrical.

But it’s working very well right now. We haven’t seen too many changes to Liverpool’s style of play over the last few years – this is a welcome one, though.