Gabby Agbonlahor has claimed that Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson ‘couldn’t run’ against Wolves on Sunday.
Speaking to TalkSPORT, Agbonlahor said the Liverpool man looked exhausted as the season nears its end.
“The amount of games Liverpool are playing, watching the Wolves game on the weekend, there was a situation where I think Henderson was tracking back on a counter-attack and he looked like he couldn’t run. They’re exhausted,” said the pundit.
“So he needs that break in the summer, give it him off and even other players should have that break.”
The game was Henderson’s 56th of a mammoth season for The Reds. One more push Jordan.
Henderson misses out for England
The discussion on TalkSPORT was centred around Henderson being left out of England’s squad for the four Nations League games in June.
Gareth Southgate claimed on Tuesday that Henderson being overlooked was merely a case of resting his 31-year-old legs.
Asked whether Liverpool’s number 14 may need to worry about his place at this winter’s World Cup, Agbonlahor emphatically dismissed such an idea.
“Not really no, when you know you’ve got the managers trust, the manager probably phoned him and said ‘you know what, have the summer, rest, you’re guaranteed in my squad,’ and he deserves to be,” he said.
“It’s a lot of games they’ve played and Henderson’s played a lot of them hasn’t he.”
He certainly has. Liverpool have played 62 games so far this season, and Henderson has only missed six of them. The skipper has mostly been excellent during The Reds’ attempt to win the quadruple.
Jurgen’s main man
No Liverpool player has actually played more than Henderson’s 56 appearances in 2021/22. Nearest to him is, somewhat surprisingly, Diogo Jota. The Portuguese forward has played just two less than his captain.
Four more of Liverpool’s squad have hit the 50 mark this season. Alisson Becker has played 53 times, while Virgil Van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane have all played 50 exactly.
It feels wrong that players that have given so much will still have to join up with their national squads.
Hopefully Southgate isn’t the only one who sees sense and gives some time off to players who have run themselves into the ground.
Between now and then Liverpool will have to put their tiredness to one side though. We’ve got a European Cup to win.