Rio Ferdinand says Jordan Henderson told him what he screamed at Trent Alexander-Arnold in the first half of Liverpool 2-0 Rangers. The captain was doing his job.
Jordan Henderson wasn’t entirely happy with Trent Alexander-Arnold in the first half against Rangers. That’s despite the right-back putting Liverpool 1-0 up with a free-kick.
Rio Ferdinand noticed that and asked Henderson after the game what it was all about.
“I asked him before we came on air, actually,” Ferdinand told BT Sport. “‘You were shouting at Trent earlier in the first half, what was it about?’. He said it was just to keep the ball, don’t give the ball away.
“And it’s those little things. He talked about ‘taking it personal’ and players understanding that being spoken to aggressively on the pitch doesn’t mean I don’t like you.
“During the 90 minutes, what’s said on the pitch stays on the pitch because we want to be better as a team.”
Jordan Henderson screamed at Alexander-Arnold
That just about sums Henderson up. The captain’s standards are sky-high, even in a season like this.
Because it would be easy to let up in that first half as everything went right. Liverpool have been in poor form for some time but here they were getting things together and playing well. Alexander-Arnold even had a sensational moment with his free-kick.
And yet, Henderson didn’t want Alexander-Arnold to let up. He needed perfection and Liverpool were close to delivering it here.
This was Alexander-Arnold’s best performance all season. He got his goal, looked dangerous on the ball and had his positioning spot-on all night long. Henderson was a massive reason for that.
He played in a double-six with Thiago in midfield, with little need to go forward. Instead, the captain focused on controlling the middle of the pitch and covering his full-back. Two jobs he delivered to a fantastic standard.
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