So we can't question coaches on this forum? Is that what is it?
And I personally like how Pep's team play. But I guess a different view ain't acceptable on this forum either?
Sure, but you have to be intellectually honest about it - or it's pointless and (ultimately) boring - and most people aren't.
A well-followed twitter LFC account who was previously very active on here has long had a problem with Henderson. He obscures it occasionally by saying Henderson's a better 6, but if he was rotating solely at 6, he'd be highlighting how he's inferior to Fabinho (despite a decline in Fabinho's performance over the last 18 months or so, but I digress).
Yesterday, he was 'explaining' how the best 8's are more adept at turning on the ball, working through the lines, comfortable under pressure, etc. The usual criticisms of Henderson. But he did so by contrasting him with a player like Silva (I assume he meant Bernado rather than David, but it doesn't really matter).
That's not intellectually honest:
because I'm pretty sure that Klopp knows Henderson isn't Bernado Silva.
Criticising a player for not being what
you want in a given role is pointless. If the manager is picking him in that role, what does that suggest the
manager wants in that role? That's the more interesting question - and more difficult, in many ways, than just saying "Silva/Bellingham/Tchoumani/Tielemans would be better 8s".
Alternatively - the argument isn't really about the player, it's about the manager. It's not that Henderson isn't good enough to play at 8, it's why Klopp plays someone like Henderson at 8. But most critics don't (yet) have the balls to put that argument - "Klopp's an idiot if he thinks XYZ".
Henderson had a poor game yesterday - he didn't execute much well (though he did contribute possibly the best pass by a Liverpool player in the game, late in the first half). The intercepted attempted pass that led to their goal was a good example of
what he's in the team to do - but consistently berated for by those who emphasise control at all times - which just wasn't quite executed. But criticising, as many do, what he tries to do and the style in which he does it, when he has an off game, misses the point. That's the type of player he is, and to be regularly picked in that role, arguably still first choice there when everyone's fit, he must infact be doing more or less what the manager wants; when he's playing well.
