The Reds boss praised the side’s skipper after a man-of-the-match performance from the England midfielder
Jordan Henderson’s performance in Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Sheffield United on Thursday left Jurgen Klopp thrilled, the German lauding him as “unbeilevably important”.
Liverpool were comfortable winners at Anfield, with Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane getting the goals in either half.
The victory allows Liverpool’s unbeaten run to surpass a full year, as their most recent Premier League loss came on January 3, 2019 – they are next in top-flight action on January 11.
Yet, it was the performance of Henderson that provoked the most excitable response from Klopp in his post-match news conference.
The midfielder made four key passes, completed 92 per cent of his 131 passes and gained possession 12 times, seeing him continue a strong run of form.
“First of all, hopefully it stays like this,” Klopp told reporters when asked about Henderson’s recent performances.
“Yes, he’s exceptional. Yes, he’s outstanding. Gini [Georginio Wijnaldum] and Hendo [Henderson], because they had the biggest number of games, what they have played there is just incredible, absolutely incredible.
“I don’t take that for granted one second. If anybody who is with us doesn’t see the quality of Jordan Henderson, I can’t help.
“Is Hendo the perfect player? No. Do I know anybody who is? No. Is he unbelievably important to us? Yes.
“He didn’t like the position, number six, when he saw how good Fabinho is. I asked him, two or three weeks ago, when he played already exceptional in the position, ‘You don’t like the position, right?’
“He was laughing. Before that he played centre-half. I don’t know exactly what Gareth Southgate [England manager] is now doing with him, which position he will play there, but there are a few options obviously.
“You see it in life, that character and mentality helps always and in this case especially. For me it’s only difficult to speak about one person positively because I always feel I have to mention all the others as well. I don’t take it for granted for one second.”
Henderson himself shrugged off the possibility of Liverpool matching Arsenal’s Invincibles post-match, stressing the Reds are focused solely on their next match.
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