Liverpool: Why Steven Gerrard and Jordan Henderson Should Play Midfield for Reds

Liverpool has several important fixtures coming up over the next four to six weeks. They include a League Cup semifinal against Manchester City, a FA Cup fixture against the United half of the same part of the country and several vital Premier League clashes, in which the Reds need to pick up three points to get their Champions League charge back on track.

With one or two players missing due to injury and suspension in the squad, Kenny Dalglish will have to pick and choose his starting 11 carefully to give his side the best possible chance of victory in each match.

In this article, we will be examining exactly why Jordan Henderson and Steven Gerrard should start for Liverpool’s Premier League matches against Bolton Wanderers and Wolverhampton Wanderers away from Anfield, before a quadruple-header of high-pressure clashes against Tottenham (home), Manchester United (away), Everton (home) and Arsenal (home).

The senior midfield players currently available to Kenny Dalglish are Gerrard, Charlie Adam, Henderson and Jay Spearing—plus Jonjo Shelvey.

With returning captain Gerrard certain to start as many matches as possible following his extremely lengthy lay off, Dalglish will be looking for the ideal partner for his talisman; what are set to be the most important clashes of the season for the Reds.

Dalglish has mainly switched between a 4-4-2 and 4-2-3-1 for this season’s fixtures, with the two central midfielders comprising a holding player—Lucas Leiva until his injury—and a deeper, possession-turnover focused player—mainly Charlie Adam until a month or so ago.

Though perhaps, not always his most effective position throughout his career, Gerrard has been deployed by King Kenny in the second of those midfield places this term. He aims to harness his natural talents of making late bursts forward from deeper areas—much like his goal against Newcastle United showed.

So, who to place alongside him?

Charlie Adam has shown that he is able to do the more defensive role, albeit with a high risk of giving away needless fouls around the edge of his own box. However, his form has recently dropped away rather alarmingly. His passing, one of his main strengths, has been somewhat discouraging as of late and he has been wayward at best with his set-piece delivery.

With Blackpool last season, Adam suffered a similar dip in form around the same time of year before recovering strongly to end the season on a high; Reds fans will be hoping for the same turnaround this term.

Jay Spearing is a game competitor and will always give more than his best for the Reds cause. There is every chance he will be called upon to play in the matches against the likes of Manchester United and Everton.

For the next games the Reds face in the league; however, there should be no need to field the most defensive-minded midfielder remaining in the current squad.

Jordan Henderson is the man Liverpool needs in the middle for these fixtures, alongside Gerrard.

Both are arguably a similar type of player; they can both break forward from deep. Both like to get on the ball and start attacking moves. Both can deliver balls from wider areas.

Possibly the one area of concern is whether they can garner an understanding between them to really control that central area without the ball; covering each other and filling the space in front of the defence as Lucas or Spearing would normally do.

Against Bolton and the Wolves, the teams currently lying 19th and 16th, should this be a real problem for players of the caliber of Gerrard and Henderson?

Not really.

Liverpool’s troubles this season have been at the top end of the pitch, not in the defensive third.

With Daniel Agger, Pepe Reina and/or Jamie Carragher in the back line, the Reds have a great base of organisational quality—players who can instruct those ahead of them who should be where.

Gerrard and Henderson together offer an extraordinary amount of stamina and work-rate when things are going well and the Reds are shifting the ball about as they can. But they need to replicate that if Liverpool is struggling to break down their opposition too.

Liverpool has scored just ten goals in the ten games away from Anfield this season, though those goals have won a respectable 16 points.

The two of those together in midfield can give Liverpool enough creativity to add considerably to the current goals tally—or perhaps more specifically, can give the team enough chances to add to the tally. Finishing has been another matter entirely, of course.

Should Dalglish choose to go with the 4-2-3-1 system, it could easily be argued that either Henderson or Gerrard would be the central of the “3″ behind a forward. But Jonjo Shelvey would be my choice for that role against the two Wanderers sides.

Shelvey has shown he has the ability to start games in the Premier League with his excellent showing against Aston Villa, while he could be taken out and replaced with (for example) Jay Spearing for the games against the stronger sides thereafter.

Liverpool has plenty of work to do to make sure they win games by actually making sure they finish off chances.

But by playing Gerrard and Henderson together in the centre, they can at least ensure that they have the technical ability and drive through the middle of the pitch to dominate their rivals. And that will be one big step towards an important three points in each of their forthcoming matches.