As England beat Senegal 3-0 last night, Jordan Henderson was a key part of the Three Lions’ victory amid the Liverpool player receiving harsh reviews from fans for his performances and questions over his role in the England team.
Since Gareth Southgate started including him in his starting XIs during the World Cup, Henderson has been one of his country’s most impressive players, and former defender Stuart Pearce admits he’s confused about the fans’ disrespect towards the Liverpool captain.
Speaking on Talksport, Pearce said: “I’ve never understood the criticism. Henderson was my England Under-21s captain in 2011 and even back then I saw the leadership in him.
“When there were no fans in the stadiums, I was on the West Ham staff and when we played Liverpool, you could hear every word coming from Jordan Henderson and I just thought “Wow, this kid is something different.”
🤦♂️ “I don’t get it! Henderson is a team player and he does all the dirty things.”
🤔 “Football fans turn around and say: ‘What’s Henderson doing in the team?’…”
🔥 “You need a Jordan Henderson!”
Stuart Pearce criticises football fans disregarding Jordan Henderson for #ENG pic.twitter.com/sz8e6ahGKZ
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) December 5, 2022
“He is a team player and he does all the dirty work. Every team needs a Jordan Henderson in their team, he’s that good.”
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Henderson opened the scoring for England last night, with Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka grabbing the other two goals which have sent them safely to the quarter-finals of the World Cup, where they will face France on Saturday evening.