Jordan Henderson: Draw is frustrating but we'll learn from it

Liverpool and Manchester City were involved in a thrilling 2-2 draw at Anfield in the Premier League over the weekend.

Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson; Credit: Twitter/@LFC
By Karthik Raman | Oct 5, 2021 | 3 Min Read follow icon Follow Us

Liverpool’s clash against Manchester City in the Premier League lived up to the pre-match hype, with both teams playing at their maximum ability. The Reds started slowly in the first half, but were more purposeful in the second period, making life extremely difficult for City. Even though Jordan Henderson was pleased with Liverpool’s second-half response in the 2-2 draw with City, he expressed his disappointment at the end result. The second half was a footballing feast, which was played in the highest order. Both teams took home a point following a breathless 45 minutes of action in the second half in which all four goals were scored. 

Sadio Mane’s opener at Anfield was cancelled out by Phil Foden, before Mohamed Salah netted a sensational individual goal to put the Reds 2-1 ahead. However, the end-to-end contest finished in a draw when Kevin De Bruyne’s deflected shot beat Alisson Becker nine minutes from time. Henderson told Liverpoolfc.com, “It was an intense game – as we knew it would be. It’s always going to be tough, City are a fantastic side. We had some good moments, not-so-good moments.” 

“But second half, I thought we reacted really well, a much better performance [in the] second half and unlucky not to probably win the game in the end. A little bit of disappointment but I thought we reacted well after coming in at half-time, because I thought we didn’t perform to the levels we’re capable of in the first half. So, we showed a lot of positivity in the second half and a much better performance.”

Jordan Henderson: We sat a little bit deep

Henderson also spoke about what was missing from the first half and what they tried to change in the second period. “We just weren’t applying the pressure high enough. We sat a little bit deep and weren’t getting pressure [on them]. They were finding too many spaces and creating overloads. We managed to sort that out, I think, at half-time and one or two things that we could do to improve that. We managed to do that and it changes the game in our favour a little bit. We managed to get in the lead twice and we just couldn’t see the game out,” he added.

Speaking about conceding the lead twice in the second half, Henderson said, “Yeah, it is a little bit frustrating, especially when you go – [for] the second time – in the lead and there’s 12 minutes left on the clock. I think we can see the game out better. But overall, we’ve got to learn from our mistakes. It’s not the end of the world – there’s still a long way to go. Take the positives and learn from the things we didn’t do so well and be better in the next game.”

When asked whether it’s a precious point potentially moving forward, the midfielder replied, “Potentially, yeah. But for us, it’s just about taking each game as it comes, going for the win every time we play because we’re capable of winning games. But sometimes that’s football. You’ve got to move on, learn from it and be better in the next one.”





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