Liverpool captain is
Football writers’ player of the yearMidfielder says he looks for criticism to help his gameThere were times early in Jordan Henderson’s
Liverpool career, when the team were stuttering and his own performances fell short of expectations, when occasionally the harsh words would cut deep. When he would let the setbacks, the background chatter, the deluge of negativity, get to him. And perhaps the most telling measure of the journey he has taken is that where once Henderson was cowed by criticism, now he seeks it out. For the Premier League-winning captain and the new Footballer of the Year, your opinions are his strength.
Speaking after receiving his award from the Football Writers’ Association, another trophy to add to his bulging cabinet, Henderson admitted that the path to glory had been anything but smooth. Even now, having won everything there is to win, there remains a large and stubborn constituency of the English footballing public who will never quite rate him, who will never shake their opinion of him as a reliable but limited midfielder. That will never change. What has changed is how he deals with it.