JORDAN HENDERSON believes Liverpool must prove they can develop a tough streak as they endeavour to show they have not turned into soft touches on their travels.
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| Jordan Henderson wants Liverpool to get tough ahead of his return to his boyhood club Sunderland |
The early impression made under Jurgen Klopp came away from Anfield with eye-catching successes against Chelsea and Manchester City, though they have been followed by insipid defeats by Newcastle and Watford.
Liverpool have long-been accused of wilting against teams prepared to battle and Henderson returns to former club Sunderland on Wednesday night expecting a similar approach from Sam Allardyce’s side.
Henderson typified the refusal to take a backward step in the weekend win over Leicester City and said that approach must now become the norm.
“We fought from the start right to the end and that is what got us the three points,” said the Liverpool captain. "It’s that toughness you need in the game and then you build from that. With the quality we have in the team we are then going to get chances and score."
“But that’s just a given, really. We should be doing that every week and make sure we do it again Wednesday.”
Henderson admitted Liverpool tried to play too much football in the squalid 3-0 defeat to Watford when they “lost their minds” according to Klopp.
“We need to be cleverer,” he said. “With the conditions at Watford with the wind we tried to overplay at times and that sort of killed us.
“We need to play more clever football, which is what we did against Leicester by playing in behind their defence more and that gave us a platform. We will have to be clever again at Sunderland because it will be a difficult game for us so we need to make sure we do the same as we did against Leicester.
“We need to find different solutions in games and make sure we win the battle.” Liverpool manager Klopp wants his players to “think offensively” as soon as they win the ball rather than passing for passing’s sake in midfield.
There will be an onus on Christian Benteke to run in behind Sunderland’s backline, but Klopp is confident his side can build upon the performance when they became the first team to stop Leicester scoring this season.
“We spoke about this,” said Klopp. “Fighting for second balls is a physical fight and we have to do this. It’s nothing we can’t do. It’s a problem of understanding.
“We have no problem with character. The character of the team is great. Maybe you speak about mentality. That’s what we have to create. You have to get stronger as a group, as a team, in situations like this. That’s only works with common experiences - ‘we did it, come on let’s do it again’.
“That’s what we try to do but that needs time. Very often in situations which you could see at Watford we won the second ball and didn’t start immediately to think offensively. We gave the ball to the next player and he didn’t want it. It was a like a shock.”
Benteke will replace Divock Origi, but Liverpool have been fortunate with how the fixtures have been scheduled over Christmas and there are unlikely to be many, if any, other changes.
Jon Flanagan played 30-minutes of his first game since June 2014 when playing for Liverpool’s U21s against Fleetwood Town yesterday.
Meanwhile, Liverpool are monitoring Leicester’s teenage defender Ben Chilwell who is currently on loan at Huddersfield Town. However, there are more likely to follow up their interest in the 19-year-old in the summer rather than January.
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