JURGEN KLOPP JOKINGLY said that he is sorry for playing Jordan Henderson as a number 6 as the midfielder continues to shine in a box-to-box role.
Henderson helped create Liverpool’s second goal of the match, cutting open the Porto defence to pave the way for Roberto Firmino’s tap-in in a 2-0 win in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals at Anfield on Tuesday.
In recent times, Henderson has been given more of a free role, allowing him to get into the attack and create as he did with the pass that sprung Trent Alexander-Arnold on that second finish.
The switch comes in the aftermath of several years of Henderson playing a more defensive role, and Klopp admitted that he came away very impressed with Henderson’s ability to create in a more attacking way.
“It would be cool if I could ask a player to please play these kind of passes, and we score immediately,” Klopp said.
Hendo’s a brilliant player, I’m really happy that he can show that again. He likes the position obviously. It was my fault that for one-and-a-half years he played as a number 6. Sorry for that! But we needed him there.
“It was a really good performance. The second goal was brilliant, but I think he had the cross for Sadio’s ‘goal’ as well. It was a brilliant cross. I like that.
“There were a lot of good performances tonight. It was really mature against a difficult side. They were always ready for the counter, they made it quite uncomfortable. But now we played the first game, we know more about each other, and now we go there and play again.”
Henderson was not the only impressive Liverpool figure, as Naby Keita also shined in Liverpool’s victory.
The midfielder scored his second goal in as many matches, firing a deflected shot that found the back of the net to give Liverpool the early lead.
Up two goals before half-time, Liverpool took care of business on Tuesday, showing maturity that pleased Klopp.
Absolutely. It’s all good. We had to defend a few too many balls in the last line, which they did well,” he said.
“You saw how physically strong the striker [Marega] is, unbelievable! And I heard outside that he was a little bit ill. If he’s not ill, it will be a really tough one in Portugal!
“Finding the 100% mix of control and being a threat constantly, we were close to that tonight. We probably didn’t have as many chances as we wish in the second half, but controlling happens in different ways. The best way is with the ball. When we lost it, we had to do a lot of work to get it back.
“That’s not too cool, but we had fantastic counter-press situations, protection was brilliant second half. Their formation had one-and-a-half strikers, and against Southampton that was a bit of a problem in the first half, but we did it well tonight. I liked a lot of parts of the game.
“Two-nil is a really, really good result. I would have bought it before the game and I will take it now! All good.”
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