Jordan Henderson discusses hardest part of playing in central defence vs Monterrey

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Liverpool were without Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and Dejan Lovren for their Club World Cup semi-final against Monterrey on Wednesday.

That meant that captain Jordan Henderson had to play at centre half alongside Joe Gomez as the Reds clinched a late 2-1 victory to book their place in tomorrow’s final.

But the match wasn’t without complications as Monterrey counter-attacking effectively at times, with Henderson’s inexperience as a defender showing.

And he told Liverpool’s website: “[It was] different! I’ve got great players around us so they make it a lot easier. It was different but I just tried to do the best job I could there.

“I haven’t really played there before. We had the majority of the ball and that was OK with the defensive side, trying to keep the line and stuff which is probably the most difficult thing. But, overall I think the we have got to be happy with the result and performance in the end.”

TBR’s View – Liverpool dealt with centre back crisis far better than Manchester City have

Essentially, one injury for Manchester City, for Aymeric Laporte, has derailed Manchester City’s entire season, exposing Pep Guardiola’s backline from the day they lost to Norwich onward.

Liverpool had to go into a major semi final with only one recognised central defender and got the job done with as little fuss as could be expected.

Henderson was caught out at times, but the strength of the Reds team was able to absorb those issues far more effectively than City have with expensive reserve centre backs this season.