The captain spoke ahead of Liverpool’s FA Cup quarerfinal tie against Nottingham Forest.
Captain Jordan Henderson, when he’s fit, is one of the first names on manager Jürgen Klopp’s team sheet. The midfielder has been at Anfield for over a decade and proved himself to three different managers in that time.
While many might look to Virgil van Dijk’s renewed fitness as the reason that Liverpool are having such a fantastic season, it’s no coincidence that Henderson has also remained remarkably healthy. In fact, Henderson has made more appearances on the pitch than any other Liverpool player this season, and if the Reds bring home anymore trophies, Henderson’s influence will likely be a big reason for it.
The captain spoke to the official site in preparation for the team’s quarterfinal match against Nottingham Forest on Sunday evening and discussed his strong season.
“I just take it game by game, prepare myself the best way I can to make sure I am in the best shape possible for the next game and take it from there,” Henderson explained.
“Obviously training and games can be intense but I think the coaching staff have done really well in using all the squad, tinkering training a little bit to make sure that we feel fresh going into games and giving the lads a little rest period whenever needed.”
Trent Alexander-Arnold is one player who has been unfortunately hit with injury and will be out for the next few weeks. Mohamed Salah is also a doubt for Sunday’s match. These players will be missed, because Henderson expects a tough match from the Championship side.
“You look at how well they’ve been playing, I think they’ve played a couple of Premier League sides at home – Arsenal and Leicester – and they beat them both, so that just shows how tough it can be going there and how well they are doing,” he said. “I’m sure the atmosphere will be electric and it’ll be a very tough evening for us as a team but we need to make it tough for them also and at the end of the day, if we do our job like we know we can and perform to the levels that we’re capable of then we should be confident enough to go there and get through to the next round.”
Since he joined the club in 2012, Henderson has won two League Cup trophies, a Champions League trophy, and of course the league title, along with a slew of smaller competitions as well. The one he hasn’t won is the FA Cup, which the Reds last claimed back in 2006.
Henderson doesn’t appear to be keeping score that way, and insists that they take every tournament seriously.
“I just concentrate on the next game and whoever we’re playing, whatever competition. In terms of trophies, you want to win as many as possible and of course the FA Cup is always a big tournament to play in and you always want to win it.”
The FA Cup is only one of the trophies the Reds will be fighting for over the next eight or so weeks. They are also in the quarterfinals of the Champions League and now only one point behind Manchester City in the battle for the Premier League as well.
There’s plenty left to play for, and at least some of the credit for that is down to Jordan Henderson’s steady, constant presence in the middle of the pitch.
