The Liverpool FC Thread XIV

Agreed. Coutinho has had injuries, too.

Henderson's stats fly in the face of what I enjoy seeing him do. He's probably our only player who makes lung-busting runs into the box, and we saw that in both legs against Man United. He missed a couple of glaring opportunities, though. If he could convert those, he'd be a much more complete player and - if he had better numbers in the final third - maybe we wouldn't be hearing this current speculation over his future.

Has Henderson been running into the box so much this season? Seems like Henderson/Can have been playing a double pivot role where one goes and the other stays but Can seems to have been running forward with the ball more than Henderson (compared to the season before where Henderson made loads of runs).

Hoping it's not the heel problem which stops that part of his game. Maybe it's tactical? Maybe he's trying to take more responsibility in covering the defence. Hoping a pre-season will help sort him out a little.

You may enter my DM's

It goes down in there

Hahaha why

I don't know where the whole 'lung-busting runs' into the box thing comes from. There's actually very few goals where he's done that. A counter-attack goal thanks to a perfect Coutinho through ball against Villa 3 seasons ago, a ridiculously lucky one (defenders sliding clearance deflecting off him into the net) last year against Swansea, and maybe one to get on the end of a cross in Europe last season. That's 3 goals in 4 seasons under Rodgers and Klopp where he's largely been the first choice box to box mid.

What he actually is good at, and does regularly, is get into positions to shoot from the edge of the area. Places himself well when the play is busy and he's almost always an option there. He's scored a few from the edge of the box for us but it's his wastefulness in the area that's most grating. Too many very easy chances being wasted by him there. He has no composure and his technique is consistently horrific. It's irritating that none of our coaches have fixed this. It's the same error every time, lean back too much, mistime the ball, usually sidefooting it skewing wide of the keeper's right or high to his left.

I reckon Henderson is possibly keeping himself fit for the euros too so is not overexerting himself as your season is likely over.

Firmino on the plane to Germany but will need to prove his fitness.

Since he's one booking away from missing the 2nd leg, I'd rather him not play if he's fully fit. Give him 20-30 minutes in the PL game and the weekend and he'll be back fit to face Dortmund at Anfield

Let's be honest, Dortmund will know we have 4 or 5 first team players who can't afford a yellow, so like any team would they're gonna try their hardest to get them booked. We'll be missing a few in the return leg so at least we have the option of guaranteeing Firmino isn't one of them.

The reputation comes from the 13/14 and 14/15 season. It's a bit overstated but he was the one who made the late runs into the box (which similarly leads into getting into positions to shoot from the edge of the box). Using goals to judge his runs into the box isn't correct since as you've pointed out, he doesn't seem to have a knack for knowing how to score. However if you looked at the number of chances/shots he's taken from late runs, it would be much higher (I don't have those stats though).

Given the bold I don't know why you've overlooked the distinction I made in my post. When he takes up intelligent positions to shoot from the edge of the area, by and large, they're not as a result of a 'lung busting run into the box' a la Lampard. He places himself well for the lay-off to the edge of the box and usually he's fairly static. See goals vs Swansea, Norwich, Burnley, Leicester, West Brom, and more in recent seasons (and hundreds of missed chances, all in the same technique I earlier described).

And if his production from late runs is so awful (which it is) then why would it be anything that defines him as a player/worth discussing as a major plus point of his. It's not.

So, Sturridge could make way for Origi tonight. Not surprising, given I said the other day that Klopp may be tempted to deploy a similar system to the one we used at Chelsea and Man City away this season.

Origi would offer more in terms of running and work-rate, which may be crucial if Dortmund are to have 60/70% of possession. We can then use Firmino and Sturridge off the bench - and those are two huge substitutions to boast. Imagine if we are holding Dortmund with 25 left, and we can then bring on that pair. It would do wonders for us psychologically.

I was looking at the stats from two of Dortmund's last games - they had 65% and 75% of possession respectively - but that doesn't worry me greatly. We saw City have the ball for large periods of our game at the Etihad.