‘Actually human’ Jordan Henderson defended as Kylian Mbappe destroyed

It seems like we have misjudged the mood on Jordan Henderson and actually, his Saudi Arabia capers are just fine.

We also have mails on Kylian Mbappe, Liverpool and more. Send your own thoughts to theeditor@football365.com

Defending Henderson
Usually the bastions of all things righteous and defenders of the persecuted (Raheem Sterling as an example, unless they don’t agree with your political views it would seem), but your hit piece on Jordan Henderson is a little extreme and over the top.

By all accounts, Henderson is a thoroughly decent chap from people who have met him. Signed autographs and been great with kids. Given up his time and money for charity. A guy I go to games with met him and he said Hendo is actually human. Held a conversation and had a laugh. A huge compliment these days because most footballers are emotionless robots that don’t even smile and stop. I am not his biggest fan but there is a good guy in there.

Also, your huge U-turn on Southgate. Again, not his biggest fan but after reading your site and you ramming it down my throat that he is the greatest thing since 10p Freddo’s .. I came round to the guy. I don’t like his defensive mind set but defensive football appears to be the correct formula (France, Italy in the past) for International football. I respect what he has done for England. Who else is there anyway? That’s another bottle..

In summary … Jordan Henderson made a monumental mistake by going to Saudi. One mistake shouldn’t result in such hate and bile. Let him go home to Sunderland and guide them back to the Prem in peace.
Ben (Hendo Defender, because no one else will. Not one person would take a huge pay rise either it would seem…bollox!) Howarth

…I will never understand the obsession with the hate Jordan Henderson gets. For years he’s been mocked for being shite even though it’s fairly obvious he’s a very good player. Even for England he’s been good when he’s come in, notably earning a starting spot at the last World Cup.

I understand he’s a hypocrite by going to Saudi Arabia but that’s a different story altogether. People saying it’s embarrassing that he’s coming back are bizarre. He probably doesn’t want to live there anymore? Maybe his family didn’t settle? And what? He can come back if he wants. I genuinely couldn’t imagine caring about where another man lives or if he wants to return home. I don’t think people would say it’s embarrassing that Kante, Firmino or Mendy returned to the PL if it were to happen. It’s so strange.

I’ve also seen many fans suggest he isn’t good enough for the PL anymore. He would get into most teams’ starting XI quite easily. I’m quite sure that he might be the most underrated player in PL history. The way people talk about him makes him sound like he’s some liability and was never good, when in fact he was a very important player for an absolutely exceptional Liverpool side.
Dion, Arsenal

…Henderson is a footballer first, political activist second. I imagine most of Football 365 journalists are political activists first and journalists second. That is the way you come across and that is why there is a disconnect.

Whether you like it or not his reputation is fine in the eyes of most fans outside of this website, he went to play football and be paid well for it as is his right as a footballer.
Stephen

Woke up!
Hard to disagree with much about Dave Tickner’s piece on Jordan Henderson . . . but one sentence did rather annoy me. It was the suggestion that using woke as a pejorative is the preserve of ‘culture war dullards’. Dave seems to think the word ‘woke’ is synonymous with progressive or caring or compassionate. It’s not. To be woke is to pretend to a moral virtue you do not really possess. It’s not woke to be against the UK’s immigration policy. But it is woke to compare this policy to “1930s Germany” and then a few months later say absolutely nothing when Hamas behave very like some 1930s Germans.

It’s also woke to bleat on about LGBT rights for years and then scuttle off to Saudi Arabia for a big fat payday. So Gary Lineker and Jordan Henderson are, I’m afraid, the very definition of woke and yes, I mean that most pejoratively.
Matt Pitt

Does nobody want Mbappe?
Is it just me or are clubs not really that interested in signing Mbappe? There are reports Real offered him a pre-contract agreement but low-balled him. This might be why he is keeping his options open while hoping PSG will offer him a bumper new deal.

Real don’t really need him, they need a striker which he isn’t. So their choice if they sign him is upset Vinicius Junior by kicking him out of his favourite position or play Mbappe as a striker which cause him to sulk (he has already made it very clear he doesn’t want to play in the centre). Its a lose-lose situation. Real should just sign Oshimen. An attack of Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo and Oshimen with Bellingham behind is a truly terrify prospect for any opponent.

Liverpool are the only other club that have really been suggested as a possible destination despite them probably not being able to afford his ridiculous salary demands. Mbappe is also allergic to pressing so would not fit in a Klopp system.

Mbappe seems like a toxic influence and appears to have taken over from Neymar as PSG’s party-boy man-child. Football now seems to be a hobby he lowers himself to in between parties with celebrities. This along with how much he will cost makes me think he will stay at PSG. He has probably partied his way out of a dream move to Real even as a free agent as he just isn’t worth the money or trouble.

Who else could actually afford to sign him? I mean a club not in Saudi Arabia or Newcastle.
Morris

How much can Liverpool take?
With brilliant news of TAA’s crocked knee one wonders how much more this Liverpool side can withstand being stretched?

No need to dramatically list out names on our treatment table (or names lost to Afcon or Japan or Timbuktu) like some contributors seem to enjoy doing when bolstering all their club’s many many woes, but clearly we’ve taken our setbacks with the best of them. It might even be fair to say we’ve remained a bit more resilient thus far than most, given full tally of the league’s injury-riddled sides, their schedule commitments, table positions and in the very tangible category of respective Chumbawamba properties of teams coming back stronger after knockdowns.

Rather than mad dash into the January window for cover I hope the club takes pause (as I’m sure they have even before this injury) to consider whether Trent really eventually moves centre of the park. But, even if he doesn’t, right-sided fullback cover does seem thin as the next academy products don’t appear prepared to substantially fill in and Joe Gomez already unavailable having shifted left.

Seems the football gods really have it in for us this season (cue the many many woes) but I remain optimistic as 2.0 appears reasonably ahead of schedule and it should be realistic expecting legitimate contention for several seasons ahead, provided we retain Salah’s service and Vvd holds up and keeps smelling nice.
Eric, Los Angeles CA (Pennies for Hendo’s thoughts as he mulls a Saudi exit strategy; pretty sure he would’ve found plenty of minutes with McAllister then Szobo out, and probably would have relished right-back fill in duties too such was his tremendous character)

For the love of football
Went to a couple of FA Cup games over the weekend and whilst not a great lover of the “Magic of the Cup” © BBC, it was a reminder of what enjoyment there is to be had in a simple game. When there was a goal, the fans erupted like they’d actually won the tin pot – unconfined happiness with much singing, dancing and general whooping it up, at which point it dawned on me what I had been missing this season – the pure joy of celebrating a goal.

Down the pub after the games we were contrasting the euphoria of the instant hit when the ball goes in the net to the semi-hesitant reaction when a goal is scored in the Premier League as the whole thing is referred to VAR. You are left in limbo as some busybody in London rewinds the whole move to try to find a reason to disallow the goal.

Was his toenail offside four passes back from the final touch? Did he breathe too heavily on the defender when rising for the header? Was his sock at half mast when he crossed the ball? More and more ludicrous attempts to stamp out the joy.

All the while we are stood there muttering to our neighbours – it looked a bit tight; he had his arm out; the keeper looked like he’d been shot; etc – whilst all the instant rush of a goal is sucked out of the stadium. The ref stands in the middle with his finger in his ear, the players are shouting “come on ref” until eventually with a grand gesture, the goal is allowed and everybody breathes a sigh of relief and lets out a small relieved cheer. Where the hell is the fun in that?

VAR is a joy vampire that has ruined the game and it is not until you experience the immediacy of a non-VAR game that the depth of its impact becomes apparent.

The Blades are going down this season, and some of us are leaving with a smile so that we can get back to enjoying the unconfined delight of just scoring a goal without spending the next two minutes staring at a screen before the Stockley Park vampire pisses on our chips.

I do feel sorry for the “Big Club” © Sky, Premier League supporters who will never experience the joy of bouncing off the walls without thinking that Big Brother might just put them back down in the dirt. Unless they take their blinkers off and go to a lower level game that is. They’d love it. As we do.
Bladey Mick (Sadly, the genie is out of the bottle)

Two legs = too much
Given the constant discussion about fixture congestion, player minutes etc. is there anything more pointless than the two legged league cup semi-finals? Why is this still a thing? Who wants it? Those who are in their 30s, or older, will remember the first and second round used to also be two legs. This was scrapped. So why do we still have a 2-legged semi-final?

When discussions emerge about, scrapping FA cup replays, the accusation is that it is only to benefit the big clubs. But that’s not the case here. In fact quite the opposite. Take the game last night. Chelsea are given a chance to go again and overturn a first leg deficit. A small club will always have more of a chance in a single match than a 2-legged affair.

So why are we still doing this? Who wants it? Well, I suspect the FA who want to minimise the chance of a small team in the final. I can’t see anyone else who would.
Mike, LFC, Dubai

Silva was not gold
If you walk away from this Mailbox entry thinking I’m saying he was sh*t, I’m really not but…

David Silva. Was never the best midfielder at City (I’d have had Yaya, Fernandinho and De Bruyne over him in their pomp) and he’s not even the best midfielder named Silva that City have had in the last decade because Bernardo is better and really doesn’t get the credit he deserves.

Very good player, nothing more. Never understood all the purring and fawning over him.
Lewis, Busby Way

Nobody cares about your favourite toys
Really enjoying the letters in from Mark MCFC. They oscillate between baity and conciliatory – asking for wider engagement with him and his team, craving attention. Gives off strong ‘rich kid with all the toys but no mates’ vibes.

Latest one went too far though – read the room, mate. Just like no one cares about which was your favourite Lance Armstrong Tour de France victory, we don’t care which of your oil-soaked gaudy trinkets are/were the best in your opinion. We pity the real City fans who have no club left to support, and as for the sportswashed cheerleaders masquerading as fans like you, we are fairly indifferent to everything you offer.

Hope that cleared it up. Please skulk back into your corner now and stop asking us to care about your gross “project’s” successes.

Thanks and warm regards,
Barney

…David Silva flying under the radar for Manchester City and having his very own statue outside the stadium?

El Mago, indeed.
Bagpuss

Gerrard OF?
I’ve just read and thoroughly enjoyed Duncan’s excellent letter about Gerard at Rangers; I think we all have such short memories it’s easy to forget how good of a job he did oooop norf.

I should say though Duncan, thanks to the massive popularity of a certain creator-led website, “OF” really means something different in most circles.

I was very confused for a moment; I thought Rangers fans liked Gerrard more than we could possibly know.
Staying anonymous for…reasons.

…Re Duncan’s mail in today’s mailbox – Please can people not refer to the Old Firm as “OF’… On today’s internet those letters have connotations…

It made me picture Stevie Me in nothing but a Rangers top, windmilling away on a webcam, and now I feel really grim.

Ta,
Dave PVFC

…forgot to mention that the soundtrack to my earlier daymare was of course by Phil Collins.

Ta,
Dave PVFC