We Need To Be More Clever – Liverpool Captain

Jordan Henderson says Liverpool will have to be “more clever” at Sunderland than they were in their recent defeat to Watford.

Henderson and his team-mates head to Wearside on Wednesday evening determined to build upon their 1-0 victory over leaders Leicester City by condemning the Black Cats to a fifth successive defeat.

Henderson came through the ranks at Sunderland before earning a £16million switch to Anfield in June 2011, but the Liverpool captain will have only one aim in mind this week.

Asked about Sam Allardyce, he said: “He’s a good enough manager to keep them up, but the only thing that will be on my mind will be to get the three points.”

Liverpool’s win over the Foxes was their first in five attempts in all competitions and followed a shock 3-0 defeat at promoted Watford.

Henderson said the Reds played clever football to see off Leicester – and he is expecting to have to do much the same at Sunderland if they are to prosper once again.

He said: “We need to be more clever. With the conditions at Watford and the wind, we tried to over-play at times and that sort of killed us.

“We need to play more clever football, which is what we did against Leicester by playing in behind their defence more, and that gave us a platform.

“We will have to be clever again at Sunderland because it will be a difficult game for us, so we need to make sure we do the same as we did against Leicester.

“We need to find different solutions in games and make sure we win the battle.”

The Boxing Day victory was secured by striker Christian Benteke’s first league goal since October after he came off the bench to replace the injured Divock Origi.

With Daniel Sturridge, like Origi, recovering from a hamstring problem, Benteke could get the nod this time around, and Henderson is hoping the end of his drought will provide a welcome boost.

He said: “All strikers want to be scoring goals and I am sure that one will give him confidence.”