Jurgen Klopp has delivered a robust defence of Jordan Henderson ahead of Saturday’s showdown with Chelsea as the Liverpool boss insisted: “He’s a proper captain.”

The Reds skipper found himself underfire after his side fell apart in the second half of Tuesday’s dramatic 3-3 draw with Sevilla in the Champions League.

Liverpool’s were over-run at times but Klopp says it was a collective issue rather than down to any one individual. The manager is in no doubt about Henderson’s ability to play as a holding midfielder at the highest level and says he has blossomed as a leader during his Anfield reign.

Klopp believes Henderson suffers at times from unfair comparisons with his illustrious predecessor Steven Gerrard.

“Jordan is a proper captain,” Klopp said.

“He wasn’t when I came in but only because he didn’t know how to do it because nobody had to think about how to be captain at Liverpool because they had one for around 20 years (in Gerrard).

“So from the first moment whatever he (Henderson) is doing, it is not good enough because even when he is good he is still not as good as the other one was.

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“I have no problem with that. We can all improve but it is not about the position No 6 or whatever. We had to do much better in all positions. In this situation, when I saw we don’t play football (in the second half), we talk about Gini (Wijnaldum) and Phil (Coutinho) at this moment: ‘Come on, where are you? Show up.’

“Mo Salah was not involved, he was not involved in this game, he was always waiting for the ball in behind and that is not his game. He has to mix it up.

(Image: (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images))

“We spoke about a lot of things but not about the role of Jordan Henderson in this specific formation because it was not an issue.

“He was not better than the others unfortunately, but he was not worse. How you can say he needs to be better because he has the captaincy, I will never get this kind of talk. I don’t understand that.”

Klopp insists Henderson was unfairly singled out for criticism in midweek and that the reaction would have been very different if Liverpool had dealt with a stoppage time corner and clung on to win 3-2.

“First of all what I would really prefer is that we do not talk about ‘what people are saying’,” Klopp added.

(Image: Photo by Aitor Alcalde/Getty Images))

“If you big up what people are saying on social media then we talk about it as if it is the truth. ‘A lot of people say this’ - and even if they are pundits it doesn’t mean it makes sense, it is only like creating a story.

“I heard a lot of things afterwards about what people said about this or that. We have to accept the times but we should not suffer all the time.

“Of course Jordan can play the No 6. He played it for England, he played it for us. In this game, I would love to see one of the big pundits being on the pitch and in a game like this be the person who changed the whole game. That really is ****ing legend.

“It really never happens. You stand in between saying: ‘Come on, push up’. Things like this.

“If we score the fourth goal then everything is fine and Jordan is fine. Could he change the game on the pitch? No. Was he too deep in a few positions? Yes.

“Does that make me think he cannot play the No 6? No, of course not. Can he improve? Yes. But did he improve already a lot? Wow. 100%.”