(Originally written for Threeandin.com)

Henderson didn’t have the best of first seasons for Liverpool. A lofty price tag of £20m immediately brought the crosshairs and a lot was expected of him. He became part of Dalglish’s ‘terrible trio’ in which £70m was spent on Andy Carroll (now at West Ham), Stewart Downing (also at West Ham) and Henderson. With Dalglish gone, as have the other two, the 23-year-old is the only one to have maintained his place at Liverpool.

Not only has he dodged the chop, but he is almost an ever-present for the Reds and has become a somewhat ‘Mr Reliable’. Playing most of this season on the right hand side of a front three, largely due to the absence of Luis Suarez, Henderson has barely put a foot wrong and always works tirelessly for the shirt. That has always been his game though, endeavour. People never questioned that. It was the technical side that often brought scrutiny.

Despite not scoring yet this season, Henderson has shown an eye for the goal, and had it not been for the woodwork or some fine goalkeeping, he certainly would have been on the scoresheet on a couple of occasions. Putting the Southampton defeat aside (for everybody was terrible that day), Henderson has proven to be a decent player in the team. He’s not out of place when the team begins a fast, direct game, nor does he interrupt the cohesion in possession football. He is a player that manager, Brendan Rodgers, has an enormous amount of trust in.

With a recent change to 5-3-2, Henderson’s position on the wide right is no longer in existence. It was unlikely that he would have stayed in it anyway. Despite putting in good performances, he simply can’t offer the creativity that Coutinho, Sturridge and Suarez can. He was moved into central midfield to cover for the suspended Lucas in a recent match against Crystal Palace and, again, put in a solid performance. A poor display by Palace on the day should be considered though, and time will tell whether he can put in consistent performances in this spot against tougher opponents.

No doubt January will come and Rodgers will look to bring in more attacking flair players. This leaves Henderson in the situation he has always been in. Fans know what to expect from him. A reliable, unspectacular performance. He’s a vagabond looking for a home in the Liverpool team, but instead just laying his hat wherever he can.