In the difficult times, when the sureness of touch was not there and the shoulders sagged a little under the weight of expectation, it was not always clear whether Jordan Henderson would get to this position. Even now, as he sits in a room at Liverpool's training ground and reflects on his first season and a half at Anfield, he is acutely aware there is still some way to go before he wins over everyone and English football starts to be, well, a little bit nicer about him, maybe a touch more understanding, less impatient.

Early on he explains he tends not to read the sports pages or tune into the radio or television shows where they can be so unsparing with their criticism. "I'm not on Twitter either, so I don't really see as much of it as other people do." But it isn't possible to block it all out. "Maybe one of my friends might say: 'Have you heard what they're saying?' It's probably affected my mum and dad more than me, to be honest. Like anyone's parents, I doubt they've enjoyed seeing their son criticised."

This is his first major interview and, perhaps understandably, it takes a little while for him to relax, unfold his arms and start to open up. When he does, it quickly becomes apparent Steven Gerrard's midfield partner, just like the Liverpool captain, is not short of competitive courage. There is a bristling form of self-belief that has helped put his career on an upward trajectory again and convinced Brendan Rodgers, after his initial reservations, that he was right to persevere with him.

Even after the FA Cup defeat against Oldham Athletic – when Henderson says the team were "disgusted" with how they had played – Liverpool's manager made a point of excluding him from the criticisms he directed towards the other players. Rodgers was planning to sell Henderson last August but, six months on, the midfielder has won him over. "I believe he will be a great signing for Liverpool," Rodgers saidon Friday. "It just takes time."

But first, the difficult times. Henderson was still two weeks from turning 21 when he signed from Sunderland in June 2011. Manchester City had looked closely at him. Sir Alex Ferguson had identified him as one to watch. Liverpool, however, were willing to pay £16m, with add-ons possibly taking his fee to £20m.

A new club, a new city, new team-mates; perhaps nobody should really be surprised that the settling-in period had its rough edges. Henderson, however, refuses to make excuses. Was he homesick? "No," he says matter-of-factly. "It was just different. When I was at Sunderland I didn't think I was the star or anything but here you have people like Stevie and [Luis] Suárez and Pepe Reina and Carra [Jamie Carragher], who have been the best players for many years. And straight away, you have to try to match their ability. It was a step up, a challenge. I felt I was playing well at times, just not on a consistent basis which is what you have to do at Liverpool.

"That's what I needed to get my head around the most: that I had to do it all the time, not just occasionally. When you come to a club like Liverpool you need to perform straight away and consistently. Looking back, I don't think I did that. There were games when I thought I'd played well. It just wasn't every single week and that isn't enough for a club like Liverpool. I needed to learn that."

The scrutiny was even more intense because Liverpool had also spent £20m on Stewart Downing and £35m on Andy Carroll. Rodgers made the point after Liverpool's 2-2 draw against Arsenal this week that players used to sign at Anfield then spend two years in the reserves. Henderson played 31 out of Liverpool's 38 league games last season. By his own admission, he was underwhelming.

When he was called up to Roy Hodgson's squad for Euro 2012, effectively as first-choice deputy for Gerrard and Scott Parker, Joey Barton spent a good part of the tournament sending out malicious tweets about the policeman's son from Sunderland. "It's something Joey likes to do," Henderson responds. "He doesn't like to play by the rules, does he?" But he is smiling, as well he might given Barton's history of criticising the long list of midfielders between himself and the England team. "I don't know him and I wouldn't ever let that affect me. Joey likes to express his feelings and that's clearly how he felt at the time. That's his opinion. It doesn't bother me at all."

What affected him far more came in August when it transpired that Liverpool were offering him as part-exchange in their attempt to sign Clint Dempsey from Fulham. "It wasn't a nice thing to hear. I didn't want to go anywhere. I wasn't playing regularly and they gave me the option if I wanted to go. I told them: 'No, I don't want to, I want to keep fighting for my place.' I came to Liverpool wanting to stay here for the rest of my career. I certainly didn't want to leave after a year."

This is one of the moments when his strength of personality is obvious. A lot of players would have considered that the beginning of the end. Henderson regarded it more as a challenge, one that he was determined to meet head-on. "OK, it might not have gone to plan at the start, but I knew I could turn around and get it right. I knew I just had to take it on the chin. Even though I wasn't in the team, I felt that if I kept going, kept working hard, kept fighting, I would get my chance again, and that I would take it."

It has been a gradual process. Henderson had to wait until the 0-0 draw at Swansea City on 25 November before starting his first league game this season. The arrival of Philippe Coutinho from Internazionale threatens his position again but Rodgers has included him on a regular basis since Christmas and Henderson has flourished. Against Arsenal on Wednesday he was unfortunate not to be named man of the match.

"The manager's been brilliant with me, to be fair. He's told me the things I need to work on and how I can get better. He's looked back on previous games and talked to me about the things I can improve tactically, how I can be more disciplined, the positions I take up. I feel as if I've done that now. I'm still working on it but I feel I'm doing better now."

He talks about the help he has had from "great people like Carra and Stevie". It is clear there have been difficult moments – "I would be more down than anyone if I hadn't played particularly well" – but if you ask him to pick the most stressful time in his football life it actually has nothing to do with his current club.

Henderson had grown up in a sporting environment. His father, Peter, played football for Durham police and his mother, Liz, was a fitness instructor. The young Henderson did not just excel at football but also at badminton and table tennis. At 16, however, he suffered a medical condition that left him wondering whether he would make it as a footballer. "It was Osgood-Schlatters. It wasn't good. It's a growing pains thing and I had to have a lot of treatment on it. I just shot up immediately and didn't have any kind of physique to deal with it physically.

"I was tall, all arms and legs, and a bit gangly. I'd been at Sunderland since I was seven but I was getting bad knees and stuff and I think they were unsure of what to do, whether to keep me or let me go. That was a really nervous time for me. Towards the end of that season I started to pick up a bit and started to fill out. They decided to stick with me, thankfully. But it did hold me back for a good while."

Six years on, he is now part of a Liverpool side that are 24 points off the top of the league and still coming to terms with the 3-2 defeat at Oldham last weekend – a result that left Rodgers, usually a fierce protector of his own, being heavily critical of his players.

"Everyone knows that he was right," Henderson says. "He didn't go too far. Everyone at this club and inside this dressing room were shocked and pretty disgusted at how we performed. No disrespect to Oldham, but we have to be going there and winning quite comfortably. What he did was good man-management in my view and it has given us all the kick up the backside we perhaps needed."

Overall, though, he is convinced Liverpool are closer to the top teams than the points gap suggests. "I don't think we are too far away. There have been a lot of good performances – Norwich, Sunderland, QPR, Man United in the second half. When we go into the big games, whether it's Arsenal, Man United, whoever, we feel we can beat anyone."

As for himself, Henderson talks about it being a "great experience so far". Football, he agrees, can be too impatient sometimes. "But I don't think what's happened will have done me any harm. I think I might have needed it, to be honest. You will get criticism throughout your career. All the best players have had it at some stage and they haven't let it ruin their careers. I won't either."