Jordan Henderson hits back at criticism of Liverpool's recent defending
By Sean Walsh
Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson was not happy with the insinuation that his side have been conceding too many goals in recent games.
The Reds were on the end of a 5-2 thrashing by Real Madrid at Anfield in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie on Tuesday night, squandering an early two-goal lead to succumb to their worst ever home defeat in Europe.
It was just the second time that Liverpool had conceded five goals in European competition, and two of their worst five losses on the continent have come this season - September's 4-1 hammering at Napoli also ranks among their most embarrassing defeats.
Henderson fronted for the BT Sport cameras following their most recent loss and admitted the team had made far too many mistakes.
"[It was] very difficult [to take]. It's hard to sum it up straight after the game, mixed feelings. Obviously disappointment, frustration with the result. But for large parts of the first half, definitely I felt we performed well and felt unlucky to go into half-time level," he began.
"But we made too many mistakes, around the goals especially. And when you make mistakes, a team like Madrid punish you. They punished us every time tonight."
Henderson was then asked if the amount of goals Liverpool ship is worrying - a question he did not take kindly to.
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"Well, the last two games, we kept clean sheets, didn't we?" Henderson retorted.
"It’s hard, it is difficult to come here and speak because yes, they have a lot of quality, and we knew that, and when you’re not 100 percent defending they punish you, like they have done. We caused ourselves problems at times, but it’s a tough one to take in the end.
"A lot to do with it is their quality as well, they’ve got quality players everywhere, but I think we didn’t help ourselves for sure. Especially the set piece - which I’m not sure was a foul to be honest - we didn’t defend it well enough and then after that there was a few goals we can do better, of course. The game got away from us at that point."