Anyone rate Henderson?

[Paulus]

When a player puts on a Blades' shirt I put on the rose tinted specs and seek out the strengths as far as I can and do my best to ignore the weaknesses but I'm really struggling to apply this in Henderson's case.

Part of the problem goes back to his Watford days, where he became one of my pet hate figures, I thought he was a lumbering, dirty donkey and it underlined my sense of superiority as a Blade that we didn't have such a crap forward as him, we had heroes like Shipps and Hulse.

The fact that we have effectively replaced decent players with him has not added to my opinion of him, if we had picked him up on a free as a squad player I would probably have thought fair enough but spending £2M on him...

All of this though is less important than the effect it seems to have on the team when we play him. I know I'm probably being irrational but I am associating the crap hoofball as much with Henderson as I have with Blackwell. I know the guy has scored a few goals for us this season and he works hard but it just doesn't work for me and even with the rose tinted shades it still strikes me that he is constantly fouling the opposition.

If we are going to play with a more creative midfield with Williamson, Yeates and Ward (please god that we do) then wouldn't we be better off with a more mobile forward, either Evans or indeed Billy playing off Camara, rather than Henderson? If we need a bigger bloke Cresswell seems to have more of a football brain than Henderson, a better touch and offers more movement.

Am I missing something in his game? Is anyone seeing anything else he contributes to us? Was it any surprise that we played better at Forest after he went off even though it left us a man short?

 

[Houso]

I'm not going to go into detail, but will simply answer your first question.

Yes I do. Massively.

 

[sitwell]

So do I , in the top 5 scorers in this division in a poor side ,plus he gives so much more. Rated by opposition managers ,players and fans but typically slagged off by Blades ;-(

 

[Paulus]

Have you any examples of opposition managers bigging him up? I genuinely can't recall it.

 

[JohnDenver]

I don't especially rate him. When we signed him I was pleased, but he's not the £2m player I hoped for.

This season his goals have been very useful. But if he could just stop the needless fouling, the repeated red-cards and keep himself injury free then we'd have twice the player.

Only the latter problem is forgivable. The other two are not.

Must do better...

 

[Mousey]

I rate him highly. I work with a Wednesday fan who hates Henderson because we have him. He would love Hendo in their side.

He is a good player, he just needs to learn some tricks from James Beattie on how to win fouls

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I think he's a lot better footballer than he's given credit for, as well as being pretty mobile for a big bloke.

Unfortunately, people are able to turn his strength against him - he's big, aggressive and loves a scrap. He also clearly has a reputation that goes before him with officials - defenders get away with murder against him, where he is constantly picked up for minor infractions. His suspensions on top of his injuries certainly don't aid fluency and consistency - but when fit and available I'd have him in the team every week.

 

[Paulus]

I think he's a lot better footballer than he's given credit for, as well as being pretty mobile for a big bloke.

Unfortunately, people are able to turn his strength against him - he's big, aggressive and loves a scrap. He also clearly has a reputation that goes before him with officials - defenders get away with murder against him, where he is constantly picked up for minor infractions. His suspensions on top of his injuries certainly don't aid fluency and consistency - but when fit and available I'd have him in the team every week.

I think there is something in this. When I think of the big strikers we have had that I have rated, Deane, Shipps, Hulse, even the Chief for example, they haven't just used their size and strength to have a battle with the centre half, their physiques allowed them to be a pivotal part of our play, with Henderson the battle seems to be the point of what he does. It's easy to see that the centre half might not relish (!) this but in itself it doesn't necessarily contribute anything to our play either. And unfortunately he is more often than not regarded as the culprit of the battle not the victim, isn't he being suckered, playing the big stupid idiot who gets caught? Breaking up our attacks and so frequently allowing the opposition a cheap free kick as a way of relieving the pressure.

 

[Stafford Blade]

When a player puts on a Blades' shirt I put on the rose tinted specs and seek out the strengths as far as I can and do my best to ignore the weaknesses but I'm really struggling to apply this in Henderson's case.

Part of the problem goes back to his Watford days, where he became one of my pet hate figures, I thought he was a lumbering, dirty donkey and it underlined my sense of superiority as a Blade that we didn't have such a crap forward as him, we had heroes like Shipps and Hulse.

The fact that we have effectively replaced decent players with him has not added to my opinion of him, if we had picked him up on a free as a squad player I would probably have thought fair enough but spending £2M on him...

All of this though is less important than the effect it seems to have on the team when we play him. I know I'm probably being irrational but I am associating the crap hoofball as much with Henderson as I have with Blackwell. I know the guy has scored a few goals for us this season and he works hard but it just doesn't work for me and even with the rose tinted shades it still strikes me that he is constantly fouling the opposition.

If we are going to play with a more creative midfield with Williamson, Yeates and Ward (please god that we do) then wouldn't we be better off with a more mobile forward, either Evans or indeed Billy playing off Camara, rather than Henderson? If we need a bigger bloke Cresswell seems to have more of a football brain than Henderson, a better touch and offers more movement.

Am I missing something in his game? Is anyone seeing anything else he contributes to us? Was it any surprise that we played better at Forest after he went off even though it left us a man short?

I think you're right, lets drop the bloke that has scored 11 goals this season and replace him with someone like evans who wouldn't know where the goal is if there was flashing lights strapped to the crossbar.

so basically, it looks like plenty of people do rate and henderson ( and quite rightly so )

 

[SBSP]

In a word, no.

In more words, could be a good player if he paid more attention the the ball and less of fouling their defender and whinging at the ref. People say his actual footballng skills are underated, his first touch is shocking.

IMO needs to do a lot more to warrant his place inthe starting XI and to justify his £2 million (god we were robbed) price tag.

 

[Paulus]

I think you're right, lets drop the bloke that has scored 11 goals this season and replace him with someone like evans who wouldn't know where the goal is if there was flashing lights strapped to the crossbar.

so basically, it looks like plenty of people do rate and henderson ( and quite rightly so )

Henderson's weaknesses are leading to him being dropped, he's missing another 3 games as a result of these mysterious qualities that he apparently brings to the team.

 

[lenners]

He's rubbish. We're so much better when our £3m goal machine plays why Blackie can't see it I'll never know.

 

[Tizertrance]

When we signed him he was up there with Huckerby on the hatred scale, now, imo he is the most valuable asset to the 1st team after Morgan (and maybe Monty, but i'll keep that one quiet)

 

[alcoblade]

Let's not complicate this - He's our leading scorer by a yard despite injuries / suspension (his fault I know) hampering his consistency.

However low you rate Henderson, our big money summer signing is a long way behind in staking a claim for a place.

UTB

 

[Toronto Blade]

If he would have been at Wembley instead of (I never win a header ) Beattie 2 the outcome might have been different.

 

[JohnDenver]

He's rubbish. We're so much better when our £3m goal machine plays why Blackie can't see it I'll never know.

Has he been better than Ched? Yes, by miles.

Would he be better if he showed more intelligence? Yes, by miles.

Case solved.

 

[Nick Jansky]

He can't help the agression & readiness for a scrap. He grew up in Yorkshire with the first name Darius.

 

[Paulus]

This season we have seen Billy Sharp discarded because within the set up of our team he didn't look as though he would score in a month of Sundays, we all know what has happened since he went to Doncaster. One of the points I tried to make in the original post was that the vast majority of Blades fans want to see us trying to play through the midfield rather than by-passing it. For those of you who think that Henderson is decent what can he offer in a less direct game plan? He's scored 9 goals from open play this season where the team is basically set up to his strengths. I'm not going to suggest for a moment that Evans has particularly impressed this season but from what I've seen he has a far broader range of skills to his game than Henderson does. If we are finally going to see a decisive tactical change to our play (please god that we do) I suspect that Evans is more likely to fit into it than Henderson.

 

[Houso]

This season we have seen Billy Sharp discarded because within the set up of our team he didn't look as though he would score in a month of Sundays, we all know what has happened since he went to Doncaster. One of the points I tried to make in the original post was that the vast majority of Blades fans want to see us trying to play through the midfield rather than by-passing it. For those of you who think that Henderson is decent what can he offer in a less direct game plan? He's scored 9 goals from open play this season where the team is basically set up to his strengths. I'm not going to suggest for a moment that Evans has particularly impressed this season but from what I've seen he has a far broader range of skills to his game than Henderson does. If we are finally going to see a decisive tactical change to our play (please god that we do) I suspect that Evans is more likely to fit into it than Henderson.

He's strong, got a strong shot, is a very good header of the ball and isn't slow.

So, what makes you think that if we played a different game, he too wouldn't benefit in the same way that Evans and Sharp would?

I believe we don't see half of what Hendo is capable of simply because he's instructed to play as the battering ram. As someone says above, his strength counts against him.

Play a direct system that allows for wingers to get crosses in, and he'd score as many goals as a hit Hulse would do.

 

[Nick Jansky]

This season we have seen Billy Sharp discarded because within the set up of our team he didn't look as though he would score in a month of Sundays, we all know what has happened since he went to Doncaster. One of the points I tried to make in the original post was that the vast majority of Blades fans want to see us trying to play through the midfield rather than by-passing it. For those of you who think that Henderson is decent what can he offer in a less direct game plan? He's scored 9 goals from open play this season where the team is basically set up to his strengths. I'm not going to suggest for a moment that Evans has particularly impressed this season but from what I've seen he has a far broader range of skills to his game than Henderson does. If we are finally going to see a decisive tactical change to our play (please god that we do) I suspect that Evans is more likely to fit into it than Henderson.

Agree re Evans. He has scored a shedload for Wales U21s, including a hat trick against France, so there is definitely a player in there. As with Billy, it comes down to style of play though, and in the style that we use Hendo is worth the 2 of them put together.

I would love that to change though. I think Billy & Evans could play together very effectively if we switched to football.

 

[Elsecar_Blade]

I would love to see Darius Henderson in a Blades side that regularly played like they did against Bristol City and Palace. I know what the OP means when he links Hendo with Blackwell's hoof tactic but that is not Henderson's fault. He has to do a job he is told to by his manager. The sending off's he has had suggest that Hendo gets a frustrated with that tactic as we do. He also gets a very raw deal from the officials IMO who see him as a dirty rather than physical player. I've no issue with his physicality and it's tame in comparison to the treatment he gets from CB. The difference is that CB get away with it.

His hold-up play can be excellent and we should be looking to use him for that rather than to hoof the ball to. Yes, the hoof would retain place (if we're losing late on) and Henderson would remain an effective tool for that ploy. Using it less though would get him using his strength in a more effective and positive sense to bring the likes of Camara, Evans, Ward, Yeates, Willo into play and result in a downturn in the number of silly free-kicks and bookings that go against him.

I'd use him with one tactic in mind: get the ball into him (not by hoofing) so he can hold it up and lay it off to one of the other four attacking players (i.e. partner Evans/Camara, Willo in CM or Ward/Yeates on the wings) and then spin and get in the box. Let the other four get the ball wide and do their job and get across the defender to get headers at goal. Just as he did against Bristol for the second goal. Simple.

 

[Paulus]

He's strong, got a strong shot, is a very good header of the ball and isn't slow.

So, what makes you think that if we played a different game, he too wouldn't benefit in the same way that Evans and Sharp would?

He's strong I'll grant you that, strong shot? has he scored from outside the box this season? Not a bad header, OK and he isn't slow in the sense that a bowling ball trumbling down the lane isn't slow - just don't expect it to change direction too smartly!

Fair point - I don't know he wouldn't benefit from a change of tactics, he might do but... if you look at the Billy Sharp goal against Forest last weekend he got it because of very clever movement - I haven't seen a lot that from him.

 

[Houso]

He's strong I'll grant you that, strong shot? has he scored from outside the box this season? Not a bad header, OK and he isn't slow in the sense that a bowling ball trumbling down the lane isn't slow - just don't expect it to change direction too smartly!

Fair point - I don't know he wouldn't benefit from a change of tactics, he might do but... if you look at the Billy Sharp goal against Forest last weekend he got it because of very clever movement - I haven't seen a lot that from him.

Did you see a lot of that from Billy at Bramall Lane?

And if the definition is of a strong shot is a shot from outside the area, then there are a lot of strikers who don't have a strong shot.

 

[Torrix1889]

Don't rate, him, don't like him as a player and was gutted the day Blackwell spunked £2m on him. Thought he was a carthorse going back to his Gillingham days and think the same now.

All he wants to do is throw his weight around, which usually ends up in either a) giving away a foul, b) giving away possession or getting booked/sent off. He's a liability and for me Henderson & Blackwell epitomise everything that is wrong at SUFC.

 

[Paulus]

No, I didn't see a lot of that from him at Bramall Lane, the only conclusion I can bring from that is that Blackwell didn't want him there, he was too busy working the flanks and tracking back. The evidence is clearly there with Billy that if the service and approach play is right for him he will score goals.

You suggest he has a strong shot, I don't think it's a particular strength, Rooney, Defoe and Zamora are strikers with much better than average shots, in my opinion Henderson is only average in this respect.

 

[Houso]

No, I didn't see a lot of that from him at Bramall Lane, the only conclusion I can bring from that is that Blackwell didn't want him there, he was too busy working the flanks and tracking back. The evidence is clearly there with Billy that if the service and approach play is right for him he will score goals.

You suggest he has a strong shot, I don't think it's a particular strength, Rooney, Defoe and Zamora are strikers with much better than average shots, in my opinion Henderson is only average in this respect.

You're comparing him to Rooney and Defoe? We're in the Championship, not in Europe. Of course there's a scale, but everything is always relative.

Anyway, you're not going to be convinced, and I don't want to convince you, and I'm beginning to think you're a bit of a WUM anyway.

(oh, and I'm shocked, SHOCKED, that Torrix isn't a Hendo fan)

 

[Paulus]

I'm not intending to be a WUM - I am genuinely interested to know what people think of him because IMHO we have played as badly this year in general, as I can remember since the 1978-80 period and yet generally I don't hear Blades fans being critical of him. They are very critical of hoofball, of Blackwell but not of Henderson and I see that as a bit of contradiction.

 

[alcoblade]

I'm not intending to be a WUM - I am genuinely interested to know what people think of him because IMHO we have played as badly this year in general, as I can remember since the 1978-80 period and yet generally I don't hear Blades fans being critical of him. They are very critical of hoofball, of Blackwell but not of Henderson and I see that as a bit of contradiction.

I think he's a striker and of our strikers he's got most goals. Simples....

I'm good at tidly winks, drinking alcohol and masturbation. About as qualified as Evans for our main striking role, and that's where we should be pointing any finger looking for improvement.

If we want to change style then we should bring back Sharp, rather than gamble on Evans actaully being good at something.

UTB

 

[TopBoy]

I'd hate to play against him but I really don't rate the bloke. He's been around long enough now to not get into silly tussles like he did on Tuesday night with the Forest chap. £2M wasted on a player that misses as many games as he plays with no real sell on value.

TB.

 

[JohnDenver]

with no real sell on value.

Now that's a good point. Would we have bought him at all had we not been expecting to sell Beattie six months before we actually did? Given his age I doubt it.

So we're going to have his peak years at BDTBL. Time to get more sensible please Darius...