Jordan Henderson: Criticism can affect me, but now it is fueling me

• The Liverpool captain is the player of the year for football writers

• The midfielder said he was looking at criticism to help his game

Early in Jordan Henderson's Liverpool career, the team faltered and his performances lived up to expectations, with occasional harsh words sinking deeper. He always allows a flood of setbacks, background discussion, and negativity. The great scope of his journey that Henderson once was criticized for is that he is now investigating it. Captain of the Premier League winner and new footballer of the year, your comments are his strength.

Speaking after receiving the award from the Football Writers' Association, another trophy to be included in his cabinet, Henderson acknowledged that the path to fame was delicate and nothing more. Even now, despite all the victories, English football remains the big and arrogant field of the people, he never underestimates him and never shakes his opinion as a reliable but limited midfielder. It will never change. How he handled it changed.

“It’s a big part of life,” he said. “You may have setbacks, you may have criticisms, but how do you respond to those situations? Use it as energy and as fuel to motivate yourself to come back strong. That's all I tried to do. "

What if it affected him, the occasional fierce opposition in his early days at Anfield, to sign a 20 million deal with the flood team? “Sometimes I think it’s possible,” he said. "You understand that criticism is a part and parcel of football, but it's hard to deal with when you 're not used to it when you're a young player. Especially at a big club like Liverpool, level-ups affect you. I'm looking forward to it now. "

That’s why Henderson wasn’t much interested in all the manic discussions around Jrgen Klopp, the level of their successes, their place in history and the praise or credit ideas. “I wasn’t really worried,” he said. “Criticism, praise, is not about that. The most important thing to me is the team, the players, the manager. They are very important people to me. "

For Henderson, it was a moment to share the great personal respect of his career. The importance of such awards often adds a touch, but it is a measure of how much Henderson respects it, which forced the team to turn around and he was upset to be told to give it back. Let’s go back to the engravers. “You can pick the ones that qualify in that dressing room,” he said. "So for me, it's acceptable to them."

According to FWA award criteria, this year’s football player must lead by “document and example”. Henderson was undoubtedly ahead of Kevin de Bruyne and Trent Alexander-Arnold. At the height of the coronavirus crisis, Henderson raised millions of pounds for NHS charities in support of the Premier League captains' Players Together initiative.

“It’s been pretty positive for the last few months,” he said. "It came to our attention. Put all hostility aside and do something for the good of the country. If you look at Black Lives Matter, it was guided by the players. We started something really special. Things that will help people in the future, I'm sure we will."