Jordan Henderson not concerned about Liverpool standing despite lack of starts this season

Jordan Henderson has insisted he is relaxed about his lack of starts in the early stages of the new season and says he is using his recent downtime to ensure he is fully ready for any opportunities that come his way.

As a result of England’s run to the semi-finals of the World Cup this summer, the Liverpool captain reported back for pre-season training much later than many of his teammates.

He has subsequently featured in Jurgen Klopp’s starting XI just once in the first five games of the campaign - coming in for the 2-1 win over Leicester City at the King Power Stadium.

But Henderson isn’t worried about his standing in the squad just yet, and hopes to feature more as a long season progresses.

“I came back later than everybody else so I can’t just expect to come straight back in,” he said.

“The lads have worked so hard in pre-season, you can see the benefits already - how fit they are, the rhythm that they’ve got from playing games, they’re at a very, very high level.

“You see that in the performances, they’ve been fantastic, winning games. So it’s normal for me that I’m not playing, I can accept it. It just means I’ve got to keep working harder, keep improving, and take my chance when it comes.

“I totally respect the players around me, how well they’re playing, the manager as well, he always decides and he’s always right so I’ll just respect his decision.

“I’ve basically tried to use this period to refresh my body, refresh my mind, because last season was long, especially with the World Cup.

“It was enjoyable and in the end ended in disappointment but it was a long season and this is going to be another long season for us hopefully with a lot of games so I need to make sure that I’m ready and I’m using this period to be as ready as possible.”