Source: Northern_Echo
Hero Henderson says he needs more goals
JORDAN Henderson has admitted he needs to build on yesterday's match-winning strike against West Ham if he is to develop into one of the Premier League's leading midfielders.[LNB] Henderson scored his first goal of the season when he converted Asamoah Gyan's pull-back against the Hammers, and while he has been a first-team regular for most of the last 18 months, the strike was only his third in a Sunderland shirt.[LNB] Having made his senior England debut against France last month, the 20-year-old has already been linked with a future move to the likes of Manchester United, Manchester City or Chelsea.[LNB] But if he is to become one of England's most influential midfielders, he accepts he will have to improve a goalscoring record that is currently a poor reflection of his talents.[LNB] "I need to score more goals from midfield than I do," said Henderson, whose first-half strike lifted Sunderland back into the Premier League's top seven. "Whatever position I'm playing in, I need to be scoring more.[LNB] "It's a long time since I've scored a goal. We've been talking about my shooting a lot in training. I haven't scored a lot, but it's something I've been working on. I'll be working on it a fair bit more in the next few weeks."[LNB] Ironically, Henderson almost wasn't playing at all yesterday after under-performing in recent matches against Everton and Wolves.[LNB] Manager Steve Bruce was tempted to rest the youngster, and hinted as much in his press conference before the game. However, having watched Henderson in training on Friday and Saturday, the boss opted to keep him in the team, a decision that could hardly have turned out any better.[LNB] "I wouldn't say it was mind games," he said. "But I just put it out there that it might be time to give him a bit of a rest. But the way he trained, it was impossible for me not to play him. [LNB] "Maybe he was reading what I was saying. He's obviously been influenced by it.[LNB] "There will be a time where the kid needs a rest because he's played for 18 months solid now. He's had a meteoric rise to the point where, a week ago, he was playing for England.[LNB] "That's fantastic. But my job is to look after him and protect him, and there's going to be a time with a young player where you have to give him a rest. Thankfully, though, that moment hasn't quite arrived."[LNB] Yesterday's game was the first league match in which Gyan started alongside Darren Bent. The pair did not gel as effectively as they might have done, and Bruce admits it will take time for them to form an effective partnership together.[LNB] "They still need work in terms of how they are going to link up," he said. "For one reason or another, and they've both been injured, we haven't really had a lot of time to work with them together. But we certainly look a threat. Maybe we didn't play as well as we could have done in the forward areas, but we were always a threat. I think there are goals in us when those two play together."[LNB] Crucially, after shipping two goals in the final ten minutes at Wolves, yesterday's game also saw Sunderland produce a much-improved performance at the other end of the field.[LNB] John Mensah survived the full 90 minutes for the first time this season, but Bruce reserved special praise for Anton Ferdinand, who came close to leaving the Stadium of Light in the summer.[LNB] "The thing that pleased me most was the way we defended," said the Black Cats boss. "Ferdinand had his best game for 18 months as a centre-back, and I thought him and Mensah were terrific all afternoon.[LNB] "After throwing down the gauntlet to those two, we needed to make sure we were defensively right. We've still got four serious injuries (Titus Bramble, Michael Turner, David Meyler and Fraizer Campbell), so we don't want any more, but I do believe the squad is better equipped to deal with the injuries we have. There's a better strength to us this year than there was last."[LNB]
