'I stay behind for shooting practice'
Jordan Henderson has revealed how part of his plan to earn regular starts under Brendan Rodgers involves staying behind after training sessions for finishing practice.
After a maiden season with the Reds included 48 appearances in total, the 22-year-old has featured for Liverpool a further 37 times during the current campaign.
The England U21 captain has struck the back of the net four times along the way, but he has acknowledged that finishing is an area of his game which requires improvement.
"A lot of players do extra training. I tend to work on my finishing," Henderson explained to the official Liverpool FC magazine.
"I think it's important as a midfielder to contribute goals. The goalkeepers stay behind with Mike Marsh along with a few of us. I think I need to improve in a lot of areas.
"Scoring goals is one of them. It's such an important part of football. If a manager knows he can rely on a midfielder to score a few, it means he's likely to play a lot.
"You have to find a consistency. Even when you are doing well you can't afford to get too carried away and have too much of a high. But when you're on a low you can't get too down. If you've got a balanced outlook, it helps.
"You need to be on the same path and keep yourself down to the ground. Especially when you're at a big club like Liverpool, everything is scrutinised by people.
"You've got to perform every week and if you don't do that, there's a chance you won't get picked or you'll be brought off quickly. The sooner you get your head around that, the better."
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Henderson has been busy working on the mental side of his game as well as the physical too, reflecting that he cannot take defeats in the same manner that his younger self did.
"What drags you over the line is the mental strength. If you get beaten in a game, nobody is more disappointed than us as players. It hurts," he added.
"We never expect to lose because at Liverpool you have to win every game. But when a defeat comes out of the blue and you play badly, you feel like you've let everyone down.
"Then again, when you play well and don't win that's just as hard. It can be even more deflating.
"Unfortunately there are times in football when things don't go the way you want them to. When I was very young I'd take losing terribly, or even if I didn't play well. I was on an extreme high when we won and an extreme low when we lost.
"But you have to get your head around it and learn to overcome problems. I think I've definitely improved that coming here."