Tom Cleverley vs Jordan Henderson: Analysis

Manchester United and Liverpool do battle in the Premier League on Sunday, as the North-West rivals clash at Old Trafford, with both teams in unfamiliar positions compared to the last few seasons—United down in sixth; Liverpool second and fighting for the league title.

While it could still be a game where the result goes any way, despite the form guide or respective home and away form of the two clubs, it is likely the team who wins the midfield battle could be afforded far more chances to win and take all three points. To that end, it may boil down to a head-to-head battle between two England World Cup hopefuls in the centre: Tom Cleverley and Jordan Henderson.

Cleverley has come in for his share of criticism this season among an under-performing United team, a situation Henderson will sympathise with after having experience plenty of critics himself a couple of seasons back, after he initially struggled for the Reds after his big-money move. Now a pivotal part of the Reds’ team, he will hope to have a telling impact in the match on Sunday.

Cleverley has been slated in some quarters for not having produced any particular impact on United’s play but looking at his role in the side, it’s clear he is the man in the centre who moves the ball around quickly to others in more advanced positions for them to do the creative work—and in this regard he does well.

The United man makes significantly more passes per 90 minutes than the all-action Henderson does for Liverpool, 63.15 passes per 90 to 53.79. Additionally, the slightly better completion rate favours the United man, 89% to 86%, which no doubt in part reflects his controlling, measured approach to running United’s play from deeper areas.

Henderson Heat Map vs Southampton (A) – PL 2013/14

Henderson, meanwhile, has operated all over the field, but his main role has been as a box-to-box player, getting involved as high up the field as he can and linking with the front three on many occasions.

That, in turn, is reflected in the Liverpool man having been far more of a creative force than his United counterpart. Henderson is averaging close to two goalscoring chances created per game, weighing in at 1.8 per 90 minutes, compared to a rather lowly 0.62 per 90 for Cleverley, who is clearly not creating much from midfield. But is that a justified criticism, or perhaps merely to be expected given his role in the team?

Henderson also gets more shots away, 1.6 to 0.9 per 90 minutes, though the United man averages a better shooting accuaracy. It is Henderson who has found the net more times however, with his three goals to Cleverley’s single strike for the league campaign, which also, of course, gives the Liverpool man the better conversion rate.

Neither player is particularly noted for being dramatically skilful on the ball but Henderson’s willingness to out-run opponents sees him manage 0.65 successful take-ons per 90, while Cleverley has recorded an average under half that total.

Elsewhere, the defensive side of things is rather split between the two. The all-action Henderson, predictably, makes more clearances and wins more duels in the air than Cleverley; in both cases by around double the amounts registered by the United man. However, the latter—in his deeper, more restrained midfield role—makes more interceptions and wins slightly more tackles per game than the Reds man.

Of course, the midfield battle won’t be won by one duel alone, especially with the two sides likely to operate with opposing 1-2 and 2-1 shapes in the centre of the park, but these two rivals could well go head to head and play a big part in deciding the course of the game.