Give Henderson an extended run

[silver fox 0]

I notice that some of the recent messages refer to Henderson ''not playing well last night'' and ''the only thing he did was score''. Firstly, he was not the only player to not perform on the night, but he was the least experienced. What does that say about our senior professionals at the club?

Secondly, he scored, which is more than his more experienced colleagues managed. Unless my maths is wrong, he is now our joint top scorer (no penalties either).

Since his arrival he has been a breath of fresh air and I for one believe he should be given an extended run. Reading the message board there are numerous mentions of Mackay and Holt having a bad game, but they are not dropped. To drop him for the Crewe game, after virtually every City player had a poor night, would be criminal and not do anything for his confidence.

I said at the beginning of the season that Henderson, Jarvis, Shackell and Sinclair should be given a fair chance and I still stick with that opinion. Hopefully Shackell will get his chance shortly when Mackay is suspended. Jarvis should be coming on now as a substitute and not Roberts. Finally, if Holt and Francis are going through a bad patch, then why not give Sinclair a chance.

[ZLF 271]

I would agree that with Rivers the only alternative and many other midfielders having shocking games to drop Henderson could be damaging. However if Harper is fit he should return to the team as the first choice right flanker. His experience pace and ability means that Henderson is not dropped but replaced by a returning first team player. This has to be best for the club against Crewe and also Hendo must expect that as a youth player if a better player is up for his position he does face the risk of being second choice at this stage in his career.

If Harper is still not ready for a return I agree he should start but his level of performance, like Holt, Francis, Hucks and Edworthy has to improve from what we saw on Tues evening.

OTBC

[a1canary 0]

I may be remembering this wrong but when Hendo first broke into the team last season, wasn''t he being played on the left? If so he should have been put there instead of Clint i recent games. McVeigh and Crouch up front with hendo left and harper right could be an option, assuming Huckerby is on his way.