Saturday 17 September 2016 00:45, UK
Gary Neville says Jordan Henderson’s stunning goal against Chelsea was a culmination of years of hard work in training.
Henderson picked up the man-of-the-match award for his all-action performance, which included his stunning goal.
Henderson killed the ball into his stride following a Gary Cahill clearance and curled a wondrous effort from 30 yards right into the top corner. Even some of the Chelsea fans could be seen clapping such was the brilliance of the strike.
Neville, who worked with Henderson with England, believes the improvement the midfielder has shown over the last three years with his technique is all down to his hard graft off the pitch.
"What I've seen from Jordan Henderson in the past 18 months is an ability to work on his technique," Neville said on the Gary Neville Podcast.
"He's taking set-pieces, corner kicks and shooting from distance. He's absolutely applied himself on the training pitch to do that. When you kick 50 balls after training, five times a week, that's 250 balls kicked a week. When you multiply that by the amount of years he's been doing that for, you get pretty good at it and that's what Jordan Henderson is as a character.
"He's made himself the player he is today and that's the reward you get by scoring an absolutely wonderful goal.
"To beat Thibaut Courtois from that distance makes it even more special."
