England captain Jordan Henderson was branded “selfish” after he missed a second-half penalty in Sunday’s 1-0 win against Romania.
A spot kick from Marcus Rashford after 68 minutes won the fixture for the Three Lions, but the return of the Liverpool midfielder after a four-month absence set tongues wagging on social media for the wrong reasons.
Henderson pulled rank on Dominic Calvert-Lewin to hit the spot kick, but saw his modest effort comfortably stopped. It led to an inevitable deluge of criticism on social media.
What did the fans say?
The reaction to the miss was not particularly understanding, even though Henderson is now the most-capped midfielder without an England goal.
Outfield players with over 50 England caps and 0 goals:
— Don Robbie (@ItsDonRobbie) June 6, 2021
(DF) Kyle Walker - 55 caps
(MF) Jordan Henderson - 59 caps
(DF) Phil Neville - 59 caps
(DF) Des Walker - 59 caps
(DF) Ray Wilson - 63 caps
(DF) Gary Neville - 85 caps
(DF) Ashley Cole - 107 caps #Eng
When England get their first penalty of the Euros and Jordan Henderson tries to grab the ball pic.twitter.com/PoGRwskAtA
— Paddy Power (@paddypower) June 6, 2021
There is a reason why Jordan Henderson has never scored for #England . Should not have taken the ball to take the penalty. Very selfish. #ENGROM #Euro2021 #Euro2021
— Justin Allen (@justinallen1976) June 6, 2021
Henderson taking that off a young striker who could have added to his goals tally and gotten some confidence before the Euros is just not a very good mood from a “captain” is it 🥴
— Vic (@victoriacarlin_) June 6, 2021
"Bruno, check this Henderson penalty kick" #mufc pic.twitter.com/agBJffag7V
— 𝙼𝙴𝙽𝚉𝙸🔴®🇿🇦 (@EdinUtd) June 6, 2021
The Roy Keane link
Prior to kick off, former Manchester United midfielder Roy Keane had criticised the decision to take Henderson to the European Championship, and fans were quick to react with memes of the mercurial pundit.
Jordan Henderson steps up and Misses the penalty...
— TheSuave (@suavec79) June 6, 2021
Roy Keane .... #ENGROM pic.twitter.com/dL1VIiv8Dw
Waiting for Roy Keane’s full time analysis of Henderson’s penalty like #ENGROM #eng pic.twitter.com/mmZZe1gCeP
— Erin Fuller (@Erin_M_Fuller) June 6, 2021
What did Southgate and the England camp say?
Gareth Southgate indicated that Henderson is unlikely to be given spot kick duties again, while the captain shrugged off the miss on social media.
“I was expecting Dominic to take it and when Hendo walked over I thought he was making sure that happened, so I will have to check what happened,” the Three Lions boss said afterwards. “We will pull rank next time.
“Marcus and James Ward-Prowse were the two nominated at the start of the game and they’d both come off. But Hendo was the captain on the field by then. He was the one to make the decision. If I was Dom as the centre-forward I might not have gone along with that so easily.”
Gareth Southgate on Jordan Henderson’s penalty 🗣
— Goal (@goal) June 6, 2021
"We expected Dominic Calvert-Lewin to take it and I was expecting Hendo to go over to him and let him take it. We will pull rank next time.”
👀 pic.twitter.com/l2P1HGdMDJ
Feels so good to be back...... Euros here we come 🏴 👊🏻 pic.twitter.com/Zt0VrmgIFe
— Jordan Henderson (@JHenderson) June 6, 2021