Watch: Man Utd loanee Dean Henderson makes save of the season in win over Liverpool
Manchester United loanee Dean Henderson made a stunning injury-time save to deny Virgil van Dijk as Nottingham Forest produced a shock 1-0 victory against Liverpool.
Liverpool’s top four hopes took another blow as Henderson did his parent club a favour with an absolutely incredible save in the closing stages.
Nottingham Forest went into the match against Jurgen Klopp’s Reds bottom of the table, having won just one of their opening 11 matches of the season. Henderson had come under some criticism for going on a run of conceding long-range strikes, but he was faultless against Liverpool.
There are some signs that it’s all beginning to fall into place for the newly-promoted side, who spent over £100million on more than 20 new players in the summer.
Results and performances were underwhelming in the early weeks, particularly in thrashings by Man City and Leicester, but they’ve looked more defensively solid and competitive all-round in recent weeks, having drawn 1-1 with Aston Villa before a narrow 1-0 defeat to Wolves and hard-fought goalless draw against Brighton in midweek.
And it looks like the faith in Steve Cooper, who signed a new contract earlier this month, has been vindicated. They were well worth their three points against Liverpool, who came to the City Ground with renewed confidence after back-to-back victories against Man City and West Ham.
Henderson played his role in the result, keeping a clean sheet and making seven saves.
“Dean’s made a great save in the second half, and I’m really pleased for him to get the clean sheet. He’s a really good goalkeeper and we’re happy that he’s with us,” said Cooper of Henderson after the performance against Brighton.
We’re sure that the Nottingham Forest manager will be just as thrilled by Henderson’s latest display between the sticks.
The 25-year-old England international has arrived on his latest loan with a point to prove after feeling disrespected by the Red Devils last term.
“To be honest, it has probably been the toughest 12 months of my career,” Henderson told talkSPORT in the summer.
“It has been tough, hard, and I am so happy I have gone out the other end of it.
“I am so excited to be at Nottingham Forest and ready to go.
“The conversation I had coming out of the Euros squad was ‘you’re coming back here to be the No.1.’
“I got COVID, came back, so I should have still been the No.1, but then unfortunately nobody followed through with what they had told me.
“It was frustrating because I turned down so many good loans last summer for that reason, and they would not let me go.
“To sit there and waste 12 months, it is criminal really, at my age, I was fuming.
“I worked hard off the pitch and on the training pitch to keep improving, day-in-day-out, and now I am looking forward to the season with Nottingham Forest.”
Safe to say he’s proving his point now.
This save is UNREAL! 🤤
The 92nd minute as Liverpool pile on the pressure, Dean Henderson does this to deny Virgil van Dijk.
Take a bow 👏 pic.twitter.com/Pz5doHlfZA
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) October 22, 2022
QUIZ: Can you name every player signed by Nottingham Forest in summer 2022?