JORDAN HENDERSON is well aware England fans will not forgive everything.
Not tonight — and probably not for a very long time after their humiliation at the hands of minnows Iceland.
As the Three Lions step out at Wembley for the first time since this summer’s Euros debacle, the Liverpool captain knows there is a lot of making up to do.
And he is also honest enough to accept the pain from that 2-1 last-16 humbling in Nice is still very raw.
Henderson, 26, admits he could not blame any Three Lions fan for lashing out at the first real opportunity against Malta. But as he paints a picture of sorrow, he hopes that will at least show the England squad care more than people know.
In the moments after the shambolic Iceland defeat that saw boss Roy Hodgson resign, unused sub Henderson was seen going around trying to comfort his fallen team-mates.
He said: “That is probably one of the worst places in my career. Even though I didn’t play, I felt I was very much part of the team.
“We were all in it together and wanted to do well in the competition.
“I really believed in us as a team, I felt after the early games in the tournament that we hadn’t peaked and we could still do better, so it was a big shock.
“I just felt, ‘I need to go over and try to pick people up’.
“We let the fans and country down but, most of all, we let the manager and the staff down.
“After the game, the dressing room wasn’t a nice place to be.
“You feel as though you have let everyone down — and if people lose their jobs it is not a nice way for it to end.
“Being in that dressing room after that game was one of the worst places I have been.
“It was horrible. People were emotional. I think the manager was emotional with the talk that he gave afterwards.
“It wasn’t nice to see. Everyone is human.
“Sometimes people think we are machines and they can just chuck everything at whoever the manager is and criticise.
“But I can tell you, we do care, and it is only us who can turn it around. We have got to use this in the future as a positive.
“Hopefully we can look back at that one day after a lot of better things have happened.
“But it will stay with me. And I think it will always stay with the players who were there.
“I know it is easy to say, but you have to learn from those experiences, take them forward and use them to motivate you so that it doesn’t happen again.
“We have started well in Slovakia with a good result and we have something to build on. The only way is up now.”
Midfielder Henderson, who did play in last month’s 1–0 win over Slovakia, hopes that the healing process will continue. Around 89,000 fans are expected at Wembley for caretaker boss Gareth Southgate’s first game after the Sam Allardyce fiasco.
But Henderson is not looking for any sympathy.
In fact, he uttered a rallying cry worthy of a skipper as England face a potential banana skin against the side expected to be the Group F whipping boys.
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Henderson declared: “After the Euros, the fans had every right to be mad.
“People have got every right to criticise because of the way we went out of the tournament.
“But a lot of that criticism I believe comes from the fact people can see we have got quality and are a good team.
“It is just a case of working as a unit. We have got to work as a team to progress and get better.
“The longer we are with each other, the better we will be.
“That tournament was the first for a lot of the lads. They have got tournament experience now and it will benefit us.
“Of course I believe in the group. Of course I believe in the players we have got.
“I really believe we can do something. But there is no point me just saying that, is there?
“And I always believe the fans want us to do well, that they are still with us and they are proud of England.
“It is up to us now to put on performances — and make sure we are a good enough team to do something special.”
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