Xhaka, Henderson, Gross: Why veteran technical midfielders make sense for mid-table teams

AFC BournemouthArsenalAston VillaBrentfordBrighton & Hove AlbionBurnleyChelseaCrystal PalaceEvertonFulhamLeeds UnitedLiverpoolManchester CityManchester UnitedNewcastle UnitedNottingham ForestSunderlandTottenham HotspurWest Ham UnitedWolverhampton WanderersScores & ScheduleStandingsFantasyThe Athletic FC NewsletterPodcastsPL PredictionsIntroducing 'The Ref'Analysing the Title RaceAnalysisXhaka, Henderson, Gross: Why veteran technical midfielders make sense for mid-table teams Getty Images Share full articleIt was November 2020 when Jurgen Klopp, then Liverpool’s manager, likened a football team to an orchestra. He used the analogy in praise of Roberto Firmino’s versatility for the Anfield side as a forward. “You need different people to play different instruments,” he said. “Some of them are louder, some not so loud, but they’re all important for our rhythm.” Half a decade later, with Klopp no longer a part of the Premier League, his idea of balance is still true. Watch Granit Xhaka, Jordan Henderson or Pascal Gross play. Every team needs a conductor, and that trio all made unexpected returns to the English top flight in the past year. Xhaka joined newly-promoted Sunderland from Bayer Leverkusen last summer at age 32 and turned 33 a few weeks later. He won a German Bundesliga title with Leverkusen in his debut season after leaving Arsenal in July 2023. Henderson departed Liverpool in that same window, spending half a season at Al-Ettifaq in Saudi Arabia before switching to Dutch side Ajax. He turned 35 last June and joined Brentford the month after. Gross, now 34, spent the peak years of his career at Brighton & Hove Albion before joining boyhood club Borussia Dortmund in 2024. Nineteen months later, he went back to Brighton in January for increased minutes to improve his chances of making the Germany squad at this year’s World Cup. The trio have similar profiles as players. They are excellent technicians who read the game well, are smart in their positioning and have the ability to spot — and play — passes others cannot. They have stamina but are not explosive, and often need a defensive-specialist partner to balance them out. The fact they have returned to the Premier League over the past year shows how mid-table teams are adjusting to the division’s changing tactical direction. In a 2025-26 season defined by set pieces, physicality, directness and aggressive pressing, Brentford, Brighton and Sunderland sit seventh, 10th and 11th in the table with seven games to go, among the pack of clubs chasing European qualification. Sunderland head coach Regis Le Bris, talking to reporters at Stamford Bridge, described Xhaka as a “second coach” after his promoted side won at Chelsea in October. The Switzerland international is their chief ball progressor and, when he isn’t in possession, is often directing his team-mates around the ball. Here he is, late on in their recent away win against Newcastle — a victory which meant Sunderland achieved their first Tyne-Wear derby league double since 2014-15. Xhaka is their deepest midfielder, receiving the ball while facing his own goal and under pressure from Joe Willock as Newcastle lock on man-to-man. He hits a first-time pass out to Chemsdine Talbi and Sunderland escape. Both Sunderland goals that day involved Xhaka, who provided the inswinging corner for the equaliser, from which some pinball occurred and Talbi poked in. Brian Brobbey’s 90th-minute winner stemmed from a turnover in midfield. Xhaka scanned three times in quick succession before receiving Enzo Le Fee’s pass. He knew Newcastle were light in midfield and that Noah Sadiki — his energetic midfield partner — was unmarked between the lines. Xhaka found him, Sadiki slipped Le Fee through, and the Frenchman picked out Brobbey. Xhaka’s move to promoted Sunderland surprised some. He gave up a starting position in a Leverkusen team who won the German title unbeaten in 2023-24 and finished second the following season, making it to the Champions League’s round of 16 before being knocked out last month by Arsenal. But he has provided Sunderland with much-needed Premier League experience. They were a young, plucky side who went up through the Championship play-off trap door thanks to late goals, having finished fourth — 24 points off the two automatically-promoted teams. And yet they have been the surprise package of this season’s top flight. As of mid-December, they were performing the best of any promoted team in the division since 2008 and hit the ‘magic’ safety mark of 40 points at the start of March. Xhaka has the most assists (five) in their squad and his importance was proven when he missed games in January and February due to injury. Sunderland lost four of the five league matches he did not start during that spell. For a team built on defensive solidity and compactness, Xhaka, as captain, provides key leadership. Le Bris also said that he and the midfielder have discussions at the training ground about how they can develop Sunderland’s attacking style. He offers the quality to make their set-piece threats a reality, and combines to bring their wide attacking triangles to life. Around the edge of the box, his weight of delivery is exceptional, and he disguises passes. Take this assist for Bertrand Traore’s equaliser at home to Bournemouth in November, as two opponents rush out to press Xhaka and prevent a cross or shot. For Brentford and Brighton, as more established Premier League sides than Sunderland, their acquisitions of Henderson and Gross work slightly differently from Xhaka’s. Both clubs have followed this blueprint before. Brentford signed former Tottenham Hotspur, Inter and Denmark midfielder Christian Eriksen for half a season in January 2022. He assisted four goals and scored one in 11 appearances. Adam Lallana played this role for Brighton across four seasons after leaving Liverpool as a free agent in summer 2020. The former England international joined them at age 32 when Graham Potter was the head coach. Potter’s successor, Roberto De Zerbi, then brought 37-year-old James Milner to the club — also a free agent having left Anfield — in June 2023. Brentford and Brighton tend to recruit younger players whom they can develop and sell on. The right environment for such development means they need technical quality and experience around the place from whom these prospects can learn. The trend across the Premier League is a season-on-season rise of minutes for young midfielders since 2021-22. Under-21 central and defensive midfielders are now playing almost as much as those aged 30 and over, while players aged 25 and below account for nearly half of all minutes by midfielders in the current campaign. window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}); “When we became aware of Jordan’s availability, it was a pretty simple decision,” Brentford head coach Keith Andrews told club media in July following Henderson’s signing. He cited the summer departures of Christian Norgaard (to Arsenal), Mark Flekken (Leverkusen) and Ben Mee (Sheffield United) as a loss of experience from the first team. “We’ve got a pretty young squad overall. What Jordan will bring is that he has been one of the most influential leaders in modern Premier League years,” Andrews added, describing his fitness and motivation levels as “still phenomenal”. The now 89-cap England international — who captained the side for Thomas Tuchel in the March window — has had his minutes managed, with Brentford benefiting from strong midfield depth and often involving themselves in physically demanding matches. Yehor Yarmoliuk, an all-action midfielder, typically plays alongside Henderson. Long-serving midfielders Mathias Jensen, who sometimes operates as a No 10, and Vitaly Janelt are other options. Henderson stands out for his composure when dropping to receive from the centre-backs and playing forward. This frees his team-mates up to be passing options. Brentford occasionally play a 3-5-2 under Andrews — a continued trend of tactical flexibility established by predecessor Thomas Frank — but primarily line up in a 4-2-3-1. Frank used to speak about his team “adding layers” in attack to control matches better. Henderson’s security in midfield supports Mikkel Damsgaard as a pure, creative No 10. Having Henderson to rotate wide and support overloads gives licence to attacking full-backs Rico Henry and Michael Kayode, and his penchant for long balls in behind perfectly suits Brentford’s counter-attacking qualities. From almost identical positions two weeks apart at the Gtech Stadium in September, Henderson created two opening goals — for Igor Thiago against Manchester United and Kevin Schade versus Chelsea. An upturn in Brighton’s form — four wins in their past five — has come about with head coach Fabian Hurzeler partnering up Gross and Milner in midfield. They have a combined age of 74. Youngsters Carlos Baleba and Yasin Ayari were the first-choice pair there at the start of the season. While both have high ceilings and are technically capable, they are prone to off-days and a mid-season run of one win in 13 league matches meant some reinvention was needed. A super-strength of Gross’ game is his long-range passing. He hits switches to isolate wingers one-v-one, a key part of Hurzeler’s chance creation, and has the precision to find forward runners — like in the second image below, for No 10 Jack Hinshelwood against Arsenal. As with Xhaka at Sunderland, his return to Brighton has helped balance out a young side. He passes forward more readily than Baleba or Ayari and looks more comfortable at rotating wide. The German still provides quality set-piece delivery and, as he showed to open the scoring at home to Everton in February, can crash the box. “Hurzeler summed it up well, ‘Pascal makes other players better’,” Julian Nagelsmann said when announcing his Germany squad for their March friendlies, having picked Gross again after leaving him out for the October and November internationals. “He has the gift of connecting players. “I see him as a magnet, someone who has a good sense of who needs what at any given moment.” Even as the Premier League becomes increasingly physical and the preference for young players intensifies, it seems there will always be a place for the veteran technical midfielder. Two seasons ago, promoted Luton Town signed former Chelsea midfielder and England international Ross Barkley, who is now with Aston Villa, shortly before he turned 30. Wolverhampton Wanderers bought a 31-year-old Joao Moutinho from Monaco in 2018 after winning the Championship title. Idrissa Gueye, who left Everton aged 28 in 2019 and returned to them following three seasons at Paris Saint-Germain, is another example. Recent seasons have seen an obsession for ball-winning No 6s — evidenced by the record-breaking signings of Moises Caicedo and Declan Rice — and a rise of talented English No 10s, such as Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Jude Bellingham and Morgan Rogers. But midfields are all about balance. Coaches know that the best teams include one of those No 6s, a match-winning No 10 and a conductor to knit things together. It’s why Xhaka, Gross and Henderson, all once considered past their peak, will likely play at the World Cup this summer — and potentially in Europe for their clubs next season, too. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Liam Tharme is one of The Athletic’s Football Tactics Writers (and sometimes athletics). He graduated from Chichester University with an MSc in Sports Performance Analysis in 2022, and was previously an academy performance analyst. He was one of MHP Group's award-winning 30 Journalists to Watch in 2025. Follow Liam on Twitter @LiamTharmeCoach