Wednesday 22 June 2016 11:57, UK
Jordan Henderson admits injuries have made this season the toughest of his career, but insists he feels ready to give his all for England at Euro 2016.
The Liverpool captain was a major doubt for the tournament after suffering a serious knee injury whilst playing against Borussia Dortmund in the Europa League in April.
However, the former Sunderland man defied expectations to return to play for his club before the end of the season and was rewarded with a place in Roy Hodgson's final 23-man squad for France.
Henderson made his first appearance of the tournament on Monday against Slovakia but could not prevent the England from being held to a disappointing 0-0 draw in Saint-Etienne.
However, the 26-year-old was satisfied with his performance and is hoping to challenge Dele Alli, Eric Dier and Wayne Rooney for a midfield starting place in England's next match.
"I've said before this has been the toughest season of my career so far, just because of injury, playing with injuries and stuff like that," Henderson said.
"It has been difficult, mentally, physically, so even to be here is an honour for me really because I didn't think I was going to be here. Monday was big for me.
"I always felt if I kept working hard and training hard I'd get an opportunity, and it came and hopefully the manager was happy with the contribution I made.
"I think the midfielders have done very well. Dele Alli has been brilliant, Eric Dier has been brilliant and Wayne Rooney has been fantastic. So there's a lot of competition in the middle of the park but that goes for every area of the pitch.
"It's down to the manager and what team he feels he needs to win the game, but I feel ready, I feel good."
Henderson reserved special praise for Rooney, who has performed well a midfield role for England during their three Group B matches.
"To be fair, I've seen him play there for United a few times and he's done well," Henderson said.
"He's a very good footballer. It doesn't really matter where he plays, he plays well. Over the last three games, he's done very well."
England will now face Portugal, Austria, Iceland or Hungary in their last 16 match in Nice, after finishing second in their group behind Wales.
Hodgson's side were held to a 1-1 draw against Russia in their opening match and dominated much of the stalemate against Slovakia on Monday.
Henderson says England need to be more ruthless in attack and admits the squad need to improve their finishing if they are to advance to the latter stages of the competition.
"We're creating chances, we just need to finish teams off. At some point, we will win by two or three nil but we just need to improve in that final third.
"I think it's certainly something we need to improve on. When teams have sat in against us, we've struggled to find the net.
"But we've got enough quality in the team. We need to make sure that in the games coming up we finish teams off properly."
