KopTalk.com Forums Football Liverpool FC Forum Glenn Johnsons night off

It seems to have slipped under the radar but I would say if you get the chance watch the game again and see just how poor Johnson was last night. Virtually never came forward and when he did it looked like he had caught the wobbles of of Downing. He attempted to pass the ball to nobody several times instead of retaining possesion and seemed to completely freeze when confronted with a one on one, no conviction in his play at all.
I felt it was a real shame that on a night he needed to be bright he seemed to be half asleep.

I thought he did ok but can't remember fully

He's had a few poor games recently, like against West Brom - But looking at him overall this season has been a great player for us.

maybe he was told to stay back a bit to compensate for carra's lack of pace?

you say that but apart from his cock up Carra had Hulk pretty well tied up. Johnno doesn`t have a game where he is slightly off he`s either really good or sleeping. He was sleeping for their second goal in the away leg, it happens too often.
I agree that sometimes going forward he is very good, unfortunately I still believe he should be able to defend first though, he is not very good at that.

I don't think he was that poor yesterday, but generally spoken he gets really little rewards for his offensive walkabouts.

Enrique on the other hand often gets things done offensively - he either scores or sets other players up to score.

Johnno accasionally has a shot going in, but other than that not much result for his efforts!

Defensively Johnno is like a 15 year old. Beginner's mistakes too often - like ball watching or forgetting what's happening behind his back.

Johnson is either utterly brilliant or he trips over himself. He was a half-way house against Zenit. I don't think he is worthy of any special criticism. For most of the match we battered them and played really well.

Yes.

Was talking about the away game against Zenit, where he ball watched at their second goal. Forgot where he was and what his task was!

Enrique 2 goals 5 assists, often caught on the ball
Johnson 1 goal 4 assists, often loses possession running at men

Really, I don't see much difference between them. They both defensively have lapses. Enrique loses the ball far more in dangerous areas, but most of the time also has the strength and pace to recover. Enrique also is often positionally out of place when defending as he doesn't prevent crosses.

I admit since the England fixture Johnson has been off form. I'm hoping this week will give the players a bit of R&R and any heavy legs will vanish.

he's had a bad couple of games.

apart from that he's been quality all season.

anyone who says he can't defend is just plain delirious and is talking utter [oops]. time after time i've seen him fly into tackles this season and come away winning the ball. he can defend but some people clearly can't get off the bandwagon!