KopTalk.com Forums Football Liverpool FC Forum Glenn Johnson....

I think its unfair that one player gets singled out and gets heavily criticised when all the team is not performing at the level they should be however i do agree with most people that his defending is terrible. Too lazy in that second goal that Bent scored, he should of prevented it. About the RW position for Johnson, isnt that what he plays most of the games? I mean okay he starts in the RB position but he is mostly nowhere to be seen at the back and you see him wandering around higher up the pitch near our RM. He also gets further then our RM on most occassions and he either crosses the ball or loses it to force a counter attack (second option most likely). He isnt performing but still, I think its unfair. The whole team deserves the criticism.

Sissoko was grooming into a decent player for us until he injured his eye.

Never anywhere near us important to us as Mash became though.

I've not watched every Liverpool game that Johnson has played, not even all of the ones he's played this season (stupid Chinese TV preferring snooker to EPL, grumble), but two things stand out for me.

1. When he gets forward no one (on our side) seems to know what to do. He trots up the sideline, gets near the final third, and the only ball on is one back to Poulsen on halfway. There's no through-ball to Kuyt, no cross to Torres (double-marked), Meireles is in no-mans-land behind an intervening defender (when played in the hole), and Gerrard and Cole are on the other side of the pitch. Sorry, but that's useless. All the talent in the world isn't going to have him do anything other than pass it backwards.

2. Despite 1 above, sometimes there is a cross on, but Johnson either doesn't see it or whiffs it. In this case one can say that he is merely average going forward (because he can beat a man and can cross, he just can't put it all together), and we know he's barely average at the back. So if he's this ordinary how is he better than Poulsen or Lucas in terms of ability, or Kelly in terms of position?

I agree that he brings an extra dimension to our game, but right now he's the only one bringing this dimension and at the cost of a weak RB, so we're not doing ourselves any favours playing him. Frankly he needs to spend more time learning to play with the other guys in the team.

I'm not convinced that telling him to ignore his defensive duties by playing as RM or even further forward is going to make HIM play any better, but perhaps it will improve OUR shape, and we could use pretty much ANY improvement right now. He might even complete a few crosses if Torres and Kuyt both play up front, and a backward pass to Gerrard rather than Poulsen is better than nothing (because the first instinct of the latter is to turn around and roll it back to Carra). We're getting too many big things wrong, but dropping Poulsen to the bench and pushing Johnson forward may reap dividends.

thundyr you were doing really weel until the last sentance,

"We're getting too many big things wrong, but dropping Poulsen to the bench and pushing Johnson forward may reap dividends."

Then you let yourself down and included him in your team, shame.

Unfortunately, if Johnson isn't going to play then we're playing four center backs as our back line (currently at least), and have no decent wide men. This is not the ticket to glory. If we dropped every player who was average we'd only field 4 or 5 players.

And I did say "may". I have my doubts about his ability to change to a position where he will be more tightly marked. If he fails there, then he should go play for the reserves more in order to learn how to defend.

He should definately play in the reserves, to be honest I don`t mind giving Darby a chance at right back either. Made a mistake last year but is learning all the time, either him or Kelly instead of Johnson. Also why not play 3 at the back?

I think 3 at the back would be a terrible idea, were bad enough with 4 at the back.

He's rubbish - no wonder chelsea got rid of him. Pack him off to Italy with all the other overpriced wasters. How did we end up with birdbrains like Lucas and Johnson??

Dingo we are already playing with three at the back, Konchesky, and two center backs, we haven`t had a right back since Johnson turned up. What i`m suggesting for discussion is that we play Carra, Skrtl and Agger and actually plan to play that way instead of ending up having to cover Johnsons arse all the time.

i was thinking the same, it'll also solve our Agger problem, would clear the way for Soto & Kelly to get some games too
Johnson can be a good right midfielder with less defence duties like holding back only if Konchesky & another CB overlapped