Liverpool FC Forum

[stmichael]

I dont think Johnson was cheap at 17 mill or whatever... I think he was pretty expensive, given the position he plays...

Yet another myth perpetrated by the clueless whoppers who sit on Soccer Saturday every week.

Paul Merson last season "Liverpool are weak in the fullback areas. Glen Johnson will be a brilliant signing for them"

Paul Merson this season "Why did Rafa spend £18m on a fullback? Fullbacks don't win you titles".

With the exception of Gerrard and Torres he's probably our best attacking option. His inability to defend has also been completely overexaggerated by the clueless media hacks who follow England and don't dare to criticise the likes of Ferdinand and Terry who are both past their best imo.

wtf are you on about ?

hes the second most expensive fullback in HISTORY !

whether hes worth it or not remains to be seen but given our supposed woeful 'financial situation' where the manager is only limited to spending 40mill on 2 players, i think perhaps filling the other gaps before paying 18mill for a fullback would have been a better move...

And another thing, if we wanted an attacking option down the side why didnt we just go out and spend the big bucks on a winger rather than a fullback with suspect defending ?! And no the fact that he isnt the best defender around isnt a myth and isnt as over exaggerated as you think. Any decent winger would rather go up against Johnson than go up against the likes of Ivanovic, Sagna or even Wes Brown... To me, his attacking ability and contribution more than compensates for his questionable defending at times but thats besides the point i was making...

For the first few months of the season he was outstanding - a massive upgrade on Arbeloa and looked every inch an £18m player. He hasnt looked the same since his first injury, but its not just down to him. Its those around him who have collectively lost confidence aswell. Our inability to keep the ball higher up the pitch has contributed massively to him struggling a bit more than he did earlier in the season.

[Waldo]

I dont think Johnson was cheap at 17 mill or whatever... I think he was pretty expensive, given the position he plays...

Yet another myth perpetrated by the clueless whoppers who sit on Soccer Saturday every week.

Paul Merson last season "Liverpool are weak in the fullback areas. Glen Johnson will be a brilliant signing for them"

Paul Merson this season "Why did Rafa spend £18m on a fullback? Fullbacks don't win you titles".

With the exception of Gerrard and Torres he's probably our best attacking option. His inability to defend has also been completely overexaggerated by the clueless media hacks who follow England and don't dare to criticise the likes of Ferdinand and Terry who are both past their best imo.

wtf are you on about ?

hes the second most expensive fullback in HISTORY !

whether hes worth it or not remains to be seen but given our supposed woeful 'financial situation' where the manager is only limited to spending 40mill on 2 players, i think perhaps filling the other gaps before paying 18mill for a fullback would have been a better move...

And another thing, if we wanted an attacking option down the side why didnt we just go out and spend the big bucks on a winger rather than a fullback with suspect defending ?! And no the fact that he isnt the best defender around isnt a myth and isnt as over exaggerated as you think. Any decent winger would rather go up against Johnson than go up against the likes of Ivanovic, Sagna or even Wes Brown... To me, his attacking ability and contribution more than compensates for his questionable defending at times but thats besides the point i was making...

For the first few months of the season he was outstanding - a massive upgrade on Arbeloa and looked every inch an £18m player. He hasnt looked the same since his first injury, but its not just down to him. Its those around him who have collectively lost confidence aswell. Our inability to keep the ball higher up the pitch has contributed massively to him struggling a bit more than he did earlier in the season.

Wrong to pinpoint Johnson as, as you rightly say, all the players have been sh*te and they have all collectively been dragged down by each other.

£18m is a lot for a RB but Johnson will be at this club for a long time and will grow to be an excellent acquisition for LFC.

[Ray Pugh]

I like the look of Johnson and like its been said I think he will become a great buy.

However discounting him as he is still to prove fully.

Rafa has been here for 5 years and we are still have no great players at either full back and winger positions...... and he has bought his fair share!!!!

Good work Rafa! 

[REDTILLDEAD]

Johnson was never worth the 18 mill rafa spent on him.....he was desperate for a half decent right back after some of the sh1t that rafa bought for that position.......better than some of the drivel who have held that position over the years, but defo overated......but that's Rafa for you he has bought a lot of overated players who have constantly under achieved.

[The Good Yank]

Johnson was never worth the 18 mill rafa spent on him.....he was desperate for a half decent right back after some of the sh1t that rafa bought for that position.......better than some of the drivel who have held that position over the years, but defo overated......but that's Rafa for you he has bought a lot of overated players who have constantly under achieved.

I'm not the biggest Rafa supporter, but I'd have a hard time saying that the players he's bought are "overated".  In fact I'd think you'd find that most of Rafa's buys have been hardly rated at all.

He tends to try to find the "Diamond in the Rough" a bit to much and none of them have emerged to be that.

[REDTILLDEAD]

Johnson was never worth the 18 mill rafa spent on him.....he was desperate for a half decent right back after some of the sh1t that rafa bought for that position.......better than some of the drivel who have held that position over the years, but defo overated......but that's Rafa for you he has bought a lot of overated players who have constantly under achieved.

I'm not the biggest Rafa supporter, but I'd have a hard time saying that the players he's bought are "overated".  In fact I'd think you'd find that most of Rafa's buys have been hardly rated at all.

He tends to try to find the "Diamond in the Rough" a bit to much and none of them have emerged to be that.

I meant overated by Rafa?

[Owzat]

To me Johnson is a very good full-back, has the potential to be better than that, but at the moment is nowhere near worth £17.5m. I fully agree with the views, and have expressed them myself, that we didn't have money to spend that much on a full-back. I beg to differ that he is a "massive upgrade" on Arbeloa, sure he made mistakes but worth 5x or so what Arbeloa cost/was sold for? I don't think so. For what we got in Johnson, and got for Arbeloa, I'd rather we'd kept Arbeloa and brought in a striker - but not another Keane. Our two big acquisitions of the summer were a full-back who looks great when he goes forward, but whose defending is poor, and a CM who spent three months or so injured, has barely started and may or may not prove to be a creative match-winner.

I have as many doubts about people who quote and live and die by what Merson says as I do people who sit and watch him. I draw my own conclusions, that a side whose supporters constantly whine like a struggling engine about lack of funds, shouldn't spend most of the transfer budget on two over-priced players when the squad is thinner than Anna Reksic. I don't necessarily agree that Johnson being out is a good thing, I don't feel it was the right player, right time or right price which can be key in a lot of transfers. But we've done it, little chance we'd make a net profit on that deal or Aquilani which in itself tells a story, and we'd nothing left to add to the squad so bought a greek on the cheap who's looking little better than some of the youngsters available. Now instead of having LBs who can't defend, we've arguably stepped forward and made that FBs who can't defend - defenders who can't defend if you look at some of our errors this season

[The_Rock]

Time to play mascherano as a RB..........This way....we won't see the Lucas and Mascherano Axis.

[tonyeh]

Good god...no way. I can only imagine how many penalties Mascherano would give away if he was in defence. 

[shawnk]

I would rather Kuyt play in RB. I mean it would be awesome to see him chase down or harass anyone down the right with his work rate. I know it's crazy to have a supposed striker to defend but with a little training, I think he would do well as a all out defender and a mean one too.

[juljuve]

Glen Johnson before Arsenal was perfect as right back. He was solid also ad a defender.
He had just a decrease in his performances. It's normal... Sagna had too.

[juljuve]

I would rather Kuyt play in RB. I mean it would be awesome to see him chase down or harass anyone down the right with his work rate. I know it's crazy to have a supposed striker to defend but with a little training, I think he would do well as a all out defender and a mean one too.

Kuyt needs some rest as a right winger. We bought Maxi for this reason. We should buy a cheap young right back, Seamus Coleman is a good player in my opinion.

[7_Kewell]

I would rather Kuyt play in RB. I mean it would be awesome to see him chase down or harass anyone down the right with his work rate. I know it's crazy to have a supposed striker to defend but with a little training, I think he would do well as a all out defender and a mean one too.

maybe we can play him in goal the following week 

Serioulsy, i don't think Kuyt would work as a RB. He'd be send off within 20 mins

[Redman in wales]

Time to play mascherano as a RB..........This way....we won't see the Lucas and Mascherano Axis.

thats actually not a bad idea. mash was quite good there before... and as you said..... stops the whole lucas-mash partnership in the middle!

[Igor Zidane]

I'm absolutely staggered that some people think it's good news that he's injured. For sure his form has dropped off a bit, but he is without question one of our best players, does anyone really dispute that, honestly? As for the price tag, as some will know I'm not exactly shy when it comes to criticising the manager, but if we stuck Johnson on the market at the end of the season he'd go for mid 20's. He was cheap at the price, simple as that.

spot on that mick . I had/have my reservations about him defensively ,but for gods sake apart from his last couple of games .He's been one of our most consistant performers and better players . Sheer madness this forum at times.