Glen Johnson and Why?

Glen Johnson, looking at him doesn't strike you with confidence, he may be built like a strong powerful athlete with great fitness but looking beyond this an focusing on his skill with the ball he doesn't strike you as an incredible footballer.

However since the introduction of Brendan Rodgers and the Moneyball system favored by FSG who implemented this creation with the Boston Red Sox, Glen Johnson looks likely to retain his place. Looking at last seasons stats for Johnson presents an extremely surprising document, often he is focused on as being the weak link in many games this season when looking by numbers he is probably the strongest. People have said he is in the squad because he is doing something right but they don't know what, well here it is.

His passing qualities, he is no Xabi Alonso but he has still retained a very impressive 84.1% passing accuracy rate for last season alone. Martin Skrtel has bettered him on this statistic however by achieving over 90% but still Glen Johnson has proved he can pass a ball to a teammate, simple enough surely, but to what benefit or deal is this?
 Well last season Liverpool created countless chances with most coming from midfield and striker as you would expect but Glen Johnson pitched in with his fair share, by creating 28 chances just one less than Daniel Sturridge created. I won't ever hide my discontent for a player when i'm watching them and I will often wake up with the nightmare of Glen Johnson carrying the ball forward but to say I'm shocked at this statistic is an understatement. Along side this is the 38 fouls that he won last season this was more every player bar Suarez and Sterling, this statistic should not be underrated as he has created chances anonymously via free kicks or penalties. It seems looking at these statistics that he was an important part of the system used by Rodgers last year, his occasional bursts or chances created will have helped Liverpool win a number of matches.

His job role is a right back (or left back when Rodger's is feeling frisky) so how is his defending?


You often see Victor Bolasie running past Glen Johnson regardless of what team we are playing, but forgetting the Crystanbul moment or the humiliation of recent times. Glen Johnson isn't a half bad player on paper, his fouls conceded when he is actually keeping up with a player is at a respectable 23, this is probably average for a defender in Liverpool last term but in relevance to the now, Ballotelli has conceded 23 in this season already. Last season the majority of fouls conceded were by the players in Midfield and attack presumably down to the implementation of pressuring from the Brendan style of play (Cue Andy Tate).

 Out of all of the players when tallied on their clearances, Glen Johnson's was the least which in retrospect may be why his fouls conceded is so high as rather than clear he would be more likely to fall over. Skrtel tops the list with a jaw dropping 409 and he is already on 163 for this season, Johnson's total fell at the first hurdle with a measly 71 next Time Johnno when in doubt, get it out. Glen Johnson hasn't conceded any penalties in 2 seasons, he amassed 4 yellow cards and 0 red cards in this season and the last. His defending clearly isn't top quality but then again Liverpool's defence under Rodgers has never been top quality, Glen Johnson's attacking quality is demonstrated in the statistics but is it really what we need at this moment?

Some of these statistics shocked me, I never liked Glen Johnson I
thought he was lazy and that he was just running down his contract, but clearly he does have some qualities. Not all are of Cafu's standard or even Flanagan's standard but if you ever wonder why Glen Johnson is the squad these statistics argue that he deserves to be.

Liverpool's Number One Problem

Liverpool are currently struggling overall as a team, Liverpool don't even have a starting point to build from, by starting point I mean the first position read out from the team sheet. Simon Mignolet was bought with the idea that he was able to pass the ball out with his feet to start the attack and domination of possession.

 His first competitive game for Liverpool seemed to inspire fans to support him and back him and the transfer strategy of Brendan Rodger's. He saved a penalty in the match against Stoke to give Liverpool a 1- 0 victory, a clean sheet and a penalty save ensured instant success and support. Throughout last season Simon Mignolet's mistakes were just seen as him finding his feet at Liverpool as Pepe Reina who was loaned out to Napoli often made mistakes in his first season before becoming an established leader at the club and arguably one of the best goalkeepers in the premier league.

Mignolet's mistakes were often blamed on the non-closing down from the defenders or some other mistakes that left him in the clear, however a match that sums up his confidence as a whole and his abilities as a footballers was the 3-1 win against Leicester City. In the opening 20 minutes he passed the ball to no body in the centre of the football pitch despite being under no pressure what so ever and it resulted in what should of been a goal from Esteban Cambiasso who seemingly passed the ball just wide of the goal. His next error resulted in an own goal where the ball rebounded off the post and hit him and gave Leicester a one nil lead. Arguably a case of bad luck but the chance moments before nearly resulted in a goal for the Foxes

, Mignolet installs minimal confidence in his team as he leaves many gaps and always looks as if he is scared to command the ball. Almost as if he living in his own little shell on the goal line It may be worth pointing out that as a defence you will never play with major confidence if you don't believe in the man behind you, this may be what people like Glen Johnson and Lovren may be feeling . Paying 9 million for a keeper only for him to become the opposite of what you paid for is the script Rodger's new play Groundhog day.

The secondary keeper Brad Jones hasn't set the world a light during his brief appearances but hes always done a job, hes a lot more consistent for his cameo appearances than Mignolet is over numerous games. Brad Jones has been understudy for a embarrassing amount of time, under Pepe Reina and now Simon Mignolet (He may be wondering what he did bad in a past life to deserve this punishment). Brendan's decision to drop Mignolet for the United match and start Brad Jones was one that I thought shown the rest of the team he wasn't afraid of making big decisions if players aren't pulling their weight. Out of all three goalkeepers mentioned the best of them is no longer playing for the club, he is wasted at Bayern Munich under possibly the best goalkeeper in the world. Its clear Rodger's did not like Pepe, he wanted to implement his own style of keeper in goal and Reina did not fit the bill, however what Pepe gave and what Mignolet lacks is a commanding of the defence, Pepe would be screaming at his defence in synch with the leadership of Agger and Carragher.

Those three players would be the triangle of support in the defence to shoulder off most attacks. Mignolet seems very restrained in his personality and his punching and collecting of the ball needs vast improvements. Skrtel and Lovren dont inspire the team the way the Jamie Carragher's commitment did or how Daniel Agger desire always shown through. Skrtel and Lovren just remind me of two Sunday league defenders who just love to hurt the opposition, yet Skrtel was favoured over Agger despite Agger being a much better player with the ball and Lovren was bought with the intentions I think of being an instigator for the attack from the back by carrying the ball forward, he may do this occasionally but it would help a great deal if he could do any sort of defending first. Liverpool need a major haul in January starting with a new keeper that is proven, not a young keeper destined for the future even a loanee that can help soak up the opposition attack because Brad Jones despite his best efforts is not a top quality long term choice.

Mexico and current Malaga Keeper Guillermo Ochoa sent the biggest hint he is interested in Liverpool by following them on Twitter minutes after Simon Mignolet's postion at number one was thrown into question as it was announced Brad Jones would be starting. His performances at the world cup achieved huge merits and was named Man of the Match in two separate matches.Interpret that last statement whichever way you feel you need to, but I think it demonstrates how technology and social media (possibly even how blogs) have a  statement on where players may end up during transfer windows.

Winter Is here and the wolves are at Brendan's door

Pulling at straws here to think of a Reasons to be positive. A 3-0 defeat to one of our biggest rivals, miles off pace, worst league start for 50 years, an average team and the wolves are lurking. More and more people are calling for Rodger's head and I'm becoming one of them the formation he set out was disgusting against Manchester United, that these posts are becoming less and less formal. The inclusion of Glen Johnson in a makeshift centre back role proves to me a lack of awareness from Rodgers and a fear from him to drop him for some reason, why Sakho has turned into a ghost is a confusing point bought for £18 million plays a great world cup dropped since October, work that one out.
The man in his place, cost £3 million more and essentially handed Rooney and Van Persie the finishing touches to the match with a clearance that accumulated less than 5 years from his touch, why did Liverpool buy a defender that actually cannot defend and has proven this time and time again yet he still constantly gets put ahead of better centre backs?

Gerrard is not a fucking DEFENSIVE MIDFIELD PLAYER. everyone besides Rodgers (who seems to just be winding Liverpool fans up at this point by his defiance in his role) is the only person who disagrees, I don't even want to delve into this subject because its too much of an obvious fact and clear to see, that Lucas could be a job better defensively. The tactics in the opening 20 minutes of the defeat saw Liverpool thrusting the ball forward at every opportunity, realistically is Sterling had any end product about him he would of scored his first real chance or squared it for Lallana and then no goal would of been conceded at the other end of the field 25 seconds later.

The finishing from the whole team was woeful and Sterling by 60 minutes had 4 chances and 4 on target but were all saved by De Gea, not to be undone Ballotelli decided to add to De Gea's save count by passing it back to him on one occasion. His inclusion in the second half seemed to misshape the already baffling formation, however he became a focal point despite his limited movement and forced a great save from De Gea onto the cross bar although any goal at this point would of been a consolation none the less.

 Brad Jones didn't do to badly considering his zero appearance record this season. Handled the ball well and was never truly at whole fault for any of the goals possible his positioning wasn't the best for all three but his collection of the ball was far better then Mignolet's.

I think a very sad point about this match was that this was a poor united team, a team not even in high gear and they walked all over us for their three goals. we dominated possession for much of the match but our disjointed team was no match for their firepower. Rodgers set out his team wrong, and should hold his hands up and concede defeat, many players that featured were bystanders in this so called "Pub Match".
Claiming Liverpool were unlucky is just embarrassing I haven't seen
Brendan's post match comments because I'm sick of the same bullshit he excretes from his mouth about being unlucky and that his teams effort was high, none of this matters, the scoreline is the most important thing and partially down to his summer spending spree we have been humiliated 3-0 and caused his own position to be questioned even further.

Rodgers Mindset and The Three Points We Needed

First of all I am a Liverpool fan, just to clarify, the start to the season we've had it becoming hard to bare. A club of Liverpool’s stature should not be 11^th we should be 6^th at the very minimum. A lot of players in the team just simply aren't pulling their weight in the team but I genuinely can’t put my finger on why that is so ill leave that thought to settle for time being. Anyway, Rodgers obviously hasn't set out to buy a world class proven quality team hes building for the future, at the moment he’s trying to create a new era at Liverpool something we haven’t established for a long time, a team that as well as having top quality players like Coutinho and Sturridge is full of youth and can become a force in the Premier league for seasons to come. The reason for this is that Rodgers knows he isn't going to get £100 million every season so, he has to create his own quality players, you can see this by bringing in young fresh talent like Emre Can and Lazar Markovic as well as Moreno.

Rickie Lambert isn't going to be the figurehead at Anfield for the next 10 years but he’s certainly the present especially while Sturridge is out injured, he certainly wasn't a player bought for his youthfulness and potential but he was bought as a back up striker able to use his experience over his magnificent career and rise in talent. Ballotelli was also meant to be the present, so was Iago Aspas so it makes you think whether he’s constantly changing his mind each season as to what type of player he wants to bring in. He’s looking for a mixture of Ballotelli and Aspas, a strong and quick powerful striker with a keen eye for goal, you know like the striker we've got on loan at another club, so I can see a why he paid £10 million for Divock Origi who Liverpool fans will be expecting big things from this time next season.

The match against stoke was a really scrappy game, we got extremely lucky. Stoke hit the post and the bar at either ends of the pitch, and we never truly looked threatening. That being said we were much better defensively and our players looked more committed than what we've seen from previous games. Johnson actually earned his £120,000 a week for a change, that goal may be the most important we've had at the club this season, it may just kick start our season… Unlikely but at least it’s another three points that we desperately needed. Mignolet even looked more in control and confident he demonstrated this at the end of the match where he came out during the dying embers of the match and actually caught the fucking ball, like literally in his fucking hands, it wouldn't of typically been out of the question for him to miss the ball, the defence completely fail to clear and the opposition tap it home. The decision to drop Stevie especially given that it was his 16 year anniversary since his debut was a brave move from Brendan (even if he didn't actually know till arriving at Anfield) but sticking to his selected team paid off as Stevie looked refreshed when he came on notably closing down Shawcross in stoppage time like he used to do all over the field at one time or another.

The three points will do us a world of good and will keep these plastic fans calling for Brendan’s head quiet until the next match at least. Hopefully another 3 points will be picked up Tuesday and another on Saturday to build some confidence for the Last chance saloon fixture against Basel where only a win will see us through to the Knock out rounds. 

Brendan's Stubborness

Football is a fickle old sport, someone tell Brendan Rodgers this. The favouritism shown towards some players at Liverpool Football club is borderline embarrassing, Glen Johnson for instance is one of the the most consistently poor right backs in the league why does Brendan Rodgers thing a way of getting around this is to place him on the opposite side of the defence? It's clear that Brendan has made a few costly errors this summer excluding Suarez's departure as it was always imminent he would leave for pastures new. Two leading figures at the club were allowed for leave for roughly the same amount of money, players the fans have a genuine honest respect for,
Agger and Reina. Daniel Agger was a great centre back who last season started 20 of the 22 clean sheets we kept. He could play it out from the back and was one of the players who always seemed to take charge and make the right decisions, letting him leave for a measly £3 million is pocket change to today's football. Agger would be mine and probably the majority of fans first choice centre back at the club with Pepe Reina brushing the extremely dodgy Simon Mignolet onto the substitutes bench. The back five (including the goalkeeper) never seem to have any chemistry, Alberto Moreno is the player most fans would love to see at Left back yet Glen Johnson is seen as the better full back. WTF. There must be a clause in Glen's contract permitting him to bribe his way onto a specific number of starting 11's because he is very very poor. Where is the defence coach by the way? Every team bar Liverpool must have a defence coach, and Liverpool need one, we have one of the most embarrassing back fours in the county, scratch that in the world. Lovren seems a shambles of a human being and Martin Skrtel wants to play rugby, watch at the next set piece you will see the two chuckle brothers on the edge of box seconds after the set piece has been taken allowing the opposition player to loft it over them and another to head into the back of the net. Rodger's needs to admit he needs help bring in a top quality coach and there's half the team sorted right there.
The Steven Gerrard debate, is he past it?Does he still offer more than what the other players do? It's clear hes lost some of his pace, his passing ability, shooting ability, jumping ability, fitness, faith, passion and his patience but hes still the focal point and a great leader,isn't that enough?

Emre Can has shown moments of quality (from the fifty two minutes he plays for christ sake) he could do Stevie's job and then some, Joe Allen may not be the most gifted players on the ball but he very rarely gives up, his perpetual motion often wares down opponents. is it time Rodgers spoke to Gerrard and told him his game time will be limited unless his form continues, against Crystal Palace he won zero of his tackles? That isn't the Steven Gerrard who carried Liverpool since 2003, now it seems we're the ones carrying him, you have to sympathise with captain fantastic, every player he has ever linked up well with has left, Torres, Alonso, Suarez. It seems clear he's lost desire to have to pick himself up again and go to war for the club.

Who can put the ball in the back of the net please? We struggle to make chances, and we struggle to put them away. Rickie Lambert should start from now on, 2 Goals in 2 starts assures his starting place surely? Borini, Sterling or even Lallana could play just behind him to provide him with the chances? Seems obvious doesn't it? Brendan is looking at Ballotelli through one rose tinted eye and looking at Sturridge in the hospital with the other tear filled eye, not noticing the quality Lambert can produce when given an extended run in the team. Goals and form will soon come once the players have settled down completely and Sturridge hurries the fuck up. Sacking Rodger's is not a solution to any problem, he needs this season and the next season for his three year plan to be set, the groundwork and design have been completed now its just the final stages. Final Thought is that he needs a defensive coach, he needs to speak to Gerrard about his form and possibly rest him every so often and give Lambert the extended Run he deserves.

Real Madrid Performances

First fixture:  In a summary, Liverpool were very lucky to escape from Anfield conceding just three goals. Ronaldo, James Rodriguez, Modric and all of the other big name stars proved just how big a disance Liverpool have fallen since their last champions league experience five years ago. There was a lot of emphasis on the poor recent performances of the defence as well as the lack of leadership and confidence from Mignolet. All of these points were clear when Real Madrid hit their third goal just before half time as Mignolet the last line of defence foolishly came about five yards off his line to allow Benzema to tap home a moment later. The whole team was overshadowed and taught a very strict footballing lesson by possibly the best team in the world at the moment.
The scary thing to think about was that, this match took place at Anfield, what would be awaiting Liverpool on the 4th November at the Bernabeu? A far cry from the 2009 fixture which saw Liverpool cruise past Madrid with a 4-0 victory with goals from Torres, Gerrard and Dossena. The only positive Liverpool could take from the night would be a Ludogorets victory over Basel leaving them with the hope of making it past the group stages.


Second fixture: A weak starting eleven announced by Rodgers sending the 'Liverpool twittersphere' into anarchy. Criticising Rodger's and claiming he has given up before the first whistle, was he resting key
players for Saturday's equally as hard match against current leaders Chelsea who knows? A strong first twenty minutes from Liverpool as they dominated possession with glimpses of how they played last season replicated on a grand night at the Bernabeu where Liverpool won their last fixture here in 2009, 1-0 thanks to a Yossi Benayoun goal. A 26th minute goal seemed to be the start of a rampant night for Real Madrid, the attitude many would of thought but the weakened Liverpool side without Henderson, Gerrard or even Raheem Sterling held their own. Creating few chances against a strong Real Madrid defence it was hard to see them being broke down, Adam Lallana came close after a wonderful turn on the edge of the box. The introduction of Steven Gerrard and Raheem sterling replacing Markovic and Lucas in the 68th minute seemed to show a further attacking dimension for Liverpool, again further shown by the appearance of Phillipe Coutinho in the 74th minute. Gareth Bale had the best chance of the second half but was denied by the cross bar while Liverpool held Real Madrid to a one nil margin, the scoreline was still one that is a respectable deficit to lose by.
Some may disagree with the squad Rodgers picked, while other say his squad played well and were just unlucky, a star performance from an unlikely source became a talking point as Kolo Toure almost played Ronaldo off the park lurking behind the Portugal star nearly the whole match. Against a player who has averaged a goal a game since 2010 that is something to take away in achievement
(Hopefully its make Diego Costa jelly legged).

Final Thought, over 180 minutes Liverpool lost 4-0 to the best football team in the world. Liverpool are clearly miles behind in the squad compared to both teams, but in the second fixture they showed a
lot more desire, got in the faces of the galacticos and went toe to toe with them. Unlucky to not get any clear chances on goal, but with the quality that Real Madrid possess through all areas of the pitch it was hard to see a result ever not being in their favour. Qualification from the group is still extremely achievable consecutive victories over opposition we are very capable of beating will mean Liverpool finishing second.

Reality of Real Madrid

Daniel Sturridge's newest setback couldn't of came at a worse time, with Real Madrid coming to Anfield on Wednesday. Ronaldo, Bale, Kroos, Rodriguez, Modric and many others gives me a sick feeling in my stomach, if Skrtel and Lovren take up the same form they've been displaying a dark shadow will take place above Anfield and the media will have a field day. Last year we were able to outscore our opponents with the best strike partnership in the world now we within 6 months we've lost both for the biggest match for Liverpool in the past 4 years. Can you see Rickie Lambert or Fabio Borini dribbling past Sergio Ramos or Pepe, fat chance. Its hard to see how such a good start to pre-season as well as all the hopefulness we took out of the new signings can put us in this position. We need confidence and goals will bring this, what options do we really have?

We need a miracle, I think we have a few. Step up the man who needs a big game to prove his worth, a man deemed a terrible buy compared to Daniel FUCKING Welbeck, a man who can be a superstar and a fool all within one kick of a ball. Mario Ballotelli. its about time he showed the fans a bit of passion, more desire, more appetite to play for the shirt rather than his own ego. Putting him against one of the toughest oppositions in the world may just motivate him enough to prove himself. Mario has been with the club now for 2 months and the opposition couldn't be more perfect, this is the same team that Luis Suarez will prove his worth against come Saturday but first Mario gets his turn.

Second in the miracle possibilities is the main who has saved Liverpool's arses countless times, Captain Fantastic. Steven Gerrard wont need any introductions in this match he will know exactly what it will cost to get the victory. Every Liverpool fan remembers the score when these two
last met, highly unlikely of a repeat especially when Steven Gerrard was one of the best players in the world at the time, but the man still has a few sparks left in his old wise legs hopefully Brendan will unleash him in a more attacking role for some time against QPR to get him more comfortable there ahead of Real Madrid .as giving the surprising the opposition may be the key

The loss of Sturridge may be a blessing in disguise it may allow Mario or even Lambert the opportunity
 to step up and be the hero, however when the boy is back fit he needs to be wrapped in bubble wrap because he is one of the few senior players at Liverpool now and only time will tell how much we miss his services. Liverpool need to get back playing the Liverpool way not struggling to beat lower teams, we need ruthlessness and power. The passing and everything else needs to be stepped up, rely on Brendan to get the best out of all of the players and hopefully catch the rest of the teams up.

Sterling Thrown to the Wolves

From the outside, Sterling will be criticized for apparently being honest with his national team football

manager and stating his tiredness. That's fine, the typical thing in this scenario for any manager with any decency would be when asked why their player is not in the squad would be to say "We felt hes been working really hard and we wanted to rest him and bring him on later on in the game to have more of an impact". Did Hodgson do this? No, he knew exactly what he was doing which is more than I can say about

the way he runs his England team. Sterling has been abused and verbally demolished by the public and media all for being honest rather than being too proud, and playing a match where he wouldn't of been very effective. What fans don't realise is the sheer amount of discipline and hard work is required from these athletes to play at the top level look at Ronaldo it has taken him years to build that temple that he calls his body, where as it will also take Sterling a few more years to manipulate his body to be accepting of the day to day demands of the highest quality football.

Sterling will come back a better player after all of his brief criticism, he will have a tougher backbone and a thicker skin, especially when he has top quality professionals around him such as Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney to guide him. Sterling was due a rest he has been one of the top performers int he premier league this term and in his last couple of Liverpool fixtures it was clear he was tired and beginning to show signs of a burn out. Young stars are expected to give everything they have week in, week out which is just impossible its too much too soon. Messi adapted his game to make fewer dribbles and bursts forward in the first half to save himself in the second half. Young Raheem is 19 and will soon find his rhythm, with the right people and guidance around him he has the potential to be the best player in the world.

The scariest thing about all of this is that, all of the best players who played for Liverpool were quickly linked with moves away from the club. Suarez to Barcelona and Real Madrid, Gerrard to Chelsea and Real Madrid and Torres to Chelsea. Hopefully Sterling will be able to recognise everything Liverpool has done for him and stay at the club and give it more time rather than jumping the gun which is not always guaranteed success