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.