Glen Johnson

[captainfog]

I don't think many fans are concerned about his wage. I bet FSG are though.

[Buzzo]

I thought he played well on Saturday. Was involved in 2 goals.

[baitman]

I don't think many fans are concerned about his wage. I bet FSG are though.

i am mostly concerned how much he can be available to play at a good level of fitness and enthusiasm. glenn at 100% is a very decent player. its just a shame we dont seem to see this 'good glenn' very often.
if the long term suggests he wont be able to maintain fitness levels due to some wear and tear type injuries then he might well be packing his bags.

[Pablo]

Amazed at the apathy surrounding Johnson. The best English RB in the league (not saying much, granted), at his best only Zabaleta is better in the league, and he would cost a premium to replace.

Flanagan is here to stay in my view but I see him as a squaddie and, for now at least, would like top quality in both full back positions.

Johnson has a great link-up down the right with Henderson and Sterling (also Suarez), he fits the way we play and is an experienced head in a young team. I accept his top heavy wages are an issue but absolutely no way do I want him replaced.

Glen

Glen

[dww]

I don't think many fans are concerned about his wage. I bet FSG are though.

Surprisingly large numbers seem to have a view on it on here (and the wider internet).

[~LFCHistory~]

i am mostly concerned how much he can be available to play at a good level of fitness and enthusiasm. glenn at 100% is a very decent player. its just a shame we dont seem to see this 'good glenn' very often.
if the long term suggests he wont be able to maintain fitness levels due to some wear and tear type injuries then he might well be packing his bags.

That's the issue for me with Glen, forget his wages and age for a minute, he's been here almost 5 years now and he's been following the same pattern season after season - He'll give us perhaps 10 excellent performances a season and the rest of the time he's either injured or putting in mediocre displays and costing us goals at the back.
Agger is very similar IMO, he's been doing the same thing for 8 years now - Returns from injury, gives us 2 good performances followed by 2 bad ones and then he's injured for a month. Rinse and repeat.
I wouldn't be overly upset if both left this summer tbh but if BR decides otherwise obviously I'll trust his judgement.

[RedReet]

Del.

[Maxiedge]

He's come back into the side and added quality to what was already a strong, spirited team ethos. That's exactly what we're after, players that can come in and contribute at a high level so why look elsewhere?

By all accounts, earlier in the season, he couldn't run properly with his injury but played under managers orders.

I have no doubt we should keep him and offer him a new contract. He's quality.

[DannyMan2006]

I've a great idea.

Let's sell our best full back for a ridiculously low fee as we're just about to embark on a season that once again includes the CL. I know he's one of the best full backs in Europe & I know all the better ones have no chance of joining us due to being at Barca or Bayern, etc, but **** it, we'll probably save ourselves £30k a week by bringing in an inferior player. If we're lucky, we'll get someone like Aly Cissockho who we all knew would be great cos he was good in France & Portugal. Or maybe someone as good as Dossena or Zeige, who both came with great reputations.

[MrMichael]

When Glen is good he's very good but when he's bad he's awful. He switches off in games from time to time and the frequency seems to be increasing with age. Having said that he'd be expensive to replace so it's a tricky one.

More or less exactly what I was about to post

He's been poor for most of the season. Only Glen knows if that was because of injury or because he lost focus due to his contract situation. Hope we can convince him to stay though because a fit and motivated Glenjo is IMO the best right back in the division. For most of this season, however, he's not even been the best right back at the club.

No way he'll take a cut in wages IMO.

This is spot on too.

I don't think many fans are concerned about his wage. I bet FSG are though.

Rightly so I reckon. If you assume FPP is actually going to be enforced in some shape & form, looking at our accounts we really don't have all that much room to play with. Players like Sturridge and Henderson definitely deserve (and will get) significant pay rises, however by the same measure those who aren't justifying their cost should find themselves and their spot under serious scrutiny.

A fit & on form Johnson certainly is worth what we are paying him, however the Johnson we've seen for swathes of this season definitely hasn't been.

I've a great idea.

Let's sell our best full back for a ridiculously low fee as we're just about to embark on a season that once again includes the CL. I know he's one of the best full backs in Europe & I know all the better ones have no chance of joining us due to being at Barca or Bayern, etc, but **** it, we'll probably save ourselves £30k a week by bringing in an inferior player. If we're lucky, we'll get someone like Aly Cissockho who we all knew would be great cos he was good in France & Portugal. Or maybe someone as good as Dossena or Zeige, who both came with great reputations.

Or maybe we could pluck some other unrepresentative examples out of thin air instead

The idea that it is impossible to replace any player with one of relatively equal ability but lesser wages is obviously flawed. It is tricky no doubt, but not impossible. You could easily have used Arbeloa as an example instead of Dossena to prove the reverse point to yours.

The money Johnson is on is massive - you really think he's been worth £40k/week more than Sturridge this season? Or about 95k more than Flannagan? And as for being one of the best full backs in Europe, that's a very arbitrary judgement and certainly isn't based on the sum of his form this season - as Foggy said he's not even been the best right back at L4 this season. At his best I agree he's a top quality player, but if we're going to continue to pay him like one then he needs to consistently perform like that, which he has not really been doing.

[~LFCHistory~]

I don't see much sense in arguing about this tbh. BR's quotes today would suggest that he's going to make sure Glen signs a new contract and that's fair enough because when GJ is on form he is one of the best RB's in Europe.

[Kenneth]

I don't know, you could read that Rodgers is saying that glen needs to play as well in order to earn a contract on the wages he's on. Maybe not a given.

[Shaggy]

I don't see much sense in arguing about this tbh. BR's quotes today would suggest that he's going to make sure Glen signs a new contract and that's fair enough because when GJ is on form he is one of the best RB's in Europe.

Brendan said he's one of the best full backs in the world.

[baitman]

a couple of decent defensive blocks and tackles, one decent attacking moves. it htought he is playing for a new contract and he might try and turn it on...
there were plenty of wasteful runs. there would be a fast fluent move, ball to johnson and the game comes to a stand still, allowing the slumberdown defence to get back and reorganise

often wasteful with the ball.
late in the game sterling had a run at the oppo defence down the right and he was mobbed, then from nowhere glenn came galloping to the rescue to give him someone to pass to. it looked like he had just woken up in the RB area and then made a 50+ yard run to support sterling. i saw brendan clapping him as he jogged back like he had just scored us a goal. wtf was he doing not supporting the attack in the first place. lack of concentration and awareness.

his movement of the ball was very slack. he would often only go to close down a player once the oppo guy had the ball and was on the run instead of covering him and preventing the pass in the first place...

its so frustrating as we know he can do it but he just isnt as focused as he should be.

[RedReet]

a couple of decent defensive blocks and tackles, one decent attacking moves. it htought he is playing for a new contract and he might try and turn it on...
there were plenty of wasteful runs. there would be a fast fluent move, ball to johnson and the game comes to a stand still, allowing the slumberdown defence to get back and reorganise

often wasteful with the ball.
late in the game sterling had a run at the oppo defence down the right and he was mobbed, then from nowhere glenn came galloping to the rescue to give him someone to pass to. it looked like he had just woken up in the RB area and then made a 50+ yard run to support sterling. i saw brendan clapping him as he jogged back like he had just scored us a goal. wtf was he doing not supporting the attack in the first place. lack of concentration and awareness.

his movement of the ball was very slack. he would often only go to close down a player once the oppo guy had the ball and was on the run instead of covering him and preventing the pass in the first place...

its so frustrating as we know he can do it but he just isnt as focused as he should be.

In the first half he was encouraged to get forward and support the attack as we obviously needed to score. Sunderland defended very well in the first half and like his team mates Johnson was terrible in teh final 3rd and it seemed to effect his performance. In the second half it was noticeable he stayed back more and played things simple so I would put money on Rodgers having told him to do so as we were already one up and there was no need to over commit in attack.