Everton FC vs Liverpool FC post-match thread

[The_weatherman]

He was Johnson's man, Flanno just tried to cover when Johnsen let him go..

Yep. Just summed up Johnson's lazy 2nd half. He was rubbish, had some lazy moments in the 1st half too. Was very disappointing

Fair enough, I'll just change my point a bit. Lukaku is an obvious threat at set pieces, I think our centre halfs should mark him.

[Sarb]

Johnson just had another one of those games when he goes into dozy overdrive. Very frustrating. He is capable of such a high level, indeed he delivers at a high level most of the time, but switches off too often really and puts in those brainless displays when he looks half-arsed.

For me, I find this a lot more frustrating than say someone like Flanagan just having a 6 or 7 out of 10 game. Johnson has tons of ability. He's an international class right-back. But i've seen it so many times from him. He has quite a number of games in a season where you can tell from the first 15 or 20 mins that he's going to be sloppy, sloppy in defence and also in attack. Saturday was one of those games. There was an incident in the 1st half where he got caught in possession, then at the beginning of the 2nd half he just stood there when Gerrard flicked over a free-kick to him.

Lukaku's headed goal was Johnson's fault. Made no effort to track his man

[dww]

I honestly think Johnson was fine apart from at set pieces where he has been suspect for a while. We should move him to less vital areas when defending set pieces and corners - he would be a viable option on the break so could easily be put to use in that regard.

I do sometimes think he needs better leadership and still worry that our back 4 and DM positions don't seem to keep each other on there toes very well. Something Carragher did well last season and Hyypia used to do exceptionally well without seeming to yell or be demonstrative.

[Sarb]

I honestly think Johnson was fine apart from at set pieces where he has been suspect for a while. We should move him to less vital areas when defending set pieces and corners - he would be a viable option on the break so could easily be put to use in that regard.

I do sometimes think he needs better leadership and still worry that our back 4 and DM positions don't seem to keep each other on there toes very well. Something Carragher did well last season and Hyypia used to do exceptionally well without seeming to yell or be demonstrative.

I noticed in the 2nd half, he was giving his man acres of space on the wing, was nowhere near him. Was too close to his centre-back on quite a few occasions.

I've always found him a little slack defensively and he has odd games where he just wastes balls in attacking areas too.

[Mostar]

He was Johnson's man, Flanno just tried to cover when Johnsen let him go..

I have seen some stats that the reason why GJ was to cover Lukaku was he had the best winning % in aerial duels of all defensive players so far but I still find it strange given how physical Lukaku is that either Skrtel or Agger were the ones covering him instead.

[Exiled_red]

I have seen some stats that the reason why GJ was to cover Lukaku was he had the best winning % in aerial duels of all defensive players so far but I still find it strange given how physical Lukaku is that either Skrtel or Agger were the ones covering him instead.

Presumably a large part of this is because as a fullback he is usually up against wingers, who tend not to be as good in the air as strikers. I don't think that stat really means that much.