According to reports, Glen Johnson is considering leaving for Spain this season. Here are 10 reasons why I think this summer it's the right time to part ways with Johnson and why we don't even need to replace him:
1. Johnson is the most inconsistent senior player in the team. It's much harder for a manager to find the perfect balance in the squad if one of the players fluctuates so unpredictably - one week he produces a wonderful performance, next week he gives the ball away with every pass. Having a player like that makes it much harder to preach consistency to the team.
2. His attacking contribution is vastly overrated. Last season: 1 goal, 3 assists. Season before: 1 goal, 0 assists. Season before that: 2 goals, 2 assists. Enrique, Agger and Skrtel have all scored more goals than our supposedly best "attacking defender" last season.
3. Johnson is not a great passer. He is not a bad one, mind, but not a real tiki-taka player either; more often then not the triangles on our right flank when Johnson is playing result in a throw-in to us at best. His crossing is nothing to rave about.
4. He is a notoriously wasteful shooter: last season it took him 39 shots to score his 1 goal. Most of these shots (72%) were not even on target. A player who shoots so much and rarely hits the target just wastes many promising attacks and overall makes the attack less efficient.
5. His regular forays forward make it necessary for our right wing-forward to cover the space in defense - good when you have Kuyt or Downing playing in front of him, not so good when you have a newcomer like Aspas or youngsters Ibe and Sterling.
6. He earns £5.2M per year. And he is turning 29 in a few weeks; his value is only going to drop from now.
7. He is not a winner. He got the Premiership winners medal with Chelsea, but in truth didn't really cut it at Mourinho's team. His time in Liverpool was a time of mid-table mediocrity and decline. We need new energy to push us back up into contention and maybe Johnson is right to want new motivation of playing in a different country.
8. Kelly seems to be ready to have his breakout season. Even last season it was obvious that Rodgers trusts Kelly and likes the idea of a more defensive-oriented player at RB. Unfortunately, a promising season was prematurely ended by a knee injury. Kelly came back even stronger this year and if he can stay healthy this could be his chance to break into the first team. He has the talent and all the qualities to be a first team player.
9. There are 2 more young right backs waiting for their big chance: Flanagan and McLaughlin. Flanagan has already played in the first team under both Kenny and Rodgers, McLaughin is arguably a bigger talent who needs to start receiving some game time at the highest level to boost his development.
10. Beyond Flanagan and McLaughlin, there is enough cover at RB in case Kelly gets injured. Wisdom has been playing as a RB last season with some success and Henderson could do a good job at RB if needed - nothing wrong with that (for instance Essien played many important games Essien for Real last season, Valencia has been regularly used as a RB by Fergie last season etc).
Did I convince you? Vote in the poll below!
1. Johnson is the most inconsistent senior player in the team. It's much harder for a manager to find the perfect balance in the squad if one of the players fluctuates so unpredictably - one week he produces a wonderful performance, next week he gives the ball away with every pass. Having a player like that makes it much harder to preach consistency to the team.
2. His attacking contribution is vastly overrated. Last season: 1 goal, 3 assists. Season before: 1 goal, 0 assists. Season before that: 2 goals, 2 assists. Enrique, Agger and Skrtel have all scored more goals than our supposedly best "attacking defender" last season.
3. Johnson is not a great passer. He is not a bad one, mind, but not a real tiki-taka player either; more often then not the triangles on our right flank when Johnson is playing result in a throw-in to us at best. His crossing is nothing to rave about.
4. He is a notoriously wasteful shooter: last season it took him 39 shots to score his 1 goal. Most of these shots (72%) were not even on target. A player who shoots so much and rarely hits the target just wastes many promising attacks and overall makes the attack less efficient.
5. His regular forays forward make it necessary for our right wing-forward to cover the space in defense - good when you have Kuyt or Downing playing in front of him, not so good when you have a newcomer like Aspas or youngsters Ibe and Sterling.
6. He earns £5.2M per year. And he is turning 29 in a few weeks; his value is only going to drop from now.
7. He is not a winner. He got the Premiership winners medal with Chelsea, but in truth didn't really cut it at Mourinho's team. His time in Liverpool was a time of mid-table mediocrity and decline. We need new energy to push us back up into contention and maybe Johnson is right to want new motivation of playing in a different country.
8. Kelly seems to be ready to have his breakout season. Even last season it was obvious that Rodgers trusts Kelly and likes the idea of a more defensive-oriented player at RB. Unfortunately, a promising season was prematurely ended by a knee injury. Kelly came back even stronger this year and if he can stay healthy this could be his chance to break into the first team. He has the talent and all the qualities to be a first team player.
9. There are 2 more young right backs waiting for their big chance: Flanagan and McLaughlin. Flanagan has already played in the first team under both Kenny and Rodgers, McLaughin is arguably a bigger talent who needs to start receiving some game time at the highest level to boost his development.
10. Beyond Flanagan and McLaughlin, there is enough cover at RB in case Kelly gets injured. Wisdom has been playing as a RB last season with some success and Henderson could do a good job at RB if needed - nothing wrong with that (for instance Essien played many important games Essien for Real last season, Valencia has been regularly used as a RB by Fergie last season etc).
Did I convince you? Vote in the poll below!
