Should Glen Johnson’s Marmite reputation cost him his Liverpool place?

Glen Johnson is a Marmite footballer. Not in the sensationalist Joey Barton sense, but in the sense that so many have widely differing opinions of him.

At 29 years of age, with 51 England caps to his name – and having played 5 years at one of the top clubs in World Football – we should know where we are at with Glen. But he continues to surprise.

A difficult early childhood which led him to take his mother’s Surname in preference to his Father’s (Stephens) when his parents separated, included living in a hostel when his Mother had nowhere left to live.

Fortunately, through his early footballing talent, he joined West Ham and is a product of their famous academy, however he was surprisingly loaned out to their bitter and hated rivals, Millwall, where he made his debut.

Returning to West Ham after impressing on loan he went on to make just 16 appearances for the Hammers as one of their few bright sparks in a relegation year. His athleticism and attacking talent led him to move to another of West Ham’s biggest rivals – as he became the very first signing of the Roman Abramovich era. However when Claudio Ranieri lost his job, the new manager, one Jose Mourinho, simply didn’t fully trust the young defender. It was at this stage where the admiration of his attacking ability began to become overwhelmed by the criticism of his defending.

Three seasons later he was loaned to Portsmouth and after impressing for Harry Redknapp during 28 appearances he joined the South coast club permanently. It was during this period in which he began to get more games for England, and seem to mature as a footballer with typically buccaneering performances which included a goal of the season winning left foot volley in 2008. Winning the FA Cup at Portsmouth was a major highlight before his performances caught the attention of Liverpool, with Rafa Benitez citing his eagerness to have an attacking full back playing as right back.

In June 2009 Liverpool signed him for the sizeable fee of £17.5m, but his Liverpool career did not go as planned. Glen replaced the unassuming but impressive Alvaro Arbeloa in the team, who was sold to Real Madrid for the paltry fee of £5m and went on to make 125 appearances for the Spanish giants. Liverpool also lost other key players like Alonso and Hyppia, and the Reds tumbled from a title challenging 2nd to an embarrassing 7th, ultimately costing Rafa his job. While Glen weighed in with 3 goals and some impressive attacking displays, his defensive errors again bubbled up to the top and he has struggled to shake this impression of him ever since.

For such a well paid professional Johnson is also remarkably sensitive to criticism. After Paul Merson criticised the defender for, well, his defending, Johnson responded in an astonishing attack on twitter,

“Comments from alcoholic drug abusers are not really gonna upset me and who is Paul Merson to judge players, he was average at the best of times,” Johnson wrote. “The only reason he’s on that show is coz he gambled all his money away. The clown!”

During another shaky spell in the disappointing tenure of Roy Hodgson, the now England manager chose to criticise the player publicly

‘To be frank, he has not performed up to now to the level I would expect of him. You would have to ask him the question, “Do you think you are playing at top form and are you playing like the best right-back in the country for your club?” If he says yes, we will have to agree to differ. And if he says No, then you have to ask the question, why not?’

Again, Johnson reacted strongly, calling Hodgson’s football boring (I guess he wasn’t wrong there) and saying he wanted to leave. In the end it was Hodgson who left and Glen’s form began to improve under Kenny Dalglish, who was always supportive of his players in front of the cameras.

But it wasn’t until Brendan Rodgers came along that Johnson found a manager he really liked. The season before last was Johnson’s best by far, and while the team itself struggled in the first half of the season, Johnson began to garner praise for his defending and his consistency, two aspects of his play that have regularly frustrated.

Some noted, perhaps spuriously, that Johnson’s improved form coincided with him starting a degree in Mathematics – not the typical pursuit of a footballer. Worries that the taxing nature of such an endeavour would distract him from his football turned out to be false. Rodgers certainly deserves a great deal of credit as the irascible Johnson has been effusive in his praise of his manager time and time again. Hence it has been even more disappointing this season when Johnson has been unable to replicate the form of the previous year.

Rodgers, as ever, was supportive of his player, continuing to play him whenever fit (not least due to injuries to other full backs) and highlighting that Glen was carrying some minor injuries throughout the first part of the season. Despite inconsistent form, the importance of Johnson to the team was clear in the nervousness amongst fans following the announcement that Glen would be taking a break from playing, with no set return date, to recover from his injuries. When Johnson did return after a month, his performances didn’t improve significantly, even if the freedom of his movement did.

It is perhaps hard to criticise a player too harshly, when he has turned out regularly in a side that has played such attractive football at the top of the league, but Johnson has certainly played his part in some of the disappointing defending that has cost Liverpool the title.

With only a year left on his contract Johnson and his manager have said publicly they wanted a new contract for the player, but with his high wage and performances that arguably haven’t matched them, the club has not been forthcoming with a new offer. Johnson has hence gone to the World Cup, as England’s first choice right back, ironically under Hodgson, not certain where his long term future lies.

Furthermore the emergence of John Flanagan this season, Andre Wisdom last season, and Martin Kelly the season prior – all of whom should be fit and available for the start of the season – puts added pressure on Glen to retain his place in the starting 11.

With Kyle Walker injured we should be proud that a Liverpool right back will play every one of England’s games in the forthcoming World Cup. And yet his error prone performance in the game against Peru garnered much criticism (although in my opinion Johnson is still a far better full back than Jones, Smalling or Milner). Johnson was also one of the many players who had a very poor World Cup last time round.

Glen Johnson should be at the peak of his abilities as a footballer, but if he isn’t able to improve the quality of his performances, particularly defensively, then he may well find that he loses his place not only in the England side but also in the Liverpool team. Then again, I guess I’m just one of the millions of ‘sofa experts’ who thinks he might.

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