No doubt, Johnson has the pace to play the position, and his forward runs from the left could be as threatening as they are from the right, but the same problems will arise, with some additional issues to boot. Glen’s positional skills were not the best at right back, playing in a foreign position for him may make the problems even worse and he could be caught out of position or left flat-footed by some of the Premier League’s most skilful, and tricky right wingers. In addition, his one great asset, his attacking ability to run at the opposition out wide, and take on fullbacks, could be lost on the left side, as he will more often than not cut inside to cross rather than use his weaker left foot. Opposition full backs will learn very quickly his penchant for cutting inside, and his attacking threat could be nullified.
To counter that argument though, he put in a decent cross with his left foot which finally resulted in Raul Meireles scoring the opening goal against Everton, while he also wasn’t at fault for either goal against the Merseyside rivals. I won’t be alone in saying though that I would like a return to a more natural left back as quick as possible with either Aurelio or a new signing taking his place.
Perhaps Glen is just a stop gap for Kenny before a new arrival in the next couple of weeks. That would be my hope, and then it would be interesting to see what Kenny does with the choice of either Johnson or Kelly at right back. Perhaps there could be room for both of them with Johnson further forward and the young local lad behind him? That is surely a possibility worth considering.
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Johnson isnt a left-back, he’s not even a right. I think we should rather play him on the right wing and buy a new left back. Liverpool have agree a fee for Babel to go to Hoffenhein so there will be room for new additions
Kenny should put Johnson out of his misery. The camera got johnson several times shaking his head most expecially after he attempted to cross with his left foot and failed.
Babel on his way out, we wait to c what happens in 2 wks.
Glen Johnson is a very good player, no doubt about that but he cannot defend. Swtiching him from right back to left back won’t improve matters. In fact, his defensive frailties may be further exploited by opposition wingers. For the time being, Aurelio should start at left back until we bring a quality left back such as Taiwo or Coentrao. Martin Kelly should continue at right back and Dalglish should consider playing Johnson further up field on the right of midfield where I believe he will be more effective with his pace, skills and crosses.
I was surprised too. Glen is not that much of a defender, but he’s much faster than Martin. He is also much better in offense than Martin, of course when playing RB. I don’t think Glen played good offensively in last few matches. So many bad passes, I didn’t even see him shoot. Not even once.
So I think, that Kenny should play Glen on the right, Aurelio on the left and when Fabio is not fit (or during the game), substitute him with Kelly (so Kelly would play as a LB)