Ive gotta say Im a Johnson liker.I think hes done ok since signin for us without being excellent.The sh*te about he cant defend is a myth, we very rarely concede goals due to Johnson defensive errors,part of the grief he gets is cos hes an England regular and it comes with that.Probably not quite as good a player as Richards who should be England number 2. But Kelly is ALSO an excellent RB,and would get in every premier league 1st 11 no probs apart from the top 6. Johnson is slightly better attacking,but Kelly is slightly better defensively, but after seeing the game yesterday, for the FIRST time I am saying Kelly should perhaps be 1st choice v Wolves.For me we looked awesome aerially from corners yesterday, the best we have looked for years,despite us being pretty abject until Kenny made the subs on 60 mins , and Kelly was part of that aerial threat.Start Agger,Kelly,Skrtel,Carroll I say v Wolves But there really is next to nothing in ability between Kelly n Johnson
Johnson looks like Barnesy when he's going forward so why not have the two of them as our right sided unit...both decent going forward and both could cover each others areas when necessary...I'd love to see a couple of games with Kelly at RB and Johnson RM
Kelly is good when we plan on sitting back and defending against the bigger teams but against the smaller sides at Anfield Johnson is better. I would play Johnson.
Kelly's a brilliant right back. I know his 'main position' is centre back, but if Agger and Skrtle continue in this form, I'd have no issues playing him at right back full time next season and seeing Johnson shipped out.
I still think Kelly's best position will be CB. I think we may be doing a similar thing as we did with Carragher where we played him RB to start with to get him used to playing and improve his positional play and then gradually move him into the middle. He has the physical presence to be able to play there. Johnson is head and shoulders above Kelly going forward, as Kelly does always seem a bit reluctant to make forward runs and go past players even though he does have a decent cross. However defensively, there isn't much between them.
Think that a good point I also think Maxi is similar ( he was dire yesterday), in that he should only play when we are likely to have a lot of possesion, when the possesion is gonna be more even against the top 6 he shouldnt play.Maxi should only play against teams in the bottom half at Anfield,when we need to unlock the opposition defence
Good thread. It depends on the opposition. Kelly is a much better defender than Johnson, but Johnson is better going forward. When we get a quality right mid then I would play Kelly. As it we do not and we need a bit of attacking threat which Johnson brings. Good balance in having them both atm.
I thought yesterday was one of kelly's poorer games, when you watch the match again (sad i know but i cant help it) watch him with a critical eye and he made several bad mistakes. If johnson did the same the media and this MB would have been all over them.
Wouldnt look to offload Johnson or Kelly, good teams need lots of good players/ a squad.Kelly gives us options at CB,and Johnson played most of last season at LB.Good dilemna to have
I agree with this. A lot of Liverpool fans think we need to sign a decent right winger, but I think we already have him in Johnson, with Flanagan as cover for Kelly at RB, and Kuyt as our option for RW when we need to be more defensive(due to his greater work rate), though I do expect Kuyt to leave in the summer.
Made 1 or 2 errors in givin ball away, but also I thought whoever came up against him didnt get any change out of him at all.Giggs,Evra,Park all tried to take him on at times,none of them managed to get past him
I don't agree. I don't think Johnson will ever be a good winger. He's a good option at wing back but I don't think you could rely on him in midfield.
The great thing about both of them is their versatility. Johnson can play on both sides to a very high standard (therefore, good cover for Jose if Fabio isn't fit). Jonhson could easily slot in at RM if desperately needed, although I'm not a fan of pushing trained defenders into a new position. And it's been proved a few times it's often unsuccessful. Kelly is a trained CB but has proved his pace and strength make him ideal for a RB - so we have a player who could slot in anywhere across the back 4 (not so sure about LB, but it's a possibility). I see Kelly and Coates being the future backbone of our defence - and I have a feeling that's going to be one hell of a partnership. But to answer the OP - I was always more of a Kelly fan than Johnson, however Johnson have proved himself this season so I would pick him first. Although, definitely rotate them as we need to keep Kelly match fit
Unlike who we currently see playing RM Is Johnson a worse option to play RM than Hendo or Kuyt neither of whom are good wingers either....Johnson can pass short, his movement is great, he has a good burst of pace, ability to beat a man, good stamina a decent shot and his crossing is decent too. IMO that would make for a far better right winger than any of the other options we've seen so far this year.
Yeah true. He's probably worth a shout atm - worth giving a chance - but my point is I don't think we can cross out the RM problem by putting Johnson there. If he did okay then we could have him as a temp, which means we could push Kuyt further up and give us more options. Would mean we could put Hendo in his proper position in the centre.
Dirks done well lat 2 games at RM IMO Plus he been a great servant over the years , 3/4 of the time playin RM.That was HIS position in the Torres,Masch,Alonso era Dirk is cool
I thought the same but he's been very important the last two games. I think the fact he hasn't been match fit is key. He's good for another year imo.
As far as beyond this season, lets see how he finishes the season But last 2 games Dirk has probably played better than anyone else has at RM all season.Downing,Henderson and others havnt exactly set the world on fire playin there For me Dirk at RM( not up front wheres hes struggled this year) for Wolves is a shoe in
I think in his Portsmouth days, Harry gave Johnson quite a long run off games in midfield, and he proved more than adept at playing there. Please correct me if I'm wrong!
