http://www.talksport.co.uk/magazine...sport-rates-and-slates-three-lions-174513?p=2 FOUR out of ten, and he's been England's best player in tne tournament so far. Yet that useless turdburger Young gets.... SIX out of ten. Johnners, since your public friendship and backing of Suarez those coontz will never forgive you. Nothing else explains this utter biased, disgraceful view of the game through shight-tinted spectacles.
First things first, I am going to point out that I usually back Glen Johnson to the halt and I certainly think four out of ten is a joke, especially considering Ashley Young got six and he was absent again! But... Event though I think Johnson has made some excellent tackles and provided superb cover to the centre backs, some of the tackles he has had to make have been down to his positioning, something I usually stand up for him for! Then, when he has been caught out and the ball as gone past does he dig in and get back into position as soon as possible...? Does he ****... he casually jogs back instead! He did this a few times against France and again tonight, he will get caught out eventually and suddenly get slaughtered by all and sundry again. If there is one thing I can't stand it is laziness from a player, this is what has made me be critical of him this time. Edit: I'd give Young 4/10 and Johnson a 7/10. Mellberg would get a 9/10, I thought he was superb despite being on the losing side
Haha, 4/10? I notice how it blames Johnson for the first goal but doesn't mention the fact Cole let a long ball bounce and gave possession to Sweden which then led to the free kick. Had he headed the ball away like he should have done we wouldn't been under the pressure.
His cross for the Terry miss is overlooked too. If he was exposed out of position a few times you should remember that Milner was non-existent, the same reason I'm loathed to condemn Cole on the other flank as Young was even worse than non-existent. The rating from the Mirror are not much better - just can't beleive I watched the same game as these 'experts'.
Arsehead and Cole were at fault for Sweden's 2nd but it was odds on that johnno would get the blame because he never managed to clear it off the line.
He was probably "out of position" for being there in the first place and would have got a higher mark if he was just standing with the rest of the England team watching the Sweden forwards try and score
Yeah i'm quick to critisize Glen but he was excellent last night - perhaps the best defensively i've ever seen him actually.
I thought Johnson had a decent game last night, i would give him a 6-7 out of 10. I think its easy to focus on the odd really good or really bad thing a player does and simply give them a score based on those 20 seconds of the game rather than their performance over 90 minutes. Cole and Johnson were good but unspectacular, our wingers were terrible for most of the game (until they were replaced) - I thought Milner started well but drifted off after we went ahead, Young was awful which is a shame as he was excellent in qualifying. Welbeck, Gerrard and Walcott were the best three, with Carroll close behind. In my opinion. ps. Danny Simpson would have cleared that off the line, just saying (He would have been shank for the rest of the game but he is good at clearances!)
Johnson had a decent game last night. I would have given a 7. He was reliable andwas unlucky with the goal line clearance but at least he managed to get there
Sorry to say it but Johnson was very average last night (as were most of the England team). I know you feel it is an anti Liverpool thing but he really is not very good, certainly defensively. First credit where its due, it was a good ball for Terry and he has made a couple of good tackles, however, the main reason he had to make them was due to his poor positioning. In both games so far he has been caught out of position several times which have led to opportunities for the opposition, against France he went forward for an attack which broke down and jogged back leaving a large gap in the RB position which the French exploited (think it may of been in the build up to their goal). For the goal yesterday where he tried to clear it off the line he was far to slow pushing up when the ball was cleared and 3m behind the rest of the defence playing at least 2 players on side. Granted he was not helped by poor defending from the original free kick. With the way Hodgeson likes to play, using a disciplined defensive formation where players must hold their position he can be a liability as he often seems unaware of where he should be. For last night he should probably get about a 5/10 but I thought the whole team was very average against a poor Sweden team despite many fans and pundits deeming it fantastic. Anyway you will probably slate this for being anti Liverpool but thats my view.
Err thats always going to happen with attacking full backs. Its up to the centre backs and holding midfielders (Parker) to cover the space. Its not not Johnson's fault that Parker and Terry don't have the intelligence or ability to cover him when he's gone forward.
It seems to me the problem with Johnson and England is that most of the fans who watch England support mickey mouse teams so they do not understand how formations and systems work with attacking full back. They're used to seeing full backs who stay in position and make a few crunching tackles and are perceived to be "solid" (see Tony Hibbert, Phil Bardlsey etc) even though Johnson is miles better than them defensively and offensively.
To be honest, you may be on to something there. However, I have criticised Johnson (and I normally stand by him) for being out of position. By this, I don't mean when he as been attacking, I mean when he is already back and 100% part of the back four. He seems to leave a big distance between him self and the CB (part blame to the CB?) and the winger hangs out wide. This makes it easy to slip the ball from the gap for the winger to be in on goal, albeit at an angle but through on goal all the same. Ribery did this a couple of times but he didn't attack the goal, he instead held the ball up and waited for others to arrive giving Johnson the chance to get back (eventually with him only jogging!) and recover. It happened a few times against France and again last night. I like Johnson and usually defend him, especially against the positional criticism, but that is normally when he as been attacking. When part of the back four as highlighted above, it is just poor! Edit: I still think he was one of our better players last night thought
Got to say 4 out of 10 was probably about right. He played sweden on and then put the ball in his own net for the first goal (should have made the clearance off the line aswell) and it seemed like it was his man who scored the second form the set piece aswell seen as he was standing right behind the guy with a blank look on his face when it went in. He lost his man. Seen as he was responsible for both goals I dont see how he could be scored any better than 4.
I assume you are referring to Norwich as a mickey mouse team? Norwich have played with attacking full backs for the last few years. Anyway regardless of who a person may support they can still understand how the game should be played. He is just not very good positionally and it was his fault as much as anyone when he was caught out of position against France whatever you may think, and when he realised he was out of position and started running back instead of jogging it was to late to atone for his error. Granted it is a team game and others must cover when he goes forward and he is not helped by Englands inability to hold possession however you can't always use the excuse "oh someone should cover for him". With the tactics England use he needs to be more disciplined with his positioning than perhaps he is used to playing for Liverpool as the defence is very much based on keeping a solid shape.
The goal we conceded against France was from outside the box and the midfield was too deep. It had absolutely nothing to do with any of the defenders, let alone Glen Johnson PS - if you look at other threads, you will realise I have not exactly been sticking up for Johnson today either Edit: your comments regarding players covering for Johnson (and A.Cole but you failed to mention this) suggests you don't totally understand how systems with attacking full backs work. The holding midfield players are supposed to cover them! However, more to the point would be the system Woy employs. He does not set the team up to have attacking full backs
