I'm not sure Gerrard will make it to a 3rd year, I think, his next 12month extension will take him up to his last year "playing" for us, esp. if he sees less than 50% playing time in 2015/16 season. No doubt he loves the club, but I think, if he believes he can still play, he may opt for a couple of years in the MLS before taking up a coaching/TV pundit role..
I dont think it'll be a problem. Look at the wording of the Gerrard interview regarding quitting England. He said Brendan offered to "tailor his LFC games if he continued with England" and that's what made him quit. Translation, you dont have that many games a season in you so choose who you play for with the games you have and so Gerrard chose. As long as he treats Gerrard with that kind of respect while still keeping the team as the priority then I don't think Gerrard will complain too much. I still have hope that Johnson won't be first choice this year, at least after a couple of games.....
Drivel. We saw last season when Walker had a couple of games for England and made Johnson look like Carlos Alberto that, the last dreadful season apart, Johnson has been the best right-back for England, albeit from a dire bunch, for the last five years. He's undoubtedly shot now, and has never recovered from the injury he got against United last September (he looks like he's carrying an extra 5 kilos too). But remember, at his best he was a fine attacking full-back, and England's best defender in the 2012 Euros, no matter what a ridiculously biased media proclaimed. Time for him to piss off now though...
Don't agree with you this time Donga. Glen has never been a great defender even when fit. Re England, he's also been a key weakness in the defence in that period. He was good going forward, but I'm afraid that doesn't counterbalance his shocking defending. Its not a form thing, he's been poor for years.
It's only recently that everyone else (media) has jumped aboard the 'Johnson is bad' bandwagon. For the last two seasons, he's been ****e, but only Liverpool fans seem to have noticed his fall. Prior to that though, he was without question the best English RB and arguably the best in the league although Zabaleta and Sagna have also performed great.
Johnson was actually decent defensively a couple of years ago and was England's best defender at euro 2012. Since then he's gone back downhill and his attacking ability also has nose dived which is why people are noticing it even more now!
When the **** was that? He was dire under Hodgson, absolutely dire and that was 4 years ago now! And he has never recovered. When he first arrived he was decent going forward and poor at the back. Now its average going forward (2 assists last year) and very poor at the back.
Every ability seems to have gone, he can't even control a simple pass nowadays and loses possession constantly. Never seen a downfall like it!
Using the comparison to Walker isn't helpful. Yes he may be not as s**t as Walker but he is still pretty s**t nonetheless. I think many will agree when I say we didn't buy Johnson for his defensive work, it was primarily his attacking play (which was exceptional) that earned him the plaudits and always papered over the defensive cracks. Whenever he did have decent defensive performances (such as Euro '12), it was an added bonus. Now however, he rarely demonstrates his attacking prowess and therefore cannot paper over his defensive frailties anymore. I'm sure we would all be happy if he still made up for attack what he lacks in defense or if he knuckled down and became a solid defensive full back, but he has done neither. Also, when are these Spaniard full backs supposed to be joining? Been waiting all weekend for some news.
Not having that! Some tried, a lot were not good enough, and some were lazy and gave up (Johnson). I'll never forget repeatedly watching him trot up the wing, instead of crossing first time, checking back, losing the ball and then walking/half trotting back with no intention of helping the defenders who were now scrambling to fill the hole at RB where he should have been. During that period he basically said "not my problem" someone else deal with it "I'm not interested". He now tracks back more but just cannot pass the ball, block a cross or generally defend and he hasn't improved in assists. I think the guy is shot and has had it far too easy from us and especially England. This is before we even touch on his wages!! And the short duration remaining on his contract.
A few of our players at that time knew that Hodgson was the one in the hot seat facing the backlash and knew they could coast instead of put in a top gear performance. Johnson and Torres in particular spring to mind.
Honestly think it's because he doesn't give a ****. I mean look at the likes of Gerrard, Lucas Kuyt etc..they all lost something as they got older but kept enough of the rest to pose a debate. You may lose pace and power, but not touch, control or technique as well without it being mental. He's 'settled'. He knows we can't change the fact he's on big bucks and he knows it'll never be as good once his time with us is over.....He's doing the football equivalent of cruising looking for skirt......
He's coasting for sure. That's not what we need if we are to continue improving though surely? QPR step up.
Think this is why this new kid is a loan deal. Owners have sat watching the lazy prick and said because they can't get rid of him unless some fool buys him they're not risking buying another RB while he's on the books in case we have two that are ****e. If he turns out good, we buy when Johnson leaves, he turns out ****e he's back up to Flanagan for a year until we find better.
You would have thought his agent and/or accountant would say to him "yeah, it's good at the moment, you may earn a few mill this season. Then what? You will be out of contract and nobody will take you on because you are ****e. At least put in some shifts, show someone you are worth employing".
