Jon Flanagan has provided a welcome injury boost to Liverpool after returning to full speed running at Melwood this week. The popular young defender has missed the entire year due to a knee injury sustained in pre-season but on Monday reached a major milestone in his rehabilitation. The 22-year-old has been building up strength in his knee by running in a harness, gradually increasing the weight he has been putting on the joint itself following surgery in September. He is now running unsupported and will use the next couple of weeks to build up muscle strength before hopefully reappearing in some under-21 games. As a local lad, Flanagan is a huge fan favourite and will be keen to force his way back into Brendan Rodgers’ plans with his contract running out this summer. With Steven Gerrard leaving for LA Galaxy, many see the full back as a key part of keeping a ‘Scouse heartbeat’ within the ranks at Anfield. - Unfortunately for Jon we dont play full backs any more so he may have to wait even longer for a run of games...
Good news, logic dictates He simply replaces Johnson on the bench. Then again, BR and logic don't tend to play together.
In our current system we need an athlete in full back/wing back. Flanagan is perfect if we want to switch to a back 4 but not if we want to stick with 343 till the final minute but need to make a change. This puts Manquillo comfortably ahead because he can do both very comfortably.
Manquillo is light years ahead of Flannagan. Having said that, Flanno is still a good squad option who can fill in at left/right back.
Not so sure about this. sorry but i am unimpressed with manquillo going forward. I'd put the two at a similar level. Flanagan cut out a lot of issues in his game with a bit of experience but he is still average.
Manquillo is a defender. That's his first, second and third job and he's done it brilliantly - especially considering that he's only 19. In addition, he has good pace and is good in the air. Better than Flanagan in every way possible. Put it this way, if he was a local lad, everyone would be raving about him.
There you go bringing geography into it again. You're the only one that considers this when judging a player!
