Well we keep getting linked to Montoya, I think Ryan McLaughlin will be a very good player some day.

The loss of Johnson and Enrique against Arsenal meant they didn't have to worry too much about our full backs getting forward which resulted in their midfield not having to play 2 players wider. Definitely helped their game plan and not ours.

Would result have changed? Who knows, but I'd like to think we'd have played a lot better with those 2 playing.

That young Irish kid Ryan McLaughlin is the only player who could compete with Glen at RB maybe in a year or two but as long as he can step up from U21s to top level.

Not sure what Flanno is still doing at the club, he wont make it.

We need to send Kelly out on loan. He is getting no game time to assist his rehab from a serious injury. When he has come on he has looked way of the pace. Has he lost pace?

Playing against Arsenal away and Fulham are two completely different prospects.

Agreed that we really do miss Johnson but that's because we literally have no one else who can play a similar way (other than the inexperienced McLaughlin).

Johnson is clearly the best right back we have but that's not an admission on how good he is - it shows the lack of depth we have there.

Johnson has been poor IMO - struggles to beat his man and gives away possession. On his day, he can be a real asset but on others, he's a liability.

For someone who cost £18m and on over £100k a week, we should be getting more value for money.

He can be solid for 89 mins but he's prone to lapses in concentration which can lead to goals.

If we really want to push onto the next level, we must cut out these mistakes or get a replacement.

We need to send Kelly out on loan. He is getting no game time to assist his rehab from a serious injury.

He just played the whole of the U21 game at CB to get up to speed. Which hopefully he will because we may need him over the busy xmas period.

U21 level is such a poor standard. Best bet is to send him to a prem club on loan I Jan.

You ripped Fulham apart cos they were pathetic and they made Gerrard and Henderson look like a prime Xavi and Iniesta partnership. Norwich showed more fight losing 7-0 to City than Fulham's shambles of a performance. It's not got that much to do with Johnson. He'd certainly improve you but missing one player of his decent ability shouldn't make a top side fall apart.

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

He'd certainly improve you but missing one player of his decent ability shouldn't make a top side fall apart.

We hardly fell apart, we didn't play that well but still should have scored.

comment by Greatteamswinit4times (U6008)
posted 49 minutes ago
He can be solid for 89 mins but he's prone to lapses in concentration which can lead to goals

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If you can name 3 goals that he has cost us since he's been playing for us I'll be surprised.

GJ has been excellent since signing for us, he was also England's best defender at the last Euro's. Anyone who says he cannot defend should see his excellent positional play, and the amount of times he bailed out the CB's by covering behind them.

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Well he loses his marker quite often, especially at set pieces which causes unnecessary pressure.

But I won't be surprised if we got rid of him, or if he left - over 30, on £100k a week, inconsistent and injury prone,

GJ is a great player and IMO, despite the odd error that all players are prone to, is consistently excellent for us.

When the time comes replacing him with someone as good or better will not be an easy task

I agree with Kelly going out on loan

Set peices? Agger and skrtel are just as bad.

Enrique has also snoozed twice this season costing us set piece goals.

Totally agree with OP. LFC009 you talk nonsense. We would have played much better had Johnson played. We would have got at least a point if also Enrique and Coutinho played full game. No surprise our other defeat was when they didn't play.

comment by Ilori (U18764) posted 22 minutes ago
Set peices? Agger and skrtel are just as bad.

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Agger is the worst offender for it IMO, he cost us 5 or more goals I'd say last season due to not marking correctly on set pieces

Sakho

I'd argue that Glen is as pivotal to us as Suarez, Gerrard or cout to be honest, he basically runs games from right back and when we get on top of a team he is playing as an advanced winger forcing both the opposition winger and their fullback right back into their own box.

We would have got at
least a point if also Enrique and
Coutinho played full game. No
surprise our other defeat was
when they didn't play.
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It's funny when your midfield was getting thoroughly overrun and stretched up until around the 80th minute mark in that match, I was only thinking how fortunate you were we had only defenders and reserve attackers on the bench and players that could have done serious damage with the space like Walcott, Podolski, Ox were unavailable. You didn't play well enough on the day, but the conjecturing about what you'd have done if you had Glen "Messi" Johnson and Enrique is pathetic. You must think you're Bayern or Guardiola's Barca or something.

Nah can't agree that having Glen or Enrrique woudl have gotten us a point, they both would certainly have made a difference but there is no way to quantify the having them equals a point or better.

They may have contributed to us getting something but our midfield was not good enough on the day and the gap between the front 2 and the rest of the team was too big, Glen and enrique would have helped closed the gap but still impossible to say they would have gotten us anything.

comment by Sheriff John Brown - bring back David Dein (U7482)
posted 1 hour, 11 minutes ago
We would have got at
least a point if also Enrique and
Coutinho played full game. No
surprise our other defeat was
when they didn't play.
-------

It's funny when your midfield was getting thoroughly overrun and stretched up until around the 80th minute mark in that match, I was only thinking how fortunate you were we had only defenders and reserve attackers on the bench and players that could have done serious damage with the space like Walcott, Podolski, Ox were unavailable. You didn't play well enough on the day, but the conjecturing about what you'd have done if you had Glen "Messi" Johnson and Enrique is pathetic. You must think you're Bayern or Guardiola's Barca or something.

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Calm down love. The OP didn't say we'd beat you if GJ was playing but that he is a vital component of how we play and he makes a difference both offensively and defensively when he does. No comparisons to Bayern or Barca were made.

As for Walcott and Ox, I'd had preferred them playing to Rosicky and Cazorla. Walcott and Ox are headless chickens most of the time. Easier to defend against of you've got the pacey fullbacks which GJ and Enrique are.

Calm down love. The OP didn't say we'd beat you if GJ was playing but that he is a vital component of how we play and he makes a difference both offensively and defensively when he does. No comparisons to Bayern or Barca were made.

As for Walcott and Ox, I'd had preferred them playing to Rosicky and Cazorla. Walcott and Ox are headless chickens most of the time. Easier to defend against of you've got the pacey fullbacks which GJ and Enrique are.
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Who's addressing the OP? Read the comment I quoted again before jumping in. The deluded fella said you'd have got "at least a point" if Johnson and Enrique played which is absurd. He's either criminally underrating us or is hilariously overrating you. Walcott and Ox are headless chickens? If you say so I guess.

comment by Sheriff John Brown - bring back David Dein (U7482)
posted 4 minutes ago
Calm down love. The OP didn't say we'd beat you if GJ was playing but that he is a vital component of how we play and he makes a difference both offensively and defensively when he does. No comparisons to Bayern or Barca were made.

As for Walcott and Ox, I'd had preferred them playing to Rosicky and Cazorla. Walcott and Ox are headless chickens most of the time. Easier to defend against of you've got the pacey fullbacks which GJ and Enrique are.
------------------------------------------------

Who's addressing the OP? Read the comment I quoted again before jumping in. The deluded fella said you'd have got "at least a point" if Johnson and Enrique played which is absurd. He's either criminally underrating us or is hilariously overrating you. Walcott and Ox are headless chickens? If you say so I guess.
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He also said Coutinho.

It's not absurd to say that if three of our better players were there we'd possibly have been better and could have got a point.

Compared to clever midfielders like Rosicky and Cazorla, Walcott and Ox are headless chickens. I know who i'd rather defend against .

He also said Coutinho.

It's not absurd to say that if three of our better players were there we'd possibly have been better and could have got a point.

Compared to clever midfielders like Rosicky and Cazorla, Walcott and Ox are headless chickens. I know who i'd rather defend against .
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Coutinho did playand didn't improve you in any way. You were at your most vulnerable and most overrun between the 50th and 80th minutes of that game with Coutinho on the pitch.

It's absurd to say you would have got "at least a point" had those players played. Stop deliberately twisting simply expressed language. If you think Walcott is a headless chicken, I can onlyassume you don't see him much for us and what he offers. Or maybe by belittling him, it makes you feel better to believe we don't miss him. The reality is Walcott, Ox and Podolski are our only players who look to get beyond the opposition backline with their runs on and off the ball rather than playing it infront of the opposition defence like Cazorla, Ozil and Rosicky like to do. If you choose to believe Walcott, Podolski, Ox and Wilshere who all missed the game are headless chickens, I guess you're entitled to your opinion.

Johnson is a fantastic player and one of the top few RBs in the league.

It hurts us a lot more than most sides would missing a fullback because he's the catalyst for everything in attack down the right flank.