Glen Johnson - an 'attacking' full-back

Modern Day Full-Back Flop

Initially I was going to work on a piece based on the quality and hype surrounding Wayne Rooney and whether or not the label ‘world-class’ should be associated with a player who crumbled miserably under the pressure at the grandest of stages in South Africa. However, Mustapha Ali Carter threatened to create a blog specifically on the demise of Liverpool FC and warned me to leave his dear Rooney alone. Having bared enough pain from LFC this season already, risking a blog created by a Manchester United fan on the problems at the Kop was one gamble I wasn’t willing to take.

Football journalism has tonnes of writing space dedicated to prolific goal scorers, the speedster wingers, the dazzling dribblers, and generally the more glamorous attacking players of the game get more media attention than most. In recent times, full-backs have contributed to the attacking aspect of football more than they used to 15, 20 years ago. Originally, I was going to focus my attention on the ‘modern day full-back’ and compare, contrast full-backs from around the globe (the idea was given to me by Mateusz Nale). However, I decided to construct an article on Glen Johnson and his inability to defend or live up to his label of an ‘attacking full-back’.  

Being a life-long Liverpool fan, albeit the fee was extremely inflated I was confident Glen Johnson would repay his value by glowing attacking performances on the field. That was not to be the case so I decided to browse his overall football career and will try to support my opinions with some statistical data. He is a product of the famous West Ham youth academy, and was given an opportunity in the first team by Harry Redknapp (who later signed him on loan at Portsmouth). After 15 appearances for the Hammers, he began the first signing under the reign of Abramovic for a fee of £6m in 2003. For an attacking full-back, during his Chelsea career he only managed 4 goals and 2 assists in 59 starts and 11 substitute appearances. He only managed 18 shots during his spell in West London. Nothing extravagant to suggest he was an attacking full-back. He fared a bit better at Portsmouth where he managed 4 goals and 13 assists in 98 starts for the club and the single substitute appearance. He also managed to fire 89 shots on goal. Despite Portsmouth finishing 14th in the league, Johnson was selected at right-back in the PFA Team of the Year for 2008-09. His screaming left-foot volley against Hull on November 22 also won Match of the Day's Goal of the Season. How often have we seen goals like that since?

Personal accolades for his attacking full-back displays earned him a £17m move to Anfield in the summer of 2009, after having already cemented his place as England’s first choice right-back. I maybe wrong and I would appreciate someone correcting me if I am, but that made him the second most expensive right-back in the world after Daniel Alves. Anyway, in his debut season for the club, he stacked up 28 starts and two substitute appearances which yielded a very poor return of 3 goals and 3 assists. Now I may be wrong, but if I were too spend £17m on a full-back for his attacking ability, I would expect better contribution to the attacking aspect of my team than those stats. Even this season, he has only managed 1 goal and 1 assists from 17 starts. I would happily accept arguments in favour of spending that sort of money if Johnson added more solidity to the back along with retaining his ability to go forward, but that has not been the case. If anything, his inability to defend and questionable decision making is now more apparent to football fans and pundits. Too often he is caught out of position or is easily passed by the attacking opposition. It is not only at club level where he has struggled, but internationally his lack of defensive capability has exposed England on more than one occasion. Alvero Arbeloa cost the club £3m (almost a sixth of Johnsons fee) in January 2007, and he may have only provided 2 goals (one of them being a great curling effort against West Brom) with 5 assists, but he was defensively much more sound and has moved on to Real Madrid since then. Did Liverpool really need to spend £17m on a right-back when other areas of the pitch needed strengthening i.e. wingers and centre-forward position?

The most worrying aspect of his disappointing time at Anfield from my view is he doesn’t seem to possess the determined mentality to improve. This was evident last week following criticism from Paul Merson on Gillette Soccer Saturday. The former Arsenal man said: "He [Hodgson] didn't have the luxury of a budget to spend £18 million on Glen Johnson, who can't defend for toffee, he's had to buy players from Fulham that he knew before. I don't think it's the players hanging their head in shame - I don't think they're good enough. Who would take their players if they were to go on sale tomorrow? Glen Johnson wouldn't go anywhere for 18 million quid." Johnson disrespectfully responded on the social networking site Twitter, writing: "Comments from alcoholic drug abusers are not going to upset me and who is Paul Merson to judge players. He was average at the best of times, the only reason he is on that show is coz he gambled all his money away. The clown.” His comments showed a total lack of respect and professionalism. Being criticised for not performing is a part of the game and something footballers have to deal with as part of the package. Getting personal and abusing ex players who have achieved more in the game than Johnson is ever likely to, especially on a social networking site, is absolutely absurd. You wouldn’t expect that from a young and inexperienced footballer, let alone a full England international who has been in the top division for the past 9 years. I would have to agree with Paul Merson, who would buy Glen Johnson now for £18m? If you don’t want to hear criticism about yourself then perform – it’s in your hands, you’re in control of it – simple as that. Also, in defence of Paul Merson, he isn’t the only soul on the planet who thinks Johnsons performances have been below satisfactory. Matt Le Tissier also slated him, “Glen Johnson has not been good at all this season, and I've seen a few of the Liverpool games and I've not been impressed by him. There are just so many mistakes and such amateurish mistakes if you like.” Even Hodgson had a pop at him earlier in the season, saying “he isn’t performing like one of the best right-backs in the country”. Is his attitude really to respond to anyone who rightly criticises his performances in a personal and abusive manner?

After his performance against Blackburn away from home, where he was all over the place and was at fault for two of the goals (at least), I was hoping he would perform better against Blackpool under a Liverpool legend. Still he underperformed, and was at fault for not picking up DJ Campbell for the second Blackpool goal. To be fair to him, if he struggles with defensive duties on the right side of the defence, he had no chance playing left-back. He might not even get his original position back in the team following good performances from Martin Kelly. He might have to knock on Kenny’s door and ask to be played on the right wing or start looking for a new club – transfer window still has two weeks left. Something for Kenny Dalglish to ponder...