Liverpool FC Forum

[fowler4ever]

he was so far foward for most of england game the other night, he could have been a winger............crossing wasnt bad either..........

[Alex G.]

Did we lose the league because of a full back - no we didn't so why are we wasting £18m on a bloody full back.

He isn't even that good, overpriced, flavour of the month, we could have bought him for about £6m a year ago.

Bloody crappy piece of sh!t business.

We need wingers, a creative midfielder, a second goalscorer (unless SG plays just off the front) but a FULL BACK FOR £18M.

WHO SIGNED THAT BLOODY CHEQUE

We need a right full back as priority. Carra and Skrtel were awful the last season, even Rafa was forced to put mascherano in that position.

[thegreedo]

Have to say I'm with Dawson on this one. The kid is a very good attacking full back who for my money will be more effective than Arby.
The price tag is misleading as well, the cost in real terms after residual Crouch money is taken into account and the possible sale of Arby or DROSSena should mean it's not too taxing on our limited transfer funds.

I'm all about seeing the team improve and I think this signing will help do that.

[tommycockles]

I think it's a good signing and even better if Arby does go as he's a very good replacement who will offer far more going forward. As someone else said, he plays so far forward that it's almost like having a winger- also with Kuyt on the right side he can help on the defensive side of things and let Johnson push forward. I think if we can get a top winger for the left then that shuld give alot more balance and attacking options of both sides rather than just going for two out and out wingers.

Let's hope the deal is concluded as with Man City sniffing around i wouldn't be surprised if they offer stupid money.

Another point- he's another English player in the squad which is going to be very important soon so that adds a couple of £m in itself.

[Roger Red Hat]

great signing. 17million quid? so what! If thats rafa's choice of RB then so be it.

Get in the team, get your head down and give your all for the red shirt and fk what any of the doubters think on places like this

Welcome to Liverpool Glen Johnson, hope you have your best years of football playing on the hallowed turf.

[GYBS]

Will agree its not our highest priority but it is certainly an area we need definate improvement so happy we have a very good right back coming in

[Dundalk]

Seen this elsewhere but thought it was a good post and sums it up well....




Rafa has said he feels we only need one or two players now to make the difference.

It's a matter of fine tuning and fine calibration.

So, Rafa does his hustling and identifies the one, two, maybe three players he thinks we need that will make the difference.

What do you want him to do? He identifies his first choice targets, what do you want him to do, back out in a sellers market, when other rival clubs hostile to us are also in the market for the same player? Do you want him to not pay the 4 or 5 million extra that he reckons it is worth stretching to, but that you deem that target is worth? How long do you want this to go on for? How long do you want Rafa to not get the players he wants and has wanted for a long time? How much longer do you want Rafa to not buy who we need because you think you're a bunch of super-hagglers and it is an affront to your honour to have to pay so much for Glen Johnson?

Here is the news.....we are paying what Rafa feels is his value to us.....in the context of the fine tuning he wants to do right now. That is how much he is worth. We pay a premium because we need him for what we need him for and Rafa doesn't want to lose his target to any rival.

What else did Rafa fight a civil war inside our club, to have the right to make these judgment calls for?

Some of you are like a bunch of old women nattering over a garden fence about how much you dissaprove of what the people across the road are spending their money on. Rafa makes the judgments and holds the dollars in his hand. I trust him to do the right thing now. Plus all the figures quoted in the papers have to be taken with a huge pinch of salt. Just be happy we are getting the players that Rafa wants, for once.

[puroresu]

he was so far foward for most of england game the other night, he could have been a winger............crossing wasnt bad either..........

He could of played striker v the 'dog and duck' and u would not of noticed a rb missing.

[maguskwt]

not too impressed... 17 million is alot of money for a full back... besides his finishing doesn't seem to be top notch.. couldn't we have added 13 more million and looked for a world class attacking/creative player like silva?

[aCe']

Well.. see we see things differently me and you Mick... In Johnson i see a very capable attacking fullback who would be a good asset to our side, especially so given our setup and the fact we play Kuyt as a right winger... I've said it ever since we started playing Kuyt down the right that we needed to go out and buy someone who would run the flank and get behind opposition fullbacks, provide some sort of natural width down the right and atleast give opposition fullbacks something to worry about rather than knowing that the winger theyr up against will never even attempt to go past them... We'r in agreement so far... BUT for 18.5mill, i expect more... Put it this way, if i was told that we have 18.5 million to spend ONLY and that i'd have to attempt to buy 1 player for the given money, i wouldnt even consider Johnson's name in any sort of shortlist i'd come up with.. not for Liverpool, not with me knowing what i know about our setup..etc etc.. would look into buying a top attacking player who WOULD PROBABLY offer more against the smaller park the bus shhitty teams than a rightback would... Spending 18.5mill on a rightback regardless of how good he is, given our situation and the needs of the squad, is a luxury we quite simply cant afford.
Arby is a solid little fullback and he does his job pretty decently as far as im concerned, same with Aurelio... people will argue that Mascherano and Alonso do their jobs brilliantly and that we might be expecting too much of them if we even consider discussing them not providing enough.. All boils down to our front 4 and how well they combine to provide that bit of attacking creativity and flair we need... You say Robben is past it... from what i've seen of him this season i would have to strongly disagree with you there... he's every bit the player he was at Chelsea, albeit with a little more arrogance to his play now that he plays for Madrid... Silva would flop in England ? Maybe, but the way i see it a good player is a good player... put a kit on the guy and send him to the moon and he still has the same quality he had back in Valencia... You think he wouldnt adapt... i think he would... hes physically stronger than given credit for and if the likes of Robinho, Arshavin, Walcott and even Lennon can make it in the prem then so can he...

Etoo and Teves can and have played down the flanks in recent times... both better than anything we got there and would be great buys by all accounts... Even if we decide to play either of them upfront alongside Torres with gerrard behind in the middle, whos to say they wouldnt offer more than torres-gerrard do on their own do..

Again Mick, your point if i get it right is that we'd improve in our attacking play if we replace Arbeloa with Johnson (paying 18,5mill to do so), in doing so, we give up a little of our defensive solidity but then again against the smaller sides we could possibly afford to do that..
My point is, for the given money (18.5mill) we could improve even more in our attacking play by signing a winger or foward, all that without compromising our defensive abilities...

[destro]

Did we lose the league because of a full back - no we didn't so why are we wasting £18m on a bloody full back.

In some peoples eyes we lost the League because of Raffas rotation policy so why havent we got rid of him ?

Is it a waste of money if he chips in with a couple of goals,a dozen assists, helps keep clean sheets and plays a big part in us winning the League.....time will tell

[Big Niall]

With Rafa's love for buying and selling full backs (how many is it now?) he'll be gone in  year for half of what we bought him for.

I'll put it down as one of our worst ever bits of business.

£18m for a full back?

Unless we have another £100m to spend that I am not aware of, it is money down the drain.

[dawson99]

Is it 18 million?

Say they owe us 7 from Crouch.. so tis 11 mill

say we sell dossena for 5? thats 6 million

sell arbeloa for 8... thats us 2 million in credit

say it depends how he does, so we pay half now....

that means that for buying Johnson we actually make 11 million

Best business ever

[red37]

Its spelt different...and there's a world of change inbetween then and now. Oh and not to mention a few quid.....

But, how longs it been since we had a good lad in the Red Shirt (which is the be all and end all for me) called 'Johnson' ....(f*ck off spelling police)

Takes yer back doesn't it.

If he gets on with it, does his job (and excels in the other couple of positions ive no doubt he will be experimented in) He can do good things for Liverpool FC.

Welcome and best of luck. Im behind yer anyway lad......


even if you were 10 mill over the odds 

[Dundalk]

Say they owe us 7 from Crouch.. so tis 11 mill

Thats just messin around with money, thats money we are owed and still has to come into the club and now we are not getting it