by bigmick » Sat May 23, 2009 12:53 pm
I think he's better than you do S@int so it'll be interesting to see whereever he goes who's calling it right. He may not be the best ever defender, but he isn't bad and in fairness the likes of Alves aren't exactly World beaters in that dept either. He's a big lad though who is decent in the air, he's strong and quick, and most of his defensive frailty comes from a tendency to dream a bit during games.
Going forward though he comes to life. He's got a trick, backs himself to get up and down the line, and knocks a decent ball in. Though I suspect he's hardly ever socred a goal, my guess is he probably could as his game matures. My one reservation about Liverpool signing him is that he seems very much a "Landoner" who no doubt flies up the A3 after training so he can hang out in his favourite spots. In that respect he's not unlike his teammate Sean Davis who despite playing for Pompey used to spend more time in Wimbledon Village than me it seemed (he's got a pad there in fairness to him). I just wonder sometimes about these died in the wool Southerners, not that mnay go ooop North and settle (cue people reeling off a list of blokes who have so I remain open to being corrected). Rio Ferdinand would be an obvious example of one who did, while Paul Walsh also made a good go at it. There are many though for whom Alyssium or whatever the feck it's called would prove to be too big a draw to give up. Johnson may be in this category, I don't know.
"se e in una bottigla ed e bianco, e latte".