“HE’S one of the best full-backs in the world.”
“We want to keep Glen here. There is no question about that, especially now he’s in this form. He’s 29 and we feel that he has still got good years ahead of him.
“No contracts will be looked at until the summer but his will be a priority for us, especially if he continues in the form that he’s in.
“It’s important for me with how we play that the full-backs can get up, join in and make runs in behind. We are seeing now the player we all know Liverpool had – which is one of the best full-backs in the world.”
— March 24, 2014
Eight months is a long time in football. The above quotes come from Brendan Rodgers after a 6-3 win at Cardiff City, a result which encapsulated — perhaps more than any other — Liverpool’s carefree attacking and laissez-faire defending last season. In any ordinary season and with any ordinary team, a 6-3 win away from home would stand out – this one didn’t. Luis Suarez scored a hat-trick, though probably his least memorable in a red shirt, Daniel Sturridge did a great back-heeled assist that no-one remembers and Martin Skrtel scored his second double of the season.
Also in that 90 minutes came a quietly commanding and assured performance from Glen Johnson, which prompted Rodgers to speak so glowingly of the England full-back in the aftermath of the game. It was the type of display that typified Johnson’s Rolls-Royce days at the club, early on in his first season at Anfield, and between 2011 and 2013, when his absence was often more noteworthy than his presence because of the quality it took away from the team’s attacking play.
A marauding run on his debut at White Hart Lane that led to a penalty, a late winner at Stamford Bridge in 2011, and a couple of long-range efforts against West Ham stick in the memory particularly.
Yet those days are few and far between for Johnson now, with a contractual impasse still ongoing and Nathaniel Clyne’s seamless transition into the England starting XI this week surely consigning the 30-year-old’s international career to the waste bin.
The signature Johnson attacking forays that so defined his value to Liverpool are gradually disappearing, replaced instead by ineffectual cuts inside and shots against defenders’ backsides. Johnson has, before our very eyes, become an old man in a young man’s position; though it seems remiss to call a 30-year-old ‘old’, in footballing terms, and in that position, it is entirely truthful.
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when Johnson went from being an integral piece in the jigsaw to a spare part, but his age and form over the past 12 to 18 months are clear indicators that the consistency which once marked him out as a leading full-back can no longer be called upon. The demands that the position put upon your body are such that when you can no longer consistently sustain them, it shows more glaringly than in other areas of the pitch. The athleticism, the mobility and pace that defined Johnson has left him, the marauding runs forward replaced with hesitation and indecision on the ball; it was always the attacking side of his game marked him out, without that what does he have left?
Despite Rodgers’ sugar-coated praise of Johnson’s form in March, the need to bolster his options at right-back was obvious; Martin Kelly had become surplus to requirements and Jon Flanagan had excelled as an auxiliary left-back. This is where the manager’s decision – or the transfer committee’s, and quite frankly, who knows – to turn to a 20- year-old who had played only 16 professional matches before this season becomes ever more curious.
“Javier Manquillo is only 20 but after arriving here, he went straight into the team because he showed up so well in training and in the Borussia Dortmund game. He will feature heavily for us this season.
“It’s never about the age for me, it’s about the talent and the commitment to playing.”
— September 11, 2014
The final line of the above Rodgers quotation is perhaps the most revealing, and explains why Liverpool have left themselves in the dangerous position with two players vying for one spot, at completely opposite ends of the spectrum.
To leave such a gulf in age and experience between his two right-backs — a decade’s worth — is negligent from Rodgers, though he probably would not have expected Jon Flanagan to still be on the sidelines by the end of November. No one is questioning Manquillo’s talent or his commitment, he’s shown that in buckets, but he is incredibly raw, and the danger of overplaying him is a constant worry for Rodgers.
Handing Manquillo the right-back slot for the season, as many Liverpool fans would advocate, would cause more harm than good, and you only need to look back at a previous youngster who was given the keys at full-back to see the damage that can be done.
Come the beginning of the 2009-10 season 20-year-old Argentine Emiliano Insua was beginning his fourth year on Merseyside but had featured only 18 times for the first-team — just two more than Manquillo at the same age. Injuries had started to take their toll on first-choice left-back Fabio Aurelio, who turned 30 in September of that season. With Andrea Dossena yet to get to grips with English football the onus fell on Insua to fill Aurelio’s sizeable boots.
He became a virtual ever-present, by virtue of being the only viable option. Instead of it being the season that built his Anfield career, his 44 appearances that year ended it. Insua did not become a bad prospect overnight, but he was overworked and overplayed to a frightening extent in a team that was falling apart around him. The promise drained out of him as every defeat further knocked back his progress, and ultimately cost him his future at the club.
Since that season he has struggled to establish himself anywhere after finally leaving Liverpool’s books in 2011 via a loan spell with Galatasaray. He joined Atletico Madrid in 2013 from Sporting Clube de Portugal, but the 25 year-old is now on a season-long loan with Rayo Vallecano; after being given too much, too soon in that wretched 09-10 campaign, he has yet to recover.
The Aurelio-Insua axis that hamstrung Liverpool in 09-10 is eerily similar to Johnson-Manquillo in 14-15; the injury-plagued senior and his wet-behind-the-ears junior.
For Brendan Rodgers it is a suitable warning of the danger of blooding raw, young talent too quickly; no matter the talent, misjudging its use can have catastrophic consequences for the player’s future. His promise that Manquillo “will feature heavily for us this season” has suddenly taken on more foreboding tones.
Isn’t Flanno the link between these two at opposite ends of their career? Once he gets back next month I’d expect him to provide a quality replacement for Johnson, so I don’t see Manquillo being overused in the second half of the season.
and Wisdom was good enough; and Kelly. Manquillo is okay but no better than we already had avaiable, but Rodgers didn’t sign them.
And now Rodgers is ‘very angry’ at Sturridge being thoughtless enough as to injure himself.
And he didn’t want Balotelli.
Or Sakho.
It’s not my fault.
F, as they say,FS.
Kelly was simply not good enough
And made of glass …
We started the season with five first team FBs, Sending Wisdom out for another season of regular first team football looked a sensible move and sadly Kelly as not taken his chance to claim a regular starting place and he needed to move to find his level where he can play regular football.
Last season a 20 year old RB was getting more games than expected. This year another 20 year old RB is getting more games than expected. I don’t think the Insua comparison will prove informative in either case. Manquillo looks like he has great potential. He is already showing enough to suggest that he is going to be a very good player by the end of his loan and we will want to keep him.
As for the idea that Rodgers won’t pick players he didn’t sign?! Come on, that just doesn’t hold any water at all. Nor does this idea, that seems to have become an orthodoxy among fans on twitter and elsewhere, that there are Rodgers signings and there are “Committee” signings and he avoids playing the committee signings.
He’ll be out of a job at this rate. Does anyone expect him to start 15-16 season? Gerrard will probably have another tenant.
I wasn’t suggesting Rodgers won’t pick him as he wasn’t his signing, though I understand why you think that. More that perhaps Rodgers would’ve preferred a more established signing to overtake Johnson this season rather than a rookie.
Hi James,
My comment re. Rodgers playing his own signings was more a response to Kevin’s suggestion that he wouldn’t play Wisdom or Kelly because he didn’t sign them.
My expectation at the start of the season, was that Rodgers would stick with Johnson as first choice, then replace him with a senior player when/if he leaves at the end of the season. I still think that will be in his mind. Although I like Flanagan and Wisdom, I don’t think either of them will ever offer what Johnson used to in the top half of the pitch.
Can you explain Brendan’s constant selection of Lovren over Sakho Graeme?
I’ll tell you what I and many others now see:
Sakho was bought by the transfer committee Rodgers is a part of and he was voted down in disagreeing to sign the player. He’s a french international left centre back who many PSG fans were unhappy to lose. As has been mentioned plenty of times, he keeps out a £32m defender signed by the champions of England. He is strong and quick. He leads. He is the youngest ever captain of a Ligue 1 team (17 years old). His technique on the ball looks funny but his stats show he is above average when it comes to pass attempts and pass completion (87%). He comes in and has some good games and has some poor games, as to be expected of a new recruit to English football. But there is a lot of promise that when he settles he could be gold.
Rodgers sees Suarez lead Liverpool to a magic 5 month spell in which we come 2nd. Rodgers gets a new contract and with the pay rise negotiates greater autonomy when it comes to signings.
His first point of business? Buy a new left centre back. For more than Sakho cost.
Said new left centre back proceeds to make a cunt of both himself and his team every minute he’s on the pitch. He plays 17 times, getting worse everytime he pulls on a red jersey. But Rodgers persists and he continued to persist before Sakho’s injury.
Now I find it impossible for an objective eye to have looked at Sakho’s time with us and Lovren’s time with us and not see the Frenchman is by far the superior player, and if they are not to be played together then Sakho must play at the expense of Lovren. Incidentally, the one time they did play together was at Spurs in our only top quality performance of the season. And on that day Lovren made numerous mistakes and was outshone by Sakho.
So the idea Rodgers stubbornly sticks with Lovren, even to the detriment of both Sakho and the team, in order to prove a point to himself, to the owners, to the transfer committee, to whoever, is hardly a far fetched one.
Chris,
I’m a Sakho fan and would have him in the team over Lovren on the left.
I am not saying Rodgers is right to choose Lovren over Sahko, but the just because lots of people on Twitter and forums say Rodgers is making a point to the committee or owners with Lovren doesn’t make it the case.
How may games has Lovren been selected over a fit Sakho? Everton at home?…
And where has it been reported that Rodgers new contract gave him increased say on transfers? I might have missed it.
Maybe Gerrard will be in the job himself by then, all part of his cunning plan.
Step 1, play shite and provide no meaningful defensive cover…
That’s maybe not quite as ridiculous as an idea as it sounds. Is Gerrard doing his coaching badges at the moment? Maybe a Gerrard and Carra double-act could be installed, with Carra obviously focusing on the defence…
I sure hope not. Have you seen Carra’s performances on Sky? Imagine that to the 10th power on the training ground. Stevie, on the other hand, I’m not sure about. But I’d hate to see him make all his beginners mistakes at Liverpool.
This ‘managing a huge club’ business seems a bit too much for Brendan, that’s for sure. I’ve never really liked him based on his public appearances. He’s so far from being genuine it’s unbelievable. But, then again, I’m sure he doesn’t pull the same act behind the scenes with the lads. He would never have gotten to this stage in his career if he did. And I believe he’s a magnificent coach as well, especially with the youth.
Problem is this doesn’t seem like his natural environment. Look at Pellegrini, Rafa, Dalglish, Ferguson, Ancelotti (that handshake with BR inside Anfield was so fu**ing embarrasing) or any other top manager, and you see what I mean. They’re proper leaders. They apply their personality to the club and the club turns into a mirror image of them. See that happening with Rodgers and Liverpool FC? I sure as hell can’t and I sure as hell hope it doesn’t.
I can see this is turning into another rant about Rodgers.. I’ll get my coat.
http://metro.co.uk/2014/10/22/brendan-rodgers-tries-to-intimidate-carlo-ancelotti-before-liverpool-v-real-madrid-with-epic-look-4917456/
As others have said, Flanno is teh way to avoid an Insua situation. If we phase out Johnson gradually over the rest of the season and ensure that we do so by rotating Manquillo and JF, we’ll be OK. If we come to rely on one of those two as the only viable option, we might have a problem.
I like Manquillo. I think he’s doing quite well. I want him to be first choice until Flanno is back up to speed but I just don’t understand the signing. We had Johnson, Flanno, Kelly, Wisdom, McLaughlin and probably others at the club but we decided to go out and get another circa 20yr old right back. It’s not like we didn’t have 4 of them at the club already.
Could his wages been better used elsewhere?? Could Wisdom have done a job there likes he’s currently doing at West Brom? Would Wisdom have fitted in easier considering he knew plenty of his team mates, the manager, style of play etc??
Good article. Thought Insua would be our left back for years when he first broke in but instead his season of starts did slowly break him. I remember him getting caught under the ball on the back post constantly that year and I worried for Moreno because he’s a similar build but his showing having Lukaku off in the derby dispelled those fears.
I like Manquillo and thought Gutmann was a bit harsh on him in the transfer podcast. Considering he’s barely played senior football and he’s in a new, more physical league I think he’s been solid. I remember being convinced he had to come off at half time for us to end with 11 men on the pitch when he got booked early against Southampton but he never got caught out again. If you at someone like Azpilicueta (sp?) who plays in a team of giants, he never gets targeted to be bullied because he’s positionally too good for just about everyone he’s going to come up against. Maybe Manquillo is going to be cut out of similar cloth.
If you *look at…
Just checked and I got the spelling of ‘Azpilicueta’ spot on though. Chuffed.
That fucking casino as is pissing me off!!!!
I thought all we needed at the end of last season was a new keeper, plus some more depth in the squad, and cover for a fading Gerrard (plus another striker or two – Remy and Eto’o were available and keen and we should have gone with them). We had quality centre backs – Agger, Skrtel, Toure, Coates, Ilori (remember him???), Sakho, plus Wisdom and Kelly, but no keeper. Reina came back and was cold-shouldered, for whatever reason. We had no potential Gerrard.
After our usual arsing around, we ended up (and ‘ended up’ is apposite) with no new striker but a player who has loads of ability but is totally unsuited for the style of play which made us so exciting last season. We dump Agger, ignore Sakho and Toure, shunt Wisdom, Ilori and Coates out, and sell Kelly. And do not sign a keeper. So we end up with a defence that shits itself when the ball comes near because Mignolet is so flaky, no defensive MF because Lucas is ‘too slow’ (too slow to cover for Johnson and Gerrard actually, but that seems to be my opinion only), and the supporters shit themselves when we give away corners or free kicks because we just KNOW we’ll concede.
And we keep chasing wingers.
Now, I blame everything on BR, even the weather, so I can’t be objective about him. But I believe ANYBODY could have managed LFC in the second half of last season, but Rodgers got the credit and believed it himself. The team sheet this weekend will tell us everything we need to know about him; had he learned some tactical skills on the last two weeks, or is he the narcissistic fraud I believe him to be?
Don’t think age has anything to do with the decline….Cafu, Maldini and Zanetti proves otherwise. We lack quality, we truly lack genuine quality in all positions.