22 Apr 2015

Anfield Fail: Molby blasts Rodgers for ignoring 'dreadful' £6m-a-year Liverpool star. Fair...?

The dust is still settling on Sunday's damaging exit from the FA Cup, and the inquest into Liverpool's pitiful performance continues apace, with Jan Molby the latest ex-Red to criticise Brendan Rodgers's approach to the game.

Discussing the abject 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa, Molby accused Rodgers of making a mistake in defence. He told the 5-Times Podcast:

"Emre Can is not right back, and he'll never be one. He's not a wing-back either.

"Johnson [salary: £6m-a-year] was dreadful against Newcastle, but he's a right back, and it would've been better to start with him".


I totally agree with this, and I've made the same argument about Johnson several times over the last few months:

* What is the point of playing Markovic at right wing-back? It is not his position, and it's just another square peg in a round hole.

* I'm not fan of Johnson (I've been calling for him to be scrapped since 2009!), but he *is* a dedicated right-sided defender, who is capable of attacking effectively (at times), so for the sake of balance, it makes sense to play him as a RWB, or at right-back.

* Granted, having to choose between Markovic and Johnson is like having to choose between being shot or stabbed, but Johnson is clearly the better option for the team.

If Johnson had started ahead of Markovic, then he could've slipped into the right-back position when Rodgers changed to 442, and allowed Can to move into midfield:

----------------------- Mignolet

Johnson ----------- Skrtel --- Lovren -------- Moreno

---------------------- Can --- Allen

-------------------------- Hendo

---------------- Gerrard ------- Coutinho

------------------------ Sterling

That said, Can is no great shakes in midfield (so far), so it probably wouldn't have made that much difference anyway.

For the last six league games, though, Johnson should be deployed as a right wing-back whenever Liverpool play 343, as Markovic, Sterling, Ibe et al are totally wasted there.

Author:


62 comments:

  1. I think this was a case of trying to play your stars whether they are in position or not. at this point BR is resided to losing GJ so playing his other players in his position might seem a better option.
    This is a slippery slope to work on though, as playing people out of position just so they can play doesnt exactly benefit the team.

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  2. This is not the first time BR did something like this. At times he consistently ignored Manquillo and Moreno to play the likes of Markovic and Can in full back or wing back positions. BR jist doesn't get it.

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  3. I mostly agree but I am convinced Can will be a very important player over the next few seasons. He just needs to be played in the correct position and I think we will see him shine.

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  4. You are overlooking the fact that we had by far our best spell of games this season playing a 3-4-3, often with the likes of Markovic, Lalana, Sterling, or Ibe as wingbacks. It was, in fact, Moreno who commited the most defensive mistakes when he played in the left WB position.

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  5. mmmm Did anyone moan when he played sterlin. ibe , lallana and marko there and we won?


    Fact last season Johnson was our 2nd worse player after sako. His contract is up 6 mil or not.


    we have won more games with can playing right back than lost.


    We lost the game purely on lack of energy and rythm caused mainly by all the players on the field being rubbish.


    Simple and short

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  6. 'Another square peg in a round hole'.....Logan, is that you?

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  7. Not on the get rid of BR bandwagon but his experimentation with his team has spectaculary backfired on numerous occasions. I sometimes think BR wants to be too clever and tries to re invent players so that he can claim he spotted this potential/talent in certain players ie SG. DM , EC. RCB ect.

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  8. Ok I'm sorry but I was expecting another revaluation of the shambolic reign of Mr. Rodgers and Mr Ayre but it seems our debacle of right wing back has taken center stage. I know uve (jaime) been calling for Rodgers'head for awhile now and I understand another damning report may have been seen as a knee jerk reaction just like how the media have suddenly realised how bad we actually are. We have been very bad for over a month now starting with the Swansea game and I don't know if we all missed it or something. Now all of a sudden everyone has realised these man has failed miserably and didn't deserve the job in the first place. I hate the fact that Fsg manage the redsox a very dominant team in baseball and have completely neglected to hire the best staff around to help lfc achieve the same dominance in English football which is more financially beneficial to them. Because the more on field dominance,the more sponsorship money and prize money. But they have instead handed
    Our Great club to a group of amateurs from Mr. Ayre to a succession of average managers( save the King who doesn't have an average bone in his body). But they wanted stability and we are, from my view stable. Now it's time to to kick on. I expected the fsg to have noticed how much money the team brought in last year(more than 150 million in prize money and television money). But it seems they are going to persist with the mediocrity that has befallen our great club. It's very sad, very sad indeed.

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  9. after reading this i quickly scrolled down to see: Author: Logan


    I was quite dissapointed

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  10. Johnson on 6 mil a year tells you everything you need to know about what is wrong with the the club at the moment.

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  11. We've indeed been garbage since the Swansea game.

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  12. NO NO NO NO The Borussia Dormond striker were allegedly in for this morning is not good enough for Wrexham - might as well bring back Aspas - BR has bought 5 complete dud strikers

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  13. We need to be patient. FSG is still establishing structure for the future. Liverpool is in the process of healing. There will be investments in the players in the future for sure. But not in a way of destabilising club with debts. Revenue has to cover all spendings. And since last year a lot of money was spent for new players which are the basement for the future then this year no such big signings will be required.

    I expect FSG to give money for 1-2 expensive strikers since this is all what we need at this time. We still miss Studge and Suarez and theirs 55 goals from last season.

    Again, supporters must be patient. Liverpool is in the process of healing it self.

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  14. I'm sorry but what ever u say Rafa is better than klopp. Trophies in 3 countries proves it I'm sorry.

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  15. Why would his salary be wrong? It is from the past system.

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  16. I would rather play manquillo. Better defender and Johnson is not really much better st getting forward.

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  17. Past,present,or future, a player like Glen Johnson should not be earning that much with his shambolic performances no matter which system he is from.

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  18. You know Johnson is done when he can't go forward. It's the only reason why LFC kept him for so long

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  19. Agree, most of the time our midfield just wasn't creative enough apart from Coutinho

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  20. Hindsight is a wonderful thing isn't it.

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  21. What exactly has Manquillo done so wrong that BR has effectively dumped him in the 2nd half of the season?

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  22. absolutely nothing. he's one of BR's scapegoats

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  23. Yet another nail in BR's coffin..

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  24. Hi Jamie. Anychance you can give us a list of all Liverpool sponsorship deals. I would love to know how much in tota;l is coming in. Our total wage structure. I just dont know were all the money is going. Cheers

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  25. I actually like Manquillo but would Wisdom, Kelly or McLaughlin have done any worse than Manquillo and we also had Flanagan.


    All Rodgers basically did here is block the path for a player from the academy.


    Even Brad Smith, would he have done any worse than Moreno?


    We keep on spending money on young players when our academy is over flowing with players waiting for a chance to prove they are good enough.

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  26. The same can be said for numerous positions. Did we needs Markovic? We had Ibe who has already made BR look like a fool for loaning him out and Harry Wilson as well who would make a similar impact to Markovic. similarly for Lallana, we had not one, not two but three attacking mids already here in Suso,Texeira and Alberto. Would they really have done worse than Lallana. All this talk of Brendan giving youngster a chance but apart from Sterling and maybe Ibe and Flanno to an extent, who else has he give a genuine run in the team.

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  27. Absolutely agree with you with on this point.

    Of all the media talk of BR developing youngsters, I was extremely disappointed that neither Wisdom or Kelly got a chance at the right back position this year. Only if they failed and were not up to the task should we have gone for a replacement.

    Another example of saving money here and there could have then saved enough money to buy the 1 or 2 marquee signings we were all craving for in the summer.

    Lasting, if we've been missing a striker all season.. why not give one of the youngster a go. It worked with Owen and Fowler. They could have done no worse than Mario or Borini.

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  28. For all that talk, he has only given Sterling an extended run in the team and maybe Flanno and Ibe to an extent.

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  29. We need more than just a striker or two. Goalkeeper, right back, defensive mid and a proper winger on top of a few striking options.

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  30. Rodgers had to bring Ibe back from loan because FSG refused to make money available.

    Who from our academy is even making the bench yet he will persist with the likes of Markovic at RWB when he clearly is out of his depth playing there.

    Our academy is becoming a total waste of space.

    If the likes of Steve Heighway or Roy Evans were still around then we would have had the next Carra and Gerrard lined up already.



    We have loads of great young players in our academy and keep on being overlooked. How can spending £20m on Markovic be justified when Ibe was there to be given a chance from the start?


    It is not Markovic's fault that he is here and that we massively overpaid for him but the blame lays squarely at the feet of those who approved the signing i.e. Rodgers and our scouts.


    If another penny is made available for transfer under current management the FSG have truly have no fing clue what they are doing.

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  31. Smith and Mclauchlin and Flanno were injured so no they wouldnt.

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  32. Was Smith and McLaughlin injured at the start of the season?


    I said we had Flanagan, he would have done better than Manquillo irrespective as he showed last season.


    Fact of the matter is that we did not need Manquillo.

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  33. Mr. Point Of View1:28 pm, April 22, 2015

    Manquilo sharing same fate as Aly Cissokho. Pity

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  34. Manquillo really was alright i dont think when he was bought in a back 3 was in mind.

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  35. Manquillo should be playing at RWB ahead of Markovic, Lallana, Ibe and Sterling.


    It is just a complete farce.

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  36. I reckon Manquillos goin back and i will be interested to see who comes in next season because Johnsons off too.
    Not sure about Smith has potential but breaks down a fair bit.

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  37. I am not looking forward to seeing who arrives at the club next season if Rodgers is still in charge.


    Almost £120m spent and we still have to find players who can take us to the next level. If he could not do it with that much money available to him then he ain't going to do it with less.


    Hopefully FSG have seen the light.

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  38. Not going to worry about who is in charge but those changes will happen regardless whoever decides to re-sign Johnson needs their head read.

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  39. The fact is none of his recent buys are tearing up trees in the bundusliga. And for your info mychitaryn can play as an auxiliary striker.

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  40. And it sounds like you're just berating him. ''Got lucky'' with his buys? Sorry but isn't every buy based on luck? Even the greatest of players can flop, and the worst can thrive. So I don't think its fair calling his buys ''lucky'', when transfers in general are all gambles.


    You guarantee he'll have flopped again? Well then cut my nuts off and call me Ricardo if BR turns LFC around next season, that's if he stays. It doesn't take a genius to realize Klopp's passion and dedication towards a team, which is what we need now. And more importantly, he's gotten results before, without writing a 500 page dossier.

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  41. But Suarez hadnt yet matured to last season's levels

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  42. Ah right so Suarez improvement had nothing to do with Rodgers and was just his own natural progression right?
    I'm guessing Suarez must've told Rodgers how to set the team up to get the best out of him and Sturridge too yeah?
    Bet it was Suarez who decided to move Sterling to the no10 role and play Flanno at left back too

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  43. Nice. Suarez was and is a phenomenon that was set to go beyond Rogers'tactics. If Rogers was so good as to 'develop' Suarez then we are fine, let him develop another Suarez in who?Sterling? Allen? Borini? Lambert? Suarez was just too good and a lot of what he did was a result of his personal footballing genious. If Rogers' tactics were so good that we overcame the likes of city last season how come even whe he changes formation 4 times in one game (eg vs villa on sunday) he still gets whacked? It was just because he had good dolls to place on the pitch. He failed abysmally n the past summer window to buy new and good dolls to place on the pitch. Thats my problem with him. Suarez was just a fantastic doll that could do a LOT of things on its own

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  44. Suarez himself said that when he spoke to Rodgers and he told him about his plans for him and how they would play that it "all just made sense".
    Spurs didn't challenge for the title in Bale's last season, one player is not enough especially one who missed a big chunk of that season through injury

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  45. Coutinho I think u are forgetting him

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  46. I'm not in any way saying going for klopp is the worst thing in the world but then again rafa benitez is the best available manager out there this summer (better than klopp) but any of the two would be a welcome upgrade on anything rodgers stands for.

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  47. Wait then again all those players u mentioned would have gladly have signed for a benitez led liverpool no doubt.

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  48. Well some would argue the remnants of benitez's team were chief in last year's title push. Sketrl and sterling and agger were signed under rafa were dey not.

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  49. Sterling never played under Rafa; he was a boy wonder signed at the end of his reign so he can hardly take credit fr that. Lucas had been with us for 6 years but only became a key component AFTER rafa left.




    Same with Skrtyl really, he was slated for the chop by most fans as was Lucas so BR had to have had something to do with the rise in fortunes of all those players bar Agger, who actually deteriorated post Rafa although I don't think we should have sold him for Tourelthoug

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  50. Well they were signed under rafa thats my point really. It's glaring that
    Most of our key players were not signed under this man and that shouldn't be the keys

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  51. That's like saying Houllier signed the key players for our CL win.


    Our key players have been Suarez, Stevie G ( last season) and Sturridge, This year Hendo Coutinho Sterling Skrtyl arguably.


    Mostly not Rafa signings. You can't expect credit for Rafa for key players any more

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  52. We are still in the top 10 of the deloitte money league. So I don't know what u are on about.
    We are generating enough income to be high up the league. We just haven't got the best structures in place for success. With a group of amateurs running our club in the top end from ayre to rodgers.

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  53. The only reason we are not competing in terms of wages is because the players don't warrant more money.

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  54. Well that's what I'm trying to say. 200 million and his most trusted are players that were signed by his predecessors. Rafa hadn't spent 200 million when he won the champions league. He's spent all that money on players he doesn't trust to perform.

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  55. Thank God there are people like you and me who have seen what ayre and rodgers are doing with our beloved team. Most people want to give him another year to keep doing what he's been doing the past 3 years winning nothing.

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  56. It's not fifa sir. We are lacking the top manager to attract top players.
    If ancelloti was in charge I doubt it would be that hard to get them in.

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  57. You amuse me with your dumb logic !
    Have you seen Suarez play for Ajax, Uruguayan and Barca for that matter.

    There is a reason they call him El Pistelero. Players like Suarez are born once in a 100 years and have an innate talent that doesn't hide for long.


    Brendon Rodgers made Suarez who he is today will be the dumbest Joke of this century. :D

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  58. You not being able to spell the managers name makes you calling anyone dumb hilarious

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  59. That slip did not define the season. BR's obstinacy with attack attack attack at Palace and vs Chelsea that day cost us the league. Why did he have to play such a high line in that game vs chelsea? To peg them back, er? Why. It shows his immaturity. IN every sport on this earth if you dont know that in some games you need to let go of the pedal and defend then you are not worthy of winning a trophy. BR doesnt know that and he is to stubborn for his own good

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  60. Spot on mate. 100% the day FSG realise that Ayre-Rogers conundrum is a losing set of people the better for liverpool

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  61. 2/3 more seasons with the current BR -Ayre circus and Coutinho is off to Barca. watch this space

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