Glen Johnson

[Farkmaster]

[quote author=Doc_Rule link=topic=37443.msg999210#msg999210 date=1259201814]
Madrid didn't show any interest until after Johnson was signed.

He was rumoured to be unsettled the previous summer but it was then put down to posturing in an attempt to get his contract sorted when everyone elses was being prioritized over his.


[/quote]

You haven't bothered to prove this, and have ignored quotes from other sources that don't come close to supporting your speculation.

Moving on, I am happy we got Johnson, however I think a player swap deal + cash, with Madrid if at all possible, may have seen us better positioned.

 

[Whaddapie]

[quote author=Y1 link=topic=37443.msg999212#msg999212 date=1259202238]
Is Doc Rule another Rosco? Stating speculations as facts!

The moment Carra tore into Arbe in one of the match, he was a goner. That much we know from observations. The rest, as to whether he wanted to go or the timing of Madrid coming for him are all pure speculations.
[/quote]

Please expand. Who's observations?

 

[Y1]

[quote author=Whaddapie link=topic=37443.msg999222#msg999222 date=1259202774]
[quote author=Y1 link=topic=37443.msg999212#msg999212 date=1259202238]
Is Doc Rule another Rosco? Stating speculations as facts!

The moment Carra tore into Arbe in one of the match, he was a goner. That much we know from observations. The rest, as to whether he wanted to go or the timing of Madrid coming for him are all pure speculations.
[/quote]

Please expand. Who's observations?
[/quote]

My observations/opinions and some others (I have no time to dig them out from scm archive). Carra was furious for some reason at Arbe during a match. What was the underlying tension/reason we do not yet know.

 

[darkstarexodus]

[quote author=Y1 link=topic=37443.msg999212#msg999212 date=1259202238]
Is Doc Rule another Rosco? Stating speculations as facts!
[/quote]

HAHAHA! Ross is going to love that one.

 

[Y1]

[quote author=darkstarexodus link=topic=37443.msg999230#msg999230 date=1259203783]
[quote author=Y1 link=topic=37443.msg999212#msg999212 date=1259202238]
Is Doc Rule another Rosco? Stating speculations as facts!
[/quote]

HAHAHA! Ross is going to love that one.
[/quote]

Let them love one another! 😉

 

[Doc_Rule]

[quote author=Y1 link=topic=37443.msg999212#msg999212 date=1259202238]
Is Doc Rule another Rosco? Stating speculations as facts!

The moment Carra tore into Arbe in one of the match, he was a goner. That much we know from observations. The rest, as to whether he wanted to go or the timing of Madrid coming for him are all pure speculations.
[/quote]

Not true at all. A matter that was settled immediately after the game.

 

[Doc_Rule]

[quote author=Farkmaster link=topic=37443.msg999220#msg999220 date=1259202700]
[quote author=Doc_Rule link=topic=37443.msg999210#msg999210 date=1259201814]
Madrid didn't show any interest until after Johnson was signed.

He was rumoured to be unsettled the previous summer but it was then put down to posturing in an attempt to get his contract sorted when everyone elses was being prioritized over his.


[/quote]

You haven't bothered to prove this, and have ignored quotes from other sources that don't come close to supporting your speculation.

Moving on, I am happy we got Johnson, however I think a player swap deal + cash, with Madrid if at all possible, may have seen us better positioned.
[/quote]

It's public record. I don't need to prove it. It's already proven.

And all you've done is offer a claim from The S*n. If you're the type of Liverpool fan that associates himself with The Lying Rag, then that's your decision.

 

[Y1]

[quote author=Doc_Rule link=topic=37443.msg999243#msg999243 date=1259206415]
[quote author=Y1 link=topic=37443.msg999212#msg999212 date=1259202238]
Is Doc Rule another Rosco? Stating speculations as facts!

The moment Carra tore into Arbe in one of the match, he was a goner. That much we know from observations. The rest, as to whether he wanted to go or the timing of Madrid coming for him are all pure speculations.
[/quote]

Not true at all. A matter that was settled immediately after the game.
[/quote]

Don't remember how it was settled, if at all. They were simply being professional over it, if you call that being settled.

 

[Doc_Rule]

[quote author=Y1 link=topic=37443.msg999246#msg999246 date=1259207108]
[quote author=Doc_Rule link=topic=37443.msg999243#msg999243 date=1259206415]
[quote author=Y1 link=topic=37443.msg999212#msg999212 date=1259202238]
Is Doc Rule another Rosco? Stating speculations as facts!

The moment Carra tore into Arbe in one of the match, he was a goner. That much we know from observations. The rest, as to whether he wanted to go or the timing of Madrid coming for him are all pure speculations.
[/quote]

Not true at all. A matter that was settled immediately after the game.
[/quote]

Don't remember how it was settled, if at all. They were simply being professional over it, if you call that being settled.
[/quote]

Carragher apologized after the game for his over-reaction to Arbeloa's mistake.

 

[Y1]

[quote author=Doc_Rule link=topic=37443.msg999254#msg999254 date=1259212067]
[quote author=Y1 link=topic=37443.msg999246#msg999246 date=1259207108]
[quote author=Doc_Rule link=topic=37443.msg999243#msg999243 date=1259206415]
[quote author=Y1 link=topic=37443.msg999212#msg999212 date=1259202238]
Is Doc Rule another Rosco? Stating speculations as facts!

The moment Carra tore into Arbe in one of the match, he was a goner. That much we know from observations. The rest, as to whether he wanted to go or the timing of Madrid coming for him are all pure speculations.
[/quote]

Not true at all. A matter that was settled immediately after the game.
[/quote]

Don't remember how it was settled, if at all. They were simply being professional over it, if you call that being settled.
[/quote]

Carragher apologized after the game for his over-reaction to Arbeloa's mistake.
[/quote]

Did Arbe accept the appology? Was Carra being professional over it?

 

[Doc_Rule]

I can't see why he wouldn't accept it. It was a heat of the moment thing by all accounts.

 

[Dreambeliever]

[quote author=Ryan link=topic=37443.msg999173#msg999173 date=1259197943]
[quote author=Dreambeliever link=topic=37443.msg999170#msg999170 date=1259197562]
[quote author=Sheik (Loki) Yerbouti link=topic=37443.msg999140#msg999140 date=1259194131]
Well, the question over whether Rafa knew or didn't know how much he'd have to spend is one that will rumble on and on without anyone knowing for sure.

If Rafa thought he had more money available to buy a striker and that was taken away from him then I'd say yeah, he was right to buy Johnson.

If he knew exactly what he had to spend then no, I wouldn't have spent that much on Johnson.

Still a great player though and he's ours. Nothing can change that now so it's a case of onwards and upwards.
[/quote]

I've been told that he knew exactly what he had to spend and used it accordingly.
[/quote]

By whom Dreamy?
[/quote]

One of mates who lives in London is a season ticket holder at Fulham and he told his friend from work is very close to our new big boy and he told him that.

Basically Rafa was told you have x amount of money for contracts salary increases and purchases and they let him priortise where he spent it.

We did tie down alot of players to new contracts so I guess that was a chunk gone right there but the word is that Rafa knew what he had.

 

[Doc_Rule]

Rafa has a lot more power at this club than most other managers have at other clubs. It's very hard to believe he didn't know how much he had to spend.

 

[Y1]

[quote author=Doc_Rule link=topic=37443.msg999262#msg999262 date=1259212789]
I can't see why he wouldn't accept it. It was a heat of the moment thing by all accounts.
[/quote]

Your opinion sir, does not hold water. I have not seen Carra tear into anyone else like he did with Arbe. Plenty of undercurrent none of us will ever know unless one of the two write about it. We can speculate all we want regarding Arbe and why he wanted/decided to leave.

 

[manwithnoname]

I think Magic is a great player, and I've been delighted with him, but I suppose it is valid to ask if was where we needed to spend quite so much money

There's no doubt we could have got a good RB for less, but that presupposes the clown Macia would have been able to source the right one, as opposed to buying another useless fat cunt for 7 m quid

So better safe than sorry

In hindsight a player like Cana in CM, plus 12m on a striker may have been preferable, but that is not to denigrate Magic, who is ace

 

[Ryan]

Cattermole's been a player than Cana thus far Bren, bet yes I get you're point.

 

[manwithnoname]

I think they've both looked pretty good, although more similar than I thought they would be

Ie cana can be a bit of a snarling yard-dog and sometimes eschews the 'football' bit altogether

But I do love the Magic

 

[Ryan]

I'm a huge fan of Magic too, he's really won over whatever possible concerns I may have had.

Oh, and by the way - I did a search on old criticisms from Insua from that other thread. Turns out we were both ridiculing him at the same time, but anyway I came across Oncy proclaiming to have watched him "10 times and I can tell you he's pacy", which did make me LOL. Thought you'd appreciate that.

Oncy - Not slagging chief, I'd seen fuck all of him at the time, so didn't even question it.

 

[manwithnoname]

Sit down little oncey, you have been ruled on!

*tiny erection pops out of piss-stained Y-front*

 

[Garmy]

In response to OP, yes. If we didn't buy him, we'd be missing a top English player. Probably look back at this time and think "We shoulda got him." At the beginning of the season it simply looked like we needed more depth just in case, and for everyone to stay fit. However, Alonso and Arby left, meaning we had to plug in the holes. We bought Aqua (let's not get started on him), and Johnson. It didn't help that we didn't have enough money to go and spend on more, and who on earth could've foreseen our injuries? There was a time where people said we need to stop buying "squad players" or "average to decent players" for under 10m, and we went and got the first choice England rightback, who still has potential to improve.

No, I wouldn't change my mind bout Johnson.

 

[Friend no. 2]

[quote author=Doc_Rule link=topic=37443.msg999195#msg999195 date=1259199595]
United and Chelski have the money to do that. As you said already, Chelski bought Zhirkov when they have Cole.

But neither of those team had pressing needs in other positions. We did this summer. We need a centreback to partner Agger and a striker to partner/back-up Torres. A winger wouldn't have gone amiss either. But we did not need a right back.
[/quote]

Last year Agger didn't play a whole lot and we were defensively sound... You have only said this as Carra and Skrtel are playing poorly at the moment. If you tell me you thought during the summer that we desperately needed a CB, I won't believe you.

 

[vikas]

When we were buying cheap squad fillers with potential, everyone banged on about shooting down quantity and going all out for quality first teamers, we did that in signing Johnson and Aquilani (potentially), adding to a squad that nearly won the title last season minus one player. Would people have preferred signing some random Spanish right-back for £10m, and *insert above average premiership striker* for the other £10m?

I'm very happy with the signining of Johnson and would back it again if we could go back, our first team on paper still looks as good and balanced as anyone, but we obviously didn't factor in the thought of injuries enough (and I include the significance of signing a late starting Aquilani that we knew would start a bit late).

 

[Squiggles]

Another wind-up merchant on SCM. Great.

 

[the_khl]

Glen Johnson is one of the best buys during Rafa's tenure.

He's a world class right back with loads of attacking abilities as well. As soon as we're going to re-discover our good form in central defense everyone will be creaming their pants over him.

It baffles me that there are posters on here who still fails to recognize pure class even when it's so blatantly obvious.

And I'm not buying into the 'we didn't need a rb-argument' as we need World Class players everywhere if we are going to be the best.

Arbeloa wasn't one albeit beeing a good player, Johnson however is amongst the best in the world at what he does. Alongside Torres, Gerrard, Masher, Reina, Carra and Agger (when fit). Hoepfully we can soon add Aquilani to that list as well.

That's exactly how you build a title-winning team.

 

[RolandG]

We are leaking goals from set pieces - mostly. Our defence can most definately improve but it doesn't help that we have Insua on the left and Jonhson on the right playing high up the pitch. Insua gets skinned a fair bit but Johnson adds to the attacking numbers and has been an outstanding.

Still we should have kept Arbeloa and played Johnson at right wing.

 

[Friend no. 2]

[quote author=RolandG link=topic=37443.msg999448#msg999448 date=1259237948]
We are leaking goals from set pieces - mostly. Our defence can most definately improve but it doesn't help that we have Insua on the left and Jonhson on the right playing high up the pitch. Insua gets skinned a fair bit but Johnson adds to the attacking numbers and has been an outstanding.

Still we should have kept Arbeloa and played Johnson at right wing.
[/quote]

I would love to see Magic at right wing the odd game...Kelly looked very impressive against Lyon and Degen is good enough to play against weaker teams...Unfortunately RW is Kuyt's (probably until he's 40 if Rafa has anything to do with it)

 

[the_khl]

[quote author=GOD_23 link=topic=37443.msg999453#msg999453 date=1259238592]
[quote author=RolandG link=topic=37443.msg999448#msg999448 date=1259237948]
We are leaking goals from set pieces - mostly. Our defence can most definately improve but it doesn't help that we have Insua on the left and Jonhson on the right playing high up the pitch. Insua gets skinned a fair bit but Johnson adds to the attacking numbers and has been an outstanding.

Still we should have kept Arbeloa and played Johnson at right wing.
[/quote]

I would love to see Magic at right wing the odd game...Kelly looked very impressive against Lyon and Degen is good enough to play against weaker teams...Unfortunately RW is Kuyt's (probably until he's 40 if Rafa has anything to do with it)
[/quote]

That's actually not a far fetched idea at all. I kind of like it, especially as Kelly looked like a real talent in the making.

Johnson played as a winger would certainly possess a more potent threat to teams parking the bus than say playing Kuyt outthere. Especially needed when the likes of Gerrard, Riera and Benayoun is out injured as we then tend get far to stationary otherwise. (And even more so with Lucas playing alongside Masher).

 

[Stulikesdrums]

[quote author=Squiggles link=topic=37443.msg999357#msg999357 date=1259230912]
Another wind-up merchant on SCM. Great.
[/quote]

I don't think he is trying to wind anyone up.
He is as sure of his convictions as Bren and Ryan are he just completely disagrees with pretty much everything they say. He also has an ego on him which doesn't help matters but he should entitled to post here and make his point.