A Guarded Welcome
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Right back wasn't exactly a position many thought Liverpool needed to look at this summer. Certainly not if it meant spending £17 on it. Yet, as so very often happens, Rafael Benitez thought differently.
In reality, he's been looking for a player of Glen Johnson's abilities - an attack minded right back - for quite some time. Three summers back he tried desperately hard to buy Daniel Alves from but ultimately failed because Liverpool didn't want to pay as much as Seville wanted. Then there was the fleeting interest shown in Rafinha and eventually the signing of Philip Degen for the Swiss, if he ever manages to get fit, is supposed to be quite dangerous going forward.
Johnson, therefore, is the end of a long search and, at the same time, the first opportunity where Benitez has had the ultimate say on which players to buy. Indeed it is, in many ways, an immediate test of the decision to give him the final say on how to spend whatever money he is given.
Typically, it is a choice that won't be shared universally. That Johnnson comes from an excellent season isn't in doubt and nor is anyone disputing that he has had some decent showings for the national side but not the same can be said of his ability to star for a side aiming to win the league.
That so much has been spent on a defender also seems like a luxury that you wouldn't think that a club in Liverpool's situation should be splashing on.
Obviously Benitez doesn't see it that way. Johnson will give him the width and push from the right that has been missing from his teams. He might have to sacrifice some defensive solidity but tha is, in his opinion, a risk worth taking. Just as signing Johnson is.
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2 comments:
everything in life is a risk, slipping in the shower or crossing the street can be risky. as far as football goes, signing any player is a risk; be it juan sebastian veron or robbie keane or deco (all of which were more expensive than johnson). but sometimes in life u see what you need and you take that risk and you reach out and grab it. ultimately it is those people who take calculated gambles that end up on top.
so to all you nervous nancies out there, hitch up ur frocks and welcome the best right back in england to liverpool!!!!!!!!!!
Really? I would have thought Right Back was the first place to re-inforce. Liverpool lack pace and drive up the right with Arbeloa playing, and without him (see middlesbro') they lose.
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