So the injury curse has struck Glen Johnson again. After being sidelined with a thigh injury at the start of the season, he is now damaged his hamstring and will be out for a number of weeks. Johnson is quickly catching up with Daniel Agger in the amount of time he has spent on the treatment table since joining Liverpool, and it is slightly concerning that his immediate backup, Martin Kelly has also had his fair share of injuries too.
Kelly is expected to return against Tottenham on Sunday after suffering from his own hamstring injuries, but my worry is that we can spend large chunks of the season without either Johnson or Kelly, leaving us in the position to either pick the inexperienced John Flanagan or to play Martin Skrtel out of position.
Flanagan, as we all know, played well coming into the team at the end of last season when both Johnson and Kelly were absent, but as his positional mistake against Sunderland at the start of the season shows, he is still inexperienced and couldn’t be relied upon to play 20 to 30 matches.
In Skrtel’s case, he looked like Cafu when he played the position against Bolton Wanderers, but as it became clear against Stoke, his lack of mobility, lack of a final ball from wide areas and his passing leave a lot to be desired; all elements which should rule him out of playing the position in the long term.
So should we be concerned about the injury proneness of both Johnson and Kelly? In regards to Kelly, I have spoken before in another article, about his long injury record despite his age, but I am hopeful for an improved season fitness wise from the 21 year old.
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I dont expect to see Johnson in the team over the next 2 seasons. having 2 injury prone players in the same position is bad and often annoying. If Johnson gets a good run of games and a good offer comes in for him, I believe we should cash in on him. his defensive ability is also questionable though I have to admit that I love his confidence, calmness on the ball and flair to get the call forward. though his final ball isn’t great, he still helps keep the opponent under pressure. I believe and hope Kelly’s fitness will get beta as he matures more. Kelly also seems to be defensively beta and more agile.
All said, I hope to see a class RB coming in to replace Johnson in the near future. there’s no point having good players who are neva around.
Gerrardious, I completely disagree with you. On form, Johnson is the best right back in the country. In a poor side he can be exposed, as he does like to get forward and isnt the best defensively. However in a good side, which is otherwise defensively sound, he can be a superb asset and selling him shouldnt even be thought about. He does have slight injury probems but then we have both Kelly, who is absolutely superb for his age and Flannaghan, who also looks very accomplished. Right back is one position we shouldnt have to worry about for a very long time.
so u think young Flanagan is accomplished?? hmmm