Glen Johnson's played 11 times this season. He hasn't hit the heights he's capable of when he's played, but he's certainly been no worse than many others. Let's say Joe Cole just for example, who's played 13 times and, to be kind, let's just say he hasn't played to his capabilities either. Both players are injured at the moment. Yet one gets attacked while the other has recieved nothing but the comforting arm around the shoulder that is supposedly one of Roy's great strengths. In fact, one's been supported so much he was allowed to pick his own position in the team and was told before an important knock out game that if a penalty arose, he should take it so he could get his first goal for the club and ingratiate himself to the Kop/supporters. Both these things were given to the lad despite the fact that he'd never played in the hole or taken a penalty since he was 13 years of age.
On the same day as the manager chose to publically embarass and castigate his senior right back, he also chose to defend Poulsen, a player who has, again to be kind, hardly pulled up any trees since arriving at the club. On top of that, he chose to do these things when argubaly our best player publically quelled media meddling that was promoting unrest in the squad.
Some people have chosen to defend this. I find it undefensible. It's at best, bad man management, which is supposedly one of the strengths that got the manager the job.
Add to all that the pressure it has put onto a 20 year old defender who is just beginning to establish himself in the first team squad, and it starts to look like stupidity of the highest order. Kelly is bound to suffer from injury, loss of form/confidence, fatigue, or a roasting from someone, somewhere in the season. So, alienating the country's best attacking right back, when his only real cover is a young lad starting his senior career, really isn't the greatest of ideas.
But then of all the things I think Roy is, stupid isn't one of them. So, what was his point in doing all this. I can't see anything it achieves.
I've resisted putting in any conspiracy theories, such as Roy deflecting pressure from himself by going after one of the previous manager's bigger purchases.
I'm not going to dig up Roy's tactics and methods. We all know he likes a deep lying flat back 4 and his defenders to defend. I'm not going to rake up the treatment of Insua, or the statements made by Danny Agger. I'm not going down the Carra conspiracy route, or even mentioning Mr Hodgson's purchase at right back, who, again to be kind, has been, let's say servicable.
An absolutely ridiculous decision. And nevermind the Johnson need a kick up the arse bit. Nevermind the conjecture, he might have done it in private, it didn't work melarkey. We can only comment on what we see, and that is Roy attacking one of his senior players, from his self confessed small squad, and giving the muck raking, meddlsome media another lurid headline about our club on a day when Pepe was doing his best to quash that sort of shite. No. Sorry. There's no excusing it. There's no point in going on about RAWK going into overdrive to attack him. Do his appologists really expect people not to comment on this or just say, Oh that's okay. Because it isn't okay. It's fuckin stupidity of the highest order.
