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Friend and Johnson to be released?


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It looks as though the pair will not be offered new deals as we are linked with another left back, this time Fox at Sheffield Wednesday.

Friend has been a great servant but is becoming increasingly injury prone and, in the modern game, his alarming lack of pace is a real hindrance. I think he may be retained but only in a player coach capacity.

Johnson is solid enough and does a job but is not a natural full back and I don't see him challenging for a more advanced role. He has been a model pro for us and has always been complimentary about the area but business is business and we can probably bring in somebody more suited to the way Woodgate wants us to play.

The only other theory is that Woodgate sees Coulson as a left winger whish is something I don't agree with. The lad could either be a top class attacking full back simular in style to Robertson at Liverpool or a decent winger. He should be kept at full back and allowed to flourish there.

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Coulson is much better going forward than he is defending, so to me it makes sense to coach his attacking abilities. He might be the tricky winger ala Adam Johnson but he has a wonderfull burst of pace and work rate. We're not a good enough team to gamble on having a poor defensive full back.

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Johnson is such a handy squad player as he can play in multiple positions. Make sense to keep him around as his wages can't be that high.

Friend has nothing left to offer on the pitch in my opinion - would be great to keep him at the club in some kind of coaching/ambassador capacity though. 

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28 minutes ago, SouthernSmoggie said:

Johnson is such a handy squad player as he can play in multiple positions. Make sense to keep him around as his wages can't be that high.

Friend has nothing left to offer on the pitch in my opinion - would be great to keep him at the club in some kind of coaching/ambassador capacity though. 

Johnson is not very good though so I'd rather spend his wages on someone who might be better. I'd rather a specialist LB or LW instead of handy player like Johnson who doesn't excell in either position.

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Johnson is a bottom half championship player at best and average league 1 player at worst. Will be happy to see him go.

Friend, if he has as positive an influence on the dressing room as were led to believe might be worth another year on really reduced terms to be ready to come into the side when needed ala woodgates last year or two.

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If we aspire to being a better club than we have been in the past, we have to learn from the big clubs and be more ruthless. Sadly that means players we may like as supporters, but are on a downward trend, must be sold or let go to make way for better prospects. The only worry I have with this is our total inability to spot a good proespect, Friend and Ayala are probably our last buys that fall imto that category, and they are noiw on their way out.  Ruthlessness must also apply to our backroom staff and scouting set up.

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Dont think our desire to sign a left back spells the nd for Friend as thus far only 2 players JW has publicly indicated he wants to keep are Howson and Friend. I assume JW only gone public on them two as he positive there a wilingness on all sides to extend their respective stay.

Johnson I think will end up being released along with Shotton Clayton and Rudy.

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3 hours ago, Borodane said:

Coulson is much better going forward than he is defending, so to me it makes sense to coach his attacking abilities. He might be the tricky winger ala Adam Johnson but he has a wonderfull burst of pace and work rate. We're not a good enough team to gamble on having a poor defensive full back.

You talk about coaching Coulson his attacking abilities but why not Johnson .

Johnson as put in some good performances on the right side his crossing needs work probably because his face is not fitting with Woodgate and Keane when it comes to selecting the team. They would rather wait till they are desperate for a left back and shove him in that spot.

So many nutters on here judging Johnson on his minor shots as a left sided player.

Has for Georgie Boy he could still give any left back that is brought in a run for their money,when he is 100% so give him that chance.

If some one as to leave then may I suggest the 2 coach's that are not doing their jobs Woodgate and Keane,I knew Woodgate would never make the grade but I did have higher hopes for Keane ,what a let down that guy as been.

Just remember be thankful what we have because beggars cannot be chooses and there is a awful lot of *** players out there but not many decent ones.

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Takes a nutter to know a nutter😉 Call me a nutter but I don't think Johnson is good enough and I'd rather someone else. As for Friend he's looked finished for a long time. Maybe it's because he will never reach 100% again.

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1 hour ago, Smogzilla said:

Johnson is awful. Occasionally puts in a half decent game but his average is very poor. Seems to be completely invisible when we are up against it aswell.

Will he ever make up for his crass decision against Hull:classic_dry:

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27 minutes ago, Downsouth said:

Will he ever make up for his crass decision against Hull:classic_dry:

Still annoyed over that. Probably our best performance of the season is to that point then he goes and does that!

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1 hour ago, Smogzilla said:

Still annoyed over that. Probably our best performance of the season is to that point then he goes and does that!

I think it was a stroke of genius. We were absolutely smashing them and like woody said it’s even HARDER to play against 10 men. 
 

(I didn’t catch the final score but I assume it was 11-0 or there about’s) 

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On 4/2/2020 at 10:12 AM, Borodane said:

Johnson is not very good though so I'd rather spend his wages on someone who might be better. I'd rather a specialist LB or LW instead of handy player like Johnson who doesn't excell in either position.

Surely the specialist would be to replace George, then the expected squad player would be to replace Johnson - so you may as well keep him.

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George, everyone agrees, has been a great servant but it's not the time to be sentimental, tough decisions for Woody, but that's what he's paid for whenever football restarts 

For me his hardest decision is, replacing George

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