Stats Analysis: Is Liverpool’s Glen Johnson in decline?

Liverpool’s Glen Johnson (R)

Liverpool’s defence has come under scrutiny this season for conceding a number of soft goals, being rather too easy to get past at times and for generally not keeping up with the quality and consistency of the attacking side of the team.

Of course the emphasis on one affects the balance of the other, but defensive players will naturally come under fire if goals are being conceded with regularity. One of those who was perceived to have dropped his level significantly earlier this season was international right-back Glen Johnson, who returned from injury at the weekend to play on the left side of defence in the 4-3 win over Swansea City. With just over one year remaining on his contract there is speculation that he may be on his way out of Anfield in the summer, but Brendan Rodgers will initially be more concerned over whether his form is on the wane or if he has managed to remain at the same level as previous years.

Using the Squawka Comparison Matrix we are able to look at Johnson’s form over his 18 league appearances this season, and suggest whether they have dipped from what he offered the team last term in double the number of games.

Glen Johnson Defensive Stats (Compared From This Season To Last)

Splitting his full-back traits into two distinct areas, we can look at the jobs he does both defensively and offensively. Starting with the former, we can see very little difference in his tackling. To normalise Johnson’s defensive statistics, we first arrange the metrics into actions “per 90 minutes”—and there is a very slight increase in his tackles won per game this season from last, while tackles lost drops slightly. Likewise in his interceptions there is a very slight increase, from 1.56 per 90 minutes last season up to 1.65 this.

However, the two more noticeable alterations come in his headed duels and clearances made—and both show a downward trend. Johnson won 57% of his aerial duels last season yet has dipped to just 41% this year. Having been tasked with marking the likes of Romelu Lukaku and Wilfried Bony from set-pieces in games, one has to question the logic in putting a tall, strong, but not entirely reliable (aerially) defender on these aggressive forwards, though whether that is in-game manipulation by the defence or tactical ploys by the coaching staff is not known. Meanwhile, Johnson’s clearances per 90 minutes drop from 3.7 last season to 2.8 this.

One other area to consider is defensive errors, a part of the game which has hounded the Reds’ back line this season. Though Johnson has yet to make one leading directly to a goal over the last two campaigns, he made only one error in his 36 games last season, while he has made two in his 16 appearances this term. Extrapolated over a full campaign that would be a four-fold increase this year—though fans (and Simon Mignolet) would hope that Johnson, along with the other defenders, did not show ongoing consistency in that regard at least.

Looking offensively now, we can see if Johnson is still having an impact going forward—one of his key roles as an attacking full-back.

His passing is consistent: Last season saw a completion rate of 82%, an average of 39 successful passes per 90 minutes and 26.4 of those being made forward. This season the Reds’ No. 2 has a pass completion rate of 82% once more, 40 successful passes per 90 on average and 25.2 of them heading forward.

Dribbling is also around the same level, showing a slight increase this term to 1.8 per 90 up from 1.7 last season, while he also hits the target with more frequency this season—43% of his shots test the keeper, though he has yet to score, compared to 26% last season which yielded one goal.

However, his shots per game last year stood at an impressive 1.5, showing a good and regular threat from defence. This has considerably dropped in the present campaign by more than half, to just 0.7 shots a match. In effect, that means he needs four 90 minute performances to be statistically “guaranteed” a shot on target, even with his increase in accuracy this term.

There is also a slightly disappointing drop to consider in Johnson’s chance creation levels. He has fallen from 1.3 last term to 1.1 this season, not a huge reduction, but the full-backs are playing an ever more important role in Liverpool’s offensive and in-transition threat. Furthermore, he has just one assist this season—a cross for Luis Suarez to head in against West Ham — which registers lower on a per-game basis than his three assists last term.

All told there is not a massive difference in Johnson’s performances in attack, and the slight drop-offs which can be seen may be attributed at least in part to a few injury lay-offs and the time taken to get involved again afterwards. Defensively though there is a somewhat noticeable drop in consistency from Liverpool’s full-back and, with the defence already under pressure to improve, this could be a decisive factor for Rodgers to consider in his summer alterations to the defence.