Still don’t know about this. It seems like a lot of money for a player who’s not a genuine star. We’ll see if there’s any truth to the story soon enough.
July 23, 2008
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I’m an Evertonian i will be sad to see him leave, and he is 10 times better than any player Fulham have ever had by a mile.
Comment by toffee trevor — July 23, 2008 @ 6:08 am |
Notwithstanding your mixed metaphors, Mr Trevor, of course he is: 10x Saha, 10xHaynes, 10xBest….
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I don’t have a problem with buying this fella, but 2 issues remain:
1. £10.5m (if true) is way too much. He is not twice as good as Zamora.
2. Would this push Nevland back onto the bench from what looks like a starting position at the moment? If so, a shame.
SM15
Comment by smfifteen — July 23, 2008 @ 6:59 am |
Ok maybe not 10x better than Saha but Best was past it when he played for Fulham and he is better than Zamora, Haynes never heard of him.
Comment by toffee trevor — July 23, 2008 @ 7:49 am |
“Haynes never heard of him.”
Embarassing.
Comment by smfifteen — July 23, 2008 @ 8:09 am |
Never heard of Haynes? Oh dear! Don’t think your comments should be taken seriously from now on.
Comment by JimBob — July 23, 2008 @ 8:12 am |
Personally I’d be pretty excited if Johnson signed. He has real pace and a massive workrate that will stretch any defence – it’s only an isolated example but I saw him come on as a sub when Everton played Portsmouth on Sky recently and his intoduction completely changed the game.
Johnson is as talented a player as we could reasonably hope to get. He’s a class above most of the rest of our sqaud, having done a decent job for Everton for two years, who finished fifth both times. It’s good news, surely. £11m seems overpriced but seeing as it’s all ridiculous monopoly money in the world of football I find it hard to get worked up over transfer fees.
Someone made a good point on TIFF – yes, Zamora and Nevland may seem adequate already, but we can’t reasonably expect both to stay injury free for 38 games. It’s good to have a third option, and he’s a very good third option.
Er.. that’s all if it actually happens. If he signs for someone else, he’s obviously an overrated diving twat.
Comment by JamieR — July 23, 2008 @ 8:32 am |
Never heard of Haynes, next you will be saying Who’s Dixie Dean?
Comment by Aitch — July 23, 2008 @ 8:37 am |
Yes mighty Everton are so wonderful they’ve lost seven seasons running away to Fulham (eight if you want to go back to 67/8).
Comment by Groucho Max — July 23, 2008 @ 10:21 am |
One important point, perhaps: if we’re signing Johnson then perhaps it’s 4-4-2 after all. Which means fewer midfielders needed:
Davies – Gera – Bullard – Dempsey – Cook – Murphy – Davis are attacking midfielders
Andrease and Andranik are defensive midfielders.
Murphy could hold in the same way Michael Carrick could hold.
Fitting all those into a 4-4-2 will be hard going.
Comment by weltmeisterclaude — July 23, 2008 @ 10:34 am |
AJ hasn’t been able to show his best the last couple of seasons – (edged out by Yakubu last year) – I think he’s probably a good prospect for us, expensive though.
In response to WMC – the strength in depth of the squad has to be good. Somehting we’re not used to. Remember the damage when key players have been injured (most recently JB BMc) – this way we could be consistent through the season. Looks like a serious attempt to move us into the next “mini league” of the Prem ie 9th-14th.
After all that, I’m still undecided. But slightly more pro than con.
Comment by Beardyoldgit — July 23, 2008 @ 10:49 am |
Two concerns about AJ from this side:
1. He’s a bit fragile.
2. He’s overpriced — the story with all English players, I’m afraid.
Having said that, he’s a game changer. I think his best role is as a 60th minute sub. His pace can be very unsettling at that point of the match. Are we so rich now that we can pay 11mil for a sub?
Comment by HatterDon — July 23, 2008 @ 12:18 pm |
Surely he’d be a starter? He’d be our best striker. I liked what I saw of him at Everton. He adds quite a bit to the squad in terms of energy. I think he’ll be a good signing but of course, if he underperforms even the slightest bit, everyone will be complaining that we paid too much for him.
Comment by BC — July 23, 2008 @ 12:52 pm |
Digging a little deeper into Johnson’s last couple of season’s, I think it’s possible he may have had suffered a touch of bad luck. It’s also very possible that he’s starting to decline. There are going to be risks involved with any player in our price range, unfortunately.
I don’t see him fitting into our suspected 4-5-1 all that well, and that money would be pretty ridiculous for a backup/bench player. I think that most strikers can be/are effective as a sub, so for this role it makes sense to me to look at players who are either 1) less expensive, or 2) could fit into our starting lineup somewhat seamlessly (and thus creating some competition).
One guy who has jumped out at me recently is Rolando Bianchi of Man City. I think he could be quite good, and he seems to have fallen pretty far down the depth chart at City. Which is unfortunate for him, as he’s done nothing but score goals.
Comment by Colin — July 23, 2008 @ 1:59 pm |
If true, would this be the biggest Fulham signing ever?
Comment by Bob K — July 23, 2008 @ 5:53 pm |
http://www.evertonfc.com/news/archive/no-aj-deal-agreed.html
EVerton are denying everything…
Comment by weltmeisterclaude — July 23, 2008 @ 9:44 pm |
I think a confident AJ will do well for you, I’ll be sorry to see him leave the Toffees, but we (always) need cash to boost our mediocre midfield. AJ has played as a half-striker/half-winger, (Boa Morte?) most of the time hence his below par stats for a striker. But he always added a threat to our play and won us tons of set pieces.
As for the price tag, thats just the way it is this last couple of seasons. Stupid prices.
Hope he stays, but hope you pay us £10mil if he goes.
Comment by retroandy — July 24, 2008 @ 9:05 am |
A more interesting Evertonian perspective this time round :-) He is a clearly a handful for defences and would improve our team. Perming two from him, Zamora and Nevland, with a choice of classy midfielders to serve them — that really ought to spell goals. So bring it on, I suppose.
It’s the `tons of set pieces’ aspect that is dismaying. I’m not on a moral crusade here, it’s just that when that is the game plan, enjoyment lessens, significantly.
Comment by b+w geezer — July 24, 2008 @ 9:48 am |
Thanks, retroandy. I’m not sure how well that type of player would fit into Roy’s system (at least as far as we’ve seen), but the perspective is interesting. I was reading through some threads on Toffeeweb, and it seems that a lot of fans were actually a bit frustrated with his frequent drifting outside – doesn’t that sound familiar :cough:Healy:cough: – though it makes sense that a small, pacy player like Johnson would be well-suited for that role.
Has he been drifting out more often recently? His shot quality would appear to be diminishing somewhat, so I’m curious if he’s just losing it, or if he’s taking tons of low-percentage shots (like C. Ronaldo). How are his crosses?
b+w, I’m with you on the winning of set pieces. It’s not really something I want to see our players strive for.
Comment by Colin — July 24, 2008 @ 12:02 pm |
ah, yes. Healy used that as a reason for not scoring more at Leeds. Then he comes to us and spends half his life hugging the touchline. It was worst at Anfield – he stood out there, miscontrolled everything that came his way, and really didn’t contribute. He and Kuqi had a collective zilch that day.
Comment by weltmeisterclaude — July 24, 2008 @ 12:12 pm |
and someone on TiFF with ties to Johnson says that it’s happening behind the scenes, but no funny business between the clubs yet. So who knows?
Comment by weltmeisterclaude — July 24, 2008 @ 12:13 pm |
Anyone else having a problem with the Voy site? Everytime I go on it the same messages come up from 21st July. Is the site down or is it my pc?
Comment by CJ — July 24, 2008 @ 6:18 pm |