Player Watch Player Watch: Brennan Johnson

[amathews3416]

I still believe it is a confidence issue. Go back and watch that first half against Chelsea, he had Reece James on skates and was causing Chelsea all sorts of problems on the left. He was unlucky to be subbed off due to the red card. There is definitely a player there. Seems like his head is always down and he is really hard on himself as of late.

 

[punkisback]

Reminds me of Walcott. Walcott had a good finish but little tactical intelligence as he never really had a love for football as a child. Johnson would have had a love for the game this drilled into him from his father, it depends on how coachable he is and if we have the team around to develop his technical aspects.

 

[dontcallme]

Reminds me of Walcott. Walcott had a good finish but little tactical intelligence as he never really had a love for football as a child. Johnson would have had a love for the game this drilled into him from his father, it depends on how coachable he is and if we have the team around to develop his technical aspects.

I've been trying to think who he is most comparable to with regards to playing style, I think Walcott is probably the best comparison.

At his best Walcott looked dangerous but he never had enough about him to reach international level.

Hopefully Johnson can push onto the levels that Walcott didn't.

 

[ethanedwards]

I've been trying to think who he is most comparable to with regards to playing style, I think Walcott is probably the best comparison.

At his best Walcott looked dangerous but he never had enough about him to reach international level.

Hopefully Johnson can push onto the levels that Walcott didn't.

Walcott 47 caps, if that's not international level?

 

[kendoddsdadsdogsdead]

Doku is a year younger than Johnson and still has loads of developing to do but come on he’s a far bigger prospect. He’s superior technically, creatively, finishing wise, much better on the ball and can dribble and be aggressive in games. He’s a go to attacker who consistently tries to make things happen. He’d have been incredible for us under Ange with the way we play.

Both players have developing to do but Doku’s ceiling is far higher.

if you go on blue moon there’s quite a few who don’t seem to rate him, similar language to what some on here are saying about Johnson. He might end up better even alot better, but there’s no guarantee he’ll learn when to get his head, the timing of the pass, when to shoot and when not too. Those things don’t necessarily come with experience as they’ve probably seen with Sterling. Using your pace for running in behind off the ball and getting in crossing positions is just as effective as getting the ball to feet and dribbling your way into the final third imo

a team does need 1 v1 dribbling ability but I don’t think it always has to come from the wingers. Bentancur, Maddison Bisoumma all can take players out of the game carrying the ball and open up space further forward.

 

[dontcallme]

Walcott 47 caps, if that's not international level?

Lots of players below par got to play for England. Theo was never actually good enough for that. He wouldn't get a look in with the current crop.

He only hit double figures in the league for a very good Arsenal side twice in 12 seasons. That's just poor.

 

[Styopa]

a team does need 1 v1 dribbling ability but I don’t think it always has to come from the wingers. Bentancur, Maddison Bisoumma all can take players out of the game carrying the ball and open up space further forward.

Dembele was fantastic at doing this. In fact I can’t recall Poch’s best teams having any stand out dribblers other than Dembele and Kane - although that was generally contingent on how deep Kane was deployed. Walker and Rose were able to carry the ball with pace and power but they weren’t stand out dribblers.

 

[Nick-TopSpursMan]

Dembele was fantastic at doing this. In fact I can’t recall Poch’s best teams having any stand out dribblers other than Dembele and Kane - although that was generally contingent on how deep Kane was deployed. Walker and Rose were able to carry the ball with pace and power but they weren’t stand out dribblers.

This is true but funny enough I believe a quality dribbling option out wide was pretty much the missing piece for the Poch team aside from more squad depth.

Pretty much every top side always has a wide player who can dribble past opponents. Pep has actually spoken before about how important it is to have dribblers in midfield and attack as it creates so much space and disrupts opponents.

 

[easley91]

I still think he has been mentally affected by his head injury v Forest. Might be anxious to go fully into challenges and physical battles. He's still young enough where that can be improved upon. I see his good traits and think he has something to offer. Once everyone is back he'll be an impact sub v tiring defences.

 

[vegassd]

Completely agree that we have been sensational recently in the market. All of those purchases have been either good or great (I still have my questions RE Bissouma). And yet, with all of these players, we still had major holes in the squad, which points to previously poor recruitment.

Brennan was the most expensive purchase of this group. He was bought in the position where we had, arguably, the biggest need. He had very obvious red flags, and we still went ahead and paid 50 million for him. That 50 million could have been much better spent on a player of a similar age who either has a much higher ceiling (Nusa) or a player around the same age range who is far more complete (Doku, Neto as examples), for much less money. As someone pointed out above, Solomon was also a very pointless signing because he took up an HG spot, forcing our hands with the HG requirement. In this case, I would have much rather gone for a young, promising championship player for 30-35 million less as a project player and used the rest of the money to secure our CB (who we now have after months of playing 4 fullbacks across the back 4, potentially costing us a shot at the title), or the box-to-box 8 that Ange has been crying out for per multiple reports.

Yes, this is partially hindsight, but a lot of people were saying this at the time. I am trying to be as balanced in this post as possible. I support Brennan while he is wearing our shirt, he seems like a good character and a good young lad, and he's particularly likable. This does not mean we cannot question the club's decision to spend very limited resources on what appears to be a limited project player, hamstringing us in other areas of the squad.

It's interesting that you mention picking up a championship project player instead of Johnson, because 2 years ago that's exactly what Johnson was... one of the more exciting/promising players in the championship. The Johnson we bought came with a bigger price tag but also a bunch more experience which should make the transition to a "top" team that bit easier. I think we sometimes romanticise the idea of these hidden gems coming from the championship and making an instant impact on the first team.

Alex Scott moved for £25m in the summer so I would question the idea of saving £30-35m on a "promising" championship player. I think if we were spending £10-15m on a championship player that would not be somebody we are expecting to make a contribution in the here and now. Johnson had a bad game against United (in my opinion) but he has been contributing for us this season.

I'm not sure about the Solomon logic either. Had we not bought either of Solomon & Johnson, we would still need to find two forward players from somewhere, and rudimentary sums would say that one of them would need to be HG. I think there's a case to be made that Solomon was a purchase that made it easy to stomach the "HG tax" on Johnson - or whoever else we might have bought in that position. We could think of Solomon & Johnson as a combined deal of £45m for two players, which I think is probably closer to the reality of squad building.

And when thinking about Solomon we should think about the injuries this season. Johnson has been thrown straight into the first team and not had much respite. There has been no Solomon to balance out Johnson's skill set, and no Perisic to use as a change up option.

I totally appreciate you have said you are supportive of Johnson, and you do mention his character. It wouldn't surprise me if we see a number of signings under Ange who have a somewhat limited skill set but good characters. That appears to be how Ange builds his teams. So whilst it's interesting to do the fantasy manager thing, there is a lot that doesn't consider, such as character and availability.

 

[kendoddsdadsdogsdead]

This is true but funny enough I believe a quality dribbling option out wide was pretty much the missing piece for the Poch team aside from more squad depth.

Pretty much every top side always has a wide player who can dribble past opponents. Pep has actually spoken before about how important it is to have dribblers in midfield and attack as it creates so much space and disrupts opponents.

That team was definitely one paced upfront, think that’s why poch was after mane.

 

[bubble07]

He will be on the bench next game and then I think he will impact off the bench. That will then build his confidence

 

[Nick-TopSpursMan]

That team was definitely one paced upfront, think that’s why poch was after mane.

100%. Obviously Son offered us pace and dynamism but most of Son's great work comes from narrower areas or runs in behind. That team definitely lacked a real dynamic and explosive dribbler as an attacking option to complement the players we had.

 

[Rout-Ledge]

Not sure why Doku’s name is being mentioned, it’s not like we had the chance to sign him if only we’d coughed up another £10m. Our options in the summer presumably were either Johnson or someone cheaper and even less of a sure thing.

Johnson is also going to be on significantly lower wages and is home grown, so would be much easier to shift if it came to it. The risk with him is all in the guaranteed fee to NF.

 

[Donki]

Come on guys the kid’s 22 and played 14 games for us, cut him some slack.

 

[hughy]

He averages a goal contribution for us in the league every 186 minutes, so approximately 1 goal or assist every 2 games. I can understand some people's early frustrations with him to an extent, but anyone saying he's a waste of money, or that we've overpaid after 15 appearances are overreacting.

There's definitely more to come from him.

 

[tooey]

I've not really seen any people's posts writing him off or being overly critical but I've seen shit loads of posts aimed at those people, it's all gone a bit weird.

 

[dontcallme]

I've not really seen any people's posts writing him off or being overly critical but I've seen shit loads of posts aimed at those people, it's all gone a bit weird.

It's become pretty normal on this site.

"I can't believe people are saying this." Then you read through the thread and no one is saying that.

My other favourite is "the people saying this are the same people saying this." It's always completely baseless.

 

[Freddie]

I can't believe people are saying we should release him on a free and put his family in prison. He's young. Cut him some slack.

But seriously. I don't think anyone has gone overboard with criticising him, or making him our next scapegoat. His numbers are OK but it's fine to question what we saw in him to spend what is still a huge fee. He doesn't seem to many to have too many standout qualities and it's not even too obvious what type of player he is or where his best position is. Rather than getting annoyed by perceived detractors it'd be interesting to hear why people believe he'll be a shrewd signing. Not everything has to be a polarising issue.

 

[Montalbano]

I actually think his best performances for us have largely been when he’s featured on the left and able to cut in on his right (i.e. Arsenal. Chelsea, Wolves [goal])