Player Watch Player Watch: Brennan Johnson

[ethanedwards]

I’ve read some rubbish on here but this really takes the biscuit. What a great young player we have here on our books and all you Gary Neville’s out there can only see the bad in him. Pathetic doesn’t quite cover it

Seems people can't post an opinion re the merits of a player on a football forum, without someone taking offence.

 

[McFlash]

I've read this a few times and I'm not sure I agree. Ange has shown he is happy to throw players in early and I just don't see us paying this amount of cash for a prospect. If he were £15m then I can see we treat him like Gill and slowly integrate him but for £45M + not so much.

I do agree that he's new to the team and there has been a lot of churn with injuries and suspensions but I'd be lying if I said the comparisons to Sess in terms of mentality aren't a concern.

Yeah, I just think that with the forward options we've got when all are fit, he wouldn't be getting half the minutes he has.
He may have got the odd start, opponent depending but he would be behind Son, Deki and possibly Solomon as a first choice.
He would have had more time to integrate and learn the system but it's been a trial of fire for the kid.

As has been said, he's got the ability and raw pace to become a great player but... I'm also a bit concerned about how timid he can be at times.

 

[Impspur1]

I’ve read some rubbish on here but this really takes the biscuit. What a great young player we have here on our books and all you Gary Neville’s out there can only see the bad in him. Pathetic doesn’t quite cover it

In the stadium too - lots of groans and moans with every poor touch / error.
The jury has always been out on him for me but while he’s pulling on the shirt I’ll support him in the stadium 100%.

I still think it’s very fair to raise legitimate concerns about him as a player on here though.

Absolutely, we are supporters and if we don’t analyse what went well and what hasn’t then what’s the point. I do feel some have already decided Johnson isn’t for them and it just goes OTT, not just here but other platforms too.

 

[Impspur1]

Seems people can't post an opinion re the merits of a player on a football forum, without someone taking offence.

Not at all, it’s where it goes over the top that I personally don’t like to see… but that’s just me

 

[bigfrooj]

Absolutely, we are supporters and if we don’t analyse what went well and what hasn’t then what’s the point. I do feel some have already decided Johnson isn’t for them and it just goes OTT, not just here but other platforms too.

My job is done. Getting slagged off by someone that should know better isn’t very constructive is it? Keep it objective and civil and nobody can take offence. Carry on.

 

[Impspur1]

My job is done. Getting slagged off by someone that should know better isn’t very constructive is it? Keep it objective and civil and nobody can take offence. Carry on.

Bit confused by your post sire?

 

[Styopa]

People on here are not posting comments that are unjustified. He has had the odd flashes of quality, but generally he has flattered to deceive. We were expecting much more given the hype surrounding him.
I’m sure 100% of fans want him to succeed here, but he really needs to step up.

I’m not sure there was much hype about him to be honest. So I don’t think it’s a case of him not living up to the hype. I think a lot of people were dubious about the signing to begin with. They thought he was overpriced and underwhelming after we sold Kane.

So a lot of people have been doubtful about whether he will be a success here right from the beginning. That’s just a fact and can be verified through looking at the posts in this thread from the beginning. I think that is colouring how some people assess his performances because they were never keen on him, or they were outright against the signing from the beginning.

 

[NEVILLEB]

I worry he should have spent longer in the lower divisions to toughen him up a bit. He’s very passive.

Also, he almost never looks around him. Just watching the ball. Has no ideas of runs behind him and doesn’t protect his defender as well as he should.

Now this could be a fitness problem as someone mentioned as he does look low energy and doesn’t have the pace I expected from him. I hope it is that.

Otherwise we might have overspent on him.

 

[spurmin]

It’s amazing how many posts have “I worry” in them about players.
Don’t worry. What will be will be.
Brennan Johnson will be fine.

 

[Silky Skills]

Last night none of the front line made enough of an impact, that is not to criticse their effort against essentially the best team in the world with Rodri literally stuffing everything out. Richie ran his heart out but he isn't one of those players that creates a magic moment themselves, Werner tracked back well but failed to make an impact futher up the pitch and Kulu, well see the Rodri point. Could Brenna have done more? Yes but apart from our center backs most the team could of been less passive, we need to get behind Johnson rather than slagging him off .......

 

[djhotspur]

I cannot see him getting too many starts once we get all the international's back. Son, Richarlison and Deki will probably be our first choice front line.

I’d try son rw and werner lw. Gives us a good pacey attack.

 

[joey55]

One thing is for sure and that is to challenge for honours we can't be developing players in our first team. I'm as exicited about signing young players, like Nusa, as anyone, but you only need to watch his full game clips on YT to recgonise, that though hugely talented, he's got massive need to develop to be ready to play in a title challenging Prem team. Johnson has attributes, that do well in the Prem, but to truly develop he needs to be playing week in and week out, which for us he currently is. But the flip side of that is we are trying to be succesful at the top of the league and challenge for cups, with players that should be playing for Crystal Palace until it's obvious they are good enough to play at the top. Hopefully now with FFP and how it financially advantages us, we will put more focus on buying the best available players for now (ie Maddison) and not put too much emphasis on the future.

A couple of seasons ago when we were a complete mess and needed a massive overhaul, given our financial constraints at the time, we had to gamble more on young talent that we hoped would become good enough and pick up senior player bargains with 1 year left on their contract etc. But now we are close to being a really top team, it's not the time to be buying young players that need development. Or rather we should still be buying them, but using the loan system to our advantage to get them to the level when they are as good as other players in the top 4.

It's so obvious the attack is our weak spot. People moan about the midfield, but we are down to our bare bones and still have pretty decent options. Bentancaur is only just back from serious injury and our other best 3 CM's (Lo Celso would be rated number 1 by most football experts in the rest of the world imo) are all injured. When our best players are all fit, we are strong everywhere other than in attack. Johnson should be on loan somewhere imo. I don't consider Deki a winger. Gil should be on his third UK based loan by now. I hope we sign Nusa, but I have zero expectation of him being a major force in the next couple of seasons. We have to spend big on the likes of Eze, Olise or Isak etc. We desperately need at least one more attacking player that seriously shits up the opposition. As far as our attack goes, now is the not the time to be developing players like Johnson. We should be buying another Maddison level player and it should be our main focus in the summer.

I have no clue if Johnson will ever be good enough, but he's certainly got some very decent attributes for an attacking player in the Prem. But I really don't want to see players like him learning their trade when we are trying to win things. We've got the basis of a great team and financially we have never been in such an advantageous position. We can't go into next season with only Son and Madders as truly top class attacking players. We must sign a big player, so we don't have to rely on Johnson, Deki and Solomon etc. Lets still buy the best young talent we can, but be realistic about what to expect from them in their early years with us. Next season the title os going to be up for grabs and if we sign another real top quality Prem player, we could genuinely win it. But we aint winning shit waiting to see of Johnson can turn into the next Bale, Mane, Son or Salah (which title winning teams need.)

 

[Impspur1]

One thing is for sure and that is to challenge for honours we can't be developing players in our first team. I'm as exicited about signing young players, like Nusa, as anyone, but you only need to watch his full game clips on YT to recgonise, that though hugely talented, he's got massive need to develop to be ready to play in a title challenging Prem team. Johnson has attributes, that do well in the Prem, but to truly develop he needs to be playing week in and week out, which for us he currently is. But the flip side of that is we are trying to be succesful at the top of the league and challenge for cups, with players that should be playing for Crystal Palace until it's obvious they are good enough to play at the top. Hopefully now with FFP and how it financially advantages us, we will put more focus on buying the best available players for now (ie Maddison) and not put too much emphasis on the future.

A couple of seasons ago when we were a complete mess and needed a massive overhaul, given our financial constraints at the time, we had to gamble more on young talent that we hoped would become good enough and pick up senior player bargains with 1 year left on their contract etc. But now we are close to being a really top team, it's not the time to be buying young players that need development. Or rather we should still be buying them, but using the loan system to our advantage to get them to the level when they are as good as other players in the top 4.

It's so obvious the attack is our weak spot. People moan about the midfield, but we are down to our bare bones and still have pretty decent options. Bentancaur is only just back from serious injury and our other best 3 CM's (Lo Celso would be rated number 1 by most football experts in the rest of the world imo) are all injured. When our best players are all fit, we are strong everywhere other than in attack. Johnson should be on loan somewhere imo. I don't consider Deki a winger. Gil should be on his third UK based loan by now. I hope we sign Nusa, but I have zero expectation of him being a major force in the next couple of seasons. We have to spend big on the likes of Eze, Olise or Isak etc. We desperately need at least one more attacking player that seriously shits up the opposition. As far as our attack goes, now is the not the time to be developing players like Johnson. We should be buying another Maddison level player and it should be our main focus in the summer.

I have no clue if Johnson will ever be good enough, but he's certainly got some very decent attributes for an attacking player in the Prem. But I really don't want to see players like him learning their trade when we are trying to win things. We've got the basis of a great team and financially we have never been in such an advantageous position. We can't go into next season with only Son and Madders as truly top class attacking players. We must sign a big player, so we don't have to rely on Johnson, Deki and Solomon etc. Let’s still buy the best young talent we can, but be realistic about what to expect from them in their early years with us. Next season the title is going to be up for grabs and if we sign another real top quality Prem player, we could genuinely win it. But we aint winning shit waiting to see of Johnson can turn into the next Bale, Mane, Son or Salah (which title winning teams need.)

Whether we like it or not the model of the club is to buy HG, young (less outlay) and develop. Who do you suggest that fits the above because whoever we go far will not be an established player ready to go.

 

[Cochise]

I’d try son rw and werner lw. Gives us a good pacey attack.

I'm thinking we might see some more variation down the middle.

 

[CowInAComa]

Scarlett showed far more for the ball and displayed more intent and desire to make something happen in 10 mins of action.

I dont buy the but he is young argument. He is in the same age bracket as Deki, Mickey, Sarr, Destiny. He must have talent, to keep getting in the first team, so he is showing something in training and when we scouted him, but frankly he needs to show up soon and cant just keep hiding.

 

[Gilzeanking]

. Next season the title os going to be up for grabs and if we sign another real top quality Prem player, we could genuinely win it. But we aint winning shit waiting to see of Johnson can turn into the next Bale, Mane, Son or Salah (which title winning teams need.)

Yep. The disconnect is that genuinely aiming for titles requires elite forwards and this is something the wait and see posters don't get.

Ange repeats over and over that our front 3rd isn't working. That's because he's aiming for the very top. We clearly need to buy elite attacking talent imo.

 

[Tucker]

Scarlett showed far more for the ball and displayed more intent and desire to make something happen in 10 mins of action.

That’s utter utter nonsense.

 

[joey55]

Whether we like it or not the model of the club is to buy HG, young (less outlay) and develop. Who do you suggest that fits the above because whoever we go far will not be an established player ready to go.

Then quite simply I don't think we win. But I'm not convinced Levy is that unflexible. He's probably the smartest chairman in the league. He's got a 1st from Cambridge. He's built the infastructure of the club superbly, but the only way to really grow the brand is through success. City and Chelsea have big world wide fan bases and anyone over the age of 30 knows they are traditionally only very averagely supported teams, by first tier English football standards. They grew their fanbase by winning things.

I think the financial landscape has changed dramatically in the last year or so. So I don't see why Levy's vision wouldn't change as a result of that. He's always wanted to keep us financially stable and therefore has always been careful not to spend beyond our means. That's prevented us from buying the best players alot of time and made us focus more or younger players. But now, with FFP finally being enforced and with the UEFA restrictions coming in next season, suddenly we are able to spend more than most clubs and as a result can surely compete for players we couldn't previously.

I said in the Liverpool thread that now is the right time for Klopp to leave, as no matter how good of a coach anyone thinks he might be, Liverpool are going to have to replace 2 of the best ever Prem players in the next year or 2, which is virtually impossible. My point is, the best managers can only win with the best players. Levy can't look at the dominance of Liverpool and City in recent years and fail to recognise that they did it by buying players who were ready to make an instant impact.

Liverpool are much more applicable to us than City. So if we look at Klopp and his "heavy metal football," as he calls it, they finished below us 3 years in a row when he first arrived. His coaching and tactics only suddenly became amazing when they bought Sane (who we tried to buy but couldn't afford), Salah, VDV and Wijnaldom (who again we tried to buy but couldn't afford) and Fabinho (who I always wanted to ask @Trix about as he said in the window before he went to Liverpool that we were close to signing a top CM but the deal fell through and I always thought it was possibly Fabinho.) The point is Liverpool went from being a decent team, with a decent coach (just as we are now), to winning everything, by buying several top quality players who were ready to instantly dominate the league in their positions.

This isn't Eredivise, you can't use the Ajax model here and Levy must recognise that. I totally understand why he has preferred to invest in younger players in the past and we've had great success doing that. No matter how much many of our fans hated it, it was appropriate given the infastructure projects we were under taking and they absurd amounts of money our rivals were able to spend. But times have changed and I'm not convinced Levy is going to pursure the same strategy anymore. I know all the ITK is pointing to heavy invesment in younger players, but I'm not convinced that's how it will play out in the summer. I think big players will be available to us at prices we can afford, as the money to inflate the market simply wont be there.

 

[SaKkA.kenchiku]

His one dribble inside in the second half suggests talent, but he Seems to lack confidence.…. Could be great might not make it, there’s a potential player there but whether he can grow in confidence to take players on more with us only time will tell. Coaching team really has to make him believe. But i am slightly concerned his personality is too timid and ’nice;’ to really make it to the top….. time is needed i hope he can, but he has much more technical ability than he shows in games where he’s trying to pass as soon as possible.

 

[Mr Pink]

Seems people can't post an opinion re the merits of a player on a football forum, without someone taking offence.

Merits? Its all critical....and its fucking boring listening to the same people moan about him over and over again.

And yes its way too early to have this volume of negativity around him already