Player Watch Player Watch: Brennan Johnson

[mdharris]

He seems like a good lad, and there’s a few things I really like about Johnson. He is top class at running off the shoulder of his defender, and of course his pace.

BUT his anticipation (Nb different to when he proactively runs off the ball) is really poor, he’s consistently second to non-through balls played to him or to loose balls. Also, as has been done to death on here, really poor when faced with a man in the final third. Doesn’t have the vision or decisiveness of a top class forward. That can be worked on, he has the physical fundamentals. I’ll continue to give him the benefit of the doubt, but needs to improve. Would love him to do it.

 

[bubble07]

I think he will come good but won't be good enough to start for us

 

[NEVILLEB]

For all the critical posts, show me where they're balanced with some positive points.

I think he will come good but won't be good enough to start for us

I’m hoping he’ll be transformed with confidence but i watched him against City and never saw him looking around the pitch and he didn’t really know when someone was running in behind him.

Great players have a picture of what’s around them so that did concern me.

 

[jpascavitz]

I think he will come good but won't be good enough to start for us

I just posted this elsewhere but I can see him flourishing (hopefully) as we get healthier as well.

Looking at the last few matches: Werner - Richy - Johnson and Kulu as an AM although decent, there's not much after except maybe for Gil then the youngsters.

In two weeks it could be:

Son/Werner/Gil - Richy/Werner/Son - Kulusevski/Johnson

Maddison/Lo Celso/(Kulusevski)

All of the sudden we look a lot better as a unit. Sure Johnson may not be tasked with playing 90 every match but he could be affective off of the bench or knowing he has 60-70 minutes to impress. Right now we're expecting him to perform, and I think once the expectation is lowered a little he could blossom under the radar.

 

[Khilari]

I heard no booing and stayed until the players had left the pitch.

 

[Shanks]

I'm not criticizing you here, but you've struck on a pet peeve of mine here, which bugs the shit out of me. I can't remember what Son's initial reception was, but the Bale thing is a total myth, perpetuated by the media and non Spurs fans, which Spurs fans themselves have come to accept for some bizarre reason. The whole thing about him being a total flop to start with has been told ad nauseam to the point it's become seen as a fact, when it's complete nonsense.

Despite the urban myth that our fans didn't rate him, Bale was praised by our fans when he first arrived. I remember his debut and he was our MOTM. He played on the LW against Utd and Nani scored a wonder goal for them to win it. He scored 3 goals in his first 8 games, including an FK against Arsenal, when he was just 18! We loved him. Can you imagine our fan base not being super excited by an 18 year old who scored 3 goals in 8 appearances? We got excited when Phil Ifil put in a 4/10 performance against Liverpool under Santini.

What happened with Bale, was that after a flying start, he got an injury that was meant to be short term, but actually ended his season. He came back the next season, but had a knee injury so it was total stop/start and mainly sub appearances. He just couldn't get fit. But for some reason, most Spurs fans seem to accept this false narrative that Bale was a flop when he first came because he wasn't on the winning side for 20 odd games. It's just total BS. He was one of the few really positive things at the start of the 2007/8 season and then had some really bad injuries which really hampered his progress. There were some concerns that he was going to be a perma crock and whether he was good enough defensively to be a LB, but this was all during the period in which he was trying to come back from injury and a good 18 months after he joined us. It was nothing like how the story is portrayed thesedsays and not similar to Johnson at all. In fact it was the total opposite to Johnson, much more in the Sarr, Udogie, VDV camp.

I found the two oldest Bale threads on the forum which are both in the weeks after his season ending injury. There isn't a single negative comment in any of them, it's all positive as he was seriously good.

"Yes I agree, he's been a real shining light so far this season."

"I'm chuffed about how well he is doing - hope he is raring to go asap."

"we are a far better team with him on the left."

Bales's injury.

Couldn't see a thread about this. Does anyone have any idea how long he will be out for because he and Keane seem like the only ones that give a toss about us at the moment. And we are a far better team with him on the left.

spurscommunity.co.uk

"Looking forward to having him back in the team soon. Think he is a great player. Will give us another dimension at set pieces."

"I think for the time being he has to use him as a left winger as he is by far our best option there. Though Malbranque has been decent, Bale is a big step up"

"i think with our defensive frailties atm it is best to use Bale at LW. he has been brilliant in that position all season so i think Juande will use him there. Great player and he is only going to get better."

"a welcome addition"

Again, I want to stress I'm not having a dig at you, as virtually everyone says the same thing and it's written into football folk law. But it's interesting to see what our fans were really saying at the time, compared to how the story is now told!

Gareth Bale

Looking forward to having him back in the team soon. Think he is a great player. Will give us another dimension at set pieces. What is the general consenus - do you think Ramos will use him as a left winger? He is a big user of outright wingers and i think that Bale is our best option for the...

spurscommunity.co.uk

Great post but LOL’d at Malbranque, forgot he played for us

 

[Khilari]

Johnson made some fantastic runs but the ball wasn’t put into the space in front of him by Porro twice in the first half.

Given we hardly had the ball in their half in attacking possession, he did ok and was no worse than our other attacking players. His final ball still needs some work.

 

[Joshua shepherd]

Great post but LOL’d at Malbranque, forgot he played for us

will never forget him not clearing the ball off the line vs Sevilla. Probably the best atmosphere I’ve ever experienced in that game, still painful we didn’t do it.

 

[joey55]

will never forget him not clearing the ball off the line vs Sevilla. Probably the best atmosphere I’ve ever experienced in that game, still painful we didn’t do it.

I'll never forget the penis enlargement surgery rumours. New members will think this a joke, but honestly, when Malbranque was out injured for a while, we had penis enlargement ITK on here.

 

[bubble07]

Great post but LOL’d at Malbranque, forgot he played for us

Were the rumours confirmed that the reason he was unavailable for months because he had penis enlargement surgery ?

 

[Tucker]

Wait, what?

 

[Nine while nine]

I'll never forget the penis enlargement surgery rumours.

Sounds like a stretch to me...

 

[bubble07]

I'll never forget the penis enlargement surgery rumours. New members will think this a joke, but honestly, when Malbranque was out injured for a while, we had penis enlargement ITK on here.

Just read your post after posting

 

[Yid121]

People really need to get off this kid's back. He's quietly been doing well, not a world beater but he never was at Forrest. He'll be at the very least an important squad player with his pace and HG with good potential for more

 

[joey55]

I’m hoping he’ll be transformed with confidence but i watched him against City and never saw him looking around the pitch and he didn’t really know when someone was running in behind him.

Great players have a picture of what’s around them so that did concern me.

It sounds like we've got another winger who would benefit from a penis enlargement!

 

[spurs mental]

Good lad Brennan

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

Came on, changed the game

 

[N'Obody]

Good lad Brennan

All is forgiven young Brennan. This alone has made up for everything so far.

 

[Super_spurs25]

Done well today. Come on and made a difference. Scored an important goal. Really hope he kicks on from here .

 

[npearl4spurs]

Thought it was a mature interview post-match from him. I've got a lot of time for Brennan.