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Player Watch Player Watch: Brennan Johnson

carmeldevil

Well-Known Member
May 15, 2018
8,197
51,015
You all are far too reactionary.

He's not good enough to be a starter for us long term. His technical ability is just not good enough. He doesn't strike a ball well. He can't beat players 1v1 consistently. The comparison(s) to Bale is absolutely ridiculous - Bale was a one of a kind phenom who had incredible strength, pace, and could strike a football unlike just about anyone else in the world. Johnson is a winger with a bit of pace who happened to have found his shooting boots and the ball at his feet more often in the past few weeks than the year before that.

I'm very happy for him to be having a little purple patch here and that he is able to showcase his worth considering some of the absolutely unwarranted vitriol he was getting. You could tell his mental health was in a bad place, so this is the best way he could have responded.

But he has not changed as a player in the last month or so. He's just not good enough as a footballer to be anything more than a squad option.

I fully expect to be downvoted for this post, but we can quote it a couple months from now whenever we hit our next patch of bad form and he gets back to being a scapegoat.

The "little purple patch" continues on!
 

panoma

Well-Known Member
Jan 16, 2012
4,069
12,669
His finishing is simply sublime. I had completely given up on him, but he popping up with vital goals and clinical finishes.
 
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jurgen

Busy ****
Jul 5, 2008
6,984
18,409
Great to see the run continuing, he’ll be disappointed with his other big chance given his form, probably should have stuck to his corner finish but doubtless we’d just have lost 4-3 anyway
 

muppetman

Well-Known Member
Jul 29, 2011
10,957
30,723
Took his goal superbly and then almost got another after outmuscling the defender!

Keep it going young man!
 

jakuba

Well-Known Member
Aug 20, 2013
259
762
Great to see the run continuing, he’ll be disappointed with his other big chance given his form, probably should have stuck to his corner finish but doubtless we’d just have lost 4-3 anyway
In the replay you can see it just bobble up right as he’s about to hit it so ended up getting under it more than he’d wanted to.
 

13VanDerBale13

Well-Known Member
Jul 12, 2011
15,491
36,805
His finishing was always clinical at Forest.
He is reaping the rewards now & getting to show his composure in front of goal.
Would love for him to turn out to be another Son.
 

tubbygold

Well-Known Member
Jan 12, 2021
1,524
4,240
His finishing was always clinical at Forest.
He is reaping the rewards now & getting to show his composure in front of goal.
Would love for him to turn out to be another Son.
Same streaky character so far. Hopefully can become more consistent. I think he might, you can see him growing on the pitch.
 

Neon_Knight_

Well-Known Member
Jul 20, 2011
4,275
7,269
You all are far too reactionary.

He's not good enough to be a starter for us long term. His technical ability is just not good enough. He doesn't strike a ball well. He can't beat players 1v1 consistently. The comparison(s) to Bale is absolutely ridiculous - Bale was a one of a kind phenom who had incredible strength, pace, and could strike a football unlike just about anyone else in the world. Johnson is a winger with a bit of pace who happened to have found his shooting boots and the ball at his feet more often in the past few weeks than the year before that.

I'm very happy for him to be having a little purple patch here and that he is able to showcase his worth considering some of the absolutely unwarranted vitriol he was getting. You could tell his mental health was in a bad place, so this is the best way he could have responded.

But he has not changed as a player in the last month or so. He's just not good enough as a footballer to be anything more than a squad option.

I fully expect to be downvoted for this post, but we can quote it a couple months from now whenever we hit our next patch of bad form and he gets back to being a scapegoat.
So it's reactionary to give him credit for 15 goals & assists last season, or the 6 he's tallied up so far this season, but the criticism he received for a run of 4 PL games without a goal or assist at the start of this season wasn't reactionary and shows he isn't good enough.
Just to clarify, is this what you're saying? 🤔
 

allatsea

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
9,657
17,411
Loved his goal but what happened in the second half ? I forgot he was playing until the dying minutes of the half.
 

GutBucket

Well-Known Member
May 26, 2013
7,324
12,608
Loved his goal but what happened in the second half ? I forgot he was playing until the dying minutes of the half.
Whole team was shit in second half, we lost control in the midfield, wingers had to help out defensively a lot more and all went to shit.
 

Strikeb4ck

Well-Known Member
Aug 8, 2010
4,522
9,510
So it's reactionary to give him credit for 15 goals & assists last season, or the 6 he's tallied up so far this season, but the criticism he received for a run of 4 PL games without a goal or assist at the start of this season wasn't reactionary and shows he isn't good enough.
Just to clarify, is this what you're saying? 🤔
A player's value to a team is far more than goals and assists, for one. Johnson is good at finding space in and around the box, this is maybe no surprise as someone that has played in this hybrid center forward / winger role across his career so far, so it makes sense that he would profile well on this front compared to other wingers. I'm not going to take that away from him. I also think he is reasonably hard working when we don't have the ball (albeit a bit timid in his tackles and confrontations).

My issue is I think he provides very little on the ball and as an outlet in possession. I'd be OK with goals and assists at the cost of on ball value if he were our #9. However, I think a winger needs to do far more to be truly useful, especially in an Ange team where there's such a need for individual brilliance to open pockets of space. And whether it's the eye test or his stats, I think he is far below the level we need when you look at progressive passing, take-ons, carrying the ball, first touch, etc.

Reactionary is a reference to the forum and fanbase in general. It bleeds through to individual player sentiment as much as the general team/club sentiment. Just look at the posts here on our outlook for the rest of the season after United vs after Brighton. Again, the simple fact is that the forum was desperate for winger signings all summer long - our options are incredibly underwhelming. Johnson scoring in 6 straight doesn't change that for me in the slightest.

Honestly, I'd rather he had scored 1 in those 6 (and we maintained the exact same results) but began to show me something more on the ball instead. That would give me hope longer term. Like for me yesterday was really encouraging for Timo just because he beat his man several times, which we hadn't seen from him in a long time. I'm willing to forego the fact his final product is still very lacking [until he proves otherwise] - if he's at least progressing in some other part, like the 1v1 stuff.

Similar with Brennan, I'm not going to propose dropping him while he is in this vein of form. My point is that I just think the forum will go back to thinking & stating he's not good enough if/when the goals & assists dry up - because I don't think he offers much else as a winger. Hopefully they don't dry up AND he can add to his game. But I doubt it at this stage in his career, I think he is what he is.

It's just my opinion. But for me when you look at what Chelsea are working with as far as flank options vs what we're stuck with, it's a night and day difference.
 

mil1lion

This is the place to be
May 7, 2004
44,534
86,279
He's finishing chances well , in a great run at the moment. I would like to see more of a contribution from him over the full game however. Love his link up with Deki though.
 

s_purs

Well-Known Member
Aug 27, 2013
261
415
A player's value to a team is far more than goals and assists, for one. Johnson is good at finding space in and around the box, this is maybe no surprise as someone that has played in this hybrid center forward / winger role across his career so far, so it makes sense that he would profile well on this front compared to other wingers. I'm not going to take that away from him. I also think he is reasonably hard working when we don't have the ball (albeit a bit timid in his tackles and confrontations).

My issue is I think he provides very little on the ball and as an outlet in possession. I'd be OK with goals and assists at the cost of on ball value if he were our #9. However, I think a winger needs to do far more to be truly useful, especially in an Ange team where there's such a need for individual brilliance to open pockets of space. And whether it's the eye test or his stats, I think he is far below the level we need when you look at progressive passing, take-ons, carrying the ball, first touch, etc.

Reactionary is a reference to the forum and fanbase in general. It bleeds through to individual player sentiment as much as the general team/club sentiment. Just look at the posts here on our outlook for the rest of the season after United vs after Brighton. Again, the simple fact is that the forum was desperate for winger signings all summer long - our options are incredibly underwhelming. Johnson scoring in 6 straight doesn't change that for me in the slightest.

Honestly, I'd rather he had scored 1 in those 6 (and we maintained the exact same results) but began to show me something more on the ball instead. That would give me hope longer term. Like for me yesterday was really encouraging for Timo just because he beat his man several times, which we hadn't seen from him in a long time. I'm willing to forego the fact his final product is still very lacking [until he proves otherwise] - if he's at least progressing in some other part, like the 1v1 stuff.

Similar with Brennan, I'm not going to propose dropping him while he is in this vein of form. My point is that I just think the forum will go back to thinking & stating he's not good enough if/when the goals & assists dry up - because I don't think he offers much else as a winger. Hopefully they don't dry up AND he can add to his game. But I doubt it at this stage in his career, I think he is what he is.

It's just my opinion. But for me when you look at what Chelsea are working with as far as flank options vs what we're stuck with, it's a night and day difference.
I still don't really agree with most of this, but in reading it, do you think playing on the wing is the wrong position for him? If you are happy with him scoring, if that was meant to be his main job, maybe you'd play in him a different role? Or do you still see him as a winger, albeit disappointing in the areas you want
 

Neon_Knight_

Well-Known Member
Jul 20, 2011
4,275
7,269
It's just my opinion. But for me when you look at what Chelsea are working with as far as flank options vs what we're stuck with, it's a night and day difference.
Yes, it is night and day difference, because Johnson is currently proving to be as much of a goal threat as all of Chelsea's wingers combined. :ROFLMAO:
 

ultimateloner

Well-Known Member
Jan 25, 2004
4,664
2,346
A player's value to a team is far more than goals and assists, for one. Johnson is good at finding space in and around the box, this is maybe no surprise as someone that has played in this hybrid center forward / winger role across his career so far, so it makes sense that he would profile well on this front compared to other wingers. I'm not going to take that away from him. I also think he is reasonably hard working when we don't have the ball (albeit a bit timid in his tackles and confrontations).

My issue is I think he provides very little on the ball and as an outlet in possession. I'd be OK with goals and assists at the cost of on ball value if he were our #9. However, I think a winger needs to do far more to be truly useful, especially in an Ange team where there's such a need for individual brilliance to open pockets of space. And whether it's the eye test or his stats, I think he is far below the level we need when you look at progressive passing, take-ons, carrying the ball, first touch, etc.

Reactionary is a reference to the forum and fanbase in general. It bleeds through to individual player sentiment as much as the general team/club sentiment. Just look at the posts here on our outlook for the rest of the season after United vs after Brighton. Again, the simple fact is that the forum was desperate for winger signings all summer long - our options are incredibly underwhelming. Johnson scoring in 6 straight doesn't change that for me in the slightest.

Honestly, I'd rather he had scored 1 in those 6 (and we maintained the exact same results) but began to show me something more on the ball instead. That would give me hope longer term. Like for me yesterday was really encouraging for Timo just because he beat his man several times, which we hadn't seen from him in a long time. I'm willing to forego the fact his final product is still very lacking [until he proves otherwise] - if he's at least progressing in some other part, like the 1v1 stuff.

Similar with Brennan, I'm not going to propose dropping him while he is in this vein of form. My point is that I just think the forum will go back to thinking & stating he's not good enough if/when the goals & assists dry up - because I don't think he offers much else as a winger. Hopefully they don't dry up AND he can add to his game. But I doubt it at this stage in his career, I think he is what he is.

It's just my opinion. But for me when you look at what Chelsea are working with as far as flank options vs what we're stuck with, it's a night and day difference.
I agree with your assessment of him but I'm happy enough with a goal/assist threat. He's like an inferior version of Son, which was what he was meant to be anyway. Productive wide-forwards are rare. Even someone like Doku isn't productive. You can argue that we would rather have an unproductive 1v1 specialist in that position, which is probably what Odobert was meant to be. But then our team lack goals at the moment; Kulu is the only other AM who would get in the box but even he doesn't do that enough. Therefore it's not such a bad thing having 3 goal-threats in this team: Son/Solanke/BJ. Son is also aging so BJ's good for this squad. He has a clear role.
 
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