Player Watch Player Watch: Brennan Johnson

[CowInAComa]

I have faith that Ange will unlock and develop the potential that Brennan has for the good of the team. He'll put an arm round him and say, "Why do you look like you're in constant pain, son. Lose the grimace for starters!"

He definitely never looks like he is enjoying it out there.

Maybe the whole problem is that he has boots that are couple sizes too small.

Get him down to Clarkes and get his feet measured properly I say.

 

[CowInAComa]

His first time instinctive crosses have mostly been good, it is more when he has time to think that his crosses and shots lack real purpose / conviction.

Re the chasing back, I posted previously that we do not know what he is being asked to do. I expect if as fans we are aware he is not chasing back enough and it is something he is supposed to do, then Ange and staff will be working on that with him. IMHO I think he is being asked to make himself available as an option higher up the ptich - but I accept I do not know.

It has taken a 26 year old Richarlison with lots more Prem experience, 18 months to find some form - let's give Brennan some breathing space for now.

Didnt Richarlison score a goal or two at the world cup and was evertons star man for a couple years?

I'm not sure these comparisons are particularly like for like.

I suppose better than the bale comparisons because he is fast and welsh

 

[synththfc]

I'll preface this by saying I will always support him when he is on the pitch and I REALLY, REALLY hope what I am about to say is wrong and he's a massive hit for us.

I am far from convinced. I see a player with very little dribbling ability, a very fast player but a player who struggles to accelerate from a standing start, a player who does not believe in himself in one-on-ones, a player who more often than not makes the wrong decision, and, most importantly, a player who does not track back and do the defensive duties required of himself which would make up for most of this.

A few of these things can be fixed with coaching and experience. But a lot of his biggest red flags are physical and technical. If I had to say a player he reminds me of, it would be a faster Nacer Chadli, but even Nacer got quite a few goals and assists for us, so that may be doing Nacer a disservice.

I understand the price tag is not his fault and do my best to not hold it against him. It is very unfair on him to hold him to his price tag's standard. However, it is very hard to look past that 50 million that we spent considering how low our net spends usually are. With how we operate in the market, we cannot buy a player who is this limited in what he can do and is THIS much of a project for that much money. I know it is City, but they signed Doku, who looks to be 10-20x the prospect Brennan is, for almost 10m less. People say this is the "going rate" for young HG talent, and they may be right, but with our budget we simply have to be smarter in the future.

 

[mdharris]

Johnson’s movement and pace has looked good at times - the two assists to Richy. But the moment he’s faced with a man, or has to thread a pass in the box while under pressure, he does not seem to have the quick thinking or vision to execute. Maybe that’s nerves, and as he settles/ is coached, he can find those passes. However, I flatly do not believe he has the technical tools or agility to be a dribbly winger, not matter how well he is coached. He has straightline speed, but not the agility, explosiveness or guile to get past someone. And so if he improves his effectiveness of passing in the final third, he may end up playing an effective role in the team, but he is not the winger to create something out of nothing that we so desperately needed.

Happy to proven wrong, but that’s my take.

Also at issue was the signing of Solomon, who took up a non-HG spot. It then made signing a HG player more of a necessity. And there aren’t many good HG wingers available, hence overpaying for Johnson. Solomon was a “good deal” that truly was not a good deal.

 

[Oscar22]

At most a handful of posters have 'written him off'...the vast, vast majority criticising are just expressing disappointment at what we've seen so far.

It’s the bit that always gets me most with these threads, it gets made out this massive majority have all written someone off. A few people come in and point out that no one is writing them off but instead commenting on ‘so far…’ then we get three more comments about how he’s been written off by loads of people followed by lots of backslapping comments in the scheme of “yes but we aren’t writing him off are we? We’re the good guys” all completely ignoring that the writing off was never happening.

That’s aside from the posts where people are rounding on others for writing people off… then it’s off to another thread to jump up and down on Skipp some more.

 

[ljinko888]

Right now I am worried he is one of those forwards who is better off the ball than on it. Firstly because it makes him stand out in this system where even back up defenders are being told to carry the ball up the field. But more crucially because his good movement in attacking areas in finding space and making clever runs is counteracted by him not tracking back quick enough and leaving Porro on his own to defend. He was poor in the first half getting back and Rashford probably had his best half of the season. Only changed because Man Utd stopped trying to play in the second half.

I think there is talent there to come out when he is more confident in himself to shoot properly. I would like him to use his pace more to run with the ball too but at Forest he never struck me as a dribbler so I wasn't expecting it to be of high quality. But he should try and use the pace he has even if it is a basic kick-and-run. Also needs to put some purpose in his shots rather than his sort of tame way of kicking the ball as if he is unsure whether he should cross it.

 

[Misfit]

He could just be a dud and won't work out ultimately. It happens. We'll have to wait and see.

When the squad is healthier and players are back he's not a starter most weeks anyway.

 

[BorjeSpurs]

With how we operate in the market, we cannot buy a player who is this limited in what he can do and is THIS much of a project for that much money. I know it is City, but they signed Doku, who looks to be 10-20x the prospect Brennan is, for almost 10m less. People say this is the "going rate" for young HG talent, and they may be right, but with our budget we simply have to be smarter in the future.

What sort of hit rate are you expecting when these are examples of recent transfer windows? These are all great players that have been signed for excellent value.

We have done sensationally well in the last few transfer windows and Johnson have time to become a key member of this team.

 

[CantSmileWithoutYou]

What sort of hit rate are you expecting when these are examples of recent transfer windows? These are all great players that have been signed for excellent value.

We have done sensationally well in the last few transfer windows and Johnson have time to become a key member of this team.

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Great post

 

[synththfc]

What sort of hit rate are you expecting when these are examples of recent transfer windows? These are all great players that have been signed for excellent value.

We have done sensationally well in the last few transfer windows and Johnson have time to become a key member of this team.

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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.

 

[he is you know!]

I'll preface this by saying I will always support him when he is on the pitch and I REALLY, REALLY hope what I am about to say is wrong and he's a massive hit for us.

I am far from convinced. I see a player with very little dribbling ability, a very fast player but a player who struggles to accelerate from a standing start, a player who does not believe in himself in one-on-ones, a player who more often than not makes the wrong decision, and, most importantly, a player who does not track back and do the defensive duties required of himself which would make up for most of this.

A few of these things can be fixed with coaching and experience. But a lot of his biggest red flags are physical and technical. If I had to say a player he reminds me of, it would be a faster Nacer Chadli, but even Nacer got quite a few goals and assists for us, so that may be doing Nacer a disservice.

I understand the price tag is not his fault and do my best to not hold it against him. It is very unfair on him to hold him to his price tag's standard. However, it is very hard to look past that 50 million that we spent considering how low our net spends usually are. With how we operate in the market, we cannot buy a player who is this limited in what he can do and is THIS much of a project for that much money. I know it is City, but they signed Doku, who looks to be 10-20x the prospect Brennan is, for almost 10m less. People say this is the "going rate" for young HG talent, and they may be right, but with our budget we simply have to be smarter in the future.

Might have helped if you'd got your figures the right way round, Johnson cost £45m and Doku was £55m.

 

[HildoSpur]

When we have more players back he will be a fantastic option from the bench in the last 30 mins of a match with his pace. It is not his fault that he has been thrown into the starting 11 probably much quicker than planned.

 

[synththfc]

Might have helped if you'd got your figures the right way round, Johnson cost £45m and Doku was £55m.

Doku was a 60 million euro package, add-ons included, per Fabrizio Romano. I am not including add-ons in my figures, as apparently some of Doku's revolve around winning individual awards like the Ballon d'Or. Brennan cost £45m in guaranteed payments, no add-ons per John Percy and David Ornstein.

If you would like to include add-ons in the final fee, that is fine. I am just explaining how I got my numbers.

 

[wspur]

So, we found our new scapegoat? I am ready to be toxic every weekend with this guy.

 

[kendoddsdadsdogsdead]

I'll preface this by saying I will always support him when he is on the pitch and I REALLY, REALLY hope what I am about to say is wrong and he's a massive hit for us.

I am far from convinced. I see a player with very little dribbling ability, a very fast player but a player who struggles to accelerate from a standing start, a player who does not believe in himself in one-on-ones, a player who more often than not makes the wrong decision, and, most importantly, a player who does not track back and do the defensive duties required of himself which would make up for most of this.

A few of these things can be fixed with coaching and experience. But a lot of his biggest red flags are physical and technical. If I had to say a player he reminds me of, it would be a faster Nacer Chadli, but even Nacer got quite a few goals and assists for us, so that may be doing Nacer a disservice.

I understand the price tag is not his fault and do my best to not hold it against him. It is very unfair on him to hold him to his price tag's standard. However, it is very hard to look past that 50 million that we spent considering how low our net spends usually are. With how we operate in the market, we cannot buy a player who is this limited in what he can do and is THIS much of a project for that much money. I know it is City, but they signed Doku, who looks to be 10-20x the prospect Brennan is, for almost 10m less. People say this is the "going rate" for young HG talent, and they may be right, but with our budget we simply have to be smarter in the future.

10-20x the prospect is silly. Doku is just as hit and miss. He wastes as many situations around the box as Johnson, probably more but because he’s a head down dribbling type it seems a bit more exciting.

A lot of city fans seem to think he doesn’t spot the pass and is a head down merchant who runs into trouble. Johnson had a poor game but normally does get his head up and will pick someone out at the right time.

johnson seems to be paying the price for not being this two way dribbler type that everyone decided we needed in the summer.

 

[Joshua shepherd]

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.

So you’re arguing that his position was the one with the greatest need for a top player but you’d have rather we signed a 15m prospect so we could spend more money on a player that could cover a position with lesser need?

 

[KILLA_SIN]

10-20x the prospect is silly. Doku is just as hit and miss. He wastes as many situations around the box as Johnson, probably more but because he’s a head down dribbling type it seems a bit more exciting.

A lot of city fans seem to think he doesn’t spot the pass and is a head down merchant who runs into trouble. Johnson had a poor game but normally does get his head up and will pick someone out at the right time.

johnson seems to be paying the price for not being this two way dribbler type that everyone decided we needed in the summer.

Doku style is nicer on the eyes but his output isn't great.

 

[Nick-TopSpursMan]

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.

 

[ohtottenham!]

Re the speculation as to why AWB was playing as LB against Johnson. This is from Redcafe...

PlayerOne said:
Why was he playing LB? Zero logic from the manager once again. The man has no left foot.

Nas-JR:
Shaw pulled out on the day of the game and they've planned all week with Dalot rb Shaw lb. Ten hag didn't want to deviate too much from that so stuck awb at lb. Source is talk of the devils podcast.

 

[gavspur]

He seems very timid. I’m not quite sure what his best asset is yet. Of all the players we’ve signed under Ange, he’s the one whose mindset is (at the moment) questionable. Possibly his early injury, and that bang on the head, have but a bit of worry in to him? When AWB went through him early on Sunday, I thought that was a chance to really give AWB a tough game. Instead, he seemed to back out of challenges, and didn’t want to try and go past him. I found his performance quite frustrating. He’s still young tho. He has time.