Brennan Johnson

[Bishop]

Ange wants crosses
It’s the system
He gets the ball when he is already pinned in so he can’t always pass and move. I’ve seen him pass it back before, move and then we pass it back to Romero and kill the potential
We don’t pass and move as a team currently and we don’t pass first time anywhere near enough

I've also seen him pass and not move as much I've seen him move. Porro should pass the ball to him and we have seen that but we've seen him lose those exchanges. So I can kind of see why people maybe don't try that with him but again this sport isn't passive. Defenders aren't just going to allow him to do whatever he wants. He has to earn that, either by being strong, technical or smart.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

I've also seen him pass and not move as much I've seen him move. Porro should pass the ball to him and we have seen that but we've seen him lose those exchanges. So I can kind of see why people maybe don't try that with him but again this sport isn't passive. Defenders aren't just going to allow him to do whatever he wants. He has to earn that, either by being strong, technical or smart.

There not
But defending him is easy because you can leave him knowing we won’t use him. It like when royal used to play and teams would let him have it

 

[parklane1]

Really lovely and protective stuff said by Ange about Brennan, both about social media abuse and his current frustrations on-pitch.
Very much conveyed that he sees a lot more within him that can be brought out so it's way too early for this silly stuff about a player not suiting the way that the manager who bought him is using him

Of course it is but sadly there are fans who have written him off, he is only 23 and he looks like he MAY lack confidence [ it happens] lets see how he progresses during the season.

 

[braineclipse]

That’s a whole different discussion. Until I see us play Ange ball correctly I can’t say whether it will or won’t work

He crosses regularly but it gets blocked sometimes and clears the man others

He won’t add variety because he is doing exactly what the coaches ask. That’s what he should do. If that fails then cool we move on.

Your issue is you don’t think the way we play can work and you’re pinning it on limited wide forwards. I could back that if id seen us use them correctly but until I see that I can’t knock it

Ange has to do something about the speed of play which is toxic imo. Then we may see quick balls wide and the best of Johnson and son. If not it will be a carry on of what we have seen

He's doing exactly what the coaches want when he's either being set up to run in behind, more or less immediately get in a footrace with a full back to get in behind or attacking the far post.

In those situations he doesn't need variety. He's a significant threat and that's great.

But he needs to add variety in other types of situations if he wants to become a top player.

The situations mentioned above only come around rarely, particularly when a team sits back. Probably the main reason teams defend deep is because they don't want to get exposed to those balls or runs in behind. It's basically the one threat he offers unless there's a cross for him to attack. Opponents know that.

You know he's doing what the coaches want. I agree in those specific situations mentioned above.

Ange said he's probably lacking a bit of confidence. Ange said there is so much more of Brennan that they're going to bring out in him. Ange said he's trying so hard to become the player he wants to be.

That to me sounds like Ange wanting more from him, Ange hoping and believing that they'll bring that out of him. Not just that he needs better service through quicker passing from the rest of the team.

 

[Bishop]

Really lovely and protective stuff said by Ange about Brennan, both about social media abuse and his current frustrations on-pitch.
Very much conveyed that he sees a lot more within him that can be brought out so it's way too early for this silly stuff about a player not suiting the way that the manager who bought him is using him

Is he playing well? Has he at any point been convincing, this is actually his second season it's definitely not too early to start make evaluations about him as a player or his suitability. Obviously not final concrete critique but critique definitely possible now. The same way you could rate him positively at this point you can rate him negatively.

 

[papaspur]

The finish was good. I hope he understands that no real fan is going to say anything bad about him as a person. Garbage spouted on the internet is barely worth the effort of even reading and doesn't reflect the actual opinions of fans as a whole. Since when did regular people's opinions matter anyway?

 

[Raziel]

The finish was good. I hope he understands that no real fan is going to say anything bad about him as a person. Garbage spouted on the internet is barely worth the effort of even reading and doesn't reflect the actual opinions of fans as a whole. Since when did regular people's opinions matter anyway?

Come on mate, you ever been at a game that Royal played at? Can you imagine being 23 and having literally thousands of people saying brick about you and abusing your socials?

As an adult later in life, have a small number of people say brick about you is easily brushed off with a "go fudge yourself" but at 23, at that scale?

There is a video of him half clapping at the fans at the end, then walking off, it's affected him, and regardless of if "he's good enough", we aren't good enough as a fan base to have that be his experience.

 

[papaspur]

Come on mate, you ever been at a game that Royal played at? Can you imagine being 23 and having literally thousands of people saying brick about you and abusing your socials?

As an adult later in life, have a small number of people say brick about you is easily brushed off with a "go fudge yourself" but at 23, at that scale?

There is a video of him half clapping at the fans at the end, then walking off, it's affected him, and regardless of if "he's good enough", we aren't good enough as a fan base to have that be his experience.

I was watching that; Sonny pushed him towards the fans and Brennan wasn't having it.
I do feel bad for him and you're right, some of the fans treated Royale really badly. I know I'm adding some qualifiers, but a real fan with any modicum of decency might be disappointed at worst with him, but ultimately would never assault his character.

 

[Raziel]

I was watching that; Sonny pushed him towards the fans and Brennan wasn't having it.
I do feel bad for him and you're right, some of the fans treated Royale really badly. I know I'm adding some qualifiers, but a real fan with any modicum of decency might be disappointed at worst with him, but ultimately would never assault his character.

Any decent human being would know, even when a player doesn't play well, even if you didn't like their selection it doesn't give you right to be a piece of brick towards them.

Most fans are better, but I think we also got to acknowledge even at games, even in person, there is a subset that feel the need to be assholes, shout abusive stuff, in the last few seasons the things I've heard towards Royal, Dier, Davies, GLC, Gil, Johnson, Werner in stadium .. not great

 

[NaijaSpurs]

There is a video of him half clapping at the fans at the end, then walking off, it's affected him, and regardless of if "he's good enough", we aren't good enough as a fan base to have that be his experience.

I noted that at the end. If it were me I would not even bother to half clap.

 

[Yiddo]

I thought he was going to run over and shush our fans, i am kind of disappointed he didn't.

 

[SteveAWOL]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1836512202364522687

 

[metalgear]

its clearly an ange tactic to pass to the back foot and slow play down. happens on both wings and across the entire attack - no one running into channels or behind the defence.

Johnson (and odobert) frequently puts in some crosses between the keeper and defenders but our three attackers are all waiting for a pull back near the penatly spot. It gets forgotten but a simple fix is having the attacking players cover different spaces so the winger have more options for the cross. Sometimes as a winger you only get one good option - then its up to the attackers to anticipate.

to me Ange is responsible for a number of our players looking bad

 

[SubZero]

I hadn't caught on that Johnson has been abused, if so that's awful and even difficult to understand. He may not be our best player as of now, but he is certainly one of the busiest and puts in a good shift whenever he's on the pitch.

 

[glorygloryeze]

That finish shows the potential we have in terms of attack if we bleeping stop playing the plodding football we keep doing.

Give the guy space to run into and he is effective. It's of course not for our opponents to GIVE him the sapce, but it's for us to manipulate how we play to enable him get space...and when he's in space PASS THE BLEEPING ball for him to use his pace. Yes, i'm talking to you Maddison, Romer, Bentancur, Sarr, Porro...

Hopefully he can go on a run now.

 

[Chrissivad]

yeah, if we arn't going to beat a player going 1 on one, then we need runs like the one Johnson made in behind the fullback instead.
This only works if we get the ball to them quick enough though.

 

[Bishop]

yeah, if we arn't going to beat a player going 1 on one, then we need runs like the one Johnson made in behind the fullback instead.
This only works if we get the ball to them quick enough though.

That finish shows the potential we have in terms of attack if we bleeping stop playing the plodding football we keep doing.

Give the guy space to run into and he is effective. It's of course not for our opponents to GIVE him the sapce, but it's for us to manipulate how we play to enable him get space...and when he's in space PASS THE BLEEPING ball for him to use his pace. Yes, i'm talking to you Maddison, Romer, Bentancur, Sarr, Porro...

Hopefully he can go on a run now.

We won't play like that, that is not Ange's preferred style. He wants intricate passing moves where the volume of passing moves the opposition defenders around. I think our lack of absolute top quality technicians is making the players doubt their ability to play this way at the tempo that Ange requires. It's why I keep saying his primary style is incompatible with the forwards.

He doesn't want to play quick raking balls across the field or into space over long distance so our players aren't being drilled to play that way.

I don't foresee this goal making any real difference to Johnson's performances because yesterday goal aside he was awful and we aren't going to play passes into space for him unless Ange decides to adapt his system to suit the forwards.