Brennan Johnson

[braineclipse]

one of the issues we have is that a lot of balls are passed laterally or behind the player. Paulinha gets on my nerves because he works so hard to win the ball back and all he thinks of is "here take it from me" and he passes a lame pass laterally to the nearest player, instead of looking up and thinking of the best option. usually the receiving players is now under pressure for the other team's press.

instead he needs to be more aware of the situation around and make the effort to draw players away so that he can lay off one neatly for another to give him time and space for an incisive forward pass.

Absolutely. Can be a big difference between a well weighted and timed pass that is easier for the receiver to do something useful with and a more average or poor pass that's still completed.

To me that's part of the players taking responsibility on the ball, doing something useful with it, not just passing on responsibility to someone else. Palhinha is Palhinha and all players are the player they are. But we have too many players that are either unable or unwilling to take responsibility on the ball. Part of why I think so highly of Romero. One of those who do frequently takes responsibility to make something happen.

 

[Bishop]

Absolutely. Can be a big difference between a well weighted and timed pass that is easier for the receiver to do something useful with and a more average or poor pass that's still completed.

To me that's part of the players taking responsibility on the ball, doing something useful with it, not just passing on responsibility to someone else. Palhinha is Palhinha and all players are the player they are. But we have too many players that are either unable or unwilling to take responsibility on the ball. Part of why I think so highly of Romero. One of those who do frequently takes responsibility to make something happen.

Some of it might be shirking responsibility, but a lot of the time I think really does boil down to their technical ability. If you have great technique, then you will have the confidence in your ability to pull off the outrageous. Its that same safe space that allows for the maybe less showy but still technically risky passes or manoeuvres.

I will always give credit to Johnson in that he doesn't waste possession by trying things he knows hes not capable of doing, its just that he knows hes not capable of much so he pretty much doesn't try anything and just passes it back where the ball came from 90% of the time. Similarly, someone like Palhinha just isn't going to be an adventurous passer, its just not really within his makeup, its a big part of why his move to Bayern didn't work out. So we do just have to accept that the player is what they are and that does apply to all of them.

The way you improve it is to keep increasing the technical floor of the squad. With that churn you naturally lose the players of inferior technical quality and at the same time create an environment that enables more boldness in the players. Simons comes from that environment, its why he will try ballsy stuff because that is his game state, its how hes grown up playing and he believes in his technique, whether he actually pulls off the pass or not.

 

[metalgear]

Some of it might be shirking responsibility, but a lot of the time I think really does boil down to their technical ability. If you have great technique, then you will have the confidence in your ability to pull off the outrageous. Its that same safe space that allows for the maybe less showy but still technically risky passes or manoeuvres.

I will always give credit to Johnson in that he doesn't waste possession by trying things he knows hes not capable of doing, its just that he knows hes not capable of much so he pretty much doesn't try anything and just passes it back where the ball came from 90% of the time. Similarly, someone like Palhinha just isn't going to be an adventurous passer, its just not really within his makeup, its a big part of why his move to Bayern didn't work out. So we do just have to accept that the player is what they are and that does apply to all of them.

The way you improve it is to keep increasing the technical floor of the squad. With that churn you naturally lose the players of inferior technical quality and at the same time create an environment that enables more boldness in the players. Simons comes from that environment, its why he will try ballsy stuff because that is his game state, its how hes grown up playing and he believes in his technique, whether he actually pulls off the pass or not.

there also needs to be a hunger to attack - to outsmart and even humiliate the opposition.

right now the majority of the teams we play in the premier league and champions league have that little extra that we don't. maybe we are lacking key players. but players porro, johnson, richy - they are waiting for someone to feed them the perfect ball rather than looking to do it themselves. the young ones seem scared to try.

amazingly our CBs have the right attitude for attack and they have the results to show for it

 

[Bishop]

there also needs to be a hunger to attack - to outsmart and even humiliate the opposition.

right now the majority of the teams we play in the premier league and champions league have that little extra that we don't. maybe we are lacking key players. but players porro, johnson, richy - they are waiting for someone to feed them the perfect ball rather than looking to do it themselves. the young ones seem scared to try.

amazingly our CBs have the right attitude for attack and they have the results to show for it

The players you mentioned are poor players in a technical sense (not including Porro). Yes they are waiting for someone else to feed them the perfect pass but thats because they otherwise can't do it themselves and in a way thats not their fault. They are what they are, its not good enough for what we want to be of course but then we are the ones who decided to sign them in the first place.

Our CBs are much closer to the top level that can be expected for their positions in a technical sense than our forwards are so its to be expected.

I've said it before but i've no issue with speculative buys, so buying say Johnson isn't a crime or anything. They thought he had the potential, so took the gamble. Where I have the issue is just sitting on the player whilst knowing hes not good enough. Thats when the smart teams move that player on in the most advantageous manner and go again.

 

[metalgear]

I've said it before but i've no issue with speculative buys, so buying say Johnson isn't a crime or anything. They thought he had the potential, so took the gamble. Where I have the issue is just sitting on the player whilst knowing hes not good enough. Thats when the smart teams move that player on in the most advantageous manner and go again.

i wonder how much of this has got to do with our wage controls.

yeah we pay big money in transfers to agents and clubs, and not all players are in it for the money - but if you want to have all 22 players who hold the highest standards for themselves and are always compete to win, wages/money plays a huge part and we see that in real life.

 

[SirPercyHotspur]

Never quite understand why Johnson gets so much grief, his goals per match return in all competitions for Spurs is better than many including Doku for M City and Neto for Chelsea.

 

[Jurgen the German]

Never quite understand why Johnson gets so much grief, his goals per match return in all competitions for Spurs is better than many including Doku for M City and Neto for Chelsea.

Because the rest of his game is below standard and he has nothing to fall back on in terms of general play when the goals dry up. It really is that simple.

 

[parklane1]

Never quite understand why Johnson gets so much grief, his goals per match return in all competitions for Spurs is better than many including Doku for M City and Neto for Chelsea.

Haters have to hate, he is a goalscorer plain and simple. Not much else to his game after that. IMO the stick he gets from some fans is over the top but as they say Stop! Hammer time.

 

[Jurgen the German]

Haters have to hate, he is a goalscorer plain and simple. Not much else to his game after that. IMO the stick he gets from some fans is over the top but as they say Stop! Hammer time.

The problem is PL that he doesn’t score enough goals to make up for the rest of his game. If he scored 20 goals then that would be something but even then his place would be questionable.

 

[fernadez]

And he plays in the wrong position for that to be the metric of him being good. The goals should be a bonus on his day job of being a winger. If he played upfront nobdy would complain, but as a wide player that should be invovled in retaining the ball and building play, the fact he's not very good at them hurts the team massively. VDV is our top scorer? But he's day job of defending gets questioned as it should do.

 

[Bishop]

Haters have to hate, he is a goalscorer plain and simple. Not much else to his game after that. IMO the stick he gets from some fans is over the top but as they say Stop! Hammer time.

Its not hate, its an evaluation of what he provides. For some like yourself what he offers is enough, for others like myself our minimum standards are higher and he hits significantly below the game I would expect from a wide attacker.