I thought Johnson looked decent

[Nade]

Yep. Not sure why he's getting stick, he looked quite handy to me

 

[dc_blade]

When Enda Stevens plays, he's usually first or (since Norwood arrived) second in number of touches of the ball in our team. That's how integral he is, even if the way he uses the ball can sometimes seem frustrating. Johnson just never seemed to get on it at all.

Having said that, he's quick and he can cross. I think he'll be a good option and he's got plenty of time to learn our style of play.

 

[Stretch]

Yep. Not sure why he's getting stick, he looked quite handy to me

Thought the same first half. Looked threatening. Poor second half but so were most of the team.

 

[SwissBlade]

Johnson just never seemed to get on it at all.

Having said that, he's quick and he can cross. I think he'll be a good option and he's got plenty of time to learn our style of play.

How do you mean? Johnson saw a lot of the ball in the first half and didn’t waste too much

 

[dc_blade]

How do you mean? Johnson saw a lot of the ball in the first half and didn’t waste too much

Could be wrong, but it seemed like less than Enda would usually be involved, even in the first half. And second half he was anonymous.

 

[Bartleby]

Might need a bit of time to adapt to our system and then be ok, like Egan did.

 

[SwissBlade]

Could be wrong, but it seemed like less than Enda would usually be involved, even in the first half. And second half he was anonymous.

Attacking wise in the first half he was getting on the ball higher up the pitch. Not sure we needed more touches.

Leon Britton used to touch the ball a lot in deep unthreatening positions. Doesn’t always make it a good thing

 

[Deleted member 875]

I thought Johnson started brightly, but dipped off substantially. He was different to Stevens in that he has a lot of pace, but he lacked the same positional awareness that Stevens shows. I noticed this in the first half during a couple of passages of place when JOC brought the ball forward, stopped and played a square pass to Fleck, after looking for Johnson and he wasn't in the place where Stevens would be. I also noticed it once when Fleck looked to play it to Johnson and he wasn't where Stevens would be and knocked it back to JOC instead.

On tonights showing, i would be a lot more comfortable with Lafferty playing that role, rather than Johnson.

 

[dc_blade]

Attacking wise in the first half he was getting on the ball higher up the pitch. Not sure we needed more touches.

Leon Britton used to touch the ball a lot in deep unthreatening positions. Doesn’t always make it a good thing

Leon Britton would've thrived in this team

In all seriousness...it's how we play, isn't it? We keep possession and create chances with neat passing exchanges. The understanding between JOC, Fleck, and Stevens has been key to that.

Johnson will offer us something different, I'm sure. It might just take a bit of time for him to get used to the team and vice versa, because it didn't look we knew how to get the best out of him tonight.

 

[SwissBlade]

Leon Britton would've thrived in this team

In all seriousness...it's how we play, isn't it? We keep possession and create chances with neat passing exchanges. The understanding between JOC, Fleck, and Stevens has been key to that.

Johnson will offer us something different, I'm sure. It might just take a bit of time for him to get used to the team and vice versa, because it didn't look we knew how to get the best out of him tonight.

What I liked early on tonight was the balance in the side, both wingbacks getting forward.

 

[Barry Butlin]

Looks a great prospect and needs a run of games, I think he'll be a superb signing..

 

[sufcboy95]

Thought Johnson did alright. Looked better than Stevens going forward, however got caught out of position a lot defensively. But understandable bearing in my he hasn’t played much for boro, and when he did it was as a LW.

However thought Baldock was piss poor

 

[pommpey]

I thought we ran into brick walls down the flanks a lot. The overlapping centre back schtick wasn't in any way effective and Brum absorbed and negated anything moving forward we offered. For long spells in both halfs we didn't get past the halfway line with much of the team pushed high up the pitch. No one was moving into space to receive and the options were not there.

True that Johnson can adapt to our style of play, but last night he didn't even look like he could improve anything above what Stevens has.

But the fact we don't have a decent striker at the moment concerns me more.

pommpey

 

[Punk Blade]

Johnson the only competition for Bash for MotM in my opinion.

First half he did really well, particularly one moment when he won the ball under pressure deep in our half and beat two or three of theirs for pace to ultimately win a corner.

Overall his delivery into the box was good, more frequent and from more advanced positions than you would usually see from Stevens.

He got caught in possession a few times which was the biggest concern, but he didn’t completely fold like Norwood and Fleck did in the last 10 minutes.

 

[FTPE]

I think he is going to be hit and miss in games. I know he is a wing back rather than a winger but it's very important that wide man keep positive and don't get discouraged. You are expected to beat men, cut in side, get crosses and shots in etc and whether you are Stevens or Giggs you will lose the ball ALOT.
You have to persevere and not lose your drive and start to hide in games. If he does that and keeps being direct then I think he will be an upgrade.

 

[Barry Butlin]

It's his first start in several months but let's not cut him any slack, let's try and destroy him......

 

[Torrix1889]

Johnson plus point - he gets crosses in the box
Johnson negative point - 90% of his crosses were bobah

 

[Cerberus Blade]

When Enda Stevens plays, he's usually first or (since Norwood arrived) second in number of touches of the ball in our team. That's how integral he is, even if the way he uses the ball can sometimes seem frustrating. Johnson just never seemed to get on it at all.

Having said that, he's quick and he can cross. I think he'll be a good option and he's got plenty of time to learn our style of play.

Yes I know...did you notice Jack O'Connell getting all arsey because he didn't have Enda to pass to on the left? I saw him chelping at Wilder at one point in that first half, pointing into the big empty space in front of him on the left where Enda is normally waiting to take the ball off him. Johnson was much further forward and I don't think Jack liked it very much. It put Jack into a bit of a conundrum so he just kept passing it across his back line. My tip for Jack, or any footballer reading this, is when you have the ball and there's an open space in front of you, run into it. That generally works and gets the team moving forward.

 

[JordoBlade]

Yep. Not sure why he's getting stick, he looked quite handy to me

I can't believe some comments I've read on here saying he was rubbish last night. He made some good runs down that wing with pace and caused a few problems for them a few times. Even the commentators picked up on this.

 

[JackSUFC]

He went on a couple of good runs first half but was poor after that. Having pace doesn't make up for poor positional sense and the crossing ability of Jamal Campbell-Ryce.

It's early days settling into a new side/system and it was a poor team performance, so I won't get too concerned, but on that viewing he isn't an upgrade on Stevens. Same with Baldock, who was also poor last night and never got into the game. He had that one chance early in the 2nd half which Freeman would've buried.

It was a big chance for both Baldock and Johnson to stake a place in the team last night, but unfortunately neither took it.

 

[Scooter_mcgavin]

Johnson plus point - he gets crosses in the box
Johnson negative point - 90% of his crosses were bobah

Second half he made a few dodgy ones, first half he whipped some absolute pearlers in.

 

[super_pig]

Yes I know...did you notice Jack O'Connell getting all arsey because he didn't have Enda to pass to on the left? I saw him chelping at Wilder at one point in that first half, pointing into the big empty space in front of him on the left where Enda is normally waiting to take the ball off him. Johnson was much further forward and I don't think Jack liked it very much. It put Jack into a bit of a conundrum so he just kept passing it across his back line. My tip for Jack, or any footballer reading this, is when you have the ball and there's an open space in front of you, run into it. That generally works and gets the team moving forward.

my tip for Jack is to get his shit together because he's starting to fucking piss me off.

 

[Scooter_mcgavin]

my tip for Jack is to get his shit together because he's starting to fucking piss me off.

?

 

[madeinsheffield]

Thought his positional play defending was a bit off second half and gave his man too much space, especially when they were gaining momentum. Inviting crosses in which could have ended up in the back of the net a couple of times, how it went over from less than 2 yards out I don't know.
Hoping it's just down to being rusty and adjusting to a new team

 

[BLADES1988]

Thought he looked good on the red button coverage in the first half. Mainly because you can only see that side of the pitch. Saw Duffy shout at him a few times because he wasn't where our Edna would have been.

He is quick, takes players on and can get a ball in the box (although only to the far post it seems) but once he settles in i'm sure he will be a very good player.