Brennan Johnson must improve at Tottenham after what talkSPORT pundit said about him
Brennan Johnson has experienced a mixed debut season with Tottenham following his move from Nottingham Forest.
Spurs paid Forest £47.5million to sign Johnson last summer (Sky Sports News, 2 September 2023) and the Welshman has so far struggled to justify his price tag.
At times he has been brilliant, but he has often followed up his best displays with lacklustre performances as he has struggled to find a consistent run of form.
If Tottenham are going to qualify for the UEFA Champions League, they will need to see more from their big-money signing, something which ex-Chelsea striker Tony Cascarino has recently emphasised.
While speaking live on talkSPORT (7:21 am, 19 March), Cascarino said, “I hope Johnson will improve. There is a lot of improvement needed from him. He is a good player, but he can be far better.”
Brennan Johnson must show more under Ange Postecoglou at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Johnson has scored four goals and provided six assists in the Premier League this season.
On paper, 10 goal involvements for a 22-year-old in his first season at a new club is not a bad return.
However, considering the fee that was paid to bring Johnson to North London, Postecoglou will be expecting more.
So often the forward has followed up an extremely positive display with a frustrating one, and this was the case once again against Fulham last time out, as Spurs were beaten 3-0 at Craven Cottage on Saturday (16 March).
After his goalscoring display against Aston Villa in Spurs’ huge 4-0 win at Villa Park (10 March), Johnson struggled to build on this and was largely anonymous against the Cottagers.
As per Sofascore, while he did manage to play two key passes and create one big chance, he also only completed 70 per cent of his passes overall, as well as zero per cent of his long balls forward.
On the ball, he was particularly poor as he completed zero of his two dribbles, provided just one accurate cross into the box from three attempts and gave possession away 15 times.
He was also wasteful in front of goal, missing two big chances while he struggled defensively as he won just one of his four ground duels and lost the only aerial duel which he contested.
It was a similar story for Johnson during February.
After a last-minute winner off the bench against Brighton to hand Postecoglou’s side a 2-1 home victory over the Seagulls (10 February), the Wales international once again failed to build on a goalscoring performance as Spurs were beaten 2-1 at home by Wolves (17 February).
On that occasion, Johnson was introduced in the 71st minute and completed just 55 per cent of his passes, failed to register a successful dribble from two attempts and gave possession away seven times, despite being on the pitch for less than half an hour.
Johnson will now be focused on his international exploits with Wales, but when the former Forest man returns to N17, he must look to put in some much-improved displays if he wants to help Tottenham reach the Champions League next season.
In other Tottenham news, one Spurs expert believes a 20-year-old at the club is “primed” to become a “star” in North London.
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