Jamie O’Hara fumes at ‘weak’ Brennan Johnson ahead of Tottenham clash v Brighton
Having picked up a third consecutive Premier League win against Everton before Christmas, Tottenham Hotspur are back in action on Thursday 28 December against Brighton.
Ange Postecoglou’s side have rediscovered their winning touch after a little blip in their form marred what has been an electric start to the campaign and they will be hoping to extend that winning run when they travel to the south coast on Thursday.
While Spurs have flexed their attacking muscles in the last few weeks, not everybody has been as impressive in front of goal and Jamie O’Hara has been left frustrated by Brennan Johnson’s end product, labelling the wingers’ finishing “weak”.
Speaking on talkSPORT (28 December, 7:27) he said: “Brennan Johnson I like, but he’s a bit weak in front of goal. I like what he does and he’s got pace and he causes problems for other teams.
“But I think he’s weak in front of goal, I think he’ll get better.”
During the win over the Toffees, Johnson’s finishing was nothing short of erratic as the Welshman aimed for Jordan Pickford’s goal four times, but only managed to hit the target with 25 per cent of his efforts, the single shot on target which was easily saved by the England number one [Fotmob].
Across his four attempts on goal, the 22-year-old registered an xG of 0.53 without scoring, the bulk of which came from a miss in the opening 12 minutes of the game, when he skied a right-footed effort over the bar from close range which possessed an xG of 0.37.
This has been a trend of Johnson’s season so far in North London. Since arriving at Tottenham from Nottingham Forest in the summer, he has scored a single Premier League goal, despite taking 25 shots which have carried an xG of 3.28.
Postecoglou will likely be worried by this statistic as it shows that Johnson can’t be relied on as a consistent source of goals from the right flank.
When compared to the Premier League’s attacking midfielders and wingers, the Welshman places in the 84th percentile for non-penalty xG produced per 90 minutes, but the 18th percentile for non-penalty goals scored per game [Fbref].
The Tottenham star actually places in the bottom one per cent of wingers for goals compared to xG produced, underperforming his expected goals rate by an average of 0.22 a game.
If he continues that for the remainder of the season, he will ultimately underperform his xG by a huge eight goals.
For comparison, Son Heung-Min places in the 95th percentile of the league’s wingers for goals scored compared to xG produced per game, overperforming it by an average of 0.26 every 90 minutes. If that’s maintained over a season, it will see him score an extra nine goals.
Johnson isn’t afraid to shoot, taking more shots per match than 58 per cent of his positional peers in the division, but his rate of goals compared to the number of shots he has on target is lower than 90 per cent of Premier League wingers.
As O’Hara said, the expectation at Tottenham is that Johnson will get better in front of goal over time, but considering the money spent to bring him to North London this summer, Spurs would have hoped for more from the Welshman.
He may have impressed in the early stages of his Spurs career so far, but if he continues to be this wasteful in front of goal, Johnson’s position could be under threat sooner rather than later.
In other Tottenham news, one Spurs star has been labelled the best in his position in the Premier League by Gary Lineker and Micah Richards