Tottenham forward Brennan Johnson struggles again vs Everton
Brennan Johnson hasn’t made the start to life at Tottenham that he would have dreamed of, and his struggles continued against Everton.
Spurs were forced to settle for a point as they drew 2-2 with the Toffees at Goodison Park on Saturday 3 February.
Richarlison’s brace was cancelled out as Everton twice came from behind, with Jarrad Branthwaite scoring a 94th-minute equaliser to break the travelling fans’ hearts.
It was a hard-fought contest, and it was far from the visitors’ best performance of the season as they appeared to struggle at times to cope with the atmosphere at Goodison Park, especially in the closing stages of the match.
Ange Postecoglou opted to start with Brennan Johnson instead of Dejan Kulusevski, as Tottenham News predicted during the week, but as has so often been the case this season, the Wales international failed to deliver.
Struggles continue
Things haven’t been easy for Johnson since he made his £47.5million switch from Nottingham Forest in the summer (Sky Sports News, 2 September 2023).
He has managed just two goals and four assists in 17 Premier League appearances for Tottenham, and despite getting himself on the scoresheet last time out against the Bees, he failed to build on that momentum at Goodison Park.
As per Sofascore, the forward completed just 40 per cent of his passes, a statistic which Postecoglou will be particularly disappointed by considering the manager’s preference for a possession-based style of football.
He failed to provide an accurate cross into the box from his one attempt, or a successful long ball forward from the two which he attempted. On the ball he showed no quality, completing just 50 per cent of his dribble attempts.
Where he struggled going forward, he struggled just as much when the ball was coming the other way.
He won just three of his seven ground duels, and zero of his three aerial duels and was also dribbled past once while he gave possession away 11 times.
Spurs supporters will clearly need to be patient, as Spurs expert John Wenham previously pointed out.
While Postecoglou will still be keen to give the 22-year-old more time to settle in, the Australian will be hoping the club start to see a return on their investment sooner rather than later.
In other Tottenham news, a Spurs expert has shared his verdict on a potential takeover of the club after a £100million-plus development.
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