WHZ Stats: Ben Johnson impresses at centre-back as West Ham U21s beat Portsmouth
West Ham Under-21s celebrated a superb victory away at Portsmouth on Tuesday night to book their spot in the knock-out stages of the Football League Trophy.
Kai Corbett’s early goal was enough to secure a 1-0 win at Fratton Park and help the Under-21s finish top of Group A.
Ben Johnson played in the win on the south coast but wasn’t used in his usual full-back position against Pompey.
Instead, the 20-year-old was deployed as a centre-back by Dmitri Halajko and managed to impress in the makeshift role.
Stats by WyScout show that Johnson won all five of the aerial duels he challenged for, won both of the two defensive duels he was involved and managed to make five interceptions, 13 recoveries and four clearances.
Johnson also completed 75 per cent of his passes with eight of the 15 forward balls he played finding a West Ham team-mate.
We’ve all seen what Johnson has to offer with the youngster appearing eight times in the Hammers’ senior squad.
Last season, he played all of the Irons’ final three matches in the Premier League as a right-back instead of Pablo Zabaleta and Ryan Fredericks.
In one of those matches, Johnson managed to keep Marcus Rashford quiet as West Ham earned a 1-1 draw against Manchester United away at Old Trafford.
Speaking on Sky Sports in July, Man United’s legendary right-back Gary Neville heaped praise on Johnson for his positioning in that game.
“I had a good look at him on Friday night, really impressed,” Neville said, as quoted by Hammers News.
“I’m always interested when a right-back comes into the game, (especially) a young player.
“His body shape was good on crosses from the opposite side, he did the right things when he was one-on-one, he understands the position.
“(He) looks an excellent defender.”
It must have been massive for Johnson to have Neville raving about him back then when he was playing as David Moyes’ right-back in the Premier League.
While it was always on the cards that Johnson would drop back down to youth football for this season, the youngster is still bound to be making an impression by showing his versatility with a top display against Portsmouth at centre-back.
Portsmouth are one of the biggest clubs in the Football League Trophy competition so to help secure an away win and clean sheet against them is massive for Johnson.
Let’s hope he’s not forgotten about this season and is able to get more chances as the weeks and months tick by.
In other West Ham news, Alan Shearer selected this Irons player for his team of the week.