Pundit gushes over ‘brilliant’ Ben Johnson in 1st half of West Ham United v Viborg
Ben Johnson played a rare game in his natural position of right-back for West Ham against Viborg and excelled in the first half of the second leg.
The Englishman had some important defending to do early on in Denmark as Viborg looked to spring a counter-attack to surprise the Irons defence as pressure was piled on the home side.
Johnson was having none of it though and charged back at lightning speed to step in front of the attacker and win a free-kick on the halfway line just before the attack broke free.
Premier Sports commentator Gary Breen loved what he saw from the 22-year-old who previously deputised at centre-half for the opening two games of the season due to injuries in the squad.
“Brilliant recovery defending by Johnson,” Breen said. “It looked like a two against one situation was developing and had he not made that challenge, it would have been a one versus one on the outside. Brilliant play just to lean into him and draw the foul.”
First choice
Vladimir Coufal may have been the first-choice right-back at West Ham for some time now but his reign at the to p could be nearing its end if Johnson keeps this form up.
Even in an unnatural position, he looked calm enough to perform and it was only the brilliance of Erling Haaland and a fluke goal for Taiwo Awoniyi that saw him concede in that position.
He doesn’t have the fantastic ability going forward that some teams want nowadays but his recovery speed is sensational and similar to that of Kyle Walker at Manchester City.
He is Gareth Southgate’s main choice for England too but if he were to get injured, the Three Lions boss wouldn’t be crucified for choosing Johnson as a like-for-like replacement.
For David Moyes, though, now is the time to drop the Czech Republic international and give the homegrown boy his chance to shine regularly and he will step up to the plate as he has at every occasion so far in his career.