Carlton and Joe Cole rave over West Ham ace Ben Johnson v Sevilla
Joe Cole and Carlton Cole were left in awe of one West Ham ace Ben Johnson’s performance in their Europa League clash against Sevilla.
Despite a mightily impressive display the Hammers lost the first leg encounter 1-0 but they still have the chance to turn the tie around at the London Stadium.
Aged just 22, Cole branded Johnson a “veteran” with how well the right-back dealt with the hugely important game.
Joe said live on BT Sport: “He’s played like a veteran; he has been brilliant.
“He’s blocking the shots; he was in the right position here. Look at the speed as he comes to ground, gets low, deals with it, David Moyes will be delighted.
“For a young man playing in a game of this importance, he has done so, so well. He is comfortable on the ball, always picks the right pass.”
Carlton added: “He has been brilliant tonight.”
Not over yet
Johnson along with the rest of the team were great tonight. That might be hard to believe coming off the back of a 1-0 defeat, but they really were.
The right-back looked cool, calm and collected throughout the whole game which is so impressive considering his lack of experience in the first team especially European knockout football.
He didn’t look out of place at all and showed his great quality in attack and defence tonight (March 10).
West Ham will be disappointed not to come away from the game with something to take back to the London Stadium, but they easily could have. They definitely had the best two chances of the game through Nikola Vlasic and Manuel Lanzini who should have buried their chances.
At the end of the day it came down to some – rare – sloppy Irons defending that allowed Sevilla to take the lead but it is all to play for back in east London next week.
In other West Ham news, player ratings in Europa League clash v Sevilla.
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