West Ham United have an incredibly versatile player on our hands, but unfortunately for him, he hasn’t mastered a single role as yet.
The West Ham player has been used in several different positions by Hammers boss David Moyes so far this season.
The fact that he’s so versatile is all well and good, but the really disappointing thing is that he hasn’t overly impressed in and particular role that he has played.
The player I’m talking about is Ben Johnson. The 24-year-old has put in some real of all-action performances recently – notably away at Manchester United a couple of weeks ago.
Johnson has seemingly really turned his career around at West Ham. With his contract due to expire in the summer, there are said to be talks planned to hand him a new contract, although no real inroads have been made as yet.
And I reckon that the fact that Johnson doesn’t actually have a standout position makes it less likely for him to succeed at West Ham…
West Ham player is jack of all trades but the master of none
The 24-year-old is highly energetic, and clearly has plenty of athleticism and stamina.
However, he doesn’t really excel in any specific position! He definitely doesn’t have the concentration and positional awareness required to play in defence, whether that’s at full-back or in the centre-back position.
Meanwhile, when he’s been deployed in the left or right wing role, our opposition realise that he’s absolutely no threat whatsoever, so allow him space and time on the ball because they know he won’t hurt them.
Finally, when he played the box-to-box central midfield role against Sheffield United, he looked decent. However, he dallied in possession in the final minutes and gave the ball away – a phase of play that led to the Blades getting a free-kick from which they went on to score a late equaliser.
I just don’t see where Ben Johnson fits into this team in the long run, and as a result, I really don’t think he should be handed a new long term contract.
The West Ham player has really impressed with his ability to play in so many different positions. However, has he excelled in any of them? The answer to that question is no in my opinion.
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