West Ham United defender Ben Johnson has just sent a very clear and direct message to David Moyes.
Ben Johnson has actually looked very bright indeed when he’s played for West Ham here and there over the past couple of months.
However, the 24-year-old will be out of contract in the summer, and has been linked with a move to join Tottenham, of all teams, on a free transfer.
Johnson is a funny old player. He has been absolutely terrible for us over the past 18 months, but when he’s come on as a substitute this season, he has played in a different role…and he’s really impressed.
The Hammers academy graduate has been used by David Moyes as a box-to-box type midfielder, rather than deployed in his usual full-back position.
Johnson has certainly surprised a great number of West Ham fans with his performances during the second half of the season.
He put in yet another eye-catching display up at Molineux on Saturday. His energy and athleticism was a key reason why we got back into the game.
And after the final whistle blew, Johnno had a very clear message for Moyes…
Ben Johnson pulls no punches with direct message to David Moyes
The Hammers star’s energy really gives us something that no other player in our midfield can.
His ability to run with the ball makes a huge difference for us, especially inside the last 20 minutes of games, and his form has been so good that he surely deserves a start sooner rather than later.
Johnson didn’t mince his words when speaking to the press on Saturday, and sent a message to Moyes about what needs to happen going forward.
The 24-year-old highlighted just how much opposing teams hate playing against players who run at them with the ball, as quoted by WHUFC.com:
“The three subs who came on, including myself, changed the game as the intensity improved, and that’s just sometimes how football goes when one half is different to the other. I was just trying to run with the ball and beat players and create something and see what we could do and I felt we did that well and it always puts teams on the back foot and they give a bit you more time and they’re scared of you. My job is to play as well as I can. I just try and beat players, run past them and keep the ball and get my teammates involved. It’s important that we’ve got players who can beat players as they win football matches – you see it all the time. The subs who came on were brilliant from front to back.”
It’s so clear that Ben Johnson is trying to tell David Moyes that we need to be more on the front foot as a team.
After the 24-year-old and Michail Antonio entered the fray at half-time against Wolves, we looked like a much more potent threat.
It was no coincidence that two of our least mobile players left the pitch – Vladimir Coufal and Tomas Soucek.
That was obviously because we actually had players on the pitch who could run at Wolves’ back-line and put them on the back foot.
Moyes surely has to realise now how much of a difference having ball carriers makes to his system. The only way from here is up, if the Scot isn’t too stubborn to mix things up of course!
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