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Irish Hammer 2:54 Mon Jan 10
Decent read about Ben Johnson & his Contract situation
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Johnson’s continued rise shows contract extension at West Ham must be on the agenda
Ben Johnson, West Ham
West Ham United have until the end of the season to trigger a two-year contract extension for Ben Johnson.
The 21-year-old’s deal is set to expire in the summer but, given his improvement this season, it is only a matter of time before the club decides to activate the clause.
In the summer, the versatile defender had interest from an unnamed Premier League side but was given assurances by manager David Moyes that he would be part of his plans. Since then, Johnson has been a dependable member of the squad, making 17 cup and league appearances this season.
There is a trend when it comes to Johnson’s presence in the team. In the fixtures he has played, West Ham have kept six clean sheets, including their 2-0 third-round FA Cup win over Leeds United. Following their victory, the east London side will face Kidderminster Harriers, who play in the sixth tier of English football, in the next round.
But it is not just Moyes who has been impressed with Johnson’s progress. He has also been on the radar of England Under-21 manager Lee Carsley. Johnson was on the standby list before their fixtures against Georgia and Czech Republic in November but is yet to earn a cap for England’s junior teams. He missed out on making Carsley’s final squad but he is close, highlighting his improvement over the past 12 months.
Johnson can play in both full-back positions, which has increased his first-team chances. The defender only played 518 minutes in the league last season (1,109 minutes in all competitions). But he has bettered that tally already, having amassed 802 minutes in the league (1,342 minutes in all competitions).
In October, Vladimir Coufal was sidelined with a knock and Ryan Fredericks was unavailable due to a groin injury. This led to Johnson making his first league start in the 1-0 victory at Everton. The full-back developed into the club’s first-choice right-back and scored in the emphatic 4-1 win against Aston Villa.
“I thought he was fabulous,” said Moyes after the 1-0 victory against Tottenham Hotspur in October.
Ben Johnson, West Ham
Johnson has been getting more playing time (Photo: Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
Johnson sustained a hamstring injury in the 3-2 win against Chelsea and missed league fixtures against Burnley, Arsenal and Southampton. He returned to the starting XI in the 4-1 win at Watford and has been deputising at left-back for Aaron Cresswell, who remains sidelined with a back injury.
The full-back, who has been with West Ham since the age of seven, was the recipient of the Young Hammer of the Year award last season. But he will not need to call on cousin Ledley King and uncle Paul Parker — former England internationals — to know what he needs to work on.
Coufal and Cresswell provided a combined 15 assists in the league last season, the most by a full-back duo in the league in 2020-21. Johnson is yet to provide an assist in a competitive game for the first team this season.
But it is a testament to Johnson’s determination that he has become an important player for the club. It has not been an easy journey for him — Dmitri Halajko, the former West Ham Under-21s manager, knows the struggles the full-back endured to reach this point in his career.
“Ben’s confidence and defending have improved a lot,” said Halajko in an interview with The Athletic. “The attacking side was his strength but Moyes had made him an outstanding defender. But he also had a sticky spell when he suffered an injury and we struggled to get to the bottom of it. He was struggling to complete a full week’s training. It was a tough nine-month period for Ben.
“He had issues with his body — sometimes it would be his back, sometimes his hamstring. It was never major injuries, just niggling things he couldn’t shake off. He played (for the under-23s) against Newcastle United at home in December 2019. He played for about 15 minutes and had to come off. Ben was out for six weeks. It was a difficult time for him, so I’m delighted he’s doing so well.”
Similar to Johnson, Jarrod Bowen has improved hugely this season and was a key performer in the victory against Leeds United. He was named man of the match and capped off his fine performance with a goal, with Michail Antonio the provider.
Both will have a key role to play during the second half of the season, with West Ham having top-four aspirations and the possibility of going on a cup run in the Europa League and FA Cup. In the build-up to the home win against Leeds United, Moyes confirmed Antonio has extended his contract until the summer of 2024, with the option of a further year.
There was delight among the West Ham supporters and it would not come as a surprise if they respond similarly when Moyes can share some good news about Johnson’s long-term future at the club.
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Replies - Newest Posts First ( Show In Chronological Order)
chim chim cha boo
9:21 Wed Jan 12
Re: Decent read about Ben Johnson & his Contract situation
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I love Johnson and it's great that he's come from our academy but to contradict the article he's NOT our first choice left back or right back when everyone is fit.
A brilliant utility player to have in the squad though.
Cheers Irish, hope you are well and keep these great articles coming mate.
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legrandefromage
8:53 Wed Jan 12
Re: Decent read about Ben Johnson & his Contract situation
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Johnson may be the best defender out of all the full backs we have. Very good positional sense and great at covering. Going forward is where he needs to improve. It is where his weakness on the left side shows up. If you are using your full-backs for attacking width then having them on the wrong foot doesn’t work.
An interesting conundrum on what you want your full-backs major strength to be. Is the first priority to be good at defending or strong at going forward. Plenty of modern full-backs are not great defenders. Coufal and Cresswell are a decent balance of both.
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Manuel
8:44 Wed Jan 12
Re: Decent read about Ben Johnson & his Contract situation
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I'm on the fence with him. As far as PL players go he currently strikes me as being a very average one, albeit he is still fairly young and should improve. He's def not a LB though. Will he be good enough to be a top class RB in the years ahead? Dunno, think it's a wait and see job.
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Mex Martillo
8:26 Wed Jan 12
Re: Decent read about Ben Johnson & his Contract situation
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Johnson is a great prospect isn't he. I find his attacking play looks ok and am surprised he has no assists, I'm sure they will come. When he has time his balls forward ate good, at times excellent, but he does resort to booting it up the field or our at times. Not the only one we have that does that though.
On the left / right debate. I thought he was pretty good as LB, before he played RB for the first team. He was better as an RB and then when he recently went back to LB was not as good as previous pre RB games at LB. Not sure why that was or if it's just perception, comparing RB v LB. Good backup for LB, marginally better than Masuaku at LB on recent form.
Thanks Irish
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Nagel
8:03 Wed Jan 12
Re: Decent read about Ben Johnson & his Contract situation
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They were verbatim quotes. The context is quite clearly your view of his abilities as a left back. I used those quotes as evidence that "you think he's a useless cunt, at left back at least." Now, you tell me what is out of context about that?
Nah, don't bother. You'll just carry on acting like a schoolkid in a debating contest, like you always do. It's boring. You're boring. Fuck off.
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SurfaceAgentX2Zero
12:32 Wed Jan 12
Re: Decent read about Ben Johnson & his Contract situation
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Nagel 11:10 Tue Jan 11
'My editing of your quotes does not give them a new meaning at all.'
That's a novel concept mate. Removing all context doesn't change the meaning?
Look, you called him 'a useless cunt'. It's there, right below in your post.
'
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Sir Alf
10:02 Tue Jan 11
Re: Decent read about Ben Johnson & his Contract situation
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All about opinions as always but for a lad his age, he is an excellent defender. So strong. IMO better than even Coufal in some aspects of his play ( physicality in tackle, aerially etc. ) but as mentioned needs to improve passing and crossing and attributes to be a modern wing back. But he is improving all the time and IMHO will become a very accomplished premiership player ( Alf gives "kiss of death" to Ben's career ;-) ).
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Nagel
11:10 Tue Jan 11
Re: Decent read about Ben Johnson & his Contract situation
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My editing of your quotes does not give them a new meaning at all. They're there for everyone to read and it's more than fair to say that you think he's a useless cunt at left back. No need for you to start crying about dishonesty to try to wheedle your way out of your OTT remarks.
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SurfaceAgentX2Zero
10:29 Tue Jan 11
Re: Decent read about Ben Johnson & his Contract situation
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Pwoper
Spot on. Just because I don't think much of him at LB right now, doesn't mean he isn't an excellent prospect.
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PwoperNaughtyButNot
10:03 Tue Jan 11
Re: Decent read about Ben Johnson & his Contract situation
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Good news
I’m not sure of the negative reaction to Johnson
Surely the best situation is a solid 1st team with a squad made up of quality and developing youngsters rather than over the hill yesterday men with be wages and reputations but little output
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SurfaceAgentX2Zero
9:18 Tue Jan 11
Re: Decent read about Ben Johnson & his Contract situation
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Nagel
By the way, your editing of my quotes to give them a new meaning is entirely dishonest.
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SurfaceAgentX2Zero
9:15 Tue Jan 11
Re: Decent read about Ben Johnson & his Contract situation
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Nagel
Serious question.
Do you think 'at right back I like him a lot' means 'useless cunt'?
I think he's a dog-shit left-back defensively. So is Fabianski, so is Antonio. That doesn't mean I think any of them are 'useless cunts'. Not unless you are trying really, really, hard to be a dick. or unless you really lurve Irish and support her big old strop.
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Vexed
9:05 Tue Jan 11
Re: Decent read about Ben Johnson & his Contract situation
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El Scorchio 3:25 Mon Jan 10
You were impressed that a professional footballer used his left foot? Are you some new kind of cunt yet to be discovered?
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Nagel
8:26 Tue Jan 11
Re: Decent read about Ben Johnson & his Contract situation
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SurfaceAgentX2Zero 8:03 Mon Jan 10
If on one thread you describe someone as "dogshit" and "an absolute liability" and say "he stinks" and "I fucking hate him" then it's really not a stretch to say that you think he's a useless cunt, at left back at least.
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Darby_
5:54 Tue Jan 11
Re: Decent read about Ben Johnson & his Contract situation
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Blimey, some harsh takes on Johnson.
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Alfs
5:30 Tue Jan 11
Re: Decent read about Ben Johnson & his Contract situation
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I'm not convinced by this lad. His distribution is league 1 standard at the moment. He's still young and will improve, but he needs to be calmer in possession when defending, rather than boot the ball anywhere and hope.
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pdbis
10:23 Mon Jan 10
Re: Decent read about Ben Johnson & his Contract situation
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Arsenal have been sniffing around.
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SurfaceAgentX2Zero
8:03 Mon Jan 10
Re: Decent read about Ben Johnson & his Contract situation
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Irish
Who has called Johnson a 'useless cunt'?
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gph
6:10 Mon Jan 10
Re: Decent read about Ben Johnson & his Contract situation
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'rename this is thread tp : "Shit pointless read about that useless cunt Johnson"
'
You know WHO well.
You're just after more hits...
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y2smif
6:05 Mon Jan 10
Re: Decent read about Ben Johnson & his Contract situation
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I wouldn't mind betting this is already tied up. Moyes said Antonio's was done a couple of months before it was announced recently and that some others have also been completed.
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Irish Hammer
5:29 Mon Jan 10
Re: Decent read about Ben Johnson & his Contract situation
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Oh I see.
Mods, could you rename this is thread tp : "Shit pointless read about that useless cunt Johnson"
Thanks.
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