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Ben ready for a run of huge games

Ben Johnson

David Moyes had a special word of praise for Ben Johnson after appearing against Wolves in his first game since New Years Day and he deserved it.

Given his lengthy absence he made a fine return despite his crossing perhaps leaving a little to be desired at times.

In general though he grew into the game as it progressed and in the absence of Vladi Coufal looked a decent replacement after recently signing the option which extends his stay at the club  by at least another two years.

And with Ryan Fredericks currently injured the young man is set to receive another call up for the game against Saints in the FA Cup fifth round game on the south coast on Wednesday evening and a few more through March

Commenting on the game to www,whufc.com he said: “We’ve just played the first of six or seven games in a short space of time,” Johnson explained. “We’ve got Southampton now on Wednesday. 

“We’ve got to rest well and recover well. It’s going to be another tough test. All of the games are going to be extremely tough from now until the end of the season, and we want to go far in all competitions that we’re in. Hopefully we’ll go out there and put in a good performance.”

The match and win over Wolves will give the team and Ben himself a lot of confidence and he declared: “It was a huge game – a game we had to win. From all parties – the fans, the Club, us players… we knew it was such an important game.

“We’ve worked all week to improve our press, and we did that, and we enjoyed the first half a lot. The second half was a bit different, but we probably played better than we have in recent weeks, so it’s something we’re looking to build upon.

“Wolves have been brilliant this season. You could see they were threatening with their one-twos, and the positions their front three were picking up. 

“They’re a really good side. They’re tough to play against and don’t concede many goals, but they don’t score as many as they have done in past seasons. 

“It was a great performance, with [Aaron] Cressy slotting back into centre-half with Kurt [Zouma] and Daws [Craig Dawson] so strong at the back today – they made some important blocks. 

“Łukasz [Fabiański] behind them made some good saves, and came out and was confident from corners and set-pieces. Pablo [Fornals] put in a fantastic shift today and it was overall just a great performance from all the boys – Jarrod [Bowen], Mich [Antonio], Manu [Lanzini] and, of course, Dec [Rice] and Tom.

“It was a great team performance.”

 

About Hugh5outhon1895

Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!" Follow on Twitter @hughsouthon

One comment on “Ben ready for a run of huge games

  1. At last! Yes Ben should be playing whilst Vlad recovers, yes he is a talented young man and versatile on both flanks. Agreed some of his crossing was wayward ,- work on that – but his defending is sound and mature. With the run of games, DM please look at your U23 players to supplement the squad

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