Ben Johnson makes no secret of the fact that he’s hoping and praying to catch the manager’s eye this weekend.
With everybody fit in his position. however, he my be struggling for a start but given his pre-season and the manager’s often decision to make a surprise selection anything is possible.
He’s a natural right back of course where both Zaba and Ryan Fredericks are fit to take their place if required but he has also shown himself fully capable of slotting into the left sided role.
He clearly remains very much a part of the manager’s thinking given that pre-season although he failed to make it into the squad for the Manchester City and is hoping for better as the Hammers head for the south coast this weekend.
Probably the best he can hope for is a squad position but at this stage of proceedings anything is possible and given his recent first team excursions he’s unlikely to let anyone down if he is called upon
Commenting at https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2019/august/15-august/ben-johnson-i-just-hope-i-can-catch-managers-eye he said: There are a lot of players and everyone is fit right now, so I just want to do my best and not be afraid to make mistakes and try my hardest.
“I’m training and playing with some of the best players in the world, so I just hope I can catch the manager’s eye. I’ll try and do things properly every day and just be professional and be patient for an opportunity.
“I’ve played against Manchester City, but that doesn’t mean I should be in the starting eleven every week, as it doesn’t work like that. I need to be patient and bide my time. If I am asked to train and play with the 23s, then fair enough, but I’ll be ready for that opportunity.”
“Of course, you want to start the season strongly, but Manchester City are a top-quality side who have won the Premier League in each of the past two seasons, but we’ve got a similar calibre of players going forward and I think we’ll carry a similar threat to our opponents going forward,” he observed.
“To be fair, I like the way the manager goes about it, telling us we shouldn’t fear Man City because we’ve got the firepower. When it was 2-0, if Chicharito’s shot goes in, you never know what might have happened. There is no guarantee they would have won.
“We should stay confident. That was just the first game and we’ve got another 37 games to go. Last season, we got over 50 points with signs of inconsistency, but now we’ve got a good team ethos and want to build on that in the manager’s second season.”