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Alistair Johnston


lazlo_80

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30 minutes ago, gator said:

He continues to impress me whenever I watch him play for club or country, he just seems to get better and I rarely see him have an off game, I think it is hard to say how high the ceiling is for this guy!

He's got the drive, the soccer brain, and the humility--the only thing that might hold him back from significantly better leagues might be pace. To be clear, he's not slow by any means, but top wingbacks and wingers tend to be speed-demons. For some reason I can totally see him eventually being successful with a decent club in the UK.  Might prefer him in Germany, mind you. 

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I would agree that the issue with Johnson is that he doesn’t have the speed to play wingback nor the height or strength to play CB.  His best position is probably traditional fullback and that is not something in vogue these days.

That being said.  He is just such a solid player that is so composed on the ball, can cross it and pass it, smart at closing down players and stepping up with the ball when needed; and he is a top end one on one defender.  And has a high soccer IQ coupled with great reliability.  As such, he can elevate his game to play with higher quality players around him.  In a nutshell, he is the ultimate team player who can be relied on not too panic or make the bonehead play.  Every side needs a player or two like this to make everyone else better even if he doesn’t have the one or two attributes that make him special like a Davies or Buchanan.  For that reason, he fits in perfectly with our national side and by playing on the right side in a back three, his lack of speed is not an issue and his lack of top end strength or height is somewhat - although not totally as we saw when McKennie muscled him out of the way to make a great header that Borjan make an equally great save on - compensated for by the other two CBs.

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3 hours ago, Stryker911 said:

I don't know why he keeps getting referred to as a wingback/winger. He is a rb for Canada and was for Nashville as well. 

Fair. But against TFC the other day he was further up the pitch--and more often--than the entire midfield. This might say more about how poor TFC was than Alistair's positioning

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10 hours ago, An Observer said:

I would agree that the issue with Johnson is that he doesn’t have the speed to play wingback nor the height or strength to play CB.  His best position is probably traditional fullback and that is not something in vogue these days.

I’m happy you go onto list all his good qualities, but I just want to counter your one point about his size as a CB… Jules Kounde proves that you can be a smaller, world-class CB, and although it would be ideal that he was a lot bigger, the skill of defending is more than just dominating aerial battles in the box, especially in today’s game.   I like the fact that he can play both the outside of a 3-man back line or as a traditional RB with the national team.

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On 7/18/2022 at 12:27 PM, Admin said:

Anyone in Ontario go to a Rainbow theater? 

The opening message for the theater (turn your phones off and stuff).... 

Guy looks like Alister Johnson.

Last time was 2008 to watch Pineapple Express, a few hours before my friend and I went to see the Canada vs Jamaica WCQ in BMO that ended 1 - 1. Does that place still exist?

Edited by Macksam
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  • 4 weeks later...

I can honestly see him being a great coach after his life of being a professional player is over (which is hopefully a long time from now). This is a guy has constantly improved his trajectory over the last few years and just seems like such a great person. And if Tuchel ever tried to hold his hand longer than two seconds while shaking hands, I have no doubt Alistair would land a nice 1-2 combination.

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  • 3 weeks later...
4 minutes ago, PiedPilko said:

Have you (Montreal fans) liked him at rwb? 

Yeah he's been great there. I sometimes wish we could play him at RCB and move ZBG to the RWB spot, (just from a canadian pov) but can't argue with the results. Guy is getting assists and goals while being defensively solid 

Edited by Chad_Impact
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28 minutes ago, Chad_Impact said:

Yeah he's been great there. I sometimes wish we could play him at RCB and move ZBG to the RWB spot, (just from a canadian pov) but can't argue with the results. Guy is getting assists and goals while being defensively solid 

Really feel for ZBG. Wish he could get more minutes. 

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34 minutes ago, Chad_Impact said:

Nice to see Johnston, Miller, Waterman and Piette all able to put good performances up against top attacking talent like Bernardeschi and Insigne. Nice confidence boost before the world cup I'm sure 

Sure, it's nice that they can play well against Italians, but what can they do against a World Cup-quality opponent?

:)

 

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10 hours ago, Chad_Impact said:

Nice to see Johnston, Miller, Waterman and Piette all able to put good performances up against top attacking talent like Bernardeschi and Insigne. Nice confidence boost before the world cup I'm sure 

That's totally what I was thinking last night. And Johnston deserves more praise! He'll shine in Qatar!

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 9/4/2022 at 9:55 PM, Chad_Impact said:

Nice to see Johnston, Miller, Waterman and Piette all able to put good performances up against top attacking talent like Bernardeschi and Insigne. Nice confidence boost before the world cup I'm sure 

Yeah, they only let those two guys score 3 goals between them in the game, one of them while the goalscorer was clearly injured on the play. If they had let those two score 5 goals in the game I'd start to get worried, but 3 goals - no sweat! ;)

In other World Cup news regarding Johnston:

 

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