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Alistair Johnston


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4 minutes ago, PopePouri said:

Bumping him for some love. He just secured Nashville's 4th consecutive clean sheet, and he's probably our most inform RB right now.

He may not blow by people like Tajon or Richie, but love what he brings to the table. Tactical, smart, clean. 

ZBG may have something to say about that.  

That sort of depth is a nice problem to have though.  

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13 minutes ago, PopePouri said:

Bumping him for some love. He just secured Nashville's 4th consecutive clean sheet, and he's probably our most inform RB right now.

He may not blow by people like Tajon or Richie, but love what he brings to the table. Tactical, smart, clean. 

One thing they all have in common....all converted to RBs (hopefully not Tajon).

ZBG is the only one that was a defender first, and he’s being converted to a winger. 

These guys all have versatility.

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9 minutes ago, costarg said:

Yes, but they have very different profiles.  AJ is more of a stay home D-man vs ZBG more "modern" attacking RB.

That's interesting because I actually like ZBG's defensive presence more: effective defending the dribble 1 v 1, physical in aerial challenges, pretty sound with defensive positioning.  The one thing I have found about his offensive play is that his first touch can let him down sometimes, and that can stall an attacking movement.  I have only watched Johnson one time so I have no feel for him as yet.  Buchanan is still learning the defensive positioning nuances, similar to Davies at Bayern.

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On 5/23/2021 at 11:40 PM, PopePouri said:

Bumping him for some love. He just secured Nashville's 4th consecutive clean sheet, and he's probably our most inform RB right now.

He may not blow by people like Tajon or Richie, but love what he brings to the table. Tactical, smart, clean. 

Definitely hope he is given a look for WCQ and also for the Gold Cup...the more in form players the better and with his youth, it makes me even more excited for his future

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  • 3 weeks later...

How good was Alistair last night? (and how am I the first one to bump this thread today?)

I thought he was great.  His blend of good defensive instincts and solid passing really gives Herdman some great lineup options going forward.   

We've all known that playing with wingbacks was perhaps the best formation to get the best out of Phonzie & Jonathan, but we were also worried that we didn't have 3 adequate (and athletic enough) CB's to play at the back. Having Johnston as an option (+ Kennedy) really improves us back there.  You can see with his passing how he may have been in his past a former midfielder. 

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If you're playing a back three, you need at least one of your centre backs to be able to step forward and provide progressive passes. It's getting really common to see defensive full backs deployed in a back three. Thought he did pretty well and he was actually our most creative outlet for much of the match. It's interesting because Nashville plays a back four, but Lovitz at left back almost plays a deep lying play maker role in that team.

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2 hours ago, El Diego said:

If you're playing a back three, you need at least one of your centre backs to be able to step forward and provide progressive passes. It's getting really common to see defensive full backs deployed in a back three. Thought he did pretty well and he was actually our most creative outlet for much of the match. It's interesting because Nashville plays a back four, but Lovitz at left back almost plays a deep lying play maker role in that team.

My club team had some real success last season playing Aaron Cresswell a left back in a back 3/5 (destroyed Wolves and Leicester, drew against Man City.)  Johnston reminded me of him, if more stay at home.  You need to be smart and mobile and can pass, which gives you a bunch of looks that can be hard for even decent teams to pick up/break down. 

I am looking forward to seeing the 3 centre backs get even better as we continue to play the formation.  Kennedy looked good and moving beyond the opening 20' or so, Henry provided both mobility and an aerial presence that you need in a back three.  He is not the traditional libero (Bonnucci, David Luiz) you would find in a three but the other two add a lot of those aspects.   

This has been our area of concern when we were coming on leaps and bounds in other areas, recently. One game and all, but it could be a solution against better teams.  We lived in hope.  

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6 hours ago, WestHamCanadianinOxford said:

I am looking forward to seeing the 3 centre backs get even better as we continue to play the formation.  Kennedy looked good and moving beyond the opening 20' or so, Henry provided both mobility and an aerial presence that you need in a back three.  He is not the traditional libero (Bonnucci, David Luiz) you would find in a three but the other two add a lot of those aspects.   

This has been our area of concern when we were coming on leaps and bounds in other areas, recently. One game and all, but it could be a solution against better teams.  We lived in hope.  

Agreed on Canada going to a back 5 with wing backs. West Ham did it this past season (before Coufal) as a means of patching over a relatively thin back line, and I think that we can use the formation to the same effect. We have the wing backs for it, and I think that having 3 CBs can add that extra bit of cover for this thin position in our own 11. West Ham also have the luxury of Rice and Soucek in front of those back 3, both of whom can either get stuck in to break up plays, or advance the ball quickly when possession is regained (Rice, especially). For us that is Eustaquio and Piette. Moyes used this formation expertly as a means of making his side more than the sum of its parts - it's not like West Ham had a ton of cash to spread around to cover weaker areas. Herdman is limited similarly and I think he would be wise to embrace it against opposition which is our equal or greater.

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21 minutes ago, RS said:

Johnston plays with the steady confidence of a veteran despite being very inexperienced. 

It’s impressive.

Seeing him in L10 he was easily the most composed and level-headed player on his team and was always in the middle of everything. He was a midfielder at that level so it is nice to see he's translated a lot of that to his game in defense.

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48 minutes ago, VinceA said:

Seeing him in L10 he was easily the most composed and level-headed player on his team and was always in the middle of everything. He was a midfielder at that level so it is nice to see he's translated a lot of that to his game in defense.

Just curious, was he a central midfielder or wide player? He is more of a fullback at the MLS level, but those composed players tend to be used in the middle.

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