Who Is Brennan Johnson?
The EFL Championship is a league filled with talented players who will eventually make a name for themselves in the Premier League.
In the last summer transfer window, we saw Michael Olise, Emi Buendia, and Adam Armstrong move up to Premier League football and Arnaut Danjuma move up to La Liga and UEFA Champions League football.
This Championship season is no different with several highly talented young players and their exodus to the Premier League has already started with Fabio Carvalho all but certain to join Liverpool.
Another young player who could well be making the step up to Premier League football is Welsh youngster Brennan Johnson.
Johnson has been an integral part of Steve Cooper‘s revival of Nottingham Forest.
It has recently been announced as the EFL Championship’s young player of the year, an award previously won by Olise and Jude Bellingham.
He is currently being linked with Newcastle United, Leeds United, and Brentford; however, if Nottingham Forest manages to achieve promotion, signing Johnson will become much harder.
This tactical analysis and scout report will examine Johnson’s game and some of the key attributes that have allowed him to win the EFL Championship Young Player of the Season.
It will also identify any potential areas he may need to improve.
Brennan Johnson Position
Johnson can best be described as a complete forward playing part of a striker partnership in Nottingham Forest’s 3-4-1-2 tactic.
Now, Johnson has a wide skill range that allows him to be deployed in a number of different roles, including as a number 10 or winger. That’s not to say these are his best positions, but he does have the skill set to play there.
As part of his role as a striker, Johnson does love to drift wide and occupy space on the wide right.
Nottingham Forrest playing without conventional wide men allows Johnson to drift wide into these areas.
Despite being comfortable in wide areas, Johnson is as comfortable playing more centrally and playing like a more traditional striker.
Johnson’s tendency to drift wide can be reinforced by looking at his heatmap.
Johnson displays blistering speed and acceleration to get away from defenders both on and off the ball, which also makes him a real asset in attacking transition situations for Nottingham Forest.
He also demonstrates great link-up play, which will be discussed further in this analysis.
Brennan Johnson Data analysis
Whenever scouting a player in the modern game, addressing the player’s performance in terms of data is now an important aspect.
This Brennan Johnson analysis will be no different.
We will look at some metrics to compare Johnson’s performance against other attackers in the EFL Championship who have played over 2000 minutes this season in the league.
The first metrics we will address are goal contributions per 90 (goals per 90 + assists per 90) and expected goal contributions (Expected goals per 90 + expected assists per 90).
Amongst Championship attackers, Johnson is above average with 0.5 goal contributions per 90 from an expected contribution of 4.9, so just outperforming his expected contribution.
This season, Johnson has managed 0.33 goals per 90 from an XG per 90 of 0.26, in addition to 0.17 assists per 90 from an XA per of 0.23, managing to outperform in terms of goal scoring; however, he hasn’t recorded the number of assists his chances deserve.
There is the potential for Johnson’s goal-scoring to decline next season as he is outperforming his XG, it is also worth noting this does include penalties that Johnson has taken at times this season.
Another set of metrics we can use to evaluate Johnson’s attacking contribution is touches in the box per 90 and successful attacking actions per 90, which help us evaluate a player’s overall contribution to the attacking phase.
Johnson manages 4.6 successful attacking actions per 90 minutes, which is well above average in the league. He also manages 3.8 touches in the opposition box per 90 minutes.
Highlighting that Johnson also provides a wider contribution in the attacking phase.
We have already touched upon Johnson’s chance-creating ability when looking at his assists; however, the following two metrics also provide insight into this ability.
The following graph showcases key passes per 90 and smart passes per 90.
A key pass is a pass that directly creates a goal-scoring opportunity for their team; a smart pass is one that looks to penetrate the opposition’s defensive line.
Johnson ranks below average in smart passes per 90, with only 0.4 per 90; however, he does compensate for this with 0.77 key passes per 90 and is one of the best performers in the league in this metric.
From these metrics, we can get a better understanding of Johnson and the attacking quality he brings to Nottingham Forest in terms of goal scoring, but also his all-around play and chance creation.
Brennan Johnson Style Of Play
So far in this analysis, we have alluded to Brennan Johnson’s tendency to drift out wide, usually to the right-hand side.
With him drifting from a central area, it makes it harder to track him, but also plays to Johnson’s skill set, with his great dribbling and excellent speed.
In these areas, Johnson can produce quality delivery and service for his teammates in the box and is the main source of his assists and key passes this season.
Below, we will take a look at a couple of examples.
The first example comes against Peterborough.
As you can see below, Nottingham Forest is on the counterattack, and a teammate has played the ball into the path of Johnson.
He gathers the easy ball and advances the ball closer to the goal.
Now, Johnson doesn’t have an easy option, so he has to play a clipped pass to the back post.
Johnson puts a brilliantly placed and weighted ball in for Surridge who heads home to give Nottingham Forest the lead.
The following example again showcases Johnson’s quality when he finds himself in those wide areas.
This time the ball has fallen to Jack Colback, and Johnson finds himself on the left-hand side.
Colback plays a ball to the edge of the opposition box for Johnson to run onto.
With his left foot, Johnson gathers the ball and whips a great ball across the 6-yard box, evading the opposition goalkeeper and putting it on a plate for Ryan Yates.
Both examples show Johnson’s composure and quality when he finds himself in wide areas and his ability to create chances for his teammates with precise and well-weighted deliveries.
Brennan Johnson Goal Scoring Ability
Johnson has a wide variety of skills and attributes which help make him such a complete player but arguably his most important is his ability to score goals and the instincts he shows to get himself amongst the goals.
As you can see from the map below, all of Johnson’s goals have come from inside the box.
We did mention earlier in the data analysis that Johnson was outperforming his XG, but with few goals from outside the box, this could well be down to good finishing rather than luck.
Below, we will take a look at one of Johnson’s goals, which demonstrates an instinct and desire to score goals.
In this example, the ball is switched out to the left side, and Johnson is positioned outside the opposition’s left back.
As the ball reaches Lowe at left-wing back, Johnson comes alive, swiftly gets between the opposition left-back and centre-back, and is ready to exploit the space behind.
Many players in that position would stay wide, but Johnson shows that desire to get himself amongst the goals.
Johnson also manages to time his run perfectly, staying onside and getting to the ball before the opposition defender.
Johnson meets the ball in the highlighted space and coolly powers home for Nottingham Forest.
Brennan Johnson Off the ball work rate
The final aspect of Johnson’s game we will touch upon in this scout report is his work rate off the ball.
Johnson has a knack and ability to hassle defenders and create turnovers high up the field, which can sometimes lead to chances for his team.
This can be reflected in the data, with Johnson making 2.84 recoveries in the opposition half per 90.
Below is an excellent example of Johnson working hard off the ball to create a chance for his team.
After the Nottingham Forest set-piece, the ball was cleared in the air.
The highlighted West Brom player will bring it down and control it.
Johnson identifies this as an opportunity to turn the ball high up the field.
After the ball is brought down, Johnson harries the West Brom player and eventually blocks the attempted clearance, shown below.
Johnson manages to retrieve the ball after the block and puts a dangerous cross in the box, which is just cleared for another corner.
This is one of a few examples of Johnson closing down defenders and creating turnovers in dangerous positions for the team.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this analysis has given you a better insight into Brennan Johnson, an emerging talent who will most likely play in the Premier League next season, either with a new club or with Nottingham Forest.
His positional versatility and wide array of skills, along with his ability to produce goals and assists in the final third, will make him attractive to several clubs.
If Brennan Johnson continues his progression, he could establish himself as a good Premier League player and follow in the footsteps of Michael Olise and Jarrod Bowen.
