You and I have talked about Mikey Johnston for over five years. As a teenager, he was pivotal in a win at Ibrox early in our most recent nine-in-a-row season and seemed set for the top. Just two days before that game we signed Mohamed Elyounoussi on loan, and the Norwegian international edged ahead of Mikey in the pecking order.
With his contract set to expire in the summer, he looks to be on the way out of Celtic. The squad is too big and the largest part of it is wingers, so an inevitable cull is on the way. Mikey will go, but as his Man of the Match performance for Ireland against New Zealand last night attests, someone will pick up a talent.
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Happy Wednesday!
Seems forever since we played. Bring on the weekend.
Hail hail
back of the net
Mr Desmond absent again!
Seen some of the Republic’s game against the Netherlands.
Mikey came on as a substitute in the second half, he certainly looked better than most of the Irish lads.
Two points though…
He won a very smart free kick in a dangerous position, looking much more experienced than the Irish attack and taking the Dutch by surprise.
He was either given a free role or was in headless chicken mode as he moved across the centre of the park from the left on multiple occasions.
Certainly a talent, yet so many managers didn’t perseve with him, yplou must wonder why!?
Hail Hail
Kevin Van Veen is 1.85M
He’s overpriced at that money BSR ;)
QUADROPHENIAN👍
ARCH
Desmond has a barrow in the marketplace 👍
P67; the head-scratcher in all of this is that the Celtic Analytics and Recruit crew scouted several similar guys quite like Mikey – Shved, Arzani, Morgan and now Tilio – who all had a great jink and a questionable final ball.
Of them all, I actually quite liked Morgan who almost seemed to be coming on a game when we punted him.
It’s a worry that we have had a surfeit of wingers and too big a problem in morphing their potential into reliable performance. Not much joy from the B-team, even if Dembele and Moffatt flattered to deceive.
Glad that Abada, Maede, Yang and Palma are still in da house; 4’s enough esp if we can bring the odd winger kid thru from the seconds.
HH
CHAIRBHOY on 22ND NOVEMBER 2023 12:07 PM
“Certainly a talent, yet so many managers didn’t persevere with him, you must wonder why!?”
Final ball / end product for me. Perhaps fitness / work rate concerns also?
He can be a joy to watch and can beat a man with a drop of the shoulder / trick but what usually follows often lets him down. Shame as against packed defences I had high hopes that he’d be a good winger at least at SPFL level.
QB
Mohamed Elyounoussi- shudder 🥶
Took him on loan not once, but twice !!
Fool me once and all that.
Right up there with Edouard and Shop Window Christie as a total grifter.
I find it very difficult to understand how any Celtic supporters can still hold a candle for Mikey Johnson. Inconsistent and always injured, he should have been sold years ago.
An Dun @ 8.36
“For all of his dribbling and direct runs against New Zealand he didn’t create a decent chance all night. Decision making and vision of what’s around him continue to hamper his end product.”
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When Henrik was 22 years old he scored 1 goal in 15 games with Feyenoord. In the following 3 seasons up to being almost 26 years old, when he got a full season’s worth of appearances, he scored 8, 10 and 7 goals respectively.
In his first season at Celtic he doubled his scoring output to 16 goals but it wasn’t until the 98/99 season that he became the prolific scorer that we remember. in that scoring season he was 27 years old and almost 28 at the end of it.
Of course, he switched from being a winger to a more central position which accounts for some of this but later blooming also played a part.
Mikey Johnston is 24 years old but will turn 25 by the end of this season, still 2 years short of Henrik’s miraculous transformation. Unlike Henrik, Mikey has had an injury ravaged start to his senior career. If he continues to be injury ravaged, his potential will never be fulfilled.
If, however, he manages to make a James Forrest-like adjustment to his injury issues, I would credit him with more potential than you do. He is unfortunate that he is up against prolific output wingers like Abada and Palma. In addition, we have the superhuman pressing of Daizen Maeda who doesn’t have anywhere near the skill level Mikey has. The competitors with Mikey’s skill set are Yang and James Forrest. We are very fortunate to have the options we do have and, with the unproven Marco Tillio to add, we have too many wingers for sure.
If Mikey is the one to miss out, and prove surplus to Brendan’s needs, then so be it. I remain impressed that he is using his ROI appearances to show that he has more than a bit about him. It should tempt some club to seek his services and pay us for our development work with him. I only saw a bit of the New Zealand game and there were a dozen other ROI players who did much less than Mikey to try to beat New Zealand and many of them are enjoying high wages with lower level Premiership and Championship clubs in England.
Of course, I am not comparing Mikey’s potential with Henrik’s; it is highly unlikely he will turn out to be that good but, as we have seen with Liam Scales transformation this year, you write off professional footballers at your peril.
Just thought I’d go against the pile-on
Shares not for sale in his Dad or his lifetime Ross Desmond AGM
Good afternoon all from me and Leggy at the Crystal Palace .
SFTB.
It would be interesting to see the henrick comparison for games played.
Looking to invest in January window ………….. 🎻
SFTB
Interesting points you make. I remember seeing Broony and Calmac on Celtic TV being asked a series of questions that they had to answer swiftly.
To the question “who is the most skilful player at Celtic?” they both immediately responded “Mikey Johnston”. It would be great to see him realise his obvious potential.
AGM heats up as it reaches the shower scene
SETTING FREE THE BEARS FOR RES. 12 & OSCAR KNOX on 22ND NOVEMBER 2023 12:58 PM
“When Henrik was 22 years old he scored 1 goal in 15 games with Feyenoord. In the following 3 seasons up to being almost 26 years old, when he got a full season’s worth of appearances, he scored 8, 10 and 7 goals respectively.”
I can’t recall Mikey ever getting “a full season’s worth of appearances” – due to injuries more than his inconsistency / work ethic – and that is as big a part of the problem as us signing loan players to play ahead of developing our own.
I’m sure these seasons helped the KoK to mature into the player he became – Mikey I imagine is a fair bit behind him in that regard so less likely to improve but you never know.
Great player to watch on his day when injury free and match fit.
QB
A fan asks about the penalty miss by VAR vs St Mirren.
(Probably referring to the block on Kyogo).
Nicholson replies: ‘Penalty
Rangers’.
@bada bing
QUADBHOY @ 12:31 PM,
Yes, that sounds highly likely, he’s been given his chance and deserves the opportunity to flourish elsewhere.
So good to see his International career taking off.
Hail Hail
Kevin Doyle made a very good point last night about Mikey. He said something along the lines of Mikey being a nightmare to play alongside as a striker because they would have absolutely no idea what was going to happen.
Mikey is easy on the eye but the end product is pretty much non existent. Doyle made the point that he would have no idea where or when to make his run if Mikey had the ball at his feet.
At his age, I don’t see the improvement coming. Best of luck to him.
Timmy7
“It would be interesting to see the henrick comparison for games played.”
—————————–
Already covered- I said Mikey’s early career has been much more injury interrupted than Henrik’s was. I have no problem with people writing him off because of an unresolved injury issue. I was just opposing the belittling of the player.
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Quadbhoy
“I can’t recall Mikey ever getting “a full season’s worth of appearances” – due to injuries ”
Correct- that is the main negative for me- not his skill level.
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An Dun
“Kevin Doyle made a very good point last night about Mikey. He said something along the lines of Mikey being a nightmare to play alongside as a striker because they would have absolutely no idea what was going to happen.”
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These reviews of last night are much more encouraging
https://tbrfootball.com/media-cant-believe-24-year-old-is-barely-playing-for-celtic-after-his-brilliant-display-yesterday/
https://tbrfootball.com/85-passing-accuracy-five-chances-created-24-year-old-celtic-player-was-superb-for-his-country-last-night/
Re: MJ….
Even McGeady became predictable. My guess is that, when we have skillful dribblers, we don’t coach much else into them. Aiden had it too easy as a kid, cutting through opposing teams.
Once SPFL defenders and coaches caught on, Aiden was much less effective. He’d receive the ball on the touchline – dumb idea, as he only had 2 options.
1. speed down the line, when he wasn’t faster than most of his opponents;
2. Skip inside, into traffic.
I always felt that Aiden (and Mikey’s) first 4 touches should have been first time passes, thereby keeping defenders at bay. It would also have helped, had they received the ball 6yards or so from the touchline, giving them more options.
Maybe it was the coaching, I don’t know…..but both had significant levels of natural talent, but didn’t progress as much as they should have.
Just my 2 cents…
Weeron.
Wot about the turnstiles built for those who can hide behind a toothpick. 😆
BIGRAILROADBLUES on 22ND NOVEMBER 2023 1:06 PM
Good afternoon all from me and Leggy at the Crystal Palace .
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Workshy, Layabouts.
D :)
MJ has had his time.
Move on,
KLV
At least var was brought up and addressed at agm, res 12 not so much as predicted.
More fibs.csc?
Spend in January as well.
Need a cull I’d think as Pablo suggests in his piece today.
Looking for to Saturday.
Taking the good lady to Paradise for her birthday.
Spoiled.csc. loo
KLV
BURNLEY 78 at 10:14a.m.
Apologies for the late reply – was out collecting hay and straw.
We’re just outside Dunscore in Dumfries & Galloway.
Weeron
Yip.
That’s why you get so many right footed wingers playing on the left. Managers realised this years ago, and invented the cutting inside onto their good foot, Luis Palma the latest
Works the other way too see Paddy Roberts.
I think Mickey Johnston is a real talent and would love to see him make it at Celtic.
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SCANIEL on 22ND NOVEMBER 2023 2:25 PM
BURNLEY 78 at 10:14a.m.
Apologies for the late reply – was out collecting hay and straw.
We’re just outside Dunscore in Dumfries & Galloway.
…………….
I had to read your reply Twice….as I thought it said ” HUN SCORE” ?
LOL
HH Mate.
BOURNESOUPRECIPE….
Thanks for the response.
It’s (mostly) all about predictability. If the winger is on the touchline, and doesn’t have blinding acceleration, then inside is the predictable option.
I’d have loved to see Mickey succeed with us, but it is not to be, it seems.
Weeron.
just back in from AGM,
no redevelopment of the south stand, it’s over 100 years old , no money to be made.
next 2 transfer windows , quality (cough cough) to be brought in and first team squad to be reduced
BR has final say who comes in .
Brendan Rodgers here for 3 in a row,3 in a row..
Or is he .??