View: Criticism aimed at one West Brom star after draw v Forest is very unfair
Sam Johnstone’s performances in goals have divided opinion among West Brom supporters this season with his latest display once again raising questions on social media.
After the 2-2 draw against Nottingham Forest on Saturday, Read West Brom ran a story of how Johnstone, 26, failed to impress fans and pointed out some stats to suggest why the former Manchester United shot-stopper had a bad game.
It was pointed out that Johnstone failed to make a single save in the 90 minutes against Forest as though that was a bad thing, but for someone who actually paid attention to the match and looked quickly at the stats after, the East Midlands club had one shot on target all game.
Yes, Johnstone conceded two goals but one of those was an unfortunate own goal by Kyle Bartley and it would have taken a save of the century contender to keep out Matty Cash’s late equaliser for the Nottingham club.
Johnstone has often been the scapegoat for West Brom supporters this season and while he has had a number of poor moments, the 26-year-old has made more impressive saves than he has mistakes.
It is a bit pointless to look at stats when you analyse goalkeepers. If you look at the stats from Saturday, they’re just going to say that Forest scored two goals and Johnstone didn’t make any saves.
However what the stats fail to flag up is that there was little he could have done about either and the fact he did not have a lot to do shows how poorly Forest played and how good a job the Baggies defence did.
There has been some criticism about how Johnstone failed to deal with Sammy Ameobi’s cross into the box before Bartley stuck the ball into his own net but just what was the goalkeeper supposed to do?
As pictured below, you can clearly see how committed to the ball Bartley is and that Johnstone really had no chance of beating his own defender to stopping the cross.
If Johnstone committed, he’s going to collide with his own team-mate, possibly injure himself or allow the Forest striker an easy chance to score.
Johnstone had to trust Bartley on this occasion but unfortunately, the defender ended up sticking the ball past him at close range.
For Cash’s goal, all you had to do was admire the Forest player’s shot.
He hit it hard, at an angle, past three West Brom defenders and towards the far post.
Johnstone would have had to guess where the ball was going to make that save. There was no way he could move quickly enough to stop the shot once getting sight of it.
https://twitter.com/zwoddeytb/status/1228687410436829184
Johnstone is one of the best goalkeepers in the Championship. We’re not saying he is the best, but he is someone who has proven himself enough to be playing for the league-leading side.
It’s time fans start to show a lot more faith in the goalkeeper and start to think about their criticism before just hitting out at him for every goal he concedes.
Don’t forget there are 10 players in front of him who the ball has gone past before he’s having to stop a shot.
In other West Brom news, there’s been an update on Martin Olsson and whether Albion are going to sign the free agent.