‘Wonderful’ – Glenn Hoddle blown away by one West Brom player in first-half v Southampton
Glenn Hoddle has heaped praise on West Brom goalkeeper Sam Johnstone for a double save he made in the first half against Southampton on Sunday.
Johnstone, 27, has been widely criticised by sections of the West Brom support during his time at The Hawthorns but those critics were kept quiet in the first 20 minutes when the ex-Manchester United goalkeeper pulled off a superb save to stop Semi Ajayi scoring an own goal.
Kyle Walker-Peters put a dangerous ball into the Albion penalty area, which Ajayi accidentally steered towards his own goal.
Johnstone got down well to save it and then managed to get his foot to a rebound to keep the scores level.
Former England manager Hoddle was full of praise for the goalkeeper’s reactions.
“Walker-Peters slides a beautiful ball in but what a save that is off your own player,” said Hoddle on BT Sport 2 on Sunday afternoon.
“Johnstone even gets his foot to it as well to make the second save. That’s an incredible reactionary save.
“You’re expecting your opponent to put shots in there but it’s come off your own player. Wonderful double save.”
After watching Johnstone over the last couple of years, we all have a good idea of what the goalkeeper’s strengths and weaknesses are.
His weaknesses are well published with the ex-Aston Villa loanee struggling to defend high balls into the box while his command of the area isn’t great either.
However, his biggest strength is that he is a superb shot-stopper.
In that moment when the ball was diverted goalwards by Ajayi, Johnstone had to react so quickly to get down and make the save.
It really was a great stop and we hope to see more of that as the season goes on.
In other West Brom news, Dharmesh Sheth has shared a major double striker transfer update on the Baggies.
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