On Brennan Johnson’s early impact in the dressing room…
He's a great, great guy, great person, which makes it easy to integrate. And on the other side, our group of players makes it so easy to get integrated because they're so open and everybody's welcomed.
[The players] know him. He knows a few of the players. The language is the same, and it makes it easy. He lived here in London – he didn't have to move, so there are many circumstances that makes it easier, and that's also one of the reasons why we were looking for a player who already played in the Premier League.
For me, it’s not just the personality, it’s the willingness to learn, to improve, the mindset, the mentality maybe is even more important than just the quality. With the quality, without of mentality, I think it doesn't really work – you need both to be a good Premier League player. You need quality and you need personality and mentality. Brennan has both.
And that's it’s always meeting the players in person or thanks to COVID, on a Zoom call, talking to him, asking him, also being open to respond to his questions, and then that's getting each other known, the expectations he has, the expectations we have, how we can support him, what we will ask him to do... and then you get a feeling for a person.
Is this somebody authentic? Is he just telling you what you want to hear, or the opposite? Or isn't he even listening or whatever? And then you get a feeling for a person. And of course, like now, you get all the information and take the final decision.
On building on Johnson’s debut at Newcastle…
Now, for the third game, we have just two days in between. Yesterday was a recovery session and today, again, the main topic was set-plays. 45 minutes, no real football training, but we play again tomorrow.
And then after Macclesfield, we will spend more time on the training pitch, and then we can work on the patterns, how we attack, how we defend. Now it's also important not to overload him – just always show your quality, and I think he showed it in a few moments.
In some moments at Newcastle, he could have had an assist with a great pass to JP [Mateta], where he missed the goal, and he had one or two good finishes.
On the other side, it also showed where we have to work with him, finding the positioning, and sometimes he was a little bit surprised in the pocket with the pressure of Newcastle.
But this is the how we'll work together in the next weeks.
Match Details
Crystal Palace v Aston Villa
