Brennan Johnson spoke to the media on Wednesday afternoon at a Europa League press conference ahead of Tottenham's quarter-final first leg against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Despite a poor season, Spurs are looking to end the campaign on a high with silverware to play for in the European competition. Johnson will be looking to play his part after scoring twice in the win against Southampton to make it 16 goals this season and 20 goal involvements in all.
The Wales international could have ended up with a hat-trick if he had been allowed to take the penalty that he earned late in the game, only for teenager Mathys Tel to be handed the ball by vice-captain Cristian Romero to score his first Premier League goal with the team's usual penalty takers all off the pitch.
Our Tottenham correspondent Alasdair Gold was among those putting the questions to Johnson on Wednesday. Here's the full transcript from the press conference at Hotspur Way.
You've got 16 goals now, how proud are you of that?
It is something that I am definitely proud of. It was a target for me at the start of the season to score more goals than I did last season. There’s a lot of work that goes into it, positionally, the types of finishes that I want to improve at. Sixteen goals is something I’m very happy with.
Do you just roll your eyes and think ‘typical’ with Forest having an amazing season after leaving them?
(Laughs) No. Of course I’m happy for Nottingham Forest and the season that they’re having but I’m delighted to be here. I’ve loved every second. I think the size of the club, the people within the club and the fans, it’s something that I could only have wished for when I was younger, so yeah, really happy to be here.
You've scored all of these goals, do you feel underappreciated?
Not really, no. Within the team and the staff we have here, it’s definitely made clear to me to feel appreciated and that’s all that matters to me, to be honest. My colleagues, the staff and the manager make me feel appreciated. I think the style of play really suits me. All the people in the club are super supportive of what I’ve achieved this season. Within these walls I feel really good about it.
You've got this habit of popping up at the back post?
It suits me just because the players we have, the profiles, a lot of fast players, so when the ball gets crossed, there tends to be a lot of space for the ball to go all the way across the pitch and it’s just about me gambling on what position to be in. More times than not this season I’ve been in the right position.
Work does go on on the training ground, there’s a lot of coaches who do a lot of work with me which I’m really appreciative of. There is work that goes into it. But it’s quite instinctive as well, it’s something I’ve always wanted to do.
Your goal involvements were pretty regular before your injury but you had a bit of a mini-drought before the two goals against the Saints, was it just about finding your sharpness after the injury?
Possibly. It was disappointing to pick up an injury that maybe went a bit longer than I expected. After the injury it’s always tough to hit the ground running. I did score against Ipswich but after that the games came really thick and fast. It was just about trying the best I can to build up my sharpness. I feel like when I’m at my best it is when I’m feeling really sharp, energetic and fit so it was possibly a little bit of that. Then it was more the performance maybe wasn’t as high as it was before that.
With the debate after Sunday's penalty incident, what struck me was that you didn’t want to put Tel off his stride even though you clearly wanted to take the penalty?
All of us attacking players, if there’s a chance to score from 12 yards without it being contested, all of us would want to take it. Once the decision had been made it’s not really my nature to argue or have a fight about who takes a penalty. I’ve been in that situation before, where people are really reluctant to let someone else have a penalty and it can put you off. So once the ball was with Mathys I just wanted to get on the edge of the box and support him. He put it away and he’s a quality player as well so it’s not like I’m doubting his quality. As soon as the ball was put in his hands I backed him to score.
During the winter with all the injuries how much did this competition keep you going as a light at end of the tunnel?
Massively. That period was really tough. There was a crazy amount of injuries. Even in the European games where we had the injuries the lads did really well. Everyone gave literally everything. I think there was one point where we had ten or 11 fit first team players so I was really proud of watching the lads, especially in Europe, for the way they fought in games until the end and got some really good results, away from home as well. Watching it made me proud. It just gave us a great elevation to push on in this competition.
Do you want to win it for Ange Postecoglou with the pressure he's been under?
We want to win it for everyone in the club. Us players and the manager and the backroom staff have been through some tough times this season,. It’s been down to our own mistakes, there have been a lot of games where we haven’t been good enough. It would be an unbelievable feeling to win this competition but I think we don’t want to look too far past this game on Thursday.
Did you hear what the manager said about people turning gold to crap when it came to the penalty incident? Did he speak to you after the match?
No, no, we didn’t speak about it after the game.
Do you agree with what he said, he was getting at wanting a winning mentality?
Yeah, I agree. I think we’re going to go into competitions that if it goes down to penalties or if there’s a penalty to be taken, there’s so much on the line so it’s about who is feeling the most confident, who is performing the best, who is performing the best and whoever is on penalties will take the penalty so I agree. In this tournament, it’s not about giving people free goals, it’s about scoring goals and if we get an opportunity to increase our lead, or get a goal back we have to make sure we score the goal so I agree with what he said about it.
With social media, you came off and went on a long scoring run? Are you still off it?
I don’t really use social media that much to be honest, I have some accounts on it, I don’t check it too much or go on it too much. For me personally, I don’t think it’s to do with football or wanting to perform on the football pitch, it’s more what I’m spending my time on when I’m not training. I want to make the most of the time that I get to spend the time with people close to me and I took a decision but the run that I went on after coming off it was a bit of a coincidence. A few people thought that was the key to scoring goals but it was just coincidence the way it happened.
Craig Bellamy was talking about you on Monday Night Football, and watching Raheem Sterling videos with you — can you talk about how that’s affected your season?
Yeah, I've really enjoyed playing with Wales. I feel like we're in a really good place at the minute, we have some players who are playing really well in the Premier League and at the highest level. The staff and the manager have been amazing, they give you little bits to watch.
A few of the members of staff had worked with Raheem Sterling, so they kind of just wanted to pass on a message that they'd worked with him, which I was all ears for, to be honest. I feel like he's an unbelievable player who's had an amazing career, but doesn't get the respect that he deserves. He scored so many goals in the Premier League and that's something that I want to do as well.
It feels like you've scored more one touch goals this season?
I think it's more just the position that the lads had got me in that I don't really need to take many touches to score. I'm very thankful for the great assists and the goals that I've been able to score.”
Can you go into the specifics of what the coaches have worked with you on this season?
One would be, for example, the first goal on the weekend: noticing that Dom [Solanke] made the run to the front post, and being in position when the ball gets cut back on my left foot. I think something like that — I had been told not to try and hit the ball too hard because it's coming at quite a pace. So, when it's on my left foot, not thinking about it too much, just trying to get a good contact on it.
Also, there's a lot of work that goes into trying to hit the ball into the ground, trying to make it hard for the goalkeepers. That's another tip that I've got this season. So, little things like this to keep in mind. I know, in a game, it's kind of hard to think about all the things that you've been told, but little things like this, if you keep practising it kind of sticks.
Tottenham’s critics have enjoyed this season: Arsenal supporters singing 'Are you Tottenham in disguise' yesterday — how much do you want to win to shut them up?
Personally, I just want to win it for the group of players and the staff. I don't really care about what other people sing and the critics, to be honest. I feel like I switched off from that a long time ago.
I love the lads, all the players in the squad, all the staff, the management team. I feel like we've created a real tight-knit group and I feel like we've all been under a lot of criticism, maybe different people at different points. So it's something that we can all kind of relate to, so we all have that understanding with each other.
When it comes to tournaments like this and being able to progress, it's something that we just want to do for each other because at the end of the day, we've had some tough times and there'd be no better joy to celebrate with the people that have had to go through it like I have as well.
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