While no one would disagree with Alan Smith’s assessment of Brennan Johnson’s Crystal Palace career thus far, least of all Johnson himself we suspect as he’s yet to register a goal in 19 appearances following his £35m transfer from Tottenham in January, the co-commentator’s pre-match ” he’s just not been good enough, frankly” quip felt strangely brutal.
Such comments are usually paired with ‘needs time to bed in’ caveats but Johnson was given short shrift by the former Arsenal striker, who proceeded to expose what certainly sounded like a deep-seated vendetta against the former Spurs winger and his North London bias to those donning tin-foil hats on their sofas at home hoping and preying a hero of theirs could do them a favour in the battle to avoid relegation.
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After an opening to the game in which Johnson was just about the only attacking outlet for an otherwise toothless Crystal Palace side, Smith declared that “pretty much everything that could go wrong for Brennan Johnson has gone wrong in these first 20 minutes.”
He had just been booked for cynical swipe at El Hadji Malick Diouf, seconds after misdirecting a free header well wide of the target. Neither moment showed Johnson in the best light, but a more kindly appraiser might at least have praised the intent – at least he was in the right position to score – but not Smith, who simply insisted “he has to do better”.
Discussing the moment in the Sky Sports studio at the break, and how it would have been viewed by Spurs fans rooting for a West Ham defeat to keep them within a point of safety, Jamie Carragher said: “Johnson’s a Tottenham legend and always will be after his goal in the Europa League final, but he misses chance to become an even bigger Tottenham legend here.”
Two minutes later Smith claimed “Johnson could easily have been sent off for a second yellow” if – and this felt crucial – it had been Johnson fouling Diouf and not Daniel Munoz, who wasn’t cautioned in any case.
Soon after, when Johnson took one very nice touch to make space for himself before curling a deflected shot just wide of the post, Smith commended Johnson as though he was a toddler hanging limply from a set of monkey bars or an infirm pensioner looking to extricate themselves from a wheelchair. “Fair play to him for having a go,” he said.
The co-commentator then identified a possible concussion for Johnson after a nasty clash of heads with Diouf as a blessing in disguise for Palace just before half-time. “You wouldn’t be surprised if Johnson did come off,” he said. “[Ismaila] Sarr’s on the bench; he’s been booked.”
Smith didn’t get his wish but a brilliant cross across the face of West Ham’s goal from Johnson shortly after the break served to illustrate the collective improvement rather than Johnson’s individual quality: “That’s a little bit better from Palace.”
In a similar situation a few minutes later Johnson took the wrong option, but not in such an evident and disgraceful way to give rise to a sound typically reserved for when someone steps in dog mess: “Urgh, you’ve got to pull it back for [Jorgen] Strand Larsen.”
Oliver Glasner at least saw enough in Johnson’s performance to keep him on the pitch longer than both Yeremy Pino and Strand Larsen as Palace chased a winning goal.
It never arrived to the delight of Smith, who spectacularly failed to hide his anti-Spurs agenda in the very last action of the game as substitute Mohamadou Kante charged down the right for West Ham.
“Go on, all the way,” Smith muttered.
We get that Tottenham getting relegated would be a) hilarious, b) good business for Sky Sports and everyone else, and c) hilarious, but openly rooting for one of their relegation rivals on a co-commentary stint otherwise used to disparage a former Spurs player because you used to play for Arsenal made for an uncomfortably conspicuous night of prejudice from Smith on a channel that should surely at least give the impression of impartiality.
