Stoke City new boy Ben Johnson on playing regularly, what went wrong for the Potters last season and what he knows he will get from George Hirst
New Stoke City signing Ben Johnson with his old pals George Hirst and Aaron Cresswell.
New Stoke City signing Ben Johnson with his old pals George Hirst and Aaron Cresswell.
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Ben Johnson is coming to Stoke City with plenty of experience on a CV that also features a Europa Conference League win, promotion to the Premier League and a European under-21s champion’s medal. But the 26-year-old full-back is hoping this will also be a year when he can nail down a starting spot in a team and really show supporters his potential.
He shared minutes during his days at West Ham with Vladimir Coufal while, at Ipswich, Kieran McKenna only used five players in at least two-thirds of the action last season and the rest came in or were left out as he saw fit. So Johnson is looking forward to the challenge of convincing Mark Robins that he should be one of the first names on the teamsheet over the next nine months on loan at the bet365 Stadium.
“That’s the aim,” he said. “I feel like I’ve been wanting to do that for the last few years. Whether team selection or whatever is a factor, it’s never personal why you don’t play but I feel like I need to play games and once I do I know the player I can be. I feel like I showed glimpses of that on Saturday and I’m sure that with regular football and locking out the games, Stoke fans will see the best of me.”
Johnson did play pretty regularly through pre-season back at Ipswich but he knows he has gears to climb through now he’s playing real football. And he knows, after seeing what happened to Stoke from a distance last year, the importance of not just reaching peak condition but staying there.
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He said: “I completed a 90 minutes and I feel like I’m getting up to speed, getting up to full match fitness. It was good to get that game in and hopefully now I can push on and get a rhythm in the team and get fitter with every game that comes. We’re going to need everyone this season, not just an 11. People are going to rotate in and out and we all have to focus on being available as much as we can.
“We saw what happened last season, me being an Ipswich player, seeing Stoke doing really, really well and probably being the best team we played against but then through injuries and stuff is how a season can be derailed. Being available is a key thing for everyone and if we do that I’m sure we will have a good season.”
The best team that Ipswich had played against – really?
“Yes!” he said. “When they came to Portman Road I would say they were the best team we played. We went a goal up early and that changes the dynamics of the game and Stoke had to come out and play but they played really good football, had chances to maybe nick a goal.
“No one really came to Portman Road and tried to go toe to toe with us but Stoke did and did it well. It was an intense game and you could see the talent of the boys and I’ve seen that since I’ve joined the club too.”
Ipswich ended up winning promotion as runners-up but it wasn’t all plain sailing. They went through four winless matches at the start of the season and there was a bit of external pressure considering they had started as favourites for promotion.
Stoke weren’t among the favourites for promotion but there is a lesson in staying calm if they truly believe they are doing things right.
Johnson said: “Probably last season we had the confidence of knowing that a win would come. The manager could say to us, ‘Forget the noise, the win will come.’ We didn’t win away for a while either so it was a difficult period.
“But we had that belief that it would happen as long as we performed well and then over time the results came.
“Taking the positives from Saturday, we performed well and if we continue to perform better, tidy up on small details, I’m sure we will be in a lot of games, dominate games and go further ahead in games. I saw enough in the team last season in certain games and we can definitely do that.”
There are some familiar faces in the changing room, including his old England youth teammate Josh Griffiths, Aaron Cresswell – who was near enough his mentor at West Ham, and George Hirst, who joined from Ipswich at the same time.
Johnson said: “It’s really, really good to be reunited with Cress. It feels like a while ago since we played together. I’m sure he’s going to help me out here and get me properly settled in. It’ll be nice to have that here. I’m sure we’re going to have a good season together.”
He added: “Hirsty is a top man. We had a few mutuals at Ipswich and we got on really well. I know what we’re going to get from him on the pitch and I’d like to think he knows what he’s going to get from me. We’re hard working, focused, regardless of the noise leave everything out there. There’s never been a day when I’ve not seen him do that.
“He was fantastic last season in his contribution to getting Ipswich promotion, as he had been in the promotions before, and he’s an excellent signing for Stoke. Let’s see if we can get him up and running as soon as possible because he’s not really had a pre-season coming back from the World Cup. I’m sure this season we’ll get the best out of him.
“It’s always tough as a defender against him. He’s a willing runner, he’s powerful and he’s a real nuisance. Give him half a yard and he’s a threat. It’s always difficult to play up against him in training and I’d like to think he’d say the same about me.”
Stoke host Hull City in the Carabao Cup second round tonight at 7.45pm.
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