Red-hot Tottenham star Brennan Johnson reveals what Spurs have been working on to cure ‘frustrating’ inconsistency

Brennan Johnson says Tottenham have worked harder on their physical and mental attributes in an attempt to solve the great mystery of their inconsistency.

The 23-year-old forward has ten goals to his name this season and was on target in their remarkable demolition of Manchester City, United and Aston Villa. However, Johnson was also part of the side that suffered defeats to Crystal Palace and Ipswich Town, games they were expected to win.

The all-too-familiar contrast in results has infuriated fans and renewed criticism that the team is ‘naive and not mature’. Coach Ange Postecoglou has even called their 4-0 defeat to Manchester City a ‘millstone’ as it is now used as a reference point for the level they are capable of.

“If we play like we played against Manchester City and also away at Man United, it shows us what we can really do and how we can play, but losing games like Palace and Ipswich just makes it more frustrating,” Johnson admitted .

‘Listen, none of us want to lose or give up our performance, so it’s something we have to look back at, really analyze and think about how we played at certain times – maybe when the other team was scoring or trying to come back from a defeat because Obviously we went down two goals in Ipswich so we gave ourselves a mountain to climb.

‘It’s a number of things. Physically, no matter how hard we work, how fast we run, we definitely dropped in those games and we looked at that. Mentality too. In those matches where the other team is on top, we have to respect that and defend a little better, then when we have the opportunity to attack, we have to be ruthless and ruthless. So it’s a mix of all those things.’

Ange Postecoglou’s side have enjoyed big wins so far this season, but have also lost to teams below them in the table

Johnson praised the impact of working with someone like Spurs captain Son Heung-min

Johnson, who scored again in the 1-1 draw against Fulham on Sunday, will be hoping they can kick-start their campaign with a win over Bournemouth on Wednesday.

A key component will be his partnership with Spurs captain Son Heung-Min, who has a particularly strong record against the Cherries and, importantly, has proven to be a positive influence on Johnson.

“It was great working with him,” says Johnson, who admits to having studied South Korean before joining Spurs from Nottingham Forest last year.

‘He’s an incredible player. There are so many things about his playing that I admire and have admired for a long time. He can play on both feet, his work rate, his leadership, his professionalism. There are so many things and most importantly he is such a nice guy too. It’s an honor to play next to him.’

Talking to men in blazersJohnson reveals he still gets the occasional ‘Good Luck’ text from former England captain David Beckham, who is friends with his father David Johnson from their time together at Manchester United’s academy.

“My dad and David got on well during their time at United’s youth academy and he just kept an eye on my career. The relationship is not as strong as people think! It’s not like we text all the time, but yeah, he’s messaged me a few times. It’s a nice feeling that he kept an eye on things and when I came here he was very helpful, but that’s about as far as the relationship goes.”

Johnson, who relaxes to Bob Marley and names Redemption Song as one of his favourites, was a keen skateboarder as a youngster and will be hoping there are not too many more twists and turns in Tottenham’s season as they search for that elusive consistency. ‘You can’t think about things too much. In football things happen so quickly that the most important thing is the next action.’