Wallace: Magic Mike the star of the show!
JED Wallace reckons Mikey Johnston is the best player in the Championship after the impact he has made at Albion following his January loan move from Celtic.
In seven starts, the winger has scored six goals and played a hand in both goals for last Saturday’s 2-0 defeat of Bristol City.
Johnston also bagged a brace in the trouncing of Huddersfield the previous weekend to help the Baggies maintain their play-off charge.
“Right now, for me, he’s the best player in the league, the way he’s playing,” said skipper Wallace.
“He actually said to me after the QPR game, ‘maybe I should have played you in on one of them’, and I said, ‘the way you’re playing you just kick it towards the goal and we’ll go from there!’
“He’s on fire at the moment. Jonno’s been brilliant and I’m happy for him.
“When you’re at a big club like Celtic and people there maybe don’t believe in him as much as he would like, confidence-wise it’s great to see people step outside their comfort zone, come here and do well.
“We needed that in January. All three (loan players) in their own way, even Cal (Callum Marshall), I know he’s not played a lot of football but his enthusiasm is brilliant, he drags people (along) in training with his energy and Andi (Weimann) scored a couple of massive goals for us.
“January additions have given us a real energy and now we have Matty (Phillips) and Josh (Maja) to come back into it as well, you have to believe what (head coach) Carlos (Corberan) is doing because he knows it’s a 95-minute game of football and you’ve seen recently our goals off the bench, that can make a difference with the squad and substitutes we can bring on.”
Johnston also made a significant stride forward in terms of his own fitness levels last Saturday.
Having not played 90 minutes in a
competitive match since his loan with Portuguese outfit Vitoria Guimaraes last May, he completed his first game for Albion against the Robins.
“It was a long time since he last played a full game,” said Corberan. “It’s important for him to keep growing as a player, physically and in every aspect of the game.
“You cannot only evaluate the
players from goals and assists. In general his contribution is always important but he understands very well and the fact he is one winger who plays wide and inside, even on the right, and to finish attacks, to finish collective actions, to help collective actions or finish an individual action.
“To have players in this level is very important to win games.
“It is always important as a player to break the limit of their minutes, to extend the minutes, that helps you be more ready to repeat those minutes or play with more intensity if you play less minutes.
“That’s why it’s a positive step. Hopefully he comes back fit and ready to keep showing what he is doing after the international call he has very well deserved.”