Johnson hails Willis' Black Cats return & defender's attributes
Lee Johnson hailed the return of Jordan Willis after the Sunderland defender’s commanding display at Plough Lane.
Willis was unavailable for much of the early weeks of Johnson's tenure as he recovered from an injection administered to help manage a long-term patellar tendon issue.
He made his return to the starting XI against Port Vale in the Papa John’s Trophy last Tuesday night, and on Saturday he was in excellent form as a resilient Black Cats side won 3-0 against AFC Wimbledon.
Willis formed an effective partnership with Bailey Wright as Johnson's side landed a second clean sheet and a second win in succession.
Sunderland's head coach Johnson believes he has a player with 'Championship-level minimum' attributes, and says managing his body is going to be key in the weeks ahead.
"He's so quick, he's like a rolls-royce,” Johnson said.
"I feel like he's still chasing a bit of fitness, I was thinking about bringing Dion on towards the end.
"But you see the sprints, the recovery, the burst of power, it's Championship level minimum, that power.
"We do need to work on his base fitness but it also comes down to recovery, a powerful player like that is going to need an extra day to
everybody else if you want to keep him playing games."
The victory also saw Johnson hand a debut to Carl Winchester, who was introduced early in the second half and played his part in Charlie Wyke's third goal, releasing Josh Scowen on the counter-attack.
Winchester replaced Elliot Embleton, who had been handed a chance to impress from the start after an encouraging display in that win over Port Vale.
The 21-year-old played a key role in the opening goal, and Johnson feels he is a good fit for the 4-2-2-2 system he has used to start the last two games.
"We just changed the shape which just meant that we needed some different attributes, particularly being 1-0 up," Johnson said.
"Winchester is more of a six/eight. Elliot can play there but I see him more as a ten.
"In that shape (4-3-3) I just felt we needed that extra natural central midfielder.
"It certainly wasn't anything he did wrong, it's just that in that 4-2-2-2 we play, he gives us the perfect attributes for that when we're going out to win because he's so good in those pockets of space, which is what he showed us for the goal.
"Carl's a good footballer and you saw that a couple of times on the counter-attack where he's just tidied up our play," he added.
"We call it a major contribution, it's not the goal, it's not the assist, it's that tidyup ball that he and Grant [Leadbitter] are so good at.
"It was good for him to get out there [and a play a part]."
Sunderland are back in action tonight when Plymouth Argyle visit the Stadium of Light.
Ryan Lowe's side drew 1-1 with Crewe Alexandra on Saturday afternoon, leaving them fifteenth in the table and six points behind the Black Cats.