Kalvin Phillips’ West Ham United suffered the ignominy of a 6-0 loss at home to Arsenal on Sunday and Stephen Warnock blasted Ben Johnson after the game – amid reports Leeds United were keen.
Phillips only got the second half in what was his third Hammers outing on Sunday, as Mikel Arteta’s side ran riot. Declan Rice got a goal and two assists, while Bukayo Saka was unstoppable on the right flank.
David Moyes attempted to counteract the threat of England star Saka by putting defender Johnson on the wing in front of the Arsenal academy product. He played ahead of left-back Emerson Palmieri.
But it was not enough, as Arsenal ran riot. Johnson of course, was a target for Leeds in January with his contract at West Ham due to expire in the summer. Leeds and Millwall even made bids to sign Johnson.
West Ham chose to keep the England U21 man. Analysing West Ham’s 6-0 loss on Match of the Day 2, former Leeds captain Stephen Warnock criticised the West Ham man for “schoolboy defending”.
“Arsenal want to isolate Saka, West Ham’s left. I’d be thinking, as Emerson and as a left-back, ‘great, you’ve put Ben Johnson in front of me to help me’. But he doesn’t help. He was beaten in the press.
“Get back in, make sure you’re running. But he left Emerson in one v ones against Saka. The running and the intent to get back into position – it cannot happen. It’s schoolboy defending. Saka had a field day.”
Stephen Warnock criticises Ben Johnson after Leeds United links
Leeds instead, brought in Connor Roberts on loan from Burnley. He adds quality, experience and the know how when it comes to getting promoted from the Championship. But, left-back is a bit exposed.
On the left, Leeds have Sam Byram and Junior Firpo as options but the chances of both players staying fit from now until the end of the season is unlikely. Johnson would have covered both sides of defence.
However, that is the path Leeds have had to go down. Whether Johnson would have been a good player for Leeds remains to be seen and he could still be available. But, his display on Sunday was below par.
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