What Viktor Johansson said about stunning saves as former Stoke City captain prepares for Alex Neil reunion
What Viktor Johansson said about stunning saves as former Stoke City captain prepares for Alex Neil reunion
Viktor Johansson insists he only thinks about points, not saves after playing another key role in a Stoke City victory.
EFL statisticians claim that an average Championship goalkeeper would have conceded about 14 more goals than Johansson (45) when facing the 566 shots (including 173 on target) he has faced so far this season.
Some have been more eye-catching than others and two in Wednesday night’s win over Blackburn are up there with the best; in the first half vs Todd Cantwell and second vs Joe Rankin-Costello.
But Johansson, captain on the night, told Sky Sports: “I just want to be there for my team. I don’t think too much about the saves, we said before the game that we just needed three points. We’ve got nine finals to go now.”
He did notice the atmosphere that went with that win as home fans sung his name.
“Wonderful,” he said. “When they’re singing at you, you can’t come to a better place. It’s genuinely fantastic. It’s the 12th man.”
Lewis Baker, who set up the winner for Ali Al-Hamadi, was made Stoke captain four managers ago – and he will be up against Alex Neil, who took the armband off him, when the Potters go to Millwall on Saturday.
The midfielder, who was pushed into a higher role against Blackburn, where he had spent the first half of the season on loan, believes everyone in the changing room is doing all they can to make sure Mark Robins makes it work.
“With Mark coming in it’s a massive addition to the whole club,” he said. “It’s can be difficult as players, a third manager of the season and everyone has different ideas, different philosophies but the boys are digging in every day, trying to produce what Mark wants us to do.”
He added: “It’s going to take everyone, the whole squad pushing each other every day to get the maximum out of each other. You can see how tight it is at both ends of the table but if we keep producing performances like that we’ll be on the right side of it at the end.”
Leave a Reply