Lee Johnson has been discussing the poor form of Callum McFadzean after the left back had a disastrous game against Hull on Tuesday…
HULL
"Like all the players, I will always have considered chats with these guys. When you are close to a group, you also feel the benefit of the human being. Callum is up there, as good as it gets really, as a lad. If Callum was disruptive and his behaviour or actions weren't conducive to a high performance environment, then he'd be out of the door - that would be the same if he was a striker who had scored 30 goals or a young lad coming through at 17 years old. In terms of performance, I don't think Cal had his top game the other day against Hull, against a good strong opponent [Mallik Wilks]. But at the same time I could find you ten or 12 clips where he has been really fantastic in terms of setting a move off, or his defensive position.”
VOLATILE
"This is where we try and stay really steady with it. Whether you are a manager or a player, you know you are always at the mercy of external opinion and at those moments support is important - I would have thought that were players in our squad who are now being hailed as heroes who have also taken stick at some points down the line. I was the biggest example of that because I played for my dad, so you can imagine that when you add nepotism into the mix it becomes quite volatile. I was lucky in one sense that we were pretty successful when we were together but if it was a mediocre level of success, or we hadn't met expectations, you could imagine that that was coming down on me, and that was coming down very hard on him via me.”
DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES
"But to go back to Callum, all through our winning sequence Callum was absolutely outstanding in very difficult circumstances without being able to have a rest. I think he's performed very well in that position at times. I think with Callum, he has to believe in himself. Originally, let's be honest, Callum was a stocking filler if you like. He was a late signing, Denver was the main man who had come through the academy in that position, and then Callum finds himself being a really key part of the team. And he is a key part of the team. The lads love him to bits. I didn't know that, but now I do I suppose it is a consideration in terms of the communication that I have with him. We have competition now, we have Denver Hume back in, we have got Jake Vokins now back.”
HUME
"Denver has just come back from a long-term injury so he has to be drip-fed back into the team. If you look at the number of minutes he has played, it has been quite considered in terms of the way we have built them up and then he has had some rest. We have decisions in that position, and I want somebody to step up - particularly if we do end up in that play-off situation, I do want to know I can trust their physicality, their mentality, and their technical ability. Really though it is about having the ability to dig deep in those moments, whether it is a defensive action, a delivery in the final third, or fitness."
STICK
"Things can change really quickly. I'll give you an example, when I played for Bristol City one time I had a particularly bad game and when I was taken off I was jeered really quite badly, considering we had been promoted and stuff like that. It was hurtful, and it probably wasn't deserved based on that one performance. But at the same time the Bristol City fans showed their class because on the Tuesday night I then scored the winner against Southampton away in the league and then in the following Saturday home game, they sang my name probably for the first 30 minutes of the match! It felt like, yes, I deserved a bit of stick but I bounced back, proved my worth, and they respected that. I think that's the same in any walk of life, people have up-days and down-days, but you can see when someone is consistently putting the effort in and when that bears fruit and they score or they assist, that's when I expect the praise to come as well."
