Ben Davies has praised in-form Brennan Johnson for allowing his 'football to do the talking' after his Wales and Tottenham team-mate scored an extraordinary goal since taking social media off.
Johnson quit Instagram after becoming the target of online abuse after Spurs' defeat to arch-rivals Arsenal in September, but has since scored in Tottenham's last six games.
“Maybe the outside world understood his case a little bit, but as teammates we never did,” Davis said. He will captain Wales in Iceland on Friday in the absence of injured Aaron Ramsey. “It shows what a strong character he is. It's hard to know what someone is going through at a certain time, and if you're receiving criticism, this is not a good place to be. But Brennan is coming out and letting his football do the talking.
“You can't control the noise outside, but you can control what you do on the pitch and he seems to be doing that pretty well right now. He's still a young player, but the hardest thing in football is It's about scoring goals. If he can continue to do that on a regular basis, who knows where he could go.
“As a teammate, it's nice to see him score goals so regularly and be as active as he is, but you can see how quickly opinions can change. Even when he was going through, it was a few games, he was still getting chances, he was still in the right area, and if he wasn't doing that, we'd have even more problems. I would have held it.”
Johnson is a central figure in Craig Bellamy's plans as Wales manager and is poised to start in Reykjavik. The Wales manager said he saw no change in the 23-year-old Johnson at this camp compared to his previous appearances in September's victories over Turkey and Montenegro. “He’s a very humble kid and a lot of fun to be around,” Bellamy said. “The group loves him. He obviously enjoys being here – always does. He's exactly the same as he was in the first camp. He's great to be around.”
Bellamy follows the shock deaths of called-up Wales defender Reece Norrington-Davies, winger David Brooks and third-choice goalkeeper Adam Davies' former Sheffield United clubmate George Baldock. He emphasized that he is keen to take care of his team and staff. Baldock, who joined Panathinaikos in May and played against Olympiakos last Sunday, was found dead at the bottom of his swimming pool in his apartment south of Athens on Wednesday.
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“I love football, but it's not the most important thing,” Bellamy said. “The health of our players is the most important thing and my heart was there.” [on Wednesday night] And now it is. We have players who are very close to him and have played together for many years. Some of our staff have been with us for many years. First and foremost, I would like to express my condolences to his family. It reminds you…I was talking to his brother Sam [Brighton’s pathway academy coach] At the game the other day. ”
