Mikey Johnston

I think he would be a great loan signing for St. Mirren, with Morgan now here - perhaps, even Hibernian or Kilmarnock, but his game time might be more limited there.

 

Good delivery..

Only just turned 19 and playing and doing well for the 21's..

Quality wee guy..

 

High hopes.

 

It's good to hear he's doing well. Only seen a him play a little but he looked class waiting to happen.

 

Michael Johnston helped earn Scotland a share of the spoils in their Toulon opener against Togo on Sunday.

Fraser Hornby headed home the Celtic winger’s teasing free-kick, while he regularly tormented the Togolese defence with is repertoire of tricks.

However, that wasn’t enough for the self-critical 19-year-old, who hopes to step it up a gear in tomorrow’s test against host nation France.




You earned a lot of plaudits for your performance against Togo. What was your take on a tough opening game?

I was happy with my assist for Fraser and I did some good things in the game but I feel like I could have done a lot more. Hopefully I’ll get the chance to play in the next game against France and help the team out. It was tough against Togo but that’s why you come to competitions like this, for a different kind of experience against nations that you’re not used to coming up against. I think there were a lot of positives to take into Wednesday.


After making your Celtic debut back in May 2017 with a fine showing in a 4-1 win over St Johnstone, a thigh injury seemed to disrupt your last campaign. How frustrating was that?

‘Frustration; is the word. The injury held me back but hopefully coming to Toulon with Scotland will help kick me on for next season. It was a bad time for me. Some of the other wingers at the club were injured so I would have had the opportunity to play. I was only out for around nine weeks – when it was originally expected to be more like 12 – but it did disrupt things. I’m still young and getting to know my body. My manager, Brendan Rodgers, talked to me throughout the time I was out and reassured me. All footballers will experience injuries at some point and it’s just part of the learning curve.


Your showings for club and country generated a bit of excitement. How have you adapted to being a more familiar face for supporters?

I haven’t really felt any added pressure. I think when you come through the ranks at a club like Celtic then there’s always competition so that doesn’t faze me. If you’re worried about that then there’s no point being there. As a Celtic supporter myself, I know that the fans want to see their own young players progress. At the end of the day, it’s down to me. I’m confident in my own ability and I think I have the confidence of the people within the setups for Celtic and Scotland.



How did you use your time out of the side?

I’d had a taste of playing for the first team so I wanted to get back to that but I took the time to learn when I was out. I would watch the players in my position and try to note tactical points, like the way they moved, instead of just following the ball like a fan. The way I see it, I want to be where the likes of James Forrest is for Celtic and Scotland so I watched him closely and still did the video analysis work. I wouldn’t want that spell out again but, when you’re in the middle of it, you just have to make the best of the situation.


Your Scotland Under-21 coach, Scott Gemmill, and club manager, Brendan Rodgers, both expect their attacking wide players to work hard for the team when not in possession. Have you had to adapt your natural game?

Defensively I need to do what the coaches want, especially on the defensive side of the game and tactically in general. You need to do your job for the team or you won’t play. It’s as simple as that.

Finally, what do you expect from France on Wednesday?

We saw a bit of their opening game against South Korea before our own game against Togo and they’re obviously a good team with talented players. But we think we have enough in our on team to hopefully trouble them and get a good result.

 

Baller

 

Get him in the team, needs first team football in order to properly progress.

 

Look at that attitude. Knows what's expected of him and what the fan's want..

Only serious injury by accident or deliberate will put the brakes on his career here in my opinion..

This next season is massive for him, where he goes and his development..

 

He's had quite a few injuries as well, he missed the last few games of 2016/17 season or he would likely have got 2/3 more run outs. Then this season im sure he was out injured twice for quite long periods, once in the first half of the season then at the end again. Had 3 quite bad injuries in the last 14-16 month.

 

Just reading back and he missed the Toulon tournament last year through injury as well..

Hopefully get's that sorted..

 

Good to see him in pre season. seems highly rated in here.

 

How's he getting on?

Got Virgin and it's ridiculous they haven't got the freesports channel..

We're 1 up through Burke..

 

What about a loan to Livi or St Mirren? Both teams who could use some quality talent in an effort to stay up.

That, or I'd loan him and Hazard to Falkirk. Would be a great club for them to get some game time at and develop somewhere that's known to grow players quite well.

 

Livi are brutal and plastic pitch being installed. The latter applies to Falkirk as well..

St Mirren. I know Dundee have McCann but maybe them as they try to play football..

No other's I'd send him to in the top flight when you have a look as pitches, style of play and game time may be limited. Those 2 or down to the English league 1..

 

St Mirren wpuld be a gopd shout especially of we keep Morgan in our squad

 

Keep him here and give him a run next season. He was just starting to break into the squad when he got injured.

 

I think he will stay as well. Rodgers actually has played him a lot when he's been fit, the end of 2016/17 he was probably going to use him in the remaining League games but he only played 1 then got injured and was out the rest of the season, this season he took a while to get fit but once he did Rodgers started using him then he got injured again but when he returned Rodgers started using him again until he got injured again, when he returned from that injury the season was almost over.

Had Johnston remained fit all season he'd likely have featured 10/15+ times and the season before would probably have featured in the last 2/3 League games as well.