REDS KEEPER JOHNSTONE REPAYS BRUCE'S FAITH
Sam Johnstone feels he has adapted to regular first-team football with Aston Villa and is thoroughly enjoying his spell on loan from Manchester United.
Villa manager Steve Bruce has been rewarded for his faith in the 24-year-old goalkeeper with a run of five clean sheets in the last six games ahead of the weekend encounter with another of the ex-United skipper's former clubs, Norwich City.
Johnstone, an FA Youth Cup winner with the Reds in 2011, has the stage he has been craving to show off his talents between the posts and is getting better and better with each passing match.
"I’ve had loan spells at other places," he told ManUtd.com. "But the size of this club (Villa) tops it off by a mile. That’s what you want as a player – to push yourself and play for the bigger clubs, in front of larger crowds, with bigger expectations. It can only serve you well.
"The club is massive. It is a Premier League club. They need to be back up there and, hopefully, I can help them do that. So it’s good and I’m enjoying it. It’s a massive club and walking out at Villa Park on a Saturday in front of 35,000 people, it’s crazy, and something I’ve been wanting to do for the first half of the season. I then got the chance in January to go and do it and I hope we can keep winning until the end of the season.
"Obviously, January was difficult as there were a lot of changes at Villa and I was one of them. But I’m happy to be out playing football, playing every Saturday-Tuesday and things have turned around for us in recent weeks so I’m really enjoying it.
"It was a tough start but I hadn’t played a first-team game for a year and it took a while to get going. Hopefully everyone can see what I can do now and I hope it carries on until the end of the season with my team-mates. I’m happy with the clean sheets, it’s a bonus, but we’re winning and that’s good."
Johnstone made a high-profile debut for Villa in the Emirates FA Cup against Tottenham at White Hart Lane and explained how it takes time for a new goalkeeper to get used to new surroundings.
"I only went to Villa on the Wednesday or Thursday and I was asked if I wanted to play or if it was too early," he said. "But, no, I wanted to play and I told the staff at Villa I wanted to play. I was buzzing. I was excited and wanted it to happen straight away. The game against Tottenham was a good experience. I felt I did well but I was gutted about losing.
"I think it's easy to underestimate how different it is. I was training at Manchester United but, you know, there is nothing like competitive game time. It’s all about getting your timing back, the surroundings, the pressure of having to win the game, your distances, working with new defenders and lots of stuff that people don’t see. We worked through it and, like you said, the clean sheets and the saves are coming, as is the team performance. The new lads have all settled in and everyone can now see how good the team is."
Bruce's backing has been crucial in building the United Academy graduate's confidence and another former Red, ex-goalkeeper Gary Walsh, is also providing assistance on a daily basis.
"Obviously, having him [Bruce] as a manager, he was at United and has managed for a long time, so he understands everything," added Johnstone. "I am glad he was patient with me and, hopefully, I’m repaying him back with the performances, clean sheets and wins.
"Gary's the goalkeeper coach and it’s the first time I’ve worked with him or come across him. I’m really enjoying my time working with him and the other keepers. Like the manager, he has played for Manchester United and knows what it is all about. That experience is something he can help me with and it’s obviously a positive for all of us. He is calm and knows what he is doing."
While Bruce and Walsh are well known to fans of United in the early 1990s, Johnstone has linked up with a couple of men with more recent Reds connections.
"Chessie [former United Reserves defender James Chester] is captain," said Sam. "He’s a little bit older than me but I knew him from when I was younger at United so it’s good to see him again. Ritchie De Laet is there too but he’s injured at the moment. So there are a couple of familiar faces.
"It does help when you know someone there before you go. There were a few players I knew anyway and it helped but, to be honest, there's a good group of players and staff around the training ground. It does help massively to settle you in straight away so you feel at home."
Villa are up to 12th in the Championship table after flirting with the relegation zone earlier in the year. Although it would take some charge up the standings to reach the play-offs, Johnstone is not ruling anything out.
"It would take some doing," he said. "But you never know in this league. Anyone can beat anyone. In January, we were on top for most of the games but just couldn’t get the results. Things are swinging our way now and we’re getting the results as well as the performances. Hopefully, we can carry it on in the last eight games and keep pushing to maybe just sneak into the play-offs at the last minute and take it from there. Fingers crossed, because that would be great for us and the fans."
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