Social media has become an arena in which fans can be hateful and demeaning to players and managers alike and the consequences of these actions may be starting to shine through especially with Tottenham Hotspur winger Brennan Johnson.
Fans have used social media to call out players on what they had deemed to be poor performances by players for their clubs. This especially comes with players who play for Premier League teams and has often resulted in players being subjected to racial slurs and language from various different social media platforms, such as X, Instagram and Facebook.
It has especially come out at the beginning of the season for Tottenham Hotspur winger Brennan Johnson. Johnson had a tough start to the season like the rest of the attacking line for Tottenham but had received a lot of abuse online from fans wanting him out despite the 23 year old having just entered his second season for the club. This came after his performances in the first few weeks of the campaign were not stellar in all competitions.
There were big hopes for Spurs this season among their fan base after a satisfactory first season under Ange Postecoglou. With Aston Villa facing what, for the Villains, is a new challenge of competing in the Champions League, there was real optimism that Tottenham could get back into Europe's top competition.
Whilst those chances aren't dead and buried, they're already bruised. Poor performances against Leicester and Newcastle set a nervous tone for an early-season North London Derby.
With Arsenal missing their entire first-choice midfield there was pressure on Spurs to deliver their first derby win in five meetings, but a second-half header from Gabriel gave the Gunners a typically efficient 1 - 0 win.
Losing the derby to Arsenal has become slightly more forgiveable from a Tottenham point of view given the Gunners' resurgence in the past few seasons, but the manor in which they keeled over in their biggest fixture of the season sparked fury among Tottenham fans.
Brennan Johnson didn't have a fantastic game, but was arguably the brightest spark for Tottenham, creating a couple of promising opportunities and lashing a shot just over the crossbar in the first half.
Unfortunately, that's not how some supporters saw it. Frustrations boiled over and the abuse of Johnson was so severe the Welsh international de-activated his Instagram account.
However, he changed his fortune in a cup tie with Championship side Coventry City. With the potential of penalties looming over the head of Tottenham against a Coventry City side in the division below them, Johnson scored a last minute winner with the away end full of Tottenham fans erupting into cheers.
Johnson would then also score in the following league match against Brentford, his first match back in front of the home fans after this abuse. However, the damage may be done.
There was a clip after the Coventry game where Son seemingly had to guide and convince Johnson to go towards the Tottenham fans as he seemed a bit hesitant. This was after Johnson barely celebrated a 92nd-minute winner in a game Spurs had been losing four minutes before.
Some fans chalked this up online to be linked to the abuse he had received online due to his performance. Hopefully, there is a way in which the social media abuse can be lowered for the player's own mental health given the stress that their job can put on them already especially for a player like Johnson.
Johnson is a player who managed 5 goals and 10 assists in the league last campaign and could look to have a similar if not bigger impact on Tottenham's productivity as he progresses through his second season.
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