Somehow, Tomkins is being blamed for the goal! Well it was Ben Haim who played Gyan onside and Upson and Gabbidon who were absent without leave as the Sunderland man ran into acres of space down our left. Tomkins did his best in the circumstances, coming across to close Gyan as best he could, trusting that Ben Haim, Gabbidon, Upson and our midfield would deal with any resultant cross. What was the lad supposed to do, allow Gyan a free run on goal? Look at Upson's position when Henderson hit the ball home, he was still retreating into the box and was a good ten yards behind the play. I am not sure where Gabbidon was, nor where Spector or Parker were, but nobody from midfield tracked Henderson's run.
The goal apart, and Tomkins was not to blame in any way, JT performed superbly. In fact he was so good that Darren Bent was withdrawn, not having had a squeak all match. Time and again it was Tomkins who cleared crosses into our box and, the goal apart, Sunderland only had two chances in the whole match, one of which resulted from Green spilling the ball. And who saved us then? Tomkins with a brilliant block.
It is clear to me that some idiots form a fixed opinion and will not shift from it. Zola was enshrined as a hero by some and, from that point forward, could do no wrong - even though he presided over the dismantling of a team that had finished mid table and turned us into relegation fodder. Parker is blameless, no matter how he plays (and his booking today was crassly stupid!). Cole is a lazy useless tosser for many and they refuse to see any redeeming qualities in a guy selected for England and valued at £10m by Hodgson, who is a pretty shrewd judge most of the time. Green is either England's number one or bloody hopeless. Boa is a waste of space EVERY game. Upson is useless EVERY game. Noble either bleeds Claret and Blue or should be playing football in the Blue Square Premiership. And so it goes on.
I do wish people would watch and judge on performance rather than reputation. Since his return to the side, Tomkins has been superb. That's not to say that he is perfect. He will make mistakes, every player does, and sooner or later that mistake will be costly, but the vendetta that some are conducting is hideous to witness. He was not at fault for the goal today and he definitely prevented a second with his block.
I am not Green's biggest fan but, when he plays well, I acknowledge it and give him credit. I am no big fan of Upson as a captain, but today I saw him talking to Atkinson and calming Cole down, probably saving Carlton from a second yellow. The jury is still out on Obinna as far as I'm concerned. One game he looks brilliant, the next close to hopeless. I didn't rate Noble for most of last season but I have been hugely impressed this - and we definitely missed him today. I used to be a huge fan of Ilunga but I recognise that the man has turned from Herita to Rita since his injury. And Cole has lost his mojo too but I'm sure it's not through lack of desire and effort as many claim.
Let's get our heads out of our backsides and actually watch the games eh guys? I know we will still see a lot of crap most of the time regardless but let's at least give credit where credit is deserved, even after another depressing team performance and result.
9 comments:
The commentator on FSC said it was Tomkins who played Gyan onside. I wasn't quite sure at first but I watched the replay after the game and it was definitely Ben Haim.
Indeed it was Ben Haim. Where was Gabbidon and why was Upson so far behind the play? I missed that and haven't seen the replays to track where Upson and Gabbidon were coming from. One thing is for sure, Tomkins was not the man with primary responsibility for tracking a run down the left flank of our defence!
but..Boa Morte is useless every game
Every week we concede at least one goal that is the fault of Gabbidon. The one yesterday was not so clearly his fault, but I gather it was because he was the man responsible for tracking down the attacker's run. Why is he then selected every week? It doesn't take a genius to figure out that we should try something different.
I don't think AG knows what he is doing for the simple fact that he allowed the "success" against MU midweek to mess up the first team. Cole, Spector and even Dyer to mention just a few should not have started the game. We needed a strong midfield and we allowed them to dominate the game by choosing players that never played in this position before. Piquionne, Hines Beharami and Stanislas should have started. We need a manager that knows the game and is inspired to get us out of this mess. AG is NOT the man. He hasn't been out of the bottom three in the last two years!
There were six of us at the game yesterday and to a man we all had Tomkins down as our MOTM. I am a well known supporter of his and he was a bright light in an otherwise freezing afternoon at the Stadium of Light.
...and there I was ready to 'give ground' on Ben Haim!
The guy's a joke.
Hi Rev. I thought of you as I watched the game. Have you been on the Org to make your point that Tomkins will one day play for England? I could not believe it when I read idiots criticising his performance! Even Grumpy admits (very occasionally) that Cole has played well after he has played an absolute blinder!
I'm glad we were in your thoughts which is more than we got off the good lady! Had no sympathy on our return and just shock her head and said I don't know why you bother and you should have stayed at home and watched it, they just don't understand do they?
I'm afraid that I am on a self imposed break from the Org at the moment due to me becoming more and more Grumpy. As you well know I have long been an admirer of James Tomkins. He has everything in his locker to become a top centre half hopefully with us. He without doubt went through a bad spell where every mistake he made seemed to lead to a goal. He has had a break and has certainly played well in his last three games especially on Sunday. He also played very well at Sunderland when I saw him in the Carling cup game. What impressed me before the start of the match was how Wally had all the back four working together as a unit. Didn't agree with playing four centre half's along the back but he certainly has got us tightened up. As for the rest of the game good spells of possession but the end product was awful. If Dave had of been up with us he would have been have a seizure with Carlton's performance he was dreadful along with Obina and Dyer.
Going to be a long season Fanno but at least our cricket boys are giving us something to smile about.
I saw your valedictory message on the Org mate. It's a shame, your contributions were still worth reading. Sadly, and this is not spite because I have tried to direct traffic to the Org, it seems as if that dog has had its day. I did warn about the consequences of banning the Martys, Fannos and Hotshots. You need villains in any drama! I know you disagreed with me when I talked about a Klan, but that's how it has turned out. And really, when the likes of Wrighty spout off, the place becomes a dreadful yawn. Poor Del keeps trying to give it the kiss of life but debate rarely, if ever, ignites. Oh for the days of OSP, Aycliffe, davefking, WHTID, Mrs Lucas Neill, El Martillo et all!
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