Tuesday 13 November 2012

Winston Reid - From Insurance Pup to Churchillian Defender

 


What a turn around! We all remember his debut, out of position at right back and torn apart against Villa as Avram got it all wrong. It took the lad a while to recover from that, and given the club we signed him from, he looked more Matalan than Armani.

But this season he has been a revelation, covering for the cumbersome Collins and the less than brilliant full backs. Indeed, along with Nolan and Noble, he has been one of our best players so far this season.

Why the transformation? Well to be fair to Grant, he has the raw material to be a full back because he has the precious quality of pace. All it needed, it seems, was time to mature and refine his positional sense and decision making to polish him into a top quality defender.

Against Newcastle he was again excellent and the partnership with Tomkins looked more than tidy. Hopefully that is our future and the temptation to bring in the clapped out Rio will be resisted.

But full credit to Allardyce too. He has handled the lad brilliantly, keeping him out of the spotlight until he was ready, then showing total faith in him when the time was right. Reid was discouraged from going to the Olympics; Tomkins, it seems, received the green light to go because Allardyce had already decided who was his main man at the back.

The only trouble is, he has played too well. Big clubs are sniffing. Expect Spurs to be linked any time soon. Hopefully Reid will sign a new contract quickly and, unlike Parker, will stay loyal to West Ham!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

bag of wank just like noble

Anonymous said...

A WETSPAM story.........

ONE comment.........hahahaha
You can feel the silence...
shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Spammers fans are sleeping...........shhhhhhhhhhhh

can someone turn off the light

Wait a minute, Antiques Roadshow is on tv........

They will be back when that finishes....

Keep up your West Ham stories
they are going great guns

Anonymous said...

Anony-mouse says,

I felt so sorry for Winston in his first season. Destroyed because an idiot played him out of position he then only had sporadic games thereafter. No time to get rhythm or consistency. And when he was selected he had to play alongside a joke of a captain whose mind had left UP long before his body got out of there.

I could not be more pleased that the lad has come through. Reid was excellent in the run in last year, but even so most expected Collins to start alongside Tomkins this season. But no, the lesser starred, least obvious Reid was unexpectedly picked and has so far been a rock for us. He anticipates so well and is an aggressive header of a ball. He is also surprisingly adroit in the penalty area and has become a good talker and organiser for us.

£2.5 million well spent. And yes HF, I know that Avram bought him but even a broken watch is right twice a day :)

Hammersfan said...

LOL Anony-mouse. How you diddling? To be fair, I think it was Sullivan and his agent who bought him. I don't think Avram had much of a say about anything.

USA Dave said...

Reid showed great resilience by staying last year, in effect repaying the club the debt of relegation by being a key figure in promotion. A lot of lesser players would have left.

And with poor defending being a talking point on EPL websites and radio shows, our back line has been an example for many richer clubs. And the credit for that has to go to Sam. If you think the credit lay elsewhere, you're delusional.

Anonymous said...

HF- I'm fine. Enjoying the season as I trust you're enjoying the home of the Cheekie Girls :)

USA Dave is quite right- Sam has done an amazing job with our defenders. Of those that limited Newcastle to half chances Reid, is the only one that cost any money on at all. And yes I tend to agree with you, it was probably not the undertaker who spotted Reid as a talent.

The difference between us and the likes of Southampton who have spent more on defenders than us is organisation, blend and each man being drilled on exactly what his duties are and what is expected of him. It is one of the understated (and for us unaccustomed) pleasures of the game to see a well coordinated defence, keeping out a star studded mega millions team like we did the other week against City.

Our defensive whole is greater than the sum of its parts. For that great credit is due to the players and at least as much has to go to Sam.

By the way re: your other thread. The Mail normally gets its football as wrong as it gets its politics so let's not worry too much yet. And Diame hasn't got an agent- at least he didn't at the time he came to us- he negotiated the deal himself. Sadly Reid only has until this Summer on his contract but by all accounts him and the club are close to a deal. Let's hope so. Who knows what will happen with Carroll, although my guess would be that we'll keep him til at least the Summer. Rodgers has stupidly painted himself into a corner and does not want him. Will the Geordies really want him? I'm not convinced- mentioning it may have been Pardew's attempt to unsettle him before our game. If so, nice mind-games Alan, but better luck next time.