West Ham – James Tomkins
Concentration lapses continue to plague the academy graduate’s game and he has struggled amid West Ham’s woes this season. Winston Reid and James Collins have both suffered injuries this year but Tomkins has, on occasion, proved an unable deputy.
West Ham – James Tomkins
Concentration lapses continue to plague the academy graduate’s game and he has struggled amid West Ham’s woes this season. Winston Reid and James Collins have both suffered injuries this year but Tomkins has, on occasion, proved an unable deputy.
West Ham – James Tomkins
Concentration lapses continue to plague the academy graduate’s game and he has struggled amid West Ham’s woes this season. Winston Reid and James Collins have both suffered injuries this year but Tomkins has, on occasion, proved an unable deputy.
really? do they watch actual football
That is legit the worst article I have ever seen. How the f*** is a guy (Kone) with a torn ACL a weak link you dirty dog?
sosc67 wrote:If we hold onto Reid i think a reid/tomkins partnership we do us can only see improvement coming with more experience.
Yep, I agree. Going forward into next season I'm sure that will be the preferred partnership. But there's no way I can see Allardyce even thinking of dropping Collins during a relegation battle while he is in this form. Just look how much better we've been since he has returned to the side. He has been outstanding
I love the fact that Tomkins and Collins are absolutely fighting every minute to keep their starting place. You can see in their performances how badly neither want to give their spot up to Winston. Fair play to the both of them. Those two and Adrian have been unbelievably good lately and as a result we've kept 4 clean sheets and climbed half way up the table
My answer to the situation is to switch and change depending on opponent
Backs to the wall against top 4 - Collins + Reid. Pack the midfield, force them into crosses, get the two best headers in the centre
Games against bottom 5 teams - Tomkins + Reid. A better passing and more athletic duo who can help more in a attacking sense and also will handle the counter attack better.
Teams with a big hold up striker - Reids + Collins
Teams with a big man + small man - Tomkins + Collins
The best managers in the world wouldnt choose between the three. They would find a way to utilise all 3
It may be a controversial idea but there has been a strong argument recently saying that noble has come into his own with a defensive minded partner in centre MF as opposed to for e.g. Mo Diame. With the two James' at CB Reid would be a fantastic shield in front of them. along side Noble allowing Mark to move up to run the midfield around the centre circle when we're moving forward. Certainly worth trying against the teams at the top of he table. It seems unfair to drop JT or JC after so many clean sheet and it is criminal having one of our best players on the bench if fit.
As an aside, Tomkins is naturally a right sided CB and many are only comfortable on their favoured side, but it really looks as if he is putting in a lot of work on his left foot with some decent link up play, blocks and clearances with his left when needed.
I actually think that James T plays a slightly different role to James C. imo Tomkins plays much more of a sweeper role behind JC/WR and you will often see him covering the full backs when they are further up the pitch. Perhaps this poll should be more about JC or WR ?
There's a tendency to over- or under-analyse the CBs depending on the result. I'd be wary of reading too much into individual's suitability unless a trend of making mistakes develops.
The only real difference between this weekend's performance and the Norwich and Chelsea games (in particular) was that this time Adrian didn't keep out some saveable shots of the type that he did in the those games. There were errors in those games that simply went unpunished and were consequently forgotten about due to the result.
If Tomkins gets repeatedly done at a corner in the next few games that's the time to worry, not from a one-off. And Reid quite simply hadn't started a game for 5 months - if he plays like that again I'd be amazed
