by MM »
18 Feb 2019 19:33
I believe Gomes may see Ryan East as the best option for this role given the injuries, and expect him to at least be in the 18 this weekend.
I totally understand that taking that sum for Bacuna was good financial business, but the fact that nobody else is able to play the position is probably the reason our survival chances are very precarious right now. Whilst Rino was impressive when he made it in to the team, he wasn't a holding/defensive midfield player. His quality was his energy, drive and speed. Rino himself struggled when Bacuna left, as the holding role wasn't what he had excelled at. It's a shame that Ezatolahi has been injured for so long, as he was definitely up to it - we've just had bad luck with him.
As to the other options, Baker and Ejaria are too weak and not astute enough to play that deeper role, as are Swift and Kelly. Personally, I thought the signings of Baker and Ejaria were odd and pointless anyway, and nothing has changed that view. I just see them as two more 'fancy dan' types who don't actually do or offer anything that we are missing (or offer anything that we need). On the positive side, the signings of Martinez, Miazga and Oliveira were absolutely the best we could attract, and the club deserve praise for those deals.
With the comments Gomes made after the game on Saturday, he's trying to divert attention away from what's obviously the weakest part of this pretty weak side. I don't believe he is naive enough not to have noticed there is no person to perform this role, and IMHO this could be the deciding factor that turns a poor team in to a relegated team.
By the way, anyone that thinks Joey wouldn't have done a better job in this particular role than anyone we currently have available is seriously flawed. And Norwood would have been even better there of course.