The Tomlin effect

[dembethewarrior]

Why do we have to rip anything up?

[the other bob wilson]

He's not the Messiah! He's a good footballer who stands out in a team of plodding dross. He decided to turn it on this season when his contract was due up and won a new contract on the back of his performances. I wouldn't have given him a new contract, and he has been anonymous in a lot of games. But he has mad a difference and does stand out from the rest of our players, which goes to show how decidedly average our squad is.

I know we are six points from the Play Offs and have had some great results, and some awful ones, but how bad must be those teams who are below us. We moan a lot on here but thier message boards be a great read. Planet Swamp is always good for a laugh, all the players are crap, the manager is a joke etc. Every player who plays for Swansea is world class apparently, until they leave and then they become rubbish.

I think we all know we are bang average and it's a fight to get in to the Play Offs, this week is hugely important for us and going to be harder with another player missing.

For me, this message gets to the heart of the matter. Lee Tomlin was been a footballer in decline for three or four seasons before this one when I would say he has been at his most effective since he was at Middlesbrough. He has become more influential under Neil Harris' management as the weeks have gone, but, there is still a tendency for him to be on the edge of things for long parts of matches - my view is that this is partly down to him not involving himself as much as he could, but more to do with below average passing from team mates who struggle to give him a decent service more than you would expect from a team with aspirations of reaching the second tier's Play offs. What is clear is that Tomlin is irreplaceable in the current Cardiff squad and, once again, when you're talking about a team that is aiming for a top six Championship finish, you have to wonder how this has been allowed to happen.