Maloney

Gomez had a good first half today. Not sure Maloney would have done as well for a full 90minutes, but certainly made an impact when he came on. Why? He ran from midfield and broke through their back line. Problem first half was a lack of intensity and practically no movement off the ball. I watched our warm up and my u14s put in more effort than we did. Di Santo was in goal for 5 mins with Boyce taking pot shots at him. WTF is that all about?

The reaction from some of those sat near me when Gomez got subbed was pathetic. Cheering loudly ain’t gonna help anyone.

Gomez has a good football brain in my opinion, he just lacks pace. If he had pace though, he wouldn’t be playing for Wigan.

Griff, in your opinion Gomez isn’t a bad player, in some other peoples opinion he’s not good enough.
Why do you think your opinion is worth more than theirs?
I see it time and time again, thread after thread, you think you are intellectually superior to people, and that their opinion doesn’t count because they aren’t as concise as you or it doesn’t fit in with your way of thinking. You’ve said that the board is a waste of your time and you don’t know why you bother, well I for one wish you fuckin didn’t, because it’s you that drags in alot of the inane and repetitive shit on here, get a life man, there’s more to it than typing put downs on a forum surely?!

I try to offer an opinion as to WHY I think Gomez is not as bad as some others think. I’ve typed it in many posts. I have neither the time nor the inclination to repeat it time after time for the benefit of the hard of thinking, reading or memory. That goes for many other subjects that I have commented on over 5500 times over the years.

I am more than happy to have a reasoned debate with anyone on any subject but I’m afraid there are only a handful of people capabale and/or willing to do it. By the way, why don’t you join in, instead of worrying yourself about how I choose to behave on this public forum? Then again, if you think that “The whole of the starting mid field today was shit !!” deserves anything other than a fairly withering put-down…

Griff – I like to think that I’m not one of those who slates Gomez for every mistake he makes whilst not doing the same to others, but I have to say that I thought he was woeful yesterday for the most part from start to finish. Too slow in thought & body & kept getting caught in possession as a result. The 10 minutes or so before he got subbed (as you’ve acknowledged) was shocking IMO it wasn’t the only poor part of his performance

On the game as a whole I thought for most of the game Latics played quite well. It wasn’t one of those games (like last week) where nothing was created & numerous chances were created but this week it was poor finishing that let them down. To restrict a team that, arguably, were better than United the other week to the goal, a header from Morison & one other week effort on target has to be commended.
That said the goal Latics did concede was indicative of the type of goals Latics give away under Martinez. Slow non-penetrative play followed by a mistake, followed by the midfield & defence switching off for the throw, followed by a statue-esque defence when the cross came in. Caldwell (who i thought played well) should know with hsi experience not to wait for the ball to come to you in that area but to ensure you get to the ball first. Very sloppy

For all some people have slated McArthur I thought he played well. I thought Beausejour played well (although his final delivery was poor at times), Figueroa looks to have rediscovered his form, Maloney looked like he could offer somet different over these last 10 games & Moses was looking to play people in more than he was looking to have a dig himself.
On the downside I thought that Rodallega, whilst getting in the box more than Di Santo does, didn’t work their backline enough, Alcaraz is far too sloppy, Gomez I’ve mentioned & McCarthy looked anonymous at times. When he did that really good bit of play early in the second half it was when he’d pushed forward & I do think he’d benefit from being played in a more advanced midfield role (a la Gomez’s position) coz I don’t think he’s a grafting midfielder. Oh & as someone else has already pointed out, Mr Boyce aint never gonna be no wing back

All in all one of Latics better performances & was glad to see chances being created & missed rather than not created at all

Bit harsh, I think. We know he’s always been too slow but I don’t recall him losing the ball as often as you imply. He had at least two, possibly three decent attempts on goal too.

Given that RM obvioulsy wants someone to pay that forward link up/creative role, I have always said that, as weak as he undoubtedly is, Gomez is probably the best qualified in the squad, unfortunately.
Until, that is, Mr Maloney stepped forward yesterday and showed how it can be done at pace, particularly with the through ball for Moses’s goal. Let’s hope it wasn’t just a flash in the pan.

Maybe Diame could do it as well, but I don’t think he’s your typical ‘hole’ player like Gomez tries to be and Maloney showed glimpses of yesterday.

Well, in the interests of showing that compromise can be achieved on this forum, I’ll take your word on Gomez being caught in possesion a lot in the first half. I’m probably guilty of purely looking for the positives in his play yesterday.

And I agree whole-heartedly about Alcaraz – the lad frightens the life out of me.