never seen them play live, only on FOX, and every game i watched Tate was average at best, and yes i did watch the p/o final where he was rubbish
Well I've seen him look a lot better than average at best. When Monk was out last season, there was a period of games where him and Ash forged a solid partnership, helping us pick up a load of points. Something that was missed on here (and despite my stance on Monk) was when Monk came back into the team after injury we immediately stuttered, probably just through lack of cohesion than anything else, granted, but Tate was still holding his own in the Championship against some tidy players.
agree with scott, for us fans who watch him week in and week out would have a better judgement on tate than fans who cant get to games and only see him on the television.....tate will do ok and until we can afford to pay the stupid wages that some of these so called better defenders then we should give tate the respect he deserves and back him to the hilt......he has a hard enough job to do this season without rubbishing the guy before he has kicked a ball in the premiership..
Tate was NOT rubbish in the Final. He set up two goals as I recall and also made at least one crucial block. But I don't agree that he handled Kebe well. Pace is not Tate's strength an it showed, but overall you can't argue that he had a bigger influence on the game than Kebe did in the end.
I'm not rubbishing Tate or Monk and if i'm honest, i'm really disappointed you suggested that really Dai. I gave my points and the reason for bringing up what is essentially a pointless debate, I know. Tate has been absolute servant to the club, never given less than 100% and I genuinely wish more footballers were like him. I'm not rubbishing him, or putting him down or even saying he isn't going to be good enough for the PL! My opinions are based on the same things as the others here, witnessing with my own eyes. Tate will play for the Swans again, there's no doubt about that. But, i've said it before and i'll say it again I just hope it isn't at right or left back. I guess it's 50/50 on whether Tate did a good job at Wembley or not, but it's fairly unanimous that Tate wouldn't have got away with that against Walcott, Lennon, Young, Nani, Bale etc...
True. If sentiment wins out (and it won't) and Tate is anything other than a utility stand-in our stay in the Prem will be very very brief.
ok doey fair enough but it does make me mad when some fans are dismissing tates ability before he has even kicked a ball, lets be fair to tate he has come through the leagues and upped his game accordingly, ok he will never be the best defender in the world or he would be playing with the big guys but he deserves his chance to give it his best shot and i dont think he will let us down either, we cant afford the so called better defenders as the wages these guys want is way over what we can afford,....lets all get behind the players we have as they have one hell of a job to do this season and im sure they will do us all proud and give 100% effort, if we fail then so be it, we are expected to fail anyway but i think that we will surprise everyone by not finishing in the bottom three........
Trust me, i'm not dismissing Tates ability, and the fact he has been able to step up to each league is clear to see. I also said a little while back that anybody who thinks Monk and Tate don't realise the step up, and have spent the summer lying on the beach are surely mistaken! I don't know Monk and Tate personally, but i'd put money on the fact both of them are wise enough to have spent the summer working hard and came back fitter this pre-season than they have done before.
Tate was in the papers the other day saying he's been in a rented villa in Cyprus, running up mountains and ****! Alan "Rocky" Tate anyone?
Yes Tate could not hope to cope with Kebbe one on one so he did the next best option of slowing him down to wait for cover. I suspect it was a gameplan formulated by Brendan knowing Kebbe's strengths and weaknesses, great pace, decent strike, pretty poor crosser (a bit like Dyer in previous years).
Tate had to stand off him rather than him dive in for challenges and give set pieces away. I would of thought Brendan asked him to that and somebody to help for cover yes so that Kebbe get shut out and has to go backwards.
