I've never been a massive fan of Dean Hammond. I see what he offers the team, but just don't think he's in the same class as Cork or Schneiderlin, but today the guy was absolutely outstanding. He won the ball back so many times i lost count aswell as keeping the ball moving forward and in my opinion was the best player on the park. It's a performance which has filled me with confidence that he is capable and ready to step in for Spider as it looks like he is out for the season.
He offers something to the team that our other midfielders perhaps don't, so he is very useful to have. Though he rarely stands out, he never worries me.
Dean Hammond is one of those honest footballers that Adkins used to talk about...he's there when you need him, doesn't make a fuss when he's not, and he cares. Always glad when players like that get a chance to shine. Adkins said that Spider's knee was sore and swollen and needs further assessment. Didn't sound like he thought it was very serious, but of course unlikely he will make it back in the next few weeks (my assessment, not Nigel's).
As we drove past the Saint's hotel this morning in traffic Deano came out of the lobby and so shouted out words of encouragement out the window. Think that was me
He's the type of player we need in the coming weeks - someone to break the play up and put a foot in, particularly against some fairly dirty sides.
I've never seen a player consistently make slide tackles and win the ball as effectively as he did today. Bravo.
One of my favourite memories this season was Hammond's sliding celebration of our opening goal in this campaign.
Decent player who probably never thought he would get the chance in the Prem, but will give everything to try and propel us there.
If you could design an ideal backup central mid from scratch, it'd be a player very similar to Hammond. Don't mean the backup part as a slight at all, he's a valuable asset to have to close out games, deputize in case of injury or provide a little extra bite (where bite equates to clean tackles, not studs-up specials) for the games where it's needed...Birmingham would have loved to have a player like him to insert after N'daw went down. Poor guy raised expectations too high, though; scores a great goal ten minutes into the season, hasn't found the scoresheet since.
He's very underrated, i'll say and say again he has one of the best shots especially from range in the entire squad. Also he bullied the ref into making the lino change his mind in the pompey match
****ing awesome today, we were all chanting his name. Got stuck in with some superb challenges time and time again, kept it simple and harried and hassled them constantly. Helped us no end today.
Blimey! Read back to the July threads and Deano isn't good enough brigade. A lot of saints fans don't seem to understand or be able to appreciate the subtle contributions of the players who don't score lots of goals, do lots of fancy tricks, dribble past three players, make spectacular saves or save penalties. Deano is such a valuable player when he plays. I'm a bit like a broken record (a plastic disc for playing music on where the needle would get stuck and repeat the same thing over and over - for the youngsters on here), when I keep referring to England in 1966; might not have won the World Cup without a Nobby Styles. It's not about being as good as Morgan - there aren't many in this division with his grace - but it's about offering something different. He protects and spoils and does get himself forward
I think today Deano and Cork showed the type of partnership that they had at the start of the season, when Morgan was kept out of the side. Deano was my MOTM simply because without his break up play and brilliant tackles we wouldn't have had as much of the ball and Palace would have begun to tire us out. Top Player!
Hammond is reliable...there are always games or moments in the season where a Mr Reliable is what you need.
It's not a disaster if Morgan is out for the remaining 4 games. However, we will need him for the start of next season (making the assumption we will be in the PL). He's the sort of player who will be suited to the PL. So, as long as Morgan's injury isn't long term we'll be fine.
