Dunno what fans of other clubs think of this guy, quite obviously I've got no time for him. He came to us from Swansea having won Championship player of the year. A product of the Barca academy he seemed like exactly the sort of cultured, intelligent ball player who would excite a Wigan team more used to the effective but uninspiring (and soulless) football of Steve Bruce. Certainly he was a player I was looking forward to seeing. His first season with us I think most of us felt like he needed time to settle in the Prem - and possibly to raise his fitness, speed and strength to a PL level. By the second season though it was becoming increasingly apparent that he was out of his depth. Too slow on the ball he was most often caught in possession. When he had time on the ball he seemed to need more thinking time than was available, so everything he tried to do looked telegraphed. Rather than playing between the lines and feeding lilttle balls to strikers he started drifting deeper and deeper looking for time - but also it seemed like he wanted to avoid making mistakes by just avoiding the ball. There was no tackling or tracking back in his game - but that's fine, that's not what he was boughht to do. But there was very little energy, so he was seldom available. His team mates began to actively avoid seeking him out - and we often looked like we had ten players on the pitch. During the second season with us in particular the fans really began to get on his back, booing his name on the team announcements, booing him on and off as a sub. For the second season in a row, once we stopped playing him our results improved and we got out of trouble. I remember thinking towards the end of the second season that his time with us would surely be short. Instead, he became a first team regular in his third season and - amazingly - was given a contract extension. Bobby started calling him the "bravest" player at the club. The barracking was pretty much incessant and despite a couple of bundled in goals against Chelsea and Liverpool it didn't stop. We couldn't have had a clearer message than in the game against Norwich when Gomez was subbed for Maloney and the team was transformed. We only managed a draw that day but it started our incredible run in - in which Gomez didn't feature (bar the game against Arsenal where, infuriatingly, he made the first and scored / bundled in the second!). The message could not have been more clear - Bobby changed the formation to 3-4-3 and with Maloney pulling the strings we were unstoppable. But don't forget 3-4-3 was one of the many formations we had tried and failed to incorporate Gomez - and had then abandoned. So surely Gomez would be surplus to requirements? Not a bit of it. Roll on this season and while Bobby can clearly see that Gomez isn't up to standard, he does see that he has put in some good performances for us against lower league opposition - so perhaps he can still do a shift for us in "winnable" games this season? Nope. In every game that Gomez has started this time out we've lost, except for Reading (where he scored his hat trick) and QPR, where we got a draw. We've lost a lot of points in winnable games because our manager is stubbornly trying to prove a point - after four seasons. And of course this causes bad blood between fans - those who - admirably - believe that you just never barrack a player at your club. And those, like me, who simply can't understand why he continues to get a run out ever in the first team. We had Bosselli at our club, our record buy. He has had less than a dozen first team starts, most of those in cup competitions. Gomez has had 80+ games for the club. What the diffrence? Because no-one can tell me that Gomez's contribution merits that number of starts. I could go on and on - I already have. I'm nervous because, come Saturday we need three points against Southampton and I have an uneasy feeling that Gomez wil play - and we won't get the points.
1-0 up and we bring on Gomez and end up 2-1 down. But it'll be a coincidence that. On twitter people were saying "but McCarthy was poor, gave the ball away a lot". MCarthy had a poor game - but he contributed tackles and interceptions, completed passes and had shots. Our complainst about some players performances will be based on a poor net contribution - made too many mistakes versus the good things they contributed. Gomez contributes nothing. No decent passes, no decent runs, no decent crosses - nothing. He's simply an empty shirt. We ended up playing with ten men at a point where Southapmpton were battering us and we needed shoring up, not weakening.
Dug this up - I've watched Gomez's goal against Everton dozens of times, it doesn't get any worse. Wonderful. And his pass for Kone to score against Norwich was beautiful. While I'd rather we didn't play him against QPR on Sunday, simply because I think his lack of mobility and physicality will really count against him, I am pleased that he is producing match-changing moments now. If he can come on and play one decent ball, I'll be happy. Is it still churlish to say - shame we had to wait four years..
I've said good and bad things about Gomez but there is one thing you can say about the man he is a game changer that's why Bobby M. Keeps the faith with him. Or is it because he's a fellow spaniard.
