I worked at Cedars for a summer, before Gomes arrived but I still occasionally talk to the guys there and stuff. They can't speak highly enough of Gomes and have said countlessly what a lovely man he is and how great he is with the children. I think he even goes to the Trust stuff that he's not contractually obliged to. He's a legend.
Rostron was suspended for the final after being sent off against the scum. So Price had to play. Pat Rice had all but retired and David Bardsley who was a fantastic attacking right back was first choice. The other choices were Charlie Palmer, Allan Paris or a very young Nigel Gibbs. Apart from the enforced change of Price for Rostron, GT played his strongest team...the only tinkering which would have made sense would be having Lee Sinnott at left back and Paul Franklin at CB. Steve Simms was listed as a Watford player in 84 but can't remember if he was injured or had been sold to Notts County by then.
Steve Sims was still at WFC as I remember seeing him walk round the pitch with the other non playing players in his track suit. Whether he was injured or not I 'm not sure!
I am sure I saw one of those BT sport Premier League biographies of GT and he said he regretted not playing Pat Rice because he realised his experience would balance the loss. Of captain Rostron. Maybe wrong. We need an internet search to confirm
So QSF makes the same mistake that GT made in 1987. He follows up a fine away win at Arsenal by playing a weaker keeper in goal who is then partly at fault for our defeat. QSF probably isnt even aware of their 1987 clash with spurs in the semi final. So he picks Pants instead of Gomes in our biggest game of the season.
I said before the game that there shouldn't have been any room for sentiment when it came to the goalkeeping selection and I most certainly still stand by that now that the dust has settled. Harsh as it may have been on Pants, Gomes has been our best player this season and, regardless of the situation and who it may upset, you simply don't leave out your best player in a f**king FA Cup semi-final. I genuinely think neither of Palace's goals would have happened had Gomes been between the sticks.
Not playing the player of the season in the biggest match is a ****ing ridiculous move- and yes, it did come back to bite us. I'd have fancied Gomes to stop both those Palace goals. We didn't deserve it though, but couldda sneaked an unfair 1-0 passage to the final with Gomes playing.
I Wouldnt have. There is no way either of those goals were down to keeper faults and neither would Gomes have saved them.
I think Wickham's was moving slowly enough for Gomes to get a long arm to it. That's pretty much his trademark save. Dropping Gomes irritated me more than anything else on Sunday. It just seemed so arrogant. Teams like Man City have 'cup' goalkeepers because they're balancing a title push with domestic and European cups. Who decided we were so great we could put out a second choice goalkeeper? This game was the pinnacle of our season. With nothing else to play for, our absolute best team should have been out there. Why on earth couldn't Pantilimon have played a few Premier League games to make up for it, seeing as they've meant **** all for weeks? Baffles me.
i presume they wont even bother offering alternatives for Player iof the Season - It would simply embarass tghe other participants - It should be a complet walk over. Gomes has simply been the best signing so far of the Pozzo era
I agree. As soon as he flapped at the first corner after two minutes, I thought we'd be in trouble. If you look at his starting position for the first goal, he was almost standing on the back post. Then he has to run towards the front when the ball's flicked on and can't get back for the goal. No idea why he didn't stand in the middle of the goal when the kick came in and he could have taken a couple of steps back and caught the ball. Also, why have no people on the posts against the team that have scored the highest number of goals from corners this season (I accept that's probably not his call)? I also thought he took a very long time to get down to Wickham's header and he got very lucky in the first half when he punched the ball to the penalty spot. Gomes' presence gives the defence confidence, I'm not sure Pantilimon has the same effect.
I'm fine with Pants, think we've got an incredibly strong 1 and 2 in the goalkeeping department. Not even Leicester have the same quality we've got.
I'm pretty sure if we would have be been 2-1 up with 10 mins to go and Palace were lumping balls into the box i'd of much rather Pants in goal. It was not Pantys fault Ake didnt jump and noone marked Bolaise.
In complete agreement - was very frustrated to see Pants in the team sheet when I arrived at Wembley. And that's nothing against him as I think he is an excellent keeper - but you could tell the defence didn't trust him as much as they weren't used to playing with him. He didn't do badly but Gomes has an assurance about him that just maybe might put attackers into a slight doubt. He's been our player of the season and as mentioned above was extremely foolhardy to think it was acceptable to leave him out for the biggest game of the season.
In hindsight, perhaps it would have been better to play Gomes last weekend, but the simple fact is that we were not nearly good enough and it would have been a bit of a travesty had we beaten Palace.
We'll never know how the game would have panned out if we'd hadn't conceded early on, but even though Palace did have the upper hand with Gomes we might have weathered the storm as we've managed in a number of away games and had the confidence to take the game to them much earlier. As it was, heads went down after Bolasie's goal and we never really got going until after half time.
anyone who thinks gomes would have saved either goal is mentally ill, mate. And honestly, I hate it when keepers win MOTM or player of the season. They require far less skill and fitness than an outfield player. The position is a complete joke compared with an outfield role. Hence why all the fat **** kids went in goal. Yes he's a lovely bloke and yes he's a brilliant keeper, but it just seems daft to compare goalies with proper footballers.
Its centre forwards who are not proper footballers, cant cross the ball (hence in the middle of the park waiting for someone to do something), cant take corners, throw ins, cant tackle properly, save (or often score from) penalties. Many are barely able to pass the ball to a team mate. Many cant even score a goal in 90 minutes. Hence why all the useless kids used to goal hang two feet from the goal.
Pretty sure every thread Relegation Certs contributes to results in him accusing someone of being 'mentally ill, mate'.
of course goalkeepers change games and are therefore match winners. Bonetti instead of Banks vs West Germany world cup quarter final in 1970. Without David De Gea United would be mid table. Anyone who says Gomes would have no chance with Palace's second goal needs to watch Gomes's save vs Chelsea in the last minute again. His reach isnt as long as Pants but he would have got down quicker and into a better position to make the save. The point is Gomes should have played if we wanted to maximise our opportunity of winning the biggest game of the season.
Gomes saved two penalties against West Brom. Huzzah Gomes lets in two penalties days later against West Ham. Not great but Huzzah all the same You idiots that think Pants cost us the game, that Gomes would have saved not one but both Palace's goals? Reids, serial killer he may be does at least know his football. Nath is as thick as he imagines his biceps to be. It was the right choice to put Pants in goal.
We lost because the entire team was crap, not because of who was in goal. Gomes would have made zero difference.
I couldn't agree more. Ultimately it didn't matter because we were ****..but I'll never understand not playing our most important players in our most important games.
No more than to say a goalie can never have a season of performances across 38 games to make them the best performer of the 11 members of the team.
