This weekend James Tomkins was given his first start for West Ham in the Premier League since April 2013 versus Southampton. He’s perhaps shown Sam Allardyce in training that he deserves a chance, but more likely was that James Collins had played 180 minutes of football in the previous week compared to 90 from Tomkins and Winston Reid. So although he was only given a chance because of the rest of Collins, did he do enough to hold on to the starting place?
He made more tackles than any other West Ham player (5) and was tied with Tom Huddlestone for the most tackles from both teams. His overall game was pretty good and if it wasn’t for a soft penalty, he may have had a clean sheet to his name.
Despite this good performance I would stick with the cliché “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it”. West Ham have the sixth best defensive record in the Premier League, and although we’ve not yet faced the most dangerous sides in the league, we are still proving a good defensive side and rarely undone from open play.
James Collins does come under some criticism but he does the majority of the workload very well. He does make relatively more mistakes than other defenders in the squad, but it’s still not very often. Sometimes I feel he likes a last ditch sliding block and can be caught out by a dummy but rarely does the attacking player benefit from this committing slide.
If James Collins or Winston Reid were to show a consistant dip in form then I would be happy with our back-up in the shape of James Tomkins but I feel that if the 2 centre-halves, who are favoured by Big Sam, continue their fine form and good defensive record, then there is no need for change.
Your conclusion is absolutely correct but the reasoning is flawed . Tomkins is no where near Reid’s class , and never will be , and he makes far more mistakes than Collins . Sam has got this one right . It is Maiga and Noble that he needs to look at .
You seem to be forgetting that Collins is on the way down in his career and Tomkins is on the way up, for now I think Col-Reid is the best option but somewhere along the line maybe not this season there will be a cross over point where Tomkins will succeed Collins.
As for ‘no where Reid’s class” do you not remember the championship season? I thought they were a solid pair for the season. And when Reid arrived people were far from impressed.
SO much of ‘how good a player is’ is playing regularly getting used to the PL, the other teams and other players, playing in your preferred position etc.
I think Tomkins will be a great with Reid along side. I think Reid does the Collins role better, rushing out with a bit of pace making the pressure tackle, where Tonks sits back picks a better pass.
Sam please just stick vaz te up front for a game at least he’ll work harder than maiga and maybe win a header or two and we need joe cole and downing back asap
leave collins in defense and try tomkins up front
I have always said Tomkins is and will be a better player than Collins , he will be an England captain within 3-4 yrs he is young with a great future in front of him . Forever a Mighty Hammer
Too many Fosters …Aussie john ? Couldn’t captain a rowing boat on the River Lea.