Wales - World Cup Playoffs - June
- Thread starter Yankee_Jack
- Start date
Yankee_Jack
Key Player
Inoussa ... left foot, right foot, head ... just about the complete package. If he's smart and physical enough then he's an automatic starter.
Ginnelly ... shown glimpses of promise but stuttered on his return from injury.
Ginnelly ... shown glimpses of promise but stuttered on his return from injury.
Here's some stuff I saw online about Sorba. His ability is known (as is his character flaw) so why didn't we hear anything about us at least talking to him? Our recruitment department might have had good reason to dodge him but, if they didn't, they need a resounding kick up the arse!
Neil Warnock
Warnock said while he was Huddersfield manager: “They just told me they’ve interviewed Sorba Thomas and he looks happy. I said ‘I hope you took a picture, I've never seen him happy before’ - but he did!”
He added: "Sorba, as everyone probably knows, is not a complicated lad, but it's easy to fall out with him, I'd imagine. That's the way of putting it... He could fall out with someone in an empty room, (but) we are all ready for him.
"But I like him as a lad and think he's got tremendous ability. I think he's wasted that a little bit, if I am honest. I think he could have done more in the last 12 or 18 months.
"I did try to sign him from Boreham Wood before when Huddersfield signed him, so he knows I have rated him before.”
Jobi McAnuff
The Sky Sports pundit said: “His quality of delivery on the run, which is a tough skill, is absolutely outstanding. He picks the right crosses nine times out of 10. He gives those forwards something to go at.”
The Huddersfield press
The Examiner’s David Hartrick, now an Opta analyst, wrote as Huddersfield battled for promotion to the Premier League: “Sorba Thomas arrived in January 2021 from Boreham Wood and spent the early part of his Terriers career learning to be a professional footballer. By the summer he was ready to show them more than that and after an excellent pre-season he was given a chance to shine in the first team. It’s fair to say at this point he took it.
“Fourteen assists in all competitions, three goals, and nearly 4,000 minutes of football played through the season, Thomas became Town’s go-to man in tight games, open games, and everything in between.”
Steven Chicken also wrote that season: “A player of the month award for August and two full caps for Wales were Thomas’ reward for a scintillating start to the season. His incredible performance against Reading, featuring two assists and a goal, led us to award him the first 10/10 player rating we have given since 2004. For a spell he was perhaps the most dangerous player in the division, with his set piece deliveries in particular causing problems for opposition players.”
Michael Hefele
Former Huddersfield teammate Hefele, now coaching in Saudi Arabia, said: “He puts so much energy into the game. He shows that he wants to win and that’s the difference. If you have a player in the squad that makes the runs, they either receive the ball or they open up the gaps which is just fantastic.”
Michael Duff
Duff was Huddersfield manager as Thomas moved on to Nantes last summer, saying: “Sorba’s attitude has been first class in the time I’ve spent with him, and even with rumours swirling around his future, he’s trained well and worked hard to improve. I can’t ask anything more than that as a head coach, especially as we knew the likelihood of him moving on this summer.”
Mark Cartwright
The former Stoke technical director had the same role at Huddersfield and said when Thomas moved to Nantes: “Sorba has been misunderstood in the past, there’s an idea of him that’s prevalent, which isn’t a fair reflection of who he is. By giving him the opportunity to play in a top-five league in the world abroad, he has the chance to explore a new challenge, to concentrate on his game and remind people of what he’s capable of on the pitch.
“Having signed a long-term deal with the club, he still has several years remaining on his contract with us. While we have worked with him to find a move this summer knowing it was in our collective best interests, having seen him improve so much since joining us and become an international footballer, we continue to value him extremely highly.”
So there we have it - a potted history of Sorba and, in my opinion along with many other informed judges, the good seems to far outweigh the bad. Just take a look at what I've highlighted. Aren't those attributes exactly what we need? What ANY club needs? Certainly Mark Robbins is an experienced and capable manager and knows talent when he sees it. Seems our lot haven't got a fucking clue if their silence is any indication. But there we go. I've always maintained that the average person in football has the intelligence of a breeze block. It might be that we've got more than our fair share of that particular building material at the Liberty. I'm just hoping that I'm wrong, that we did try but couldn't swing the deal. But if we didn't even try.......
Yankee_Jack
Key Player
Line-up v Belgium -- setup shift to 3+2 = 5-4-1. Spur's Johnson leads the line
1: K. Darlow
6: J. Rodon
5: E. Ampadu
2: C. Mepham
4: B. Davies (c), Captain
14: C. Roberts
19: S. Thomas
8: H. Wilson
17: J. James
7: D. Brooks
11: B. Johnson
Cabango and Cullen on the bench. Cooper in the stands.
1: K. Darlow
6: J. Rodon
5: E. Ampadu
2: C. Mepham
4: B. Davies (c), Captain
14: C. Roberts
19: S. Thomas
8: H. Wilson
17: J. James
7: D. Brooks
11: B. Johnson
Cabango and Cullen on the bench. Cooper in the stands.
Yankee_Jack
Key Player
... we fell asleep at the most vital moment. What a tragic shame.
The Blobster
Prediction Champ
Should not have been a corner , clear goal kick , where was var when we needed it!
Brilliant fightback and we deserved a draw from that.
Absolutely RIGHT!! I've played it back several times to be sure and it WAS a goal kick and NOT a corner. Belgium scored from a clearance following a corner that should NEVER have been given. Cheated yet again by officials and VAR. And I do mean cheated. It's happened far too often to be deemed otherwise for me. And don't insult my intelligence by telling me that cheating doesn't go on in football. It's been proven many times that it does.
Just have to add how everyone, by which I mean the commentators, presenter, pundits Nathan Blake and Joe Ledley ALL praised Sorba Thomas to the hilt. His was an all out display attacking down both wings, defending at right back position and scoring a goal as well as providing a beautiful assist. A great performance. I hope the donkeys at the Liberty were watching and cringing.
Interesting stats that endorse what we saw in that mostly we gave as good as we got:
POSSESSION: 46-54 SHOTS: 18-12 OT: 4-8 BOX TOUCHES: 41-20 KEEPER SAVES: 5-0 BLOCKED: 8-3 PASSES: 401-470 FORWARD: 114-116 CROSSES: 11-23 TOUCHES: 567-637 DISPOSSESSED: 16-4 CORNERS: 7-5 FOULS: 13-9 TACKLES WON: 0-11 GOALS: 4-3
Apart from box touches those are pretty good stats for us particularly given we were blitzed in the first 30 minutes before we found our feet. A careful look at the above figures will show that overall we played a very decent game and had we had Dan James and his pace with us, Belgium would have had some serious problems to try and deal with.
I really like Bellamy and what he's doing but, tbh, I thought he missed a trick at the end when we needed to load their box with Moore up there creating chaos and confusion for others to feed off. As it was their keeper already had to make 5 saves to keep us out but he looked unsure under the high cross one of which led to our penalty.
As Sorba Thomas said in his post match interview, "I can't wait to get them back to Cardiff". Don't think Belgium fancy the prospect one bit.
POSSESSION: 46-54 SHOTS: 18-12 OT: 4-8 BOX TOUCHES: 41-20 KEEPER SAVES: 5-0 BLOCKED: 8-3 PASSES: 401-470 FORWARD: 114-116 CROSSES: 11-23 TOUCHES: 567-637 DISPOSSESSED: 16-4 CORNERS: 7-5 FOULS: 13-9 TACKLES WON: 0-11 GOALS: 4-3
Apart from box touches those are pretty good stats for us particularly given we were blitzed in the first 30 minutes before we found our feet. A careful look at the above figures will show that overall we played a very decent game and had we had Dan James and his pace with us, Belgium would have had some serious problems to try and deal with.
I really like Bellamy and what he's doing but, tbh, I thought he missed a trick at the end when we needed to load their box with Moore up there creating chaos and confusion for others to feed off. As it was their keeper already had to make 5 saves to keep us out but he looked unsure under the high cross one of which led to our penalty.
As Sorba Thomas said in his post match interview, "I can't wait to get them back to Cardiff". Don't think Belgium fancy the prospect one bit.
Totally agree. Connor Roberts was still angry about a goal kick not being awarded but switched off and failed to mark his man when the 'corner' clearance was fired to KDB at the far post. Great finish but I doubt he'd have made it had he been under proper pressure. I like Connor but I'm afraid he does have too many bad moments in games.