HOW TO SOLVE THE LEE TOMLIN ENIGMA?

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HOW TO SOLVE THE LEE TOMLIN ENIGMA?

Postby Sven » Wed Dec 13, 2017 11:42 am

How to solve the Lee Tomlin enigma?


Wednesday 13th December 2017


By Dominic Booth


The big questions that remain over the player Cardiff City fans dub 'the magic man'

Lee Tomlin's cameo in the 2-2 draw with Reading showed what he can offer to Neil Warnock's team


That it took Cardiff City until the 79th minute to introduce Lee Tomlin against Reading was alarming in itself.

Despite the love Bluebirds fans clearly have for the enigmatic No.10 — and there was lots of it after his stoppage time equaliser at the Madejski on Monday night — there is clearly a problem here.

From a possible 1,890 league minutes this season, Tomlin has played just 320. He is yet to complete 90 minutes in the league for Cardiff, despite arriving in the summer as Neil Warnock's marquee signing.

So while Cardiff fans can bask in the warm glow of a Tomlin-inspired comeback against Reading, there are some serious questions to answer on why the talented attacking midfielder hasn't featured more prominently.

There is no doubting Tomlin's talent and ability to change a game in Cardiff's favour. So why has he been used so sparingly?


Is it simply a question of match fitness?

Tomlin has had his problems this term, which have hampered his progress on the pitch.

There was the court case that hung over him for months at the start of the season. Warnock admitted it had disrupted Tomlin's training routine, with journeys up to Leicester Magistrates Court for various hearings.

But after verdict was delivered — with Tomlin ordered to complete 80 hours' community service — his schedule looked be back on track. Yet Warnock has not been compelled to start his playmaker on a single occasion since the legal proceedings were wrapped up on November 3.

In fact, whenever he's been given a chance on the pitch, he's made a difference: coming on at half-time to play a pivotal role against Norwich; that 11-minute cameo at the Madejski Stadium on Monday; even when he started the games against Burton Albion, Sheffield United and Ipswich his talents looks unrivalled.

Behind closed doors Warnock clearly needs to see more.


Does it simply take Warnock to change his mind?

"Everybody's got opinions, haven't they? I think Tomlin knows my views on him and he's working hard to get into my thoughts on a regular basis."

That was Warnock's latest answer to the Tomlin question, which keeps cropping up in press conferences.

You can't really argue with a manager who has led his team to second in the table, defying all pundits' predictions in the process. But if there's one blemish on Warnock's record this season, it's his reticence to fit Tomlin in his team.


Why?

Well, Warnock's reasoning has invariably been that 'you don't change a winning team' — there's logic in that.

Yet with the likes of Craig Bryson and Loic Damour (not natural No.10s) getting picked ahead of Tomlin, many have scratched their heads. Some games, perhaps this weekend's against struggling Hull City, require Tomlin's creativity. The home clashes with Derby and Millwall certainly needed him from the start, but we only saw the former Bristol City man for 37 minutes across the two games.

Warnock's comments last Friday show he does perhaps have faith in Tomlin, if that fitness issue can be resolved.

“Lee know he’s a matchwinner for us, but we’ve got to try and hope he can eventually start a game rather than just be a substitute. He has to work very hard at his fitness which he doesn’t find easy.

"He is working very hard and we need him."


It seems the ball is in Tomlin's court. Warnock is not blind to his talents.


How much impact will the fans have?

Fans have made their opinions clear on Tomlin.

For them, he's a lovable maverick. Some have even compared him to Bluebirds legend Craig Bellamy in reference to the kind of unconventional genius he brings to the team.

Before Tomlin was signed in the summer, there were grave doubts over Cardiff's lack of creativity. Peter Whittingham's departure left a chasm in the Bluebirds midfield that many were mightily relieved to see filled by a player of Tomlin's calibre.

And while you wouldn't Cardiff's gameplan isn't based around a tricky No.10, and that they don't play the possession-orientated football which suits Tomlin, the way he's linked up with Omar Bogle on occasion this season shows he can adapt to the Warnock Way. Even a counter-attacking team needs a pivot through which to play.

Tomlin's audacious pieces of skill and eye-catching passes make him a supporter's dream. If he can regularly adapt to Cardiff's style of play, he might find a more consistent place in the side — and fans could get their wish.


So, will Tomlin become a regular starter?

Lee Tomlin has spent most of his time on the Cardiff City bench and based on Warnock's recent comments and Cardiff's form without Tomlin, it's difficult to see the status quo changing soon. Damour and Bryson have proven excellent acquisitions and it can be argued the Bluebirds play best with three more withdrawn central players. Joe Ralls and Aron Gunnarsson always start if fit.

So Tomlin must wait for Cardiff to suffer a rough patch of form or — like he did against Reading and Norwich — make such an impact from the bench that it becomes impossible for Warnock to exclude him. There's also the question of fitness and clearly he must keep putting in the hard yards in training.

Tomlin is such a joy to watch, it would be a shame if his Cardiff career was limited to cameo appearances. He's box office and he has the ability to fire the Bluebirds to the Premier League.
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HOW TO SOLVE THE LEE TOMLIN ENIGMA?

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Re: HOW TO SOLVE THE LEE TOMLIN ENIGMA?

Postby paulh_85 » Wed Dec 13, 2017 11:44 am

even in the photo of him signing he doesnt look as fat as he does now. Hes always been a big player, but now he doesnt look stocky he looks overweight.

in answer to the question you cant solve it, only he can put the work in and he doesnt seem willing to
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Re: HOW TO SOLVE THE LEE TOMLIN ENIGMA?

Postby Forever Blue » Wed Dec 13, 2017 11:47 am

paulh_85 wrote:even in the photo of him signing he doesnt look as fat as he does now. Hes always been a big player, but now he doesnt look stocky he looks overweight.

in answer to the question you cant solve it, only he can put the work in and he doesnt seem willing to


Always negative Paulh.

The other night on the match thread, other posters were questioning why your always so negative.
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Re: HOW TO SOLVE THE LEE TOMLIN ENIGMA?

Postby paulh_85 » Wed Dec 13, 2017 11:49 am

Forever Blue wrote:
paulh_85 wrote:even in the photo of him signing he doesnt look as fat as he does now. Hes always been a big player, but now he doesnt look stocky he looks overweight.

in answer to the question you cant solve it, only he can put the work in and he doesnt seem willing to


Always negative Paulh.

The other night on the match thread, other posters were questioning why your always so negative.




Oh right. What do you want me to say?

Tomlin is 28 and has been unfit his whole career. Assuming he will change is wishful thinking



why not answer the post and not the poster annis? what have i said here thats wrong in your opinion?
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Re: HOW TO SOLVE THE LEE TOMLIN ENIGMA?

Postby Forever Blue » Wed Dec 13, 2017 11:53 am

paulh_85 wrote:
Forever Blue wrote:
paulh_85 wrote:even in the photo of him signing he doesnt look as fat as he does now. Hes always been a big player, but now he doesnt look stocky he looks overweight.

in answer to the question you cant solve it, only he can put the work in and he doesnt seem willing to


Always negative Paulh.

The other night on the match thread, other posters were questioning why your always so negative.




Oh right. What do you want me to say?

Tomlin is 28 and has been unfit his whole career. Assuming he will change is wishful thinking



why not answer the post and not the poster annis? what have i said here thats wrong in your opinion?


Paulh, Lee Tomlin, is a quality player and has shown glimpses of that, the lad needs support,not negativity :thumbright: :thumbright:
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Re: HOW TO SOLVE THE LEE TOMLIN ENIGMA?

Postby paulh_85 » Wed Dec 13, 2017 11:55 am

absolutely the best footballer we have at the club, no question about that.

the question from sven was how do you solve his issues, and you cant. Warnock cant and the coaching staff cant. he has to do it himself and history has proven that hes unwilling to do so. the best we can hope for is that he works a little bit harder for the rest of the season to enable him to play a little bit longer than 15 minutes.

but the idea we will see consistent, productive 90 minutes from him this season is a pipe dream
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Re: HOW TO SOLVE THE LEE TOMLIN ENIGMA?

Postby Forever Blue » Wed Dec 13, 2017 12:02 pm

paulh_85 wrote:absolutely the best footballer we have at the club, no question about that.

the question from sven was how do you solve his issues, and you cant. Warnock cant and the coaching staff cant. he has to do it himself and history has proven that hes unwilling to do so. the best we can hope for is that he works a little bit harder for the rest of the season to enable him to play a little bit longer than 15 minutes.

but the idea we will see consistent, productive 90 minutes from him this season is a pipe dream


History I agree has shown :thumbright: , but thats what Warnock is good at getting the best out of players, where other managers have failed :thumbright: :thumbright:
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Re: HOW TO SOLVE THE LEE TOMLIN ENIGMA?

Postby CaerphillyBluebird15 » Wed Dec 13, 2017 12:12 pm

Forever Blue wrote:
paulh_85 wrote:absolutely the best footballer we have at the club, no question about that.

the question from sven was how do you solve his issues, and you cant. Warnock cant and the coaching staff cant. he has to do it himself and history has proven that hes unwilling to do so. the best we can hope for is that he works a little bit harder for the rest of the season to enable him to play a little bit longer than 15 minutes.

but the idea we will see consistent, productive 90 minutes from him this season is a pipe dream


History I agree has shown :thumbright: , but thats what Warnock is good at getting the best out of players, where other managers have failed :thumbright: :thumbright:


Who cares if he's only playing 10 - 15 minutes here and there.
If he comes on and gets and assist or a goal then I'm happy.
I'd rather him play for this time and bust a gut instead of walking around the centre circle for 65 - 70 minutes.
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Re: HOW TO SOLVE THE LEE TOMLIN ENIGMA?

Postby ccfcsince1962 » Wed Dec 13, 2017 12:23 pm

A couple of things strike me as a bit odd in this Echo article.

1. I don't know of any fan who has called Tomlin the "magic man"

2. I also don`t know of anyone who has likened him to Craig Bellamy.


Tomiln obviously needs to get himself fitter , a problem that has tended to dog his career to date , if he wants to contribute to the team on a more consistent basis. Only he can do that ,with the support of the fitness and conditioning team at the club.
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Re: HOW TO SOLVE THE LEE TOMLIN ENIGMA?

Postby maccydee » Wed Dec 13, 2017 12:25 pm

Why did he buy him then? Weird one.
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Re: HOW TO SOLVE THE LEE TOMLIN ENIGMA?

Postby Bananas » Wed Dec 13, 2017 12:50 pm

He's going to come good for us. :old:
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Re: HOW TO SOLVE THE LEE TOMLIN ENIGMA?

Postby Forever Blue » Wed Dec 13, 2017 1:08 pm

Bananas wrote:He's going to come good for us. :old:


Thats what I believe and Warnock does :thumbright: :thumbright: :bluebird: :bluebird:
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Re: HOW TO SOLVE THE LEE TOMLIN ENIGMA?

Postby llan bluebird » Wed Dec 13, 2017 1:10 pm

We are in the championship, all players have shortcomings the trick is to mask them.

Whitts - Technique for the top 6 premier league but extremely low physical attributes slowest skinny footballer i can recall
Gunnar - Mentally and physically premier league low technique can't pass
Morrison - Amazing in the air, strong not snail slow but shocking distribution
Sol - No idea why he didn't play higher maybe consistancy and is getting on
Pelts - Premier league defender no idea in the opposition half in fact a hindrance
Bruno - Fast, technically strong but prone to almighty lapses of concentration
Ralls - Good at everything, not great at anything


Tomlin - Great technique and quality but lacks stamina.

We have a few runners on here can you train to increase stamina beyond your natural level ? He had a preseason but did the court case weigh on his mind and he breaks diets when stressed ?
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Re: HOW TO SOLVE THE LEE TOMLIN ENIGMA?

Postby Forever Blue » Wed Dec 13, 2017 1:12 pm

llan bluebird wrote:We are in the championship, all players have shortcomings the trick is to mask them.

Whitts - Technique for the top 6 premier league but extremely low physical attributes slowest skinny footballer i can recall
Gunnar - Mentally and physically premier league low technique can't pass
Morrison - Amazing in the air, strong not snail slow but shocking distribution
Sol - No idea why he didn't play higher maybe consistancy and is getting on
Pelts - Premier league defender no idea in the opposition half in fact a hindrance
Bruno - Fast, technically strong but prone to almighty lapses of concentration
Ralls - Good at everything, not great at anything


Tomlin - Great technique and quality but lacks stamina.

We have a few runners on here can you train to increase stamina beyond your natural level ? He had a preseason but did the court case weigh on his mind and he breaks diets when stressed ?



Well Said, thats why We have them and other Championship clubs :thumbright:
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Re: HOW TO SOLVE THE LEE TOMLIN ENIGMA?

Postby Bluesman » Wed Dec 13, 2017 1:34 pm

How to solve the enigma - Play him. If it doesn't work sell him. :twisted:
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Re: HOW TO SOLVE THE LEE TOMLIN ENIGMA?

Postby stephendavid » Wed Dec 13, 2017 3:06 pm

Will only get match fit by playing matches!!hope he gets his nut down in training etc now as the guy could be invaluable to us come the next few months
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Re: HOW TO SOLVE THE LEE TOMLIN ENIGMA?

Postby northernbluebird » Wed Dec 13, 2017 3:15 pm

Forever Blue wrote:
paulh_85 wrote:even in the photo of him signing he doesnt look as fat as he does now. Hes always been a big player, but now he doesnt look stocky he looks overweight.

in answer to the question you cant solve it, only he can put the work in and he doesnt seem willing to


Always negative Paulh.

The other night on the match thread, other posters were questioning why your always so negative.


how can you put a positive spin on a player not being fit enough to play 90 minutes?
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Re: HOW TO SOLVE THE LEE TOMLIN ENIGMA?

Postby bluebirdrob » Wed Dec 13, 2017 3:44 pm

The players should be responsible for their own fitness levels,if not up to standard fined by club.
Maybe he spends to much time in car traveling home from training ,if this is true he needs to move closer to club.
All players should live in area of the club to cut down time traveling so they stay fit.
This was a problem at his former club traveling home from Bristol every day. :bluebird:
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Re: HOW TO SOLVE THE LEE TOMLIN ENIGMA?

Postby paulh_85 » Wed Dec 13, 2017 3:46 pm

bluebirdrob wrote:The players should be responsible for their own fitness levels,if not up to standard fined by club.
Maybe he spends to much time in car traveling home from training ,if this is true he needs to move closer to club.
All players should live in area of the club to cut down time traveling so they stay fit.
This was a problem at his former club traveling home from Bristol every day. :bluebird:




too many fruit pastels on the commute :old:
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Re: HOW TO SOLVE THE LEE TOMLIN ENIGMA?

Postby TopCat CCFC » Thu Dec 14, 2017 12:01 am

Just get the guy fit - the lad has a talent .
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Re: HOW TO SOLVE THE LEE TOMLIN ENIGMA?

Postby 1980s Bluebird » Thu Dec 14, 2017 9:32 am

Christmas is coming and we all eat too much then so Tomlin is fecked, did he go to Amsterdam on the piss with rest of players?

If he wants to play 90 then he should be putting his own time in to get fitter simple as that and he can undoubtedly be a game changer for us.
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Re: HOW TO SOLVE THE LEE TOMLIN ENIGMA?

Postby arabellaman » Thu Dec 14, 2017 12:35 pm

Didn't Bellamy say on Sky Sports after the match "you just want to shake him" referring to his fitness - so it really is up to Tomlin where he goes from here I think :|
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Re: HOW TO SOLVE THE LEE TOMLIN ENIGMA?

Postby stephendavid » Thu Dec 14, 2017 12:37 pm

1980s Bluebird wrote:Christmas is coming and we all eat too much then so Tomlin is fecked, did he go to Amsterdam on the piss with rest of players?

If he wants to play 90 then he should be putting his own time in to get fitter simple as that and he can undoubtedly be a game changer for us.

You couldn't have put it any better fella
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Re: HOW TO SOLVE THE LEE TOMLIN ENIGMA?

Postby Steve the Tea TM (c) » Thu Dec 14, 2017 11:26 pm

You solve the Tomlin situation by playing 4-2-3-1 with Tomlin playing in the middle of the 3 when fit.

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Re: HOW TO SOLVE THE LEE TOMLIN ENIGMA?

Postby OriginalGrangeEndBlue » Fri Dec 15, 2017 9:31 am

Steve the Tea TM (c) wrote:You solve the Tomlin situation by playing 4-2-3-1 with Tomlin playing in the middle of the 3 when fit.

StT.
<><


Yes but the problem is not where to play him but getting him fit.
Personally, I think he’s a disgrace regarding his weight and fitness levels. Saying that, I love watching him play and can just imagine how decent he’d be if he was as fit as a professional footballer should be.
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Re: HOW TO SOLVE THE LEE TOMLIN ENIGMA?

Postby 1980s Bluebird » Wed Dec 20, 2017 10:18 am

Get him on the Bobby Sands diet. :thumbup:
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Re: HOW TO SOLVE THE LEE TOMLIN ENIGMA?

Postby blue lagoon » Wed Dec 20, 2017 6:42 pm

Un professional, so bench only for me.
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