‘ Lee Tomlin ‘

The Cardiff City player who had his best game in a Bluebirds shirt and the screaming moment which speaks volumes



By Glen Williams

Monday 9th December 2019


Lee Tomlin grabbed all the headlines after his late winner for the Bluebirds downed Barnsley, but another Cardiff City star has rightly earned praise among supporters



While Lee Tomlin will rightly grab all the headlines for his stunning, dramatic late winner against Barnsley , another Cardiff City star turned out an invaluable performance.

For, until the 94th minute, Aden Flint was arguably the best player in a Cardiff shirt.

He was a bulldozer inside his own box and more than a handful down the other end of the field.

Towards the end of Neil Warnock's rein as Bluebirds manager, Flint had become something of a lightning rod for fans' frustrations, with many believing his performances to be symptomatic of the cumbersome football the Bluebirds were churning out.

Following the 2-2 draw with Charlton Athletic, in which City's defence looked far too disorganised, the £6m centre back came in for a lot of flak - including from this website .

However, since that game, he has been the cornerstone of City's vastly improved backline.

He was superb in the 1-0 win over Stoke City and just as good in the brilliant away win at Nottingham Forest a week ago.

But City boss Neil Harris believes his display against Barnsley was arguably his best in a Bluebirds shirt and you would be hard pressed to find many who disagree with that assessment.

"It’s not just about the lads who played today," Harris said after the match.

"It’s not just about Lee Tomlin, who scored the winning goal, or Aden Flint, who was a rock and gave one of his best performances in a Cardiff shirt.

"It’s about the whole group."



One of the biggest gripes among Cardiff City fans, however, is that this is what they had expected from him all along.

Having signed for a relatively princely fee, supporters wanted bone-crunching challenges, interceptions preceding marauding runs up the pitch and dominant aerial displays in both boxes. Flint offered all that against Barnsley.

Let's rewind to the start of the season. The towering, 6ft 5in defender's performance in the first home win over Luton Town, which included a goal and a commanding defensive display, prompted much praise among many sections of the fanbase.

And, yes, some supporters are still hugely disappointed by Bruno Manga's exit this summer and will always compare him to Flint.

But we have just seen the tide turn a little in recent weeks, with the relationship between him and Curtis Nelson blossoming.

And City need him to be at his best, consistently, moving forward. They need his leadership and his experience.

When the game was locked at 2-2 yesterday, with the Bluebirds desperately chasing a winner late on, he turned around and screamed in frustration at Neil Etheridge after another errant kick from the goalkeeper - very few players on that pitch would have done that.

When Cardiff bought Flint, they expected leadership, experience, dominance in the air and goals. He gave them all that against Barnsley and will need to do so again this week as unenviable trips to Brentford and Leeds United loom.

He is much improved and certainly played well the last few games. But I don't think many of us actually doubted he's a decent defender, we were more concerned that the partnership of him and Morrison/Bamba was never going to work because of the lack of pace and ability on the ball. I could never work out why Warnock thought that it would work.

It's no coincidence, in my opinion, that Flint is much improved since Nelson got in. He provides the pace and ability on the ball that we were missing, and the other defenders know that they can now attack the ball/opposition knowing that Nelson will cover.

Nelson isn't the finished article and sometimes gets caught out, but that's happening less and less as the games go on.

I still think Morrison will be back in the first XI shortly but Nelson will be his partner this time.

Lee Tomlin’s on Saturday showed why NW didn’t have a lot of faith in him but for me, it’s why he should be in the team. He was in and out of the game for long periods, but his pass to Danny Ward was brilliant and then he finishes the game off ,with a fantastic strike ,which some lesser players, would have put in row Z. Sometimes, his speed of thought, is too quick for the mere mortals in the team alongside him.

I was watching the Man U game, and first half there wingers sit inside, kind alike 3 AMCs, when they get the ball and move forward then they start to spread wide.

I was thinking, im agine we did that and we had Tomlin on the ball giving him 3 options to pass to.

I think alot of the time our wingers are so wide its hard for him to do much, Ward come on moving in the channels gets more out of Tomlin for sure,

He is much improved and certainly played well the last few games. But I don't think many of us actually doubted he's a decent defender, we were more concerned that the partnership of him and Morrison/Bamba was never going to work because of the lack of pace and ability on the ball. I could never work out why Warnock thought that it would work.

It's no coincidence, in my opinion, that Flint is much improved since Nelson got in. He provides the pace and ability on the ball that we were missing, and the other defenders know that they can now attack the ball/opposition knowing that Nelson will cover.

Nelson isn't the finished article and sometimes gets caught out, but that's happening less and less as the games go on.

I still think Morrison will be back in the first XI shortly but Nelson will be his partner this time.

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He is much improved and certainly played well the last few games. But I don't think many of us actually doubted he's a decent defender, we were more concerned that the partnership of him and Morrison/Bamba was never going to work because of the lack of pace and ability on the ball. I could never work out why Warnock thought that it would work.

It's no coincidence, in my opinion, that Flint is much improved since Nelson got in. He provides the pace and ability on the ball that we were missing, and the other defenders know that they can now attack the ball/opposition knowing that Nelson will cover.

Nelson isn't the finished article and sometimes gets caught out, but that's happening less and less as the games go on.

I still think Morrison will be back in the first XI shortly but Nelson will be his partner this time.

????????????????

I was wondering if I’d missed something!!

Some interesting stats i picked up on regards our strikers and a comparison to midfielder Lee Tomlin.........

Danny Ward age 27 - Career goals to date - 59
Robert Glatzel age 25 - Career goals to date - 62
Omar Bogle age 27 - Career goals to date - 66
Gary Madine age 29 - Career goals to date - 74

All much of a muchness you would probably think, and you would be right.
But just look at the following........

Lee Tomlin age 30 - Career goals to date - 109

And that's from a midfielder !
But it shows just how difficult it is for Neil Harris to pick a striker each game.