HARRIS REVEALS TOMLIN DILEMMA
FOR many Cardiff City supporters, the sight of Lee Tomlin warming the bench in recent weeks has been a frustrating one.
Neil Harris gave the playmaker, who has been City’s best attacking outlet all season, his first start since football reconvened against Derby on Tuesday night.
And it certainly paid off as he picked Wayne Rooney’s pocket and drilled his effort in off the post for what would prove to be the winner.
It was, as we’ve come to expect this season, vintage Lee Tomlin.
But automatically selecting him in the first place was not as simple as it might seem to fans, who are not privy to the setbacks on the training ground, the last-minute selection decisions and the difficult conversations which have taken place between Harris and Tomlin since football restarted.
Tomlin, who sustained a bad knee injury in February, is thought of incredibly highly by the Bluebirds boss and it has been a source of frustration that Harris has not been able to select him from the off until the win over Derby.
For those who have perhaps mooted that Tomlin’s spot on the bench is just a selection decision, Harris firmly put the record straight.
“Maybe I’ve not made myself clear,” Harris began. “Lee Tomlin has not physically been able to start games.
“That’s why he has not started games, not because I’ve gone with a team I wanted to play, or with certain personnel. Lee Tomlin hasn’t been able to start a game yet.
“Tuesday was the first time he was in peak condition, or at a level that he could contribute as long as he did. Even that was a risk, playing him for 67 minutes.
“Me and Lee spoke on Monday and before the game and I couldn’t risk going past the second-half drinks break with him - winning, drawing or losing, he was going to have to come off anyway.
“But was he even going to make the drinks break? Were we going to be able to get him back on after halftime? These are the conundrums I have to deal with as a manager.
“It’s not been a case of Lee having to be patient, no, it’s been about when he is actually physically able to start a game and that will be the same scenario when we go to Middlesbrough.
“We’ve done well tonight, we’ve won the game, but it doesn’t mean it will be the same team on Saturday.”
Harris outlined what appears to be a particularly concerning injury problem for City’s talisman, the player who so often has been the difference for the Bluebirds this season.
The fact the manager had decided he couldn’t risk his most dangerous player past the second drinks break, no matter what the situation of the game was, is evidence this fitness issue is more troublesome than meets the eye.
When pressed on the injury, which Harris has labelled as “complex”, the manager offered a little more insight into what the problem actually appears to be.
“He’s had a couple of injuries from back in February, so we know he’s had that knee issue, but he’s had a hip issue, too, which he has had for quite a long period,” Harris explained.
“So, we’ve just got to manage him. Sometimes when you’re carrying a hip and a knee, balance-wise, it’s not always straightforward.
“He can’t always train on certain days and the way his body is, the way he moves isn’t perhaps as natural as someone like Curtis Nelson, for example, who is a great athlete. Everyone is different in terms of what they need to function.
“Tomlin has been carrying various injuries and has been working hard in lockdown and has come back with various niggles, little bits. When you clear one up, the other is irritated.
“He has just been managing that. Some days he’s not been able to get on the pitch because of his hip or his groin.
“Ultimately, I’ve come away from being a tyrant or a demander on the training pitch to being someone who is going to manage in a strange period, given the amount of games.”
That is not to say it has all been plain sailing.
Tomlin, given his competitive nature, has certainly wanted to play and Harris has wanted to select him, but it’s not always that clear cut.
Harris has even waited until the last minute in the hope that Tomlin had proved himself fit enough to start matches, but that had not proven to be the case until Tuesday night.
“I’ve wanted to play Tomlin at times,” he said. “He has wanted to play at times.
“I’ve delayed team selections on occasions, to see if he’s fit, and he’s not been, so I’ve made the right decisions not to start him.
“So, on the back of 51 minutes at Fulham, he responded really well. He didn’t train Saturday or Sunday with
us, but I just thought Derby was the opportunity to start him.
“Will he be available to start Saturday? I won’t know until at least Friday.”
Harris said it has been a real challenge getting Tomlin on the training pitch at times, let alone on a match day.
The 31-year-old has been so crucial to City’s success this season - his goal against the Rams put him top of the scoring chart this season with eight and rightly earned a new two-year contract extension back in January.
Given this latest injury update, which appears to be a long-term issue which will not be easily resolved, what does the future look like for him?
“You just have to manage him,” Harris said.” He’s 31 but maybe he is a couple of years older, in his body.
“We just have to take care of him a little bit more. We have to manage people like Alex Smithies, who has tendonitis.
“He has to manage himself and let us manage him, not be the one who pushes through the brick wall. A little sensibility.
“But that’s not for now, it’s about preparing for the next game, he needs to prepare, whether that’s to start or off the bench.
“But there are a lot of games Tomlin has not started in and we have done well in, so credit to the rest of the group.”
There is no doubting Cardiff look a far more threatening side with Tomlin in it.
Whether he will be fit enough to start up at Middlesbrough, against a manager in Neil Warnock who rarely trusted him with a starting spot, is anyone’s guess at the minute.
We will have to see how he reacts after the Derby game, but Tomlin will doubtless want to prove a point to his former manager and will be champing at the bit for that opportunity this weekend.