The Keen & Judah Show: Can Rodrigo Gomes find his form?

Express & Star

Liam Keen and Nathan Judah discuss six Wolves players who will want to make a strong early impression on Vitor Pereira.

Transcript

00:00And someone who will be providing that competition, let's go on to it.

00:02And someone, again, as we've just said, will not be there in Portugal,

00:06is Rodrigo Gomez.

00:09He had a fantastic pre-season last year, didn't he, in Miami.

00:14Really impressed us, I think, in America.

00:16Got that first start of the season against Arsenal

00:18and then was almost left out in the cold.

00:22Came back in, scored some goals, but it was an in-and-out season.

00:26And we can both understand it, I think.

00:28Youngster coming to the country, I think he's actually had an interview since then

00:31saying he can understand why he was left out

00:34and that they just brought him in slowly, I think, into the picture.

00:38And you can understand that he said he's become a man now.

00:40He's learned a lot of things.

00:41And it is for a young person to come into this country

00:45and to learn from the start in the Premier League.

00:48I think it's probably a good thing,

00:49especially when they're going through a difficult run to start the season.

00:53But Rodrigo Gomez will be ready to go

00:55and will be wanting to push Hugo Bueno in the starting spot.

00:59He'll not be happy with a place on the bench.

01:02He'll not want to just play 15 minutes as a left wing forward

01:05or 20 minutes as a left wing back or a right wing back.

01:10He'll want to be starting.

01:11He is versatile, but I'm not sure if that's a help or a hindrance.

01:14Does he want to nail down a certain spot,

01:17whether that be left or the right-hand side,

01:19of course, with Nelson Sameda not there at the moment

01:21and probably not going to be there with signing this contract?

01:24Yeah, I think I'll probably speak for both of us

01:27to say that we're big fans of Rodrigo Gomez.

01:30And I hope you agree with me on this one as well.

01:32As much as I'm a big fan of him,

01:35he's probably not quite at the stage of starting week in,

01:38week out in the Premier League.

01:39And that's why I think the versatility will probably be to his benefit.

01:43He can play on the left.

01:44He can play on the right, both at wing back positions.

01:46Wolves tend to play with their further forward players

01:49with quite narrow tens, which I don't really think

01:51he fits into those positions.

01:53But if they were chasing a game, for example,

01:56in the Premier League, I think he's got, you know,

01:57he can definitely play in those further forward positions

01:59if they were to stretch it a little bit,

02:01go a bit wider, slightly change tact.

02:04So that versatility, I think, is going to help him

02:05because he needed the time last season to get bedded in

02:08and get settled into the Premier League.

02:10I thought he did that well,

02:11particularly in the second half of the campaign

02:13when he was given a little bit more responsibility

02:15and trust, I think, from Vito Pereira.

02:17So going into this campaign,

02:21yeah, he'll want to up the responsibility.

02:23He'll want to play more games.

02:24He'll want to start more games.

02:25More importantly, is he a starter for Wolves week in, week out?

02:28I don't think so.

02:29And that's not, you know, a negative on the quality that he's got.

02:34I think he just needs a little bit more time to get there.

02:35And I think as a squad option,

02:37someone that can come in and out, play in different positions,

02:39I think he's a fantastic option.

02:41You mentioned last summer with the America trip.

02:45We both thought he was fantastic.

02:47He scored a couple of goals.

02:49Looked really dangerous.

02:50Very, very quick.

02:51Great on the transition.

02:53Arrives in dangerous areas of the back post.

02:55He's got a real eye for goal.

02:57Now, he started that first game at Arsenal.

02:59Both of us felt that he did okay.

03:01I mean, it wasn't the best performance by any means,

03:03but it was okay.

03:04You know, he got bedded in quickly enough.

03:07But Gary O'Neill wasn't quite having him.

03:10Didn't think he was ready.

03:11And of course, as you mentioned,

03:11didn't get a look in for quite a while after that.

03:14So I do think he needs that little bit of time

03:17just to keep progressing and keep learning

03:19and keep getting better,

03:20get more starts into your belts.

03:22But he's got the ability to do it.

03:25Wolves have to, I think,

03:26have the senior players around him, though,

03:27to give that competition and give him opportunities.

03:30He's got the ability to do it.

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