Bobby Thomas has made a superb start to life as a Premier League player
Ellis Simms of Coventry City (left) celebrates with teammate Bobby Thomas after scoring their side's third goal of the game
Bobby Thomas has impressed this season(Image: Ryan Browne/Shutterstock)
Bobby Thomas announced himself to the wider footballing public with his man of the match performance in the televised 4-1 win over Newcastle United on Monday night.
His highlight moment came in the first half, with Coventry City leading 1-0, when he produced a goal-line clearance to deny Matias Fernandez-Pardo an equaliser. The fact Thomas had let the Belgian slip away in the first place had been spectacularly papered over.
Nevertheless if there was a block or a clearance to be made, inevitably it was the 25-year-old doing it and he was rightly acclaimed at the end.
Make sure you never miss the latest Coventry City news and opinion by making Coventry Live one of your Google preferred sources.
Known quantity
Yet for Sky Blues supporters this was not a surprise. Anyone who had seen the centre-back do battle with Erling Haaland earlier in the season would have known the former Evertontrainee had taken the step up well.
Anyone who was at the City Ground before the international break knows there's no such thing as a lost cause.
And anyone who has watched him for the last three years will have seen the potential from the moment he arrived from Burnley and few would have begrudged him the footnote in City history as the scorer of the goal which took the club back to the top flight.
When promotion was confirmed it was easy to wonder which of Frank Lampard’s players would be able to negotiate the challenge of the higher level. Six games in Thomas, Jay Dasilva and to an extent Brandon Thomas-Asante are the ones who look to have managed the best.
Rising to the top
It’s Thomas who’s the poster boy in that category though and asked about his transition on Monday night, he said: “There’s loads of different moments in a game where I can sniff out danger a little bit and I just put it down to instinct.”
His instincts, if that’s all it is, are serving him well. As a player of a promoted team, particularly a defender, Thomas is going to be given plenty of opportunities to impress – but he still has to take them.
The eye test shows us a centre back who is physically strong enough, just about quick enough – he ranks 30th in the league among central defenders for top speed – and smart enough to do well.
Dive a little deeper and the data bears it out too.
Numbers game
In terms of defensive contributions per 90 minutes, defined as the total number of tackles, interceptions, clearances, and blocks a player makes, Thomas is 16th in the entire league – and sixth among centre backs. Jefferson Lerma is top with 17.6 per game, Thomas averages 12.6.
Drilling even further down he ranks third overall, in the entire Premier League, with clearances per 90, his 8.9 is behind Jannik Schuster’s 10.3 and Nobel Mendy’s 9.2.
Neco Williams of Nottingham Forest is challenged by Bobby Thomas of Coventry City
Neco Williams is challenged by Bobby Thomas(Image: Getty Images)
Heads up
Aerially he stands up well too. Thomas' 2.8 successful aerial duels per 90 minutes is 26th in the Premier League and 13th among players in his position. He could be higher had the Sky Blues not played half of their games against the three most possession-dominant teams in the competition.
There weren’t too many headers to be won, or lost, as Arsenal, Manchester City and Brighton tried to pass City to death.
But of all the traits a manager wants a player to have the best ability is availability and in that respect Thomas is just one of three City outfield players to have started every league game.
Only Carl Rushworth and Jay Dasilva have played more than his 528 minutes but no Sky Blues player has done more than Thomas to win the attention of those who don’t watch them week in-week out
What have you made of Thomas' performances? Have your say