Saturday 5 June 2010

Where there's a Will(mott) there's a way?


I usually find it difficult to muster up any sympathy for Rio Ferdinand, but even I feel a little bit for the England skipper, whose dream of leading the nation to quarter final defeat in the World Cup has been wrecked by injury.

Still, with no football to worry about perhaps the Man United defender can resurrect Rio's World Cup wind ups, the prank show filmed during the 2006 finals which involved such hilarious japes as, er, pretending to kidnap David Beckham. Every cloud, eh Rio.

Another player dogged by injury recently is Robbie Willmott, but the U's winger is now back to full fitness and gave a very frank interview to BBC Cambs last week admitting that he needs to up his game.

"[Last year] I let my standards drop and it wasn't the best season for myself," he said. "A few people were getting on my back, the injury was a bit of a blessing because it meant I could evaluate everything again."

It's good to hear such reflective talk from Robbie, and it's perhaps a sign of growing maturity in a player who spent most of last term looking grumpy and disinterested. But the proof of the pudding will be whether he can back up his words with action on the pitch. I remember last season he did an interview in the programme where he admitted he needed to play better, and that he switches off sometimes during matches, and there wasn't any discernible difference in his performances after that.

For me this will be a make or break season for Willmott. When he's on his game he's an exciting player, but I still harbour serious doubts as to whether he has the footballing intelligence to make the most of his gifts. Too often his decision making is poor, and it doesn't seem to have improved over two seasons of first team football. We all saw the difference that the far more dynamic Scott Neilson made when he came into the side last season, and Willmott could do with taking a leaf out of his book if he wants his career to progress to the next level.

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