The recent spat which occurred a little too publicly between Phil Brown and Geovanni only told a chunk of the story. Everything seemed to revolve around Geovanni himself, befitting the Brazilian's clear talent and typically precious attitude to his importance when things aren't going his way.
Ultimately, however, the issue with the Hull City attack has actually been far more about Richard Garcia than it has about Geovanni. And yet Garcia is slowly proving that he could well be the solution rather than the problem.
Garcia can score goals, but he isn't a goalscorer. He has never played as an orthodox striker since joining the Tigers in the summer of 2007 from Colchester United. He has, however, shown a proficiency in front of goal when his attacking midfield position has put him there. This, along with presumably some impressive industry in training, will have persuaded Brown to try him up front.
Strikers have proved a problem this season. Dean Windass wasn't up to the task and whined about it once too often. Marlon King put in some superb shifts but took ages to score at the KC and ultimately his known character flaws threatened the goodwill of the team. Daniel Cousin has had injury trouble. Caleb Folan doesn't know the offside law. Manucho has been distinctly underwhelming though clearly now there is fresh hope for him. Craig Fagan can't score goals. Fraizer Campbell forgot to join us.
So with all this going on, Garcia seemed as good a choice as any from the squad to have a go at playing as a centre forward when the more obvious options were absent, permanently or temporarily.
What we've seen with Garcia is something we knew (he isn't a striker when it comes to converting chances) and something which we only believed applied to the Championship (he has a marvellous touch, good vision and grit which hardly belies his Australian heritage). Suddenly, he has been crossed off many fans' lists of players who probably would benefit from a move elsewhere.
Garcia's application against Blackburn Rovers at the weekend was tremendous, though he was shorn of luck in front of goal and often had to drop back or go wide to get a reasonable feel of the ball. Centrally, he was isolated. The tactical decision which Brown faced when freshening the side in the second half represented a stark choice - remove Garcia when he was showing signs of progress and repaying the faith; or remove Geovanni because he wasn't playing well, despite his more obvious capability to change the course of a game.
Brown went for the second option and we all know what happened next.
Well, what also happened next was that Geovanni bucked his ideas up and stayed in the team at Fulham. His workrate was tremendous, his shooting a little less wayward and his overall impact nearing that of his immense displays in the autumn. For that, he should thanks Garcia as much as anyone else, including his manager.
It all seemed a bit harsh on Garcia, really, as his endeavour ultimately wasn't deemed enough to retain the starting place as Brown finally selected a centre forward to play at centre forward. But with Garcia's 89th minute arrival and instant bit of bone-twisting magic to create the late, late winner, somehow everyone has managed to emerge from the sorry business satisfied. Aside from Garcia's own pride in setting up the winner, Brown has stopped the rot, Geovanni has found his role and energy again, Manucho has become a sudden hero and the Tiger Nation can look at the table with a damn sight more comfort than before. And in a perverse and passive way, we can all thank Garcia for it.
.jpg)
