The two headers that Richard Garcia aimed into the back of Atalanta's net in last night's friendly in Italy looked superb on the television. It was a mere friendly, a tool to keep a semblance of match practice within the players who hadn't been called away by their national squads, but for Garcia it may prove most important.
Garcia has both fans and detractors, and this blog is a fan. A big fan, actually. The Australian midfielder is in possession of a fine touch, good passing ability and can unleash vicious shots from distance and swing in dangerous crosses. His detractors claim he isn't as good as he may think he is, and that he doesn't fulfil the potential he had when given a ticket across the globe to join West Ham United's academy.
After his performance against Stoke City at the weekend, he was criticised for laziness by some supporters; a criticism that hasn't previously been labelled against him in his three years at the club. This stems from his deep-lying position when City were on the attack, when fans are expecting to see him hugging the right flank. The abuse was fairly mild but it was still misguided, as Craig Fagan shifted out to the right hand side as much as he could during the first half and Garcia's more central and more reserved place on the park was evidently a deliberate tactic.
He still played some killer balls down the flank and got into advanced positions, and although he had little luck in the penalty area, he was one of the stronger performances in a half dominated by the Tigers but which ended with Stoke in front. Garcia's early substitution in the second half as Nick Barmby was brought on should not be seen as detrimental to his contribution on the day, even though City went on to score twice and win without his help.
Garcia is, first and foremost, a right sided midfielder. The other main candidates for this role are Kamel Ghilas, Bernard Mendy and Fagan. Oddly, none of them seem to have stamped their authority on the position, although Ghilas seems to have the fewest flaws of the quartet and yet is being held a lot in reserve right now.
Garcia's touch, distribution and shooting is better than Fagan's but Fagan has the edge on stamina and on facility to frighten opponents. In bootstrap-pulling adversity, Fagan is more preferable. Garcia can't beat a man as well as either Ghilas or Mendy but doesn't make cock-ups of the atrociousness to which Mendy seems all too prone. Ghilas evidently has flaws, as he keeps being substituted or dropped, but perhaps his main problem is that we don't yet really know if he is better as a wide man or as central striker. If he proves to be more useful in the latter role, then this is where Garcia could step in. On a pure footballing basis - ie, doing the good things often and the bad things seldom - Garcia is a better bet than either Mendy or Fagan.
Garcia was also played on the left flank and up front last season, with satisfaction rarely coming from either. When given the odd mega chance to score as a centre forward he failed, while on the left he showed too much of the ball to his natural right side and defenders got wind of him. His only goal last season came via his least likely of methods - a looping header at Blackburn in the second match of the campaign. And it's still open to question whether he was aiming for goal or just trying to return an overhit Fagan cross back to the danger area. Not that it should matter now.
He's still playing catch up after suffering a knee injury in pre-season, and this will provide as much of an explanation for his replacement by Barmby as anything, given that he was starting a Premier League game for the first time. His fitness continues to improve, and the smart goals he aimed into the Atalanta net this week will help his claims for a starting place improve too.
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