Gary Rowell: 'How will Anton fare against West Ham?'
I think there's every chance Anton Ferdinand will be in the shake-up for Sunderland's Player of the Season.
But the one blip on a really impressive debut CV for us so far, is the West Ham game at the Stadium of Light back in November.
Anton had, by some distance, his poorest game of the season for us in that match and I think he admitted afterwards that he was very disappointed with the way he played.
I suspect the pressure of the occasion got to him – by which I mean the fact that he was playing against his former club.
West Ham had been his life since he was a boy. He came through the Academy. He was West Ham through and through before his transfer and I'm sure he wanted to impress more than anyone on the pitch in that game.
Sometimes in games like those though, you can try too hard.
You're so desperate to impress, you try to be superman, there's a temptation to try doing everyone else's job as well as your own and it can work against you.
It certainly did for Anton that day.
So I think that that's the one thing I'll be looking out for more than anything else when Sunderland take on West Ham this weekend: how Anton does.
It's an important test for him and it could be for us too, because there's no doubt his best form is needed.
I've been really impressed by Anton this season.
I rate him more highly than I did when he first joined us.
I thought he was a good player back then but he's been better than I expected and I don't think he's been too far away in recent weeks from England form. He might have even come into the reckoning, were it not that we're quite well served at international level for centre-halves.
He's back in the capital this weekend though and with a chance to impress again in front of everyone he grew up with, his friends and family.
I know that he was really unhappy with his performance against them and I'm sure he'll want to put that right this weekend.
As long as he just focuses on the job in hand, concentrates on doing the simple things right and plays the game rather than the occasion, then I'm sure he'll be alright.
He's a quality player and all Sunderland fans will be hoping he proves that particular point this weekend.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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