He has had a run in the team before. Like anyone, if he wants to keep his place he needs to keep performing. In my opinion he deserves to play ahead of Mykolenko tomorrow because he played so well on Saturday. If he keeps that level up then he should continue there until his standard drops. If he doesn't keep that level up then he should be replaced; we can't just give players a run in the side because they're a nice lad or because they've not had one for a while.
That's it for me really. Im a bit old fashioned but hold the view that if you have the shirt and play well, you keep the shirt. I think that's especially true in a side who have been very inconsistent over the last 12 months or so. I'm not sure any of the squad automatically dispose someone who has been playing well.
It might get you burned, as frankly it did at Newcastle, but at least there's a sense of meritocracy that way. Gomes isn't now playing, because he played badly in that game, which he will know himself, rather than a perceived favouritism to a new player.
I can see that some of the discussion has moved to
Mykolenko and his performances in quite a binary way. It;s not really about
Mykolenko though at all. None of the above means he has played badly, or indeed may go on to be a far better full back than Kenny, but it's just about how to keep morale up in a struggling team.