Clearly our best player and clearly set for better things after the end of this season, the task for Mark Robins is ensuring that we maximise Gustavo Hamer’s ability for the remainder of the season to ensure that the team is in the best possible position to replace him next year, by remaining in the Championship. A blockbuster player in the centre of the pitch who can act as an enforcer, creator and goalscorer – sometimes in the same game – Hamer has sparked life in a team lacking both quality and character otherwise. He has been an absolutely essential reason why we have spent much of the season outside of the relegation zone, but there is only so much that Gustavo Hamer can do.
The array of roles that Hamer can fulfil in midfield has been a key reason why he has produced some absolutely outstanding performances for the team. He is the type of player who constantly wants to have the ball in order to dictate games to his will, which has led to moments of inspiration that have lifted and galvanised the players around him. He is the kind of player who will attempt the impossible but in having the audacity to try, it drives the team on when others are flat. In his worst games, he can cost the team possession and concede needless set-pieces but even then, there is still the sense that he will soon make something happen.
Hamer is the type of player who will only get better with better players around him. In a team with more attacking quality, he wouldn’t be asked to get forward as much as he has been this season and instead be utilised in a deeper, playmaking position that suits his range of passing and aggression in the challenge. Hamer is clearly a player with a big future ahead of him and he has shown this season that he is capable of adapting and improving his game – most notably in how he has toned down his recklessness in the tackle while remaining forceful enough to make his presence felt in the middle of the park. Gustavo Hamer is so obviously a level above the rest of the team that it seems pointless devoting the time to consider how we could build a team around him next season to get more out of his ability. He is one of those players destined to spend a short, memorable time at Coventry City.
Sideways Sammy 