Curbishley welcomes Thomas' return to form

Charlton manager Alan Curbishley has challenged winger Jerome Thomas to carry on where he left off at the weekend when Liverpool arrive at The Valley tomorrow.

The former Arsenal winger was one of the few highlights of a disappointing 90 minutes at Tottenham on Sunday when he came off the bench to score a fine solo goal in a 3-1 defeat.

It was only the third time the 22-year-old had been involved since mid-December, having started the campaign as a first-choice pick.

His consolation cameo left Curbishley pondering whether a clash with last year’s Champions League winners might be the perfect platform to pick him from the off again.

He said: “Jerome, Darren Ambrose and Dennis Rommedahl have all been in and out of the side and when they get back in they come in with a bit of life.

“He (Thomas) missed three or four weeks when he was not well and he struggled. But he is back with a vengeance now and the one thing that had been missing from him was goals.

“That was what we had been saying to him – he has to get in there more and take more opportunities. He did that against Spurs so he has given me something to think about.

“He did fantastically well for us last year and was instrumental. But when we started struggling and losing games he was struggling, which was a problem.”

Curbishley will certainly be calling for a better defensive performance after Jermain Defoe ran riot at White Hart Lane, scoring two and causing countless other problems.

The Addicks boss has had time to analyse that disappointing afternoon and came to the conclusion that goalkeeper Thomas Myhre had been unfortunate.

He said: “A manager will always pick bones about goals that are let in but they were poor goals. The first one was a deflection but Defoe should have been closed down earlier. Chris Powell should have dealt with the second one and the third was our own doing when we got caught in the middle of the park.

“We then gave them another chance with a back-pass but I think they fashioned one other chance when they put Robbie Keane in. So a lot of it was our own doing and we have to eradicate that.

“Having been beaten 3-1 you would imagine your ’keeper had saved three or four but Thomas came off the pitch not having made too many saves.

“It was very disappointing and we need to bounce back.”

Midfielder Matt Holland is still struggling with a thigh injury but the game has come too soon for Rommedahl, who has been sidelined by a cracked rib.