Or maybe Thomas had just clashed with the keeper and potentially had a knock.He gives us balance in defence and attack. Yesterday he did loads of decent work helping Sterling (in the way Baker did with Christie a few years back) as did Thomas in the first half too, to the detriment of their own game a bit. Shipley is a good player and the manager will pick him as he does what he’s supposed to do. I’m surprised nobody has picked up that Thomas made way for jones yesterday when Sunderland were effectively down to 10 men. Maybe Robins see’s that Shipley is more important to the team as a whole.