You mean people saw the game differently to you? You think you saw us dominate, I think I saw us setup for a draw
It’s rather interesting to read how differently everyone sees exactly the same game because I actually thought that Gardner had a fairly good game. He was seemingly brought in by PH to shield the back four and to dictate play from the base of our central midfield three. With regards to the former, I thought he fulfilled this role reasonably well. He covered a lot of ground, disrupted Cardiff’s attack’s, won challenges and sat in effectively as a third central defender where necessary. He also made himself available to receive the ball throughout the game and offered a simple outlet for Davies and the back four. As for dictating play, I thought that he was very neat and tidy and kept it simple more often than not, bringing other players into the game with quick incisive passing. There were also occasions where he played more adventurous balls but unfortunately you can’t legislate for the poor touch or bad decisions made by others thereafter. All in all I thought that he equipped himself well last night and whilst I don’t think that he’ll keep Williams out of the XI I can see times when both Williams and Gardner will start in a midfield three.
Mcgeehan is very ordinary isn't he? When I've been to a game I can usually decide who the stand out players were, or who played poorly. This lad represents a blank in my memory. He's on the pitch but doesn't do anything noteworthy. He's just "the ex Luton Town Gordon Ramsay lookalike"
Gardner wasn’t very good but he was better than Hedges & McGeehan & it was his first game in 2 months & he’s not a natural holding midfielder so I don’t see why he should be singled out
Not a prayer of either happening. He ain’t getting recalled, he’d not play a game with Mahrez, Gray, Albrighton etc in front of him & they aren’t going to sell him with the potential he has
Gary Gardner = David Fox. Comes short. Passes short. Rarely looks to get it forward. How does he protect the back four when he doesn't put a tackle in? You hear the same words every time about these players - "basic", "tidy" and "simple". All adds up to an ineffective player to me.
I think last night adds weight to Hemsys prem loans rant tbh.. Without .. Barnes (I know he came on) and Williams we looked pi55 poor .. PS... Hope we didn't pay a lot for Mamado..
Thats exactly how I would have described Ray McHale, of course he was playing with Banks and Glavin which meant giving the ball to the other midfielders was a bit more effective than Gardner who had to work with Potts and McGeehan. I dont think having a basic tidy simple player is necessarily a bad thing. Also its his first start for us in months - give the guy a bit of time for goodness sake
The thing is will fitness alter his basic game? Oh and from what I know of McHale is he liked a tackle.
On my he ball he played a few decent balls but off it he was poor & didn’t look near full fitness. Some of you are going overboard making out he played well & others making out he was having a shocker. Both over reactions in my opinion
Never saw Ray McHale play so can't comment but I don't really remember many of these players being around since the last ten years or so. You might have had a DM playing alongside an ACM but the DM did more than just come short and make a six yard square pass to someone who might have been free but not exactly an option. I remember people calling Mitch Ward "the crab" but he certainly had more attacking intent than some CMs we have seen of late.