Well not totally flawed. If Thiam had been on the field longer, his score would have dropped at that performance. Gardners score was bang on though, poor performance. Poor every game he's played bar the Wolves match unless you are wearing rose tinted glasses..
Reminding me of Matty James who stared off very slowly, clearly short of match fitness and steadily became a class above the rest. Last 2 home games Gardner's been superb.
I have relatives who are Villa fans and they don't rate him at all. They are hoping to get rid of him.
There's a lot of wisdom in the Ponty End car park after match discussions!!! Agree. Both good players but we've played better with only one of them in the side, and on current form, it's got to be Gardner for me.
Looks like more people are starting to see what I was saying about Gardner. Not good enough for this level.
Interestingly the praise he got for playing well was when Williams was suspended. They just don't work as a 2 for me. It's 1 or the other.
Bump a thread to try and get folk to agree with you... Gardner played well in the Fulham game. Williams has played well in the first half of the season. They don’t work as a two - I’d also pair one of them with Mallan - and if I was to choose I’d go Gardner as he has a cooler head than Williams. Not a stack between them though, I’d not complain if Williams was the choice. As it is I’m not sure we’ll be playing a midfield two again anyway. A change in shape seems inevitable. If he goes with a three both might still play - not that I’m saying they should. They can’t be played together anymore, it doesn’t work. I’m not having that Gardner is useless though, when Williams was out he was solid, tidy and organised. When those two are together though they end up producing much less than the sum of their parts. I hope JM has recognised that.
