I know I will probably get pelters for this but I would be more than happy if we tried to sign Gardner on a permanent deal, especially as that midfield position in front of the back four is ideal for him & with Williams suspended it gives him chance to showcase his talent there. When he first arrived he clearly lacked match fitness not unlike Matty James last season & like James , as his fitness has improved so has his form , clearly Villa do not want him, having previously loaned him to Forest & now to us but I think we want to move for him now because his improvement will not have gone unnoticed by other clubs looking to strengthen , I know wages might be a problem but the inducement of a lengthy contract overcome that. Whats your thoughts ?
We need to sign him this week because we will be without both him and Williams at Villa Park as things stand. It's the first time I have seen him for a few weeks but he looks like a different player to me. Amazing what a bit of fitness and settling in to a new club does. Cracking game today.
He's grown into his role. It always takes that type of midfielder half a dozen games to do that, as he has to be able to read the other players movement. Was same when Viv signed Danny Wilson, he had half a dozen shockers at first.
Yes and Danny got a lot more abuse than Gardner has had, but that was probably the Hillsborough factor adding to his lack of apparent commitment. But once he got going he was an absolute star.
We would have lost that game today without him, that’s for sure. Best midfielder on the books. Proof if you ever needed it that 99% of what you read on here is complete ballax.
I think Gardner benefited from having the holding midfield role to himself today. Set his stall out and protected the back four with maturity and some big challenges. Hard to do that when you're sharing the role with Williams. I think we've seen today what his best position is if he's allowed to be in it.
Well, at first I thought exactly the same as you , but the fact that Bruce clearly does not rate him , might allow him to sanction a deal . I remember when we signed Paul Futchur & Calvin Plummer from Derby , they signed in the week that we played them on the saturday , minds you , Derby dropped a gooly , Futchur was outstanding & Plummer scored & we put five past them !. The main thing is, if you don"t ask you don"t get , so I would be pleased if we at least tried
Played well for a month now, will be on good money at Villa. See what happens next week when he's not playing
I’ve criticised him recently, but he bossed the midfield today. Cool and composed, as ever, but added some great tackles into the mix.