Gary Gardner

Joppe84 your dislike of GG is sickening ,

Barton is up for grabs from Rangers, think Bruce could sort him out,
Mind you he hates slack players who do not but in a shift , and try's to sort them out on the training ground. In his own way which is his main problem.

Army villain wrote:Barton is up for grabs from Rangers, think Bruce could sort him out,
Mind you he hates slack players who do not but in a shift , and try's to sort them out on the training ground. In his own way which is his main problem.

No, just no. I can't see the good Doctor going for it either.

Barton has only seemed worth the effort at Burnley and he chose not to stay there. He thought he would look like Pirlo in the SPL and has been found out, his off the field problems would be forgiven if he was tearing it up on the pitch but he isn't and they aren't.

Wouldn't touch him.

Gardner plays on Sunday Gardner will score.

I think Gardner is shite, but I dislike Barton so much that in that case I'd rather watch Gardner miss passes for 90 minutes

don't understand your dislike of GG he's an up grade on the likes of Dejemba Dejemba and Salifou, were a championship side and he's a decent championship player...Christ I grew up watching the likes of Geoff Vouden, Andy Lochead, and Sammy Morgan good for the old third division but utter rubbish all the same.

GG came through the academy, is a local lad, a Villa fan from a family of scummers, suffered bad injuries but kept bouncing back, and hasn't disgraced himself off the pitch once.

His performances earlier this season haven't been anything to write home about but his last couple under Bruce have been an improvement. I'd love nothing more than to see him become a success and it's stupid to simply write him off.

villa_Dan someone with sence

I've got a foot in both camps.

After endlessly hearing about how good he was in the juniors ("the next Stevie G") I was VERY excited to see him in the senior team.

But....meh. But you can't write a kid off after a few minutes so let's see the next game.
Meh.
Then more meh.
Meh and meh again with serious injuries in between.

Off on loan he goes and holy shit, every report says he's amazing!

Comes back to Villa and...you guessed it, meh.

Three things this could come down to:
1. He's a bit shit.
2. He's good but he gets nervous playing for Villa and those nerves - not in evidence at loan teams - is getting the better of him.
3. Coaches and managers in the juniors and at other clubs have been much much better than what we've seen at Villa over the last few years.

I had him down for #1. But not just a "bit" shit. Galactically, biblically, unspeakably shit. And lazy. And clueless.

But (and I'm having to rely upon reports here as Championship football on TV is just a baron fucking wasteland) he seems to have improve drastically under Bruce already and has been part of the team that has collected 7 points out of a possible 9.

So now I'm wondering if #2 and #3 are the likely culprits here. We all know for absolute certain that our managers and coaches have been a joke so maybe, just maybe, we're going to see "the next Stevie G" after all now that Bruce is in charge.

I'm very much looking forward to having my opinion of him altered drastically.

Limited player IMO. But the trick his slotting him into a role when he can be effective. Ala Des Bremner is the 1980/81 side. I think Bruce is getting close to making GG an effective team member. - even if he doesn't sparkle as an individual...

Over the last 12 months my opinion on him went from "the next Stevie G" to "injury blighted and will never make it ever" and is now creeping back to a more realistic expectation of him being a good player for us.

Every time we bring in a new manager I wonder which fringe or out of favour players will benefit, and which players will drop out of favour or struggle to fit into a new system. Sanchez looked a bit meh until Garde arrived and he found his position ahead of the defence in the 4-1-4-1 (which seems to favour the Jedi too). Gardner doesn't work in a two-man central midfield, Gestede doesn't work on his own up front, Jack and Ayew both need a go as number 10s as they're not really working as wingers. I've wondered recently if it's our managers creating a rod for their own backs by either a) trying to get our players to fit into a system they're not used to, which is different to a system they were bought by a previous manager to play in or b) trying out a different system every week to try to find the one that works, but making the situation worse by not spotting the players who do work but are being let down by those around them and by unsettling the team.

Bruce might not be the most exciting manager but we've already seen substitutions used properly, half time team talks work and Gollini is not only looking much better in defence but has changed the way he gets the ball out ASAP. Sure it could be down to Baker coming in and settling the defence. It's that same old thing with Vlaar, he was always trying to cover Lowton or Bacuna and whoever he used to play next to in central defence but bringing back Hutton and Senderos (or whoever it was) in the middle and suddenly he looked miles better.

I'm not normally a fan of playing players out of position but Chester seems to be doing a really good job in Elphick's place.That might be why Amavi is doing well at LB, now the CB next to him isn't having to try to cover Elphick too and can concentrate on helping on the left side.

Back to Gardner, it's good to see a manager playing to the players' strengths, just as long as he stops playing Gestede on his own without any service.

@FoxyAV agree with most of that.

GG will never be a PL player, I think that has passed him by but at this level he can do a job but not in a two man midfield as he is not dynamic enough.

It is all about playing the players in positions they are comfortable in and not shoe-honing them into the team as previous managers have tried to do unsuccessfully!

Gardner and Bacuna playing in front of Jedinak has been excellent. They both have incredible engines and Jedinak doesn't ... so he is perfect to sit in and do the shielding job.

Gardner going forward is a lot better than a Gardner trying to protect and create from deep ... Let him play!

The good thing about Bruce seemingly getting the best out of GG is that it means it pushed Westwood further down the pecking order and that can only be a good thing!

I've banged on for a long time that we wouldn't win games until he was out of the side and hey presto...

The bits i saw of GG a few years ago, in and around his injuries, i always thought he was a very tidy player that was good with set pieces and had a killer shot on him. I still think he can get that back and be a decent prem player, not just champ player but i do think nerves plays a part for him when at Villa. Look at pre season when he was playing ok, he then had one average friendly game and got slated by some average reporter that he ended up replying to and from there his confidence dropped and he was awful (and he was playing next to Westwood). Bruce seems to have given him his confidence back, so lets hope he can keep it going...

Wriggle wrote:The good thing about Bruce seemingly getting the best out of GG is that it means it pushed Westwood further down the pecking order and that can only be a good thing!

I've banged on for a long time that we wouldn't win games until he was out of the side and hey presto...

The bits i saw of GG a few years ago, in and around his injuries, i always thought he was a very tidy player that was good with set pieces and had a killer shot on him. I still think he can get that back and be a decent prem player, not just champ player but i do think nerves plays a part for him when at Villa. Look at pre season when he was playing ok, he then had one average friendly game and got slated by some average reporter that he ended up replying to and from there his confidence dropped and he was awful (and he was playing next to Westwood). Bruce seems to have given him his confidence back, so lets hope he can keep it going...

With Westwood I think it's how and where he's played, and so far this season it hasn't worked, possibly because he's not being played in a three-man midfield either. Just because we have a new manager and with Chester and Baker in central defence it now seems to click doesn't mean Elphick is a bad player or the cause of our defensive issues. It might be that deployed as a purely defensive midfielder to help us take away all three points he becomes invaluable, who knows.

andrew24561 wrote:don't understand your dislike of GG he's an up grade on the likes of Dejemba Dejemba and Salifou, were a championship side and he's a decent championship player...Christ I grew up watching the likes of Geoff Vouden, Andy Lochead, and Sammy Morgan good for the old third division but utter rubbish all the same.

Sorry can't agree with that, yes Sammy Morgan was one dimensional but he gave it all for the team, but Vowden & Lockhead were pretty good though we had them late in their careers, Lockhead especially got us some good goals, and protected Brian Little from the cloggers.

smetro wrote:Limited player IMO. But the trick his slotting him into a role when he can be effective. Ala Des Bremner is the 1980/81 side. I think Bruce is getting close to making GG an effective team member. - even if he doesn't sparkle as an individual...

Des Bremner was a key part of that midfield he would run all day fetching and carrying, leaving Sid to pick the passes and Mortimer to boss the show, wish we had him now.

achilles wrote:@FoxyAV agree with most of that.

GG will never be a PL player, I think that has passed him by but at this level he can do a job but not in a two man midfield as he is not dynamic enough.

It is all about playing the players in positions they are comfortable in and not shoe-honing them into the team as previous managers have tried to do unsuccessfully!

Indeed. It was clear to everyone that Gardner only was usable in a 3 man midfield even before we seen him for 45 minutes.

IF Gardner plays well and keeps playing well, fair enough, I'll get behind him and let him become an important member of the squad. But I simply can't see that happening. He isn't good enough.

He most likely isn't good enough for the Premier League, mostly based around the fact that has hasn't been picked ever by the last 5 managers we've had in that league. Or the fact that he hasn't even looked good enough for a championship team this season. Then add the fact that he is only usable in 3 man midfield.

All of this just leads me to thinking we should sign a better midfielder that IS good enough for the Premier League. That CAN play both 2 man and 3 man midfield roles.

For some reason people keep making up excuses for Gardner, when the truth is right in front of them.

It's most likely due to the Villa academy link. The same story with Grealish. People keep talking like he's the best thing since bacon, when he never delivers and always goes missing in matches. It's kinda ironic that so many Villa fans think so highly of these two players when the large majority didn't like Albrighton. I did, but that's another matter. And now he's gone on to win the Premier League.

You are now a man

Gardner plays on Sunday Gardner will score NARLA24 Wednesday lottery numbers please

Another shite performance. He needs to up his game, a LOT.

Anyone who has the misfortune to have to play in a midfield containing Ashley 'fucking' Westwood deserves a medal not criticism! We win 2 on the trot with no AFW and he comes back into the side and hey presto!

The guy is a talentless rocket polisher who drags all those around down to his level of play! AFW please fuck off!

Doesn't change the fact that Gardner was pretty shite.