Gardner & Bennett at Brighton

Being from Brighton, I occasionally take a trip to the Amex to watch them play,

Last night, Bennett was brilliant, by far and away their best player, up and down the wing defending and attacking well for 90 minutes!

Gardner also played 90 mins last night, and look a class above anyone in Brighton and Cardiffs midfield! His range of passing is incredible and has a fierce shot on him!

Seems to me we have 2 very good players there! Hopefully they can bring that form back to Villa when their loans finish!

Gardner's problem was never ability, he's got talent in spades. But he is injury prone and needs to prove he is physically up to the rigours of being a professional footballer

Gardner can do it in the Premiership if he stays injury free (that's a big "IF")

Bennett is good technically but is too risky and not consistent enough for top class football Imo.

I don't honestly think we can classify Gardner as injury prone. That suggests that he's usually match-fit with the occasional break-down. As such I'd say he was match-fit prone.

As stupid as it may sound, Gardner may be okay because his injuries have generally being bad ones. What I mean is, he doesn't have loads of little niggles that keep him out for spells here & there. He has had proper big long-term specific injuries, and if he can have a bit of luck, he may be fine for years to come. Steven Gerrard, Alan Shearer, Ryan Giggs - all examples of players that had some very bad injuries in their younger days then went a long time in their careers just fine.

Not really seen gardener play much! Although I saw him on a plane to Malaga and he was surprised I recognised him!

Bennet on the other hand Im unsure about.... He has ability there is no doubt but sometimes I find his positioning catching him the wrong side of the defender which inevitably can cost goals!

Yeah, I think Bennett can be a decent left midfielder to avoid his defensive lapses, not sure he can do it in the Prem though.

I watched Gary Gardner play for the reserves as a young lad and he reminded me so much of a young Steve Gerrard. I really thought he was going to be a great player.

This is his last chance to establish himself or forever regret what might have been.

Just read he had 93% passing accuracy on Tuesday night.... I think this 4 month spell at Brighton could well be the making of him! Come through that fit, and continuing to play well, and he could quite easily slot into the first team in the near future!

villabromsgrove wrote:I watched Gary Gardner play for the reserves as a young lad and he reminded me so much of a young Steve Gerrard. I really thought he was going to be a great player.

That echoes my thoughts exactly - my mother doesn't really follow what happens in the youth set up and relies on me to pass her info. When GG first started cropping up in conversations she asked me about him and I said "top draw, he's the future Steven Gerrard." She then met him and told him this was my opinion on him!

Obviously this was before his injuries really hampered his progression.

avfcjoe wrote:Just read he had 93% passing accuracy on Tuesday night.... I think this 4 month spell at Brighton could well be the making of him! Come through that fit, and continuing to play well, and he could quite easily slot into the first team in the near future!

I hope so. He has the talent and will benefit from playing a couple of dozen consecutive games. Checking his stats at Brighton he's still not playing regularly (three starts, couple of sub appearances and an unused sub) Let's hope he gets a run of games soon.

villabromsgrove wrote:

avfcjoe wrote:Just read he had 93% passing accuracy on Tuesday night.... I think this 4 month spell at Brighton could well be the making of him! Come through that fit, and continuing to play well, and he could quite easily slot into the first team in the near future!

I hope so. He has the talent and will benefit from playing a couple of dozen consecutive games. Checking his stats at Brighton he's still not playing regularly (three starts, couple of sub appearances and an unused sub) Let's hope he gets a run of games soon.

I suppose he may have turned a corner last night. He hasn't played regularly anywhere for a while now so it will have taken him a few games to get up to speed, and maybe last night shows that's where he's now at.

He'll probably have a stinker next game, two own goals and a red card now I've said that....

avfcjoe wrote:Being from Brighton, I occasionally take a trip to the Amex to watch them play,

Last night, Bennett was brilliant, by far and away their best player, up and down the wing defending and attacking well for 90 minutes!

Gardner also played 90 mins last night, and look a class above anyone in Brighton and Cardiffs midfield! His range of passing is incredible and has a fierce shot on him!

Seems to me we have 2 very good players there! Hopefully they can bring that form back to Villa when their loans finish!

Joe I meant to add, cheers for that, please keep it coming if you go to any more of their games

kimbo wrote:

avfcjoe wrote:Being from Brighton, I occasionally take a trip to the Amex to watch them play,

Last night, Bennett was brilliant, by far and away their best player, up and down the wing defending and attacking well for 90 minutes!

Gardner also played 90 mins last night, and look a class above anyone in Brighton and Cardiffs midfield! His range of passing is incredible and has a fierce shot on him!

Seems to me we have 2 very good players there! Hopefully they can bring that form back to Villa when their loans finish!

Joe I meant to add, cheers for that, please keep it coming if you go to any more of their games

Not planning on going anytime soon, but have lots of friends who go week in week out! Will keep you informed!

Great stuff bud, cheers. Will be interesting to hear their views really, obviously you're a Villa fan so it's easier for you to focus on our lads whereas they will have a different perspective. Much appreciated anyway dude.

I really want to see Gardner in action for us, I was glad to see him do well in pre-season and can't wait to see him in a competitive capacity for us :)

Gotta say I agree, thought he looked good in pre-season. Such a cliché but he really could be like a new signing for us.

Best left back performance I saw last season was Bennett V Chelsea, I think there may be a player in there ( Lambert then subsequently dropped him for Bertrand the next game ) !

The first game I saw Bennett in just after we signed him he was by far the best player on the pitch. Would never of imagined then that things would turn out the way the have for him.
I think he has absouloutly massive potential but he needs to gain more confidence.

gdav wrote:The first game I saw Bennett in just after we signed him he was by far the best player on the pitch. Would never of imagined then that things would turn out the way the have for him.
I think he has absouloutly massive potential but he needs to gain more confidence.

Boom I think you just hit the nail on the head!

"Bennett, a player with great potential and skill just lacking confidence"

Quoted Wigteke 2014.

I think bennetts biggest problem was he was moving up in leagues when he signed, and expected to play in a defence that was a shambles, but I do think that he's more an attacking fullback and if played in a formation that allows him to attack and not have to worry to much about the defensive side, we'd see a better player. The same goes for Lowton, if we say played 3 centre halves with 2 wing backs like in the big Ron era, the both would thrive.

CoE82 wrote:I think bennetts biggest problem was he was moving up in leagues when he signed, and expected to play in a defence that was a shambles, but I do think that he's more an attacking fullback and if played in a formation that allows him to attack and not have to worry to much about the defensive side, we'd see a better player. The same goes for Lowton, if we say played 3 centre halves with 2 wing backs like in the big Ron era, the both would thrive.

Not to be pedantic but we never played that under Big Ron. Taylor played it before him, Little/Gregory played it after him, but Big Ron never played 3 at the back.

I agree with the rest though, both Bennett and Lowton are definitely more wing-backs than full-backs.

These players will have to be recalled soon due to the continuing injuries and suspicious non-selection of certain players.

Does anyone know how the loans are going?

Gary Gardner scores again, that's twice in a few days.