Clean Sheet.........says it all!

welcome back Tone!


ive rated big tony ever since i saw him play the game out last year where he had his nose spread across his face and still fought on for 70 minutes, never flinching from a single header or tackle.......bottle!

"didn't put a foot wrong"... not until he got turned then dragged the man down inside the area!!!

I think he could be a great player but it seems like he's made of glass. Hopefully he will come back strong and be a good backup to King.

sounds like propaganda.

oh yeah?:duh:

just mean it sounds coincidental. the official site lauding up Gardner's "flawless" performance the day after we sell a defender that leaves us light in that department.
reading in between the lines mate. just making a point. sorry.

I think Gardner needs to take his chance he's been given to finally show he can be a big time defender for us,if not he's out im afraid.

we NEED a defender. gardner is not good enough in my opinion

Any news on this Rocha from Benfica we are supposedly trying to buy??? seems like Levy is out there negotiating a deal!!

Gardner shouldve been gone a long time ago. Hes had more than his fair share of chances. Pleat and Hoddle played him all the time when Leds was used as DM. Have u all forgotten how crap he has been? He has even been used as LB.

No I haven't, but last season I thought he was excellent. Don't forget he came when he was 20. He's now 26 and to my mind MUCH improved. Well done Tony, long may it continue........

There's just so much auto-pilot bullshit written about Anthony Gardner and it gets splashed all over SC every time his name comes up. I have to think that a lot of the people who write it have scarcely seen him play.

Gardner had (has?) a concentration problem. He'll play solid, competent, pacey defence for 89 minutes and then do something embarrassing.

Other than that, there is really nothing wrong with his football. He's fast, he's a decent enough header (although you'd expect more from someone his height), his positional play is good (and his pace gets him out of trouble when it isn't), he can tackle and he is very useful when he comes forward, because he has decent ball skills as well as height. It isn't true that he commits a disproportionate number of fouls - he's about average.

In Pleat's last season, Gardner had by far the best record of goals conceded of any of our defenders. To show how distorted some people's perceptions are: in that season, the most effective central defensive partnership we had, in terms of goals conceded per match, was Gardner and Doherty.

Since then, he's had one bloody injury after another. And, because he has a fragile mentality, this means that he has never got the run of games that he needs to get rid of his mental lapses and build a good partnership. Late last season, after his very poor match against Newcastle, he played well for the rest of the season.

He isn't King. But who is? He's a good, Premiership-quality backup central defender and if he has finally shaken off his concentration problems, he's better than that.

Provided he can stay fit.

I don't understand why the coaches have not noticed that Tony's only weakness is that he tends to be muscled off when jumping for the ball. He is tall but not meaty enough. The various coaches he's had should have told him to build up his upper body strength so that he can use his height ( and added weight to advantage) when going for headers.

I think it's not too late to tell him to add about 15 pounds to his chest and shoulders, and we'll see a vastly improved defender.