2025/26 James Garner

[heatmeiser]

Long balls today very good until he lashed out at the palace player. Bit wayward after that.

Great to see him dictating the tempo whatever his position.

Do you mean when he shoved their player away because he was blocking taking the free kick?

Didn't see anything wrong with that and it properly got the crowd going - mostly because he and Moyes both got booked i think

 

[Lanolin]

If we keep playing him at RB and I wouldn't be surprised if he looks to go elsewhere.

Won't make the england squad being a utility player.

I'd say getting in as a utility player is probably his best chance to be honest. I like him, I think he's a good solid player, but as central midfielder I think he's probably miles away from the England team. If he gets a reputation as being someone who always does a good job and plays at a high level wherever you put him he may find himself being seen as a good option to take tournaments as it frees up space for more matchwinner types if you have a couple of players who cover multiple positions.

 

[beachy]

Madness to move him to right back.
Would lose control of midfield.
Better idea is get a proper right back

 

[pfim]

Madness to move him to right back.
Would lose control of midfield.
Better idea is get a proper right back

Correct.

 

[Lanolin]

Madness to move him to right back.
Would lose control of midfield.
Better idea is get a proper right back

Well yes that obviously is a better idea, but it's also not possible to do right now and so a pretty pointless suggestion. We didn't lose control of the midfield when he moved to right back yesterday, in fact it's pretty much universally accepted that we improved significantly after that.

 

[jonnyg]

Do you mean when he shoved their player away because he was blocking taking the free kick?

Didn't see anything wrong with that and it properly got the crowd going - mostly because he and Moyes both got booked i think

Yep, he didn't start it but his delivery did get noticeably worse after.

I'd say getting in as a utility player is probably his best chance to be honest. I like him, I think he's a good solid player, but as central midfielder I think he's probably miles away from the England team. If he gets a reputation as being someone who always does a good job and plays at a high level wherever you put him he may find himself being seen as a good option to take tournaments as it frees up space for more matchwinner types if you have a couple of players who cover multiple positions.

He's not getting anywhere near the England squad as a CM. Anderson, Rice, Wharton, even Bellingham are all on a different planet to him there.

Will he get closer as a RB? He does very well for a midfielder, but it's not the same.

He doesn't make overlapping runs or get to the byline, the things we complain that O'Brien doesn't do. He's got better delivery and can hold and pass the ball but it's still a stopgap.

Not english so I don't know much about his competition, but I imagine if you had the pick of the country you'd still pick two RBs over a midfielder who can play there.

I think he has a better chance by playing and improving at CM every week.

 

[Swagger]

I don't see him getting in the England squad unless there are a number of injuries. The likes of Rice, Anderson and Wharton are all well ahead of him and rightly so.

The fact that Wharton is unable to get in tells you the state of Tuchel having his favourites as well.

 

[Neiziro]

Anderson looks a talent but Loftus-Cheek and Henderson are getting in that squad and I'm not having that either of them are better than Jimmy tbh

 

[hetion]

Yep, he didn't start it but his delivery did get noticeably worse after.



Will he get closer as a RB? He does very well for a midfielder, but it's not the same.

He doesn't make overlapping runs or get to the byline, the things we complain that O'Brien doesn't do. He's got better delivery and can hold and pass the ball but it's still a stopgap.

Not english so I don't know much about his competition, but I imagine if you had the pick of the country you'd still pick two RBs over a midfielder who can play there.

I think he has a better chance by playing and improving at CM every week.

I mean frankly I don't think he has even the slightest hope at either position. He's simply not at that level. You could make an argument about Henderson but it's moot because he's just being picked as an experienced old head.

 

[jonnyg]

I mean frankly I don't think he has even the slightest hope at either position. He's simply not at that level. You could make an argument about Henderson but it's moot because he's just being picked as an experienced old head.

So might as well keep him happy and the team balanced by playing him where he wants and getting an RB in Jan.

 

[davids]

Madness to move him to right back.
Would lose control of midfield.
Better idea is get a proper right back

Before January? Until then he's the sensible option.

 

[hetion]

So might as well keep him happy and the team balanced by playing him where he wants and getting an RB in Jan.

If there's a good RB available for a good price in January though, which is a big if. I'd like to see it tried. But id also like to see KDH tried deeper and I probably won't get either.

 

[pfim]

Well yes that obviously is a better idea, but it's also not possible to do right now and so a pretty pointless suggestion. We didn't lose control of the midfield when he moved to right back yesterday, in fact it's pretty much universally accepted that we improved significantly after that.

We improved significantly before that when we brought Alcaraz on.

Iroebugnum played very well yesterday, it was nice to see given the start to the season he's had. He won the penalty but also started the move to get the penalty. If he plays like that every match, then I can see moving Garner to RB. But I would not rely on that, Garner has been our best CM to start this season, I'm not even sure it's close.

 

[Lanolin]

We improved significantly before that when we brought Alcaraz on.

Iroebugnum played very well yesterday, it was nice to see given the start to the season he's had. He won the penalty but also started the move to get the penalty. If he plays like that every match, then I can see moving Garner to RB. But I would not rely on that, Garner has been our best CM to start this season, I'm not even sure it's close.

Yes we'd improved already, but we improved again after Iroegbunam came on, that's the point. I haven't argued with the idea that Garner has been good (although everybody seems to have forgotten that he's only actually played in midfield about 4 times because he started off at left back this season), I was just pointing out the post I was replying to was pretty nonsensical. We might as well say instead of debating whether it should be Barry or Beto or a false 9 we should just buy Haaland instead, it's the same thing.

 

[Frenk]

I have no complaints about Garner to be fair, I would have put him and McNeil in the same bucket at the end of last season. Our squad was improved over the summer and both of them needed to improve in order to keep their places. Garner stepped up to the plate, and McNeil has by the looks of it, pretty much given up and needs to be sold. It’s part of the process as the squad improves.