12 Nov 2026 11:21:47
I really like what Bard is doing, admittedly on a small sample size. He had 15 mins vs Chelsea, when that game was
already mad. He had 45 mins vs. Spurs and made a difference.

This doesnt mean i suddenly dislike Gabby, and that's important. Gabby is good, and solid, but has his flaws. But what I like most is it would appear he and Bard offer slightly different options.

Gabby loves to take on his man on the wing, and when fit certainly has the turn of pace to make that successful. He doesn't look up much but between beating his man and the space at the line he doesn't have much time to. What i like there is he doesn't try to rush and pick someone out. He just tries to put the ball in a dangerous spot and say 'go on DCL' or someone else that's for you to be there.

He didn't have an assist last season but i remember lots of chances created and he probably had an assist xg of 3 or 4. Created Justin's vs. Arsenal exactly that - his cross was actually just into a dangerous area, DCL couldn't get on it, but it came through to Justin.

Bard is a little more tenacious defensively, and seems to prefer to cross from a little deeper and picking someone out. GG also wasn't quite as effective vs. Spurs because of an injury (a bit fragile), and Nmecha played more narrowly than Okafor so fewer wide options. Bard operated almost inverted at times, running into central mid.

GG is the incumbent for now, and deservedly so. Easy to forget he himself only cost £10m which is more than Bard, but if you told me you could nab a pair of very competent left backs for £15m, and have a promising Lienou in the pipeline two yrs ago, I wouldn't have believed you.

Ofc i do stress Bard is a only a super impressive cameo so far. But that half alone is probably worth his loan fee.

1.) 12 Nov 2026

12 Nov 2026 12:50:03
If bard has learnt that much in 6 weeks. Good on him. Our gk didn’t.
I actually didn’t think he was that bad v Chelsea even though he got slated.
To me. The only difference between two games was he created more space and was more aggressive v spuds. But like his endeavour. Gg is injury prone so hope bard gets a good chance to shine. Or not.