Too hard on Harding?

With the recent retirement of two seasoned Forest blogs (eighteensixtyfive and then Through the Seasons Before Us), it’s nice to see a new site springing up.

Arsher Ali’s The Garibaldi Gazette came onto our radar this morning when a link to his stirring defence of the much-maligned Dan Harding was posted on the LTLF Forum.

Arsher’s argument centres around Harding’s attacking abilities and interestingly this is one of the things Adam White highlights in his report of the ‘must win’ game against Peterborough, mentioning his marauding runs which were ‘vital’ to the success of the diamond midfield, while new right-back Gonzalo Jara was the one being accused of mistakes.

A few weeks ago Paul Severn took to these pages to praise Andy Reid, and he made a point that Harding ‘has looked slow and flat footed’, putting the blame for our defensive weaknesses down that flank on the defender rather than the winger.

Interesting then that in a game when Reid can’t play because of injury, Harding comes away with praise from two independent sources. Perhaps the fault isn’t entirely with Harding – we’re slowly coming to the conclusion that Harding and Reid simply aren’t compatible in the same team. Arsher may have a point in that criticism of Harding has been too harsh, but if you had to replace one of our two left-sided players in this transfer window, who would it be?