Florin Gardos hasn't kicked a ball in competitive first team action since February 2015, tonight he is set to play against Crawley Town and start to Show Claude Puel what he can do.

Since signing from Steau Bucharest for £6 million in the summer of 2013 Florin Gardos has become the forgotten man of St Mary's, when he arrived it was acknowledged that he would not be first choice in Ronald Koeman's team, but he would spend time getting fi enough for the Premier League and learning the ropes.

However despite several promising performances when called upon by Koeman, after being taken off by the Dutchman less than half an hour into a defeat at West Brom in February 2015, despite being on the bench for virtually every other game that season he did not get on the field again.

Indeed that would not only be his last appearance that season, but his last overall after suffering a knee injury that ruled him out for all of 2015/16.

In the summer he looked to be on his way back but again injury intervened and after over four months recovering he is now once again trying to kick start his St Mary's career.

He will still be back up to Jose Fonte and Virgil Van Dijk, but he knows the opportunities are there for him if he can show he can take them, Saints face a tough period in the next six weeks or so and there are long terms doubts over Yoshida's ability to be anything other than a stop gap, Puel will be looking for a defender who can truly put pressure on his two first choice central defenders and indeed prove they are able to replace them in the long term.

Whether Gardos is that man is still open to debate, at times under the six months he played under Ronald Koeman he showed that he had something, most of the games he played in resulted in victories for Saints, in his five starts in the Premier League he won three games drew one and lost only that final game.

In six Premier outings as a sub he took part in five victories and one draw including as an early sub for Toby Alderweireld in a 1-0 win at Old Trafford.

In his six starts in the cups he saw three victories including a glorious night at the Emirates a draw and two defeats.

So his record for Saints when playing was probably as good as any other defender and in praise of him you don't win games against some of the teams that he played against without having something about you.

However there was something that Ronald Koeman saw that he didn't like and just as he seemed to have established himself as the reserve central defender ahead of Yoshida he found himself back down the pecking order.

Now he starts the comeback trail with an appearance against Crawley Town in the checkatrade trophy this evening hoping to show Claude Puel that he could be a good addition to his squad now he is fit to rejoin it.

Photo: Action Images

Jesus_02 added 09:37 - Nov 9 Sometimes things just don't work out at a particular club. Gaston Ramerez was a good example, also Nathan Dyer. With injuries and inconsistency I'm afraid that Gardos (and IMO Jay Rod) could well fit into that category and I think they should both be loaned out. Clubs would be queuing up to take either or both of them With Jan approaching I think we should be in the market for a new CB and CF maybe a top striker on loan would be an option. In short we should consider ourselves better than Florin Gardos at the moment

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SaintNick added 10:30 - Nov 9 But at the moment is Forin Gardos better than what we have ? it is fine to write him off, but for the next 8 weeks he is better than players we have yet to sign. He has the chance to show Claude Puel that he does have a future at the club, lets keep an open mind till he has had that chance and shown either way
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SaintBrock added 10:31 - Nov 9 Agree with you, a year out is a very long time in football and even shorter absences can affect the momentum of a player's career. An example is Vincent Company who has been dogged by injury over the last year or so and is really struggling to get back into a side that once depended upon him for their drive and leadership. Florin Gardos never really got going here and will struggle to do any better this time. A serious injury inevitably will weigh on a player's mind even subconsciously and it is unlikely that they can resurrect the carefree 100% commitment needed to turn good players into great ones. Probably we are seeing that with Jay Rodriguez who to me seems very tentative in his approach to the game since his latest comeback. Its much the same with highly rated young racing drivers in lower formulae who drive to the point of recklessness thinking themselves invincible until the inevitable big smash and injury arrive. Few then achieve great things afterwards. Shane Long seems to be an exception, despite many warnings from his past injury history he continues to follow an almost reckless desire to inflict damage on himself through injudicious collisions chasing after every ball.

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SonicBoom added 11:45 - Nov 9 How can you write him off when he's hardly played. You can make a judgement on his injury record but we can't say he's not good enough as he hasn't had a chance to prove it. And when he did play he looked pretty good. Let's hope he can stay fit this time and show what he can do. If he turns out to be a capable option then 6 mill still looks like excellent business.
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SaintNick added 13:10 - Nov 9 Some very experienced doctors seem to read this site in that they can write off Jay Rodriguez after barely a couple of hours football in the past year and Florin Gardos without even needing to book him an appointment. Of course Rodriguez will be tentative, but give him a chance to get his confidence back
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redandwhitedee added 13:26 - Nov 9 Fonte has made more errors this season than Yoshida has, so why you dont mention "doubts" over him ?? Yoshida sometimes looks a bit nervous yes when the ball is played back to him under pressure but not surprising when folks like you criticise him even when he is playing well.
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SaintNick added 14:42 - Nov 9 I criticise players when it is deserved, Yoshida has shown his worth in over 4 years with the squad, but he has never truly established himself as a first choice player in the back four, he has a penchant for making mistakes and losing concentraand that is the issue. Fonte also has issues but I dont thnk there are many Saints supporters who would put Yoshida in ahead of Fonte or Van Dijk, that being the case we should be looking to get in another central defender who can compete for a place in the team and stop complacency, sadly that man is not Yoshida

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Jesus_02 added 16:38 - Nov 9 The issue isn’t about writing a player off or not it’s about the club pinning its hopes on players that are continually struggling. Putting Rodriguez out on loan would not mean ending his saints career in the same way that Jack Wishire hasn’t finished at Arsenal. Gardos would have a better chance at showing that he has a future at the club if he was playing regularly away from Saints. We have 3 decent CBs and some kids coming through without him.

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leighsaint added 19:52 - Nov 9 Don't know why JayRod wasn't given a run out tonight with Gardos
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