Popular Post mjmooney Posted March 3, 2023 VT Supporter Popular Post Share Posted March 3, 2023 We love him because WE bought him (OK, rattled Doug into buying him). Direct result of the 'pound sign' campaign. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted March 3, 2023 Share Posted March 3, 2023 Legend 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zhan_Zhuang Posted March 3, 2023 Share Posted March 3, 2023 I loved him. But yeah many reasons why things didn't really click for him, style of play, personnel, management changes, injuries etc.... Scored some absolute bangers in his time, touch was sublime too for some of those goals. Seems a great guy too; taking all things into consideration he is a Legend for me. Interestingly I watched a little of our defeat away to SHA back in 2002, after they scored Darren Purse got booked for a horrendous tackle on JPA. It was a straight red allday, studs up on the knee, disgusting it was. Elleray was the referee which says it all really. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
will87 Posted March 3, 2023 Share Posted March 3, 2023 Just lacked pace otherwise he'd have been a top striker, was like he was running in treacle at the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fun Factory Posted March 3, 2023 Share Posted March 3, 2023 (edited) 3 hours ago, mjmooney said: We love him because WE bought him (OK, rattled Doug into buying him). Direct result of the 'pound sign' campaign. And also he spent six years, the best years of his career with us. How many players do that with us? The Chelsea goal in the league goal is still one of the best goals I have scored by a Villa player. Brillant. Shame we followed up that win a defeat over Bolton, with the chance of playing Middlesborough in the final. I remember after the match when the draw was made we all thought we would be going to Cardiff. Sigh. Edited March 3, 2023 by The Fun Factory 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post villa4europe Posted March 4, 2023 Popular Post Share Posted March 4, 2023 He's one of those players that forget his Wikipedia page, forget his ratings in the sun, forget all his stats* I just like the guy Watkins is the same for me * and even then I think only Benteke and Yorke have a better single PL scoring season than him in 30 years 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted March 4, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted March 4, 2023 20 hours ago, villa89 said: I'm always amazed at the reverence with which people hold him in on here. He was average at best, alright the style of play probably didn't help him but when you compare him to a proper striker like Beneteke when he was with us there's no comparison. Just look at Angel's goal record for us, it's horrendous. It always amazes me when only I have a fairly low opinion of a player and pretty much everyone else thinks he's great. I totally agree with you, you should be amazed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted March 4, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted March 4, 2023 18 hours ago, DCJonah said: Yeah, I'll be honest I don't get it. He had one amazing season, one ok season and was truly awful the rest of his time here. He really wasn't awful for most of his time here. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted March 4, 2023 Share Posted March 4, 2023 (edited) 26 minutes ago, sidcow said: He really wasn't awful for most of his time here. I think he was. He was crap when he first signed. First full season was good - 12 goals in 29 games Next season he scored 1 goal. Following season was superb with 16 goals. The next 3 seasons were crap. 7 goals then 3, then 4. That's 2 seasons where he was good, the rest he was poor and at times absolutely woeful. Edited March 4, 2023 by DCJonah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UpTheVilla26 Posted March 4, 2023 Share Posted March 4, 2023 I think JPA was my first and only ever man crush. I even tried to grow my hair and wore a band in it, much to the annoyance and amusement of my wife. I think the fact he was Colombian offset maybe the fact he wasn't the best striker we've ever had. We rarely had players from South America back then so to have a Colombian up front was almost 'exotic'. I love the fact he still has so much to do with the club and yes I view his time here through somewhat tinted glasses but when you were young and impressionable at the time, having a hero like JPA was proper 'cool' 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted March 4, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted March 4, 2023 (edited) 10 minutes ago, DCJonah said: I think he was. He was crap when he first signed. First full season was good - 12 goals in 29 games Next season he scored 1 goal. Following season was superb with 16 goals. The next 3 seasons were crap. 7 goals then 3, then 4. That's 2 seasons where he was good, the rest he was poor and at times absolutely woeful. Opinions mate. Crap, awful, those are strong words. I think he was great, and goals don't tell the whole story as Ollie Watkins and Emile Heskey* in a previous era have shown. * Now we'll get a deluge of posts about how CRAP England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey was Edited March 4, 2023 by sidcow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted March 4, 2023 Share Posted March 4, 2023 20 minutes ago, sidcow said: Opinions mate. Crap, awful, those are strong words. I think he was great, and goals don't tell the whole story as Ollie Watkins and Emile Heskey* in a previous era have shown. * Now we'll get a deluge of posts about how CRAP England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey was Yeah fair enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bannedfromHandV Posted March 4, 2023 Share Posted March 4, 2023 It’s the problem with just looking at stats, you sometimes lose context. JPA is a villa legend for a bunch of reasons but not because he was prolific or even a success in particular. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted March 4, 2023 Share Posted March 4, 2023 5 minutes ago, bannedfromHandV said: It’s the problem with just looking at stats, you sometimes lose context. JPA is a villa legend for a bunch of reasons but not because he was prolific or even a success in particular. For me it's not just stats. I remember watching him. The stats back up what I saw. For an attacker he had some woeful seasons for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Steve Posted March 4, 2023 Share Posted March 4, 2023 A true pro on and off the pitch. What makes him a legend to me? He understands what makes us special, he's lived and breathed it (scored some wonder goals) and continues to be a great ambassador for us. That to me means far more. Especially the way he welcomed Jhon here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted March 4, 2023 Share Posted March 4, 2023 He's a very nice man who continues to speak well about the club, which isn't particularly common for some of our ex players. I do think he's another example where he's idolised at least partly because he was never good enough to leave to a better team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodders0223 Posted March 4, 2023 Share Posted March 4, 2023 3 hours ago, DCJonah said: I think he was. He was crap when he first signed. First full season was good - 12 goals in 29 games Next season he scored 1 goal. Following season was superb with 16 goals. The next 3 seasons were crap. 7 goals then 3, then 4. That's 2 seasons where he was good, the rest he was poor and at times absolutely woeful. The goal season was GT MK II? Probably the most depressing non event season ever. Even the relegation season we could at least get angry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tegis Posted March 4, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted March 4, 2023 20 hours ago, The Fun Factory said: Shame we followed up that win a defeat over Bolton, with the chance of playing Middlesborough in the final. To this day, nobody has had a game against us quite like Jay-Jay Okocha had that day. He was literally unstoppable/unplayable/unbelievable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fun Factory Posted March 4, 2023 Share Posted March 4, 2023 He was at Villa for six and a half years under 4 managers and only one of those actually liked him and played him to his strengths. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted March 4, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted March 4, 2023 8 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said: He was at Villa for six and a half years under 4 managers and only one of those actually liked him and played him to his strengths. In 3 players we can link back to the European Cup Winning Team. Ashley Young played with Juan Pablo Angel played with Steve Staunton played with Nigel Spink 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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