Agbonlahor named captain.

[irreverentad]

Villa's form in the latter half of the season in general always suffered under MON. Gabby's form never nosedived to the extent it has the last two seasons.

2006-07

October 28th - 2 April: 3 goals

2007-08

November 28th to April 5th: 1 goal

2008-09

October 29th - April 5th: 4 Goals

2009-10

Feb 5th- 9th May: 3 Goals

2010-11

Feb 1st - 22 May: 2 Goals

Which proves as I said that 'Gabby's form never nosedived to the extent it has the last two seasons', which have been worse, and also disregards the point about team performances dropping (also injuries in the seasons you listed).

I don't think his scoring record in the last 16 games is too significant either. How many goals have eg. Albrighton and Bannan scored from the wide positions that Gabby has been mostly pushed back to?

When Gabby plays LW he is pushed further forward. Also Gabby is a forward and the other 2 are not.

Pushing him further forward on the wing just isolates him when we have no attacking gameplan, thanks to McLeish. Likewise it isolated him under Houllier's pit-a-pat tactics on our side of the half way line. Even when played central, we're sitting so deep that a through ball from Ireland might leave Gabby with 40 yards of running still to do and opposition defenders crowding. As has been said, Gabby basically had to win games single handedly to even make an impression early on in this season. That kind of effort can't be sustained the whole season long. Unfortunately he drops past tiredness to a level of almost no effort at all.

None of the above seasons are anywhere near acceptable from him. Gabby as shown in the seasons above, has massive lapses in concentration for huge parts of the season. At £45k-£50k pw that is not acceptable.

Gabby, earlier in the season played some of his best ever games....on the left. To give him the same excuse for playing badly would be silly. Maybe that level could not be sustained but there is no excuse for him not to put in 6/10 or 7/10 performances from that position.

[irreverentad]

I think Gabby gets an easier ride from Villa fans with regards to criticism of his performances because he is one of us. Every season he has a big chunk where he is not performing to the required standard, but he still does not get the criticism that others get. Controversial opinion but I think I am right.

Easy argument to resort to, but I'm a Villa supporter from outside Brum, so some people at least aren't defending Gabby out of blind loyalty. Blame is just much better deserved elsewhere.

I think Voinjama only meant he was a villa fan by saying "one of us", not necessarily meaning it is because he is from Brum. Blame is deserved for any player not performing. We have a few. But Gabby also deserves his criticism too.

[Laivasse]

None of the above seasons are anywhere near acceptable from him. Gabby as shown in the seasons above, has massive lapses in concentration for huge parts of the season. At £45k-£50k pw that is not acceptable.

Gabby, earlier in the season played some of his best ever games....on the left. To give him the same excuse for playing badly would be silly. Maybe that level could not be sustained but there is no excuse for him not to put in 6/10 or 7/10 performances from that position.

IMO at the beginning of this season he played well on the left because he bought into some of the bull that McLeish would open a new chapter in Gabby's career. Simply put, he was motivated... psychology is a huge part of football and it has to be about much more than sticking obscene amounts of money in a player's pocket and saying 'off you go, son'. Being paid £50k/week as a footballer in the prem doesn't make you massively different from many other prem footballers, so it won't be the one inspiring factor in making a player play better than the rest.

As for his lapse to shitness, sticking him out wide is all or nothing. He either defies whole defences and delivers goals on a plate with his weaker foot or he does nothing, so 9/10 performances don't simply turn into 6/10's, they're abysmal instead. He's not intelligent enough to be dragged deeper into buildup play over a long span of games (same is true of Bent tbh).

[irreverentad]

None of the above seasons are anywhere near acceptable from him. Gabby as shown in the seasons above, has massive lapses in concentration for huge parts of the season. At £45k-£50k pw that is not acceptable.

Gabby, earlier in the season played some of his best ever games....on the left. To give him the same excuse for playing badly would be silly. Maybe that level could not be sustained but there is no excuse for him not to put in 6/10 or 7/10 performances from that position.

IMO at the beginning of this season he played well on the left because he bought into some of the bull that McLeish would open a new chapter in Gabby's career. Simply put, he was motivated... psychology is a huge part of football and it has to be about much more than sticking obscene amounts of money in a player's pocket and saying 'off you go, son'. Being paid £50k/week as a footballer in the prem doesn't make you massively different from many other prem footballers, so it won't be the one inspiring factor in making a player play better than the rest.

As for his lapse to shitness, sticking him out wide is all or nothing. He either defies whole defences and delivers goals on a plate with his weaker foot or he does nothing, so 9/10 performances don't simply turn into 6/10's, they're abysmal instead. He's not intelligent enough to be dragged deeper into buildup play over a long span of games (same is true of Bent tbh).

You cannot level his performances at McLeish. Gabby has done this EVERY season. Under MON, Houllier and McLeish. Gabby does not have a 'winning' mentality. Never has done. He doesn't have it in him to strive to be the best, to make sure he is the main man. Most people in their jobs get judged on their value for money. IMO it is the same in football.

Gabby has played up front in Bent's absence and has not proverd that he is worthy of that spot. Bent and Gabby are different players. Bent has a lot of intelligence in his movement and runs.

If the effort from Gabby was there I would be more forgiving. But it isn't.

We are going round in circles. I just think he isn't worth the money and we could easily replace him. There seems to be others who agree as there will undoubtedly be people who don't. He just for me doesn't justify his place.

[Killeen30]

I think Gabby gets an easier ride from Villa fans with regards to criticism of his performances because he is one of us. Every season he has a big chunk where he is not performing to the required standard, but he still does not get the criticism that others get. Controversial opinion but I think I am right.

Easy argument to resort to, but I'm a Villa supporter from outside Brum, so some people at least aren't defending Gabby out of blind loyalty. Blame is just much better deserved elsewhere.

I agree Voinjama, I am from Belfast and I would give Gabby an easier time than most other players for that very reason. Now more than ever he has to start doing it for us.

[juanpabloangel18]

You cannot level his performances at McLeish. Gabby has done this EVERY season. Under MON, Houllier and McLeish. Gabby does not have a 'winning' mentality. Never has done.

All of that applies to Villa generally, and having been here his entire career, it is not surprising that Gabby doesn't have an unwavering mentality.

February onwards under MON - our form completely disappeared every season. I still think those 44 goals for MON and his performances up til November for us this season show that he shouldn't be given up on just yet.

[irreverentad]

You cannot level his performances at McLeish. Gabby has done this EVERY season. Under MON, Houllier and McLeish. Gabby does not have a 'winning' mentality. Never has done.

All of that applies to Villa generally, and having been here his entire career, it is not surprising that Gabby doesn't have an unwavering mentality.

February onwards under MON - our form completely disappeared every season. I still think those 44 goals for MON and his performances up til November for us this season show that he shouldn't be given up on just yet.

You are right. I am just fed up of accepting it. Anyone with that mentality can move on for me. It should not be acceptable.

I also don't believe 11 goals a season is a good enough return.

As I say I am sounding very harsh on him, and I don't mean to. I just think his time has come as have a lot of others. What I saw yesterday was a very weak Villa team full of young and supposedly inferior players fighting hard til the final whistle. Yes the quality was missing a lot of the time but they were fighting for the shirt.

Gabby as the Captain and one of the more senior players wasn't doing that. And hasn't for a while. I cannot accept that.

Edit: For the last 4 seasons inc this one so far he is averaging 8 league goals a season.

[dudevillaisnice]

Edit: For the last 4 seasons inc this one so far he is averaging 8 league goals a season.

that's shocking.

[1968]

At this level he isnt good enough to be a striker and neither a winger.

That effort he put wide in the second half , woefull.

Could not care less that he is a villa fan , time to move on .

[irishjay]

60k a week plus for Gabby and that kind of return isn't acceptable, ship him out in the Summer and save more money on wages. Simplez

[Condimentalist]

This happens every season. At the start of the year, he was carrying the team. Without his goals and assists, we wouldn't have taken the points that we did over the first 8 games. I absolutely don't think Gabby should be sold. But the thing is that when he goes through a shit spell he really is shit, and he shouldn't be a guaranteed starter. With Weimann coming through, Bent back from injury and potentially another striker coming in to replace Heskey, I'm not sure he is anyway.

[Kiwivillan]

What's frightening is you could have sold Gabby and got Papiss Cisse and a chunk of change leftover(if you believe inflated estimates of Gabby's worth).

Actually scratch that. There's not a club out there that would pay a reasonable sum for Gabby as his limitations are stark and other clubs are not bound by misplaced sentimentality.

[KHV]

At this level he isnt good enough to be a striker and neither a winger.

That effort he put wide in the second half , woefull.

Could not care less that he is a villa fan , time to move on .

his boyhood team was actually arsenal so he isn't as big a fan as people think.

[Mantis]

At this level he isnt good enough to be a striker and neither a winger.

That effort he put wide in the second half , woefull.

Could not care less that he is a villa fan , time to move on .

his boyhood team was actually arsenal so he isn't as big a fan as people think.

I have a hard time believing this.

[A.V.F.C]

At this level he isnt good enough to be a striker and neither a winger.

That effort he put wide in the second half , woefull.

Could not care less that he is a villa fan , time to move on .

his boyhood team was actually arsenal so he isn't as big a fan as people think.

I have a hard time believing this.

That's because it's bullshit.

[privateer]

Edit: For the last 4 seasons inc this one so far he is averaging 8 league goals a season.

that's shocking.

Yes, it really highlights his limitations as a striker. That would be acceptable from a good attacking midfielder but is a disgrace for a striker.

What I didn't realise until the commentator on the Stoke game pointed it out was he hasn't scored in the league since the start of **** November!

18 league games without a goal. I don't care if he is a Villa fan or an Arsenal fan, surely we can do better than that?

[irreverentad]

Edit: For the last 4 seasons inc this one so far he is averaging 8 league goals a season.

that's shocking.

Yes, it really highlights his limitations as a striker. That would be acceptable from a good attacking midfielder but is a disgrace for a striker.

What I didn't realise until the commentator on the Stoke game pointed it out was he hasn't scored in the league since the start of **** November!

18 league games without a goal. I don't care if he is a Villa fan or an Arsenal fan, surely we can do better than that?

For his wage, absolutely!

[siminjo]

i see all the time that gabby get stick for being dumb, how come? i know he dosent show that much of vision and intelligent play on the field but i really dont think he is dumb for that reason alone. in the interviews i see him give he doesent come off as stupid i think.

[irreverentad]

i see all the time that gabby get stick for being dumb, how come? i know he dosent show that much of vision and intelligent play on the field but i really dont think he is dumb for that reason alone. in the interviews i see him give he doesent come off as stupid i think.

Is that sarcasm?

Also I am not giving stick for him being dumb. I am just saying he isn't good enough!

[Houlston]

It always amuses me to think that his dad is a highly qualified scientist, I imagine it wasnt too much of a shock when Gabby told him he wasnt going to follow in his footsteps. Although I mock he's far richer than me and probably his dad.