brommy Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Gabby appears to be hated by boggie fans and their players weren't enamoured either, thus Gabby was worth his starting place in both games. That Gabby caused difficulties and damage to olbiyun shows how insightful their fans and players are and it was a welcome bonus. Nice one, Gabby! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7392craig Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Like people are saying, up front on your own against the massive baggies defenders was always a big ask. Balls behind their defence would have been better for him as they are quite slow. He didn't really have much of the ball, but when he did he turned their players nicely and held it up well. I think he needs to make earlier runs if he wants to add more goals, but I'm impressed with his effort. Nice to have more of the old Gabby back, shame the last few managers have wasted what talent he has trying to convert him to a winger. Let's hope the Benteke/Gabby partnership continues. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 I would be eternally grateful to anyone who could provide a gif of his turn by the touchline during the second half where he completely did the defender. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave J Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Gabriel Agbonlahor reignites a curious career to give Aston Villa hope The striker has been an enigma during 10 years in the Premier League but is again showing his worth when a critical situation demands Gabriel Agbonlahor's goal against West Brom was his fourth of the season and his first since 24 November. Photograph: Neville Williams/Aston Villa FC via Getty Images It was a goal that had Tim Sherwood manically sprinting down the touchline, re-energised Aston Villa and lifted Gabriel Agbonlahor up to 45th place on the all-time Premier League goalscorers’ list, level with Brian Deane and Chris Armstrong. Or, to look at it another way, one position higher than Eric Cantona. The 71st top-flight goal of Agbonlahor’s career, and in particular the performance he produced during the first half of that crucial 2-1 win over West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday night, was like being taken on a trip down memory lane. Quick, direct and aggressive, this was the Agbonlahor of old, the centre-forward to whom Fabio Capello gave three England caps and Martin O’Neill described as a “priceless asset”. Agbonlahor was unplayable – only not in the way that many Villa fans had imagined beforehand, when the consensus seemed to be that Tim Sherwood had made a serious error of judgment by starting with a forward who had failed to score in his previous 14 league games. “Strangely excellent” would be one way of summing up Agbonlahor’s display against Albion. As well as scoring the opening goal he ran Joleon Lescott ragged, ought to have had a penalty when Ben Foster cleaned him out and he saw two efforts cleared off the line. All of that happened before half-time and when he was substituted eight minutes from time a standing ovation followed. “I think it was appreciated by the fans the other night, they were singing his name, you can’t imagine how much players grow from that,” Sherwood, the Villa manager, said. “I’ve managed one of the hottest strikers in English football at the moment, Harry Kane, he had to win over them Tottenham fans.” At times it was quite an ordeal for Lescott and it is safe to assume that the Albion defender will not relish the prospect of coming up against Agbonlahor again, when the two teams meet at Villa Park in an FA Cup quarter-final. “Joleon 10 years ago wouldn’t catch him. It’s nothing to do with age or players,” Sherwood said. “Gabby Agbonlahor is an extraordinarily quick player. Every game I’ve told him to play on the shoulder and look to get in behind, because once he gets in behind you, he’s hard to stop.” Yet Agbonlahor can also look like a player who needs a set of jump leads to get him started. He scored two in the first four games this season, picked up a new four-year contract at a time when Villa were feeling generous beyond belief (Paul Lambert also signed a long-term deal in September) and then scored once in his next 21 appearances. At times this season Agbonlahor has given the impression that he is going through the motions, rather than the gears. His is a curious case in so many respects. Born in Erdington and picked up by Villa at the age of 14, he has never been viewed as a footballer blessed with natural talent – “The one thing that attracted us to him was his pace, he had absolutely nothing else,” Bryan Jones, Villa’s former academy director, told the Guardian in 2008 – yet this is his 10th season as a Premier League player and there are moments when he can be absolutely devastating. A stunning seven-minute hat-trick against Manchester City back in 2008 sticks in the mind. He is part of the furniture at Villa Park and it will be a strange day when there is no Agbonlahor in the team photo. Given his debut under David O’Leary nine years ago this month, Agbonlahor has had more strike partners (17) over the years than Villa have scored league goals this season. Juan Pablo Ángel, Milan Baros, Luke Moore, Kevin Phillips, Chris Sutton, John Carew, Marlon Harewood, Nathan Delfouneso, Emile Heskey, Darren Bent, Andreas Weimann, Robbie Keane, Christian Benteke, Jordan Bowery, Nicklas Helenius, Grant Holt and Libor Kozak have all tried their luck with varying degrees of success and failure. Agbonlahor is a survivor and yet it is hard not to look back over his career, in particular that period when he was in his early 20s, in and around the England squad, scoring 11 (2007-08), 12 (2008‑09) and 13 (2009-10) Premier League goals a season, and question what has happened since and why performances such as the one against West Bromwich have become the exception and not the norm. One school of thought among those that know him well is that life has been too comfortable for too long for Villa’s longest-serving player and that the desire, hunger and determination to push on no longer burns inside. Agbonlahor has been loyal to Villa but also extremely well paid. The four-year contract he signed in 2010 was worth £60,000 a week. Why leave? And would Agbonlahor have got that lucrative deal he signed in September anywhere else? Others highlight the fact that Agbonlahor is Villa through and through and point to mitigating factors behind his deteriorating goal return. It is certainly true that Villa have been in steady decline across the period when his goals have dried up – he has scored only 25 in the league in the past five seasons and nine of those came in 2012‑13. There is also a legitimate argument that any forward would have struggled to make a mark for so much of this season, when the football was dire under Lambert and chances at a premium. Perhaps the biggest thing that can be said in defence of Agbonlahor’s form over the second half of his career is that he has spent far too long playing out of position since O’Neill left the club. Gérard Houllier, Alex McLeish and Paul Lambert all deployed Agbonlahor wide, where he never looks comfortable. He was arguably at his best for Villa back in the days when Carew was playing alongside him up front, in the same way that Christian Benteke did against West Bromwich. “That strike partnership [Agbonlahor and Benteke], outside the top six clubs, they’ve got to be the best two,” Sherwood said. “But on paper it doesn’t make any difference, you have to go and prove it and go and do it. And it’s about this time when Gabby normally comes out and starts keeping this team in the league.” The last comment was accompanied with a smile but has some substance. Two years ago, when Villa were mired in yet another relegation battle, Agbonlahor decided to turn it on and scored six in seven during the last nine games of the season to help them survive. What Sherwood and Agbonlahor would do for a repeat of that run now, with a couple of trips to Wembley thrown in. Link Am i reading this right?? one half decent game, yes that's all it was half decent, and suddenly all is perfect in the world of Gabby. Well hold tight Gabby fans, your probably going to get another run of mediocrity at best. I cant believe how he gets away with it time after time. Just because he supports the club. i for one will not be fooled. sorry. You're hating him getting any praise aren't you? I think to say ' Hate' is to strong to be honest. Do i like it? no and here's why. In my humble opinion and that's all that it is [ we're all football fans with our own views]. He is a shockingly ordinary professional footballer. His influence again in my opinion in the vast majority of games is minimal. I will say this again also, if i had ever been lucky enough to have played the number of games for ASTON VILLA FC as a striker as he has done, and still remained some distance south of being a centurion goal scorer i would genuinely be disappointed with myself. I am fully aware that we need a hero right now to try and dispel some of the recent doom and gloom around the club, but it just feels to me that he is afforded so much grace by most of our fans, he has been anonymous for most of this season and then suddenly when he has two half decent games, and yes that's really all they were, please don't try and make them out to be more than this, he is being lauded as some form of returning hero. Take Andi Weimann for example another player who to put it bluntly i don't rate, and in all honesty i see absolutely nothing at all between them as footballers, the only difference being in my view that Weimann puts in a shift every game, but gets pilloried for a lack of technical ability, but Gabby somehow gets away with the same just because he's a villan, I'm sorry but someone please explain this. Surely being a villa fan living the dream playing for your club wouldn't you want to do this every time you pull on the shirt?. Maybe i am in the minority here but I'm not going to change my mind about him and certainly wont be fooled by two half decent games, if he left the club today i would not be bothered in the slightest. Sorry buts that's just my own opinion of him as a professional footballer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Vive_La_Villa Posted March 8, 2015 Popular Post Share Posted March 8, 2015 Hang on. Gabby has had 2 good games and been a real threat to the opposing defence yet he should be dropped because he has been crap for the rest of the season. On that rational the whole team should be dropped. We get you don't rate him but no harm in getting behind him when he is playing well right? 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave J Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Yes your right, but one swallow doesn't make a summer, he needs more than two half decent games for me to think that he's suddenly moving forwards 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wainy316 Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Well now he has some momentum we should give him the chance to get more than two "half decent" games under his belt. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapal_fan Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Won a great flick on in the air against the much taller mcauly to send sinclair through 1 v 1, which he shanked wide unfortunately. Gabby did well again last night, a few times he flicked the ball past their defenders and got them on the back foot after they'd slowly been building momentum. I'm telling you, having gabby in the team means that any opponents have to drop deeper than they'd usually be because as we've seen this season, 1 clearance from clark can put him into goal scoring positions. Having him in the team takes away some of our opponents attacking potential. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Sunderland is another team Gabby enjoys playing against so I think he has start up top again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Sunderland is another team Gabby enjoys playing against so I think he has start up top again What's that you say, you'd like to see Cattermole forgetting which foot is which, leading to Gabby's goal last season? Happy times. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StanBalaban Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Sunderland is another team Gabby enjoys playing against so I think he has start up top again What's that you say, you'd like to see Cattermole forgetting which foot is which, leading to Gabby's goal last season? Happy times. Is this one of those Question of Sport 'what happened next' clips? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Came from Sunderland fans forum, I think they cut the gif off early cos they couldn't bear to see it go in! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Proof that Gabby is much better as a striker rather than a wide player. He should never play on the wing ever again! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grobs Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 He was brilliant saturday. He won loads of headers considering the size of their defence. Really hope he continues but i doubt it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 it'd be strange but probably better for us in the long term if the sherwood / adebayor effect that we were all thinking would work with benteke actually happened to gabby! gabby's problem has always been consistency, he can go on little runs then disappear for a year, hopefully he'll go on a run from now until the end of the season like he did 2 years ago, i think gabby's form then got overshadowed by benteke's goals but he played really well i dont know why even now after 2 good games its hard to shake the impression that some villa fans almost dont want him to do well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LxYoungAVFC Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 (edited) Sunderland is another team Gabby enjoys playing against so I think he has start up top again What's that you say, you'd like to see Cattermole forgetting which foot is which, leading to Gabby's goal last season? Happy times. His acceleration Edited March 9, 2015 by LxYoungAVFC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomh621 Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 He was brilliant saturday. He won loads of headers considering the size of their defence. Really hope he continues but i doubt it Gabby is pretty good at hold up play and standing tall when he needs to show his strength i reckon. He's a simple/limited player but effective when you play to his strengths. Hopefully he can keep it up. Hated seeing him on the wing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomaszk Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 He got the winner in 1-0 win there a year or two before didn't he? Scrappy, messy goal where Cuellar absolutely monstered him after the ball had gone in Nice to see him looking arsed again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyblade Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 He got the winner in 1-0 win there a year or two before didn't he? Scrappy, messy goal where Cuellar absolutely monstered him after the ball had gone in Nice to see him looking arsed again. Yup, scored the winner in a 1-0 win the next season too. Let's hope he makes it a hattrick this season Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted March 11, 2015 Moderator Share Posted March 11, 2015 The last time we had an active player who had both played more games and scored more goals for Villa than Gabby was in 1961. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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