Gabby Agbonlahor

[TheStagMan]

2 hours ago, philgetaway said:

We out played them second half.  I was a bit pissed at the game, but I'm sure it was 1-1 at HT?

It was, and we played decent in the first half, but we did not outplay them, after Gabby went off, we did step it up and really did outplay them. Funny that.

 

[TRO]

I have written on here before.....I have never been a Gabby fan.Well not one that has been oblivious to his shortcomings anyway.

However, One of the reasons he is in I would suspect he holds the ball in close quarters.....I accept that we played with more tempo when he went off( Brighton), but 60 minutes had passed and he had completed a lot of "Donkey Work"

Grealish and Ayew did well, but had the luxury of a 60 minute more tired/weary  Brighton team.

I think Gabby has lost much of his pace but he is in for his power and upper body strength....He pre-occupies the opposing centre halves....allowing Adomah & Kodjia more space and freedom to work

someone has to take the centre halves out

some of these young forwards are pretty nifty when no opposing player is near them.....as soon as they are, they go missing or their game is negated. Steve Bruce can't afford that gamble at present.

He may get Cameo appearances depending on SB

 

Edited November 22, 2016 by TRO

[meregreen]

One of the worst shielders of a ball I have ever seen. Fails to hold the ball up at all. His pace has gone. There never was anything else to his game. So sad that he might keep out technically far superior players. Someone needs to wise up Bruce to this waste of space.

[chrisvilla4]

Thing is with Gabby is that he has more than likely done exactly what Bruce has asked of him so far. 

if he's going to get paid he may as well get paid for doing his job rather than sitting on his backside winding everyone up. 

[Dave J]

2 hours ago, meregreen said:

One of the worst shielders of a ball I have ever seen. Fails to hold the ball up at all. His pace has gone. There never was anything else to his game. So sad that he might keep out technically far superior players. Someone needs to wise up Bruce to this waste of space.

Well said Meregreen - bang on the money as always 

[Villan_of_oz]

4 hours ago, TRO said:

I have written on here before.....I have never been a Gabby fan.Well not one that has been oblivious to his shortcomings anyway.

However, One of the reasons he is in I would suspect he holds the ball in close quarters.....I accept that we played with more tempo when he went off( Brighton), but 60 minutes had passed and he had completed a lot of "Donkey Work"

Grealish and Ayew did well, but had the luxury of a 60 minute more tired/weary  Brighton team.

I think Gabby has lost much of his pace but he is in for his power and upper body strength....He pre-occupies the opposing centre halves....allowing Adomah & Kodjia more space and freedom to work

someone has to take the centre halves out

some of these young forwards are pretty nifty when no opposing player is near them.....as soon as they are, they go missing or their game is negated. Steve Bruce can't afford that gamble at present.

He may get Cameo appearances depending on SB

 

Intelligent post.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

5 hours ago, TRO said:

I have written on here before.....I have never been a Gabby fan.Well not one that has been oblivious to his shortcomings anyway.

However, One of the reasons he is in I would suspect he holds the ball in close quarters.....I accept that we played with more tempo when he went off( Brighton), but 60 minutes had passed and he had completed a lot of "Donkey Work"

Grealish and Ayew did well, but had the luxury of a 60 minute more tired/weary  Brighton team.

I think Gabby has lost much of his pace but he is in for his power and upper body strength....He pre-occupies the opposing centre halves....allowing Adomah & Kodjia more space and freedom to work

someone has to take the centre halves out

some of these young forwards are pretty nifty when no opposing player is near them.....as soon as they are, they go missing or their game is negated. Steve Bruce can't afford that gamble at present.

He may get Cameo appearances depending on SB

 

Too balanced and non biased. PISS OFF!

[Villan_of_oz]

Really think if Bruce fails (as you know he will playing Gabby) that the club should look at getting their next manager from this thread. 

[Guest av1]

I really don't think Bruce has a particular soft spot for Gabby. Instead i think he simply trying to get the best out of the resources he has available, whilst mindful that we lose 3 of our most talented forward players to ACON. 

People will say well we have Gestede and RMC to come in, both of whom are better than Gabby imo, but what Bruce has shown in his short time here is that he will pick the players that suit the shape he wants play, rather than picking a shape that fits the players. Its clear that he feels that neither RMC or Gestede make the unit stronger even though they may be better than some of its parts, and he isn't going to completely change the shape of the team because of the ACON. 

So what will he be left with? A couple of players that don't suit his system, RHM, Grealish and Gabby, so its not really surprising he wants Gabby to lay of the pies for a bit. I'm sure the club must have a plan in place for January and maybe getting Gabby fit is a part of that. 

Gabby doesn't deserve to be anywhere near the team imo and i look forward to the day we are finally shot him, but I'm not going to get on Bruce's back because i just think he is playing the long game and giving himself a couple more options 

 

[TRO]

18 hours ago, meregreen said:

One of the worst shielders of a ball I have ever seen. Fails to hold the ball up at all. His pace has gone. There never was anything else to his game. So sad that he might keep out technically far superior players. Someone needs to wise up Bruce to this waste of space.

He is no Geoff Hurst or Mark Hughes , but he is one of the better ones we have ......I see like you his other shortcomings.....but the kids have different shortcomings too.

you would  be just swapping one for the other.

[NIVillan]

Like a lot here not a Gabby fan and thought he should have been sold in Lambert's time.

But he is here and being paid by us so if Bruce thinks he has a use for him and results are going well then so be it.

Wasting more energy on deriding Gabby isnt going to help.  I can do that when playing Fifa and he misses a goal (not going to accept I control the controller)!

[HolteExile]

The only logical reason I can see for playing Gabby is if Bruce is trying to make a point to the owner.

See?  I do still need a CF -despite what you spent last summer. 

There might be merit in the argument that Kodja is more comfortable cutting in from wide, but for the time being, him and Gestede are our best options directly up top. Any forward line containing the likes of Kodja, Ayew, Jack and Albert should be fine for movement anyway, and able to intechange during the game. 

[TRO]

3 hours ago, HolteExile said:

The only logical reason I can see for playing Gabby is if Bruce is trying to make a point to the owner.

See?  I do still need a CF -despite what you spent last summer. 

There might be merit in the argument that Kodja is more comfortable cutting in from wide, but for the time being, him and Gestede are our best options directly up top. Any forward line containing the likes of Kodja, Ayew, Jack and Albert should be fine for movement anyway, and able to intechange during the game. 

I don't think this owner needs SB to make a point to him. I think SB has a better relationship with him than that.

[TRO]

On 11/22/2016 at 22:22, Villan_of_oz said:

Really think if Bruce fails (as you know he will playing Gabby) that the club should look at getting their next manager from this thread. 

He won't.......fail

he may have set backs....I have seen the likes of SB before....They are winners and decent guys with it.

Graham Taylor

[Dave J]

11 hours ago, TRO said:

He won't.......fail

he may have set backs....I have seen the likes of SB before....They are winners and decent guys with it.

Graham Taylor

TRO - you clearly have a lot of faith in Bruce, certainly not misguided in any shape or form at this level and yes a winner at this level as well. The acid test will come later down the line - however I do feel playing Gabby and putting the level of faith in him that we have witnessed thus far will in my opinion come back to bite him on the bum.

[Stevo985]

18 hours ago, HolteExile said:

The only logical reason I can see for playing Gabby is if Bruce is trying to make a point to the owner.

See?  I do still need a CF -despite what you spent last summer. 

There might be merit in the argument that Kodja is more comfortable cutting in from wide, but for the time being, him and Gestede are our best options directly up top. Any forward line containing the likes of Kodja, Ayew, Jack and Albert should be fine for movement anyway, and able to intechange during the game. 

I think it's more likely that Bruce has decided he's giving gabby a clean slate, Gabby has trained well and Bruce has decided to give him his chance.

With a couple of our strikers missing in January, one of them not quite performing (McCormack) and the ability Gabby HAD that Bruce has seen in the past, I can understand why he'd want to do that.

What I would personally have a problem with is if Bruce persists with Gabby when he's clearly not performing as well as our other options (and let's be honest, it's highly likely that will be the case as Gabby is past it). If that happens I'll be annoyed. As for what Bruce has done with Gabby so far, I don't have much of a problem with it.

And I'd guess after the Brighton game, Bruce will be well on the way to realising how much better our other options up front are.

[TrentVilla]

 

Spot on, we are going to be short during the ACN and the use of Gabby strikes me as try before you buy.

[AntrimBlack]

23 minutes ago, TrentVilla said:

 

Spot on, we are going to be short during the ACN and the use of Gabby strikes me as try before you buy.

An expensive way to buy.

If Agbonlahor has cost us points by being in the side in lieu of someone better.

I really cannot see that Bruce would be doing that. He obviously feels that he is good enough.

[TrentVilla]

5 minutes ago, AntrimBlack said:

An expensive way to buy.

If Agbonlahor has cost us points by being in the side in lieu of someone better.

I really cannot see that Bruce would be doing that. He obviously feels that he is good enough.

Not as costly as buying if you don't need to do so.

[bannedfromHandV]

I don't think he's cost us any points by being involved to date, and as part of a successful XI you have to accept that he has, by default, contributed