rodders0223 Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 I am not sure whether he is finished, or totally rusty. I see him one game and he isn't winning duals, he isn't outpacing anyone, and he isn't getting involved, then I see other cameos and he looks like a cut above, someone with PL pedigree. Hindsight, he should have gone on loan, got games, got fit, got match fit and he would be well up to speed. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grasshopper Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 3 hours ago, rodders0223 said: I am not sure whether he is finished, or totally rusty. I see him one game and he isn't winning duals, he isn't outpacing anyone, and he isn't getting involved, then I see other cameos and he looks like a cut above, someone with PL pedigree. Hindsight, he should have gone on loan, got games, got fit, got match fit and he would be well up to speed. Well this just sums up how selfish & stupid Gaby is. He know early on RDM wasnt going to play him, even the Dr expressed his displeasure. He should has moved either to Reading or somewhere on loan - no bollox about being away from his family - millions if people all over the world have to cope with being away from family. he's loaded and can afford to make arrangements - It was clear from the outset that we would lose players during Afcon - how much intelligence is needed to realise 1) train back up to fitness 2) get match fitness by playing 3) find a team/level to do well as to gain confidence (if thats a problem) 4) knock so loudly on the door that a loan till Jan would have meant everybody at AVFC begging for him back But no, me me me Just a dumb selfish word removed not deserved of a chance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hanky Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 7 hours ago, vreitti said: Okay. If you want me to give examples as to why I thought Gabby had a good game then I will, but I feel it's slightly pointless as some, quite rightly, will not be swayed by 45 minutes. These are some examples as to the improvement he made from the first half. I had no idea they were such offensive terms. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAMAICAN-VILLAN Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 7 hours ago, Flynnchin84 said: He's still shite This is actually a better post than some of the other tripe to be fair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney_avfc Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheStagMan Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 (edited) 23 hours ago, Grasshopper said: Well this just sums up how selfish & stupid Gaby is. He know early on RDM wasnt going to play him, even the Dr expressed his displeasure. He should has moved either to Reading or somewhere on loan - no bollox about being away from his family - millions if people all over the world have to cope with being away from family. he's loaded and can afford to make arrangements - It was clear from the outset that we would lose players during Afcon - how much intelligence is needed to realise 1) train back up to fitness 2) get match fitness by playing 3) find a team/level to do well as to gain confidence (if thats a problem) 4) knock so loudly on the door that a loan till Jan would have meant everybody at AVFC begging for him back But no, me me me Just a dumb selfish word removed not deserved of a chance ^^^^ This, this this, 1000x this. Then he might have regained a modicum of respect and dignity (Ha!) But instead he bought an exercise bike and posted a picture of it on Instagram. That's enough, surely. #Legend Edited January 5, 2017 by TheStagMan 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAMAICAN-VILLAN Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 3 hours ago, TheStagMan said: But instead he bought an exercise bike and posted a picture of it on Instagram. That's enough, surely. #Legend Yup. surely the instagram regimen is what Bruce has had him on, and ironically now he is playing. ijs. I'm about to get a phone with a better camera, and exercise bike to see if I too can do only this to be in a Steve Bruce starting Xl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheStagMan Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 29 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said: Yup. surely the instagram regimen is what Bruce has had him on, and ironically now he is playing. ijs. I'm about to get a phone with a better camera, and exercise bike to see if I too can do only this to be in a Steve Bruce starting Xl Well, you will probably score more goals :-) I'll even come along and cheer you on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgyknees Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 I think we are playing a dangerous game if we are looking to rely on him to score goals. As a body he could do a job, but he has no pace and that was the only thing which got him into areas to score goals, without that he is just a shirt number on the pitch. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post dont_do_it_doug. Posted January 5, 2017 Popular Post Share Posted January 5, 2017 (edited) I've written a blog post in 'defence' of Gabby. Well, sort of. More of a historical take on his career to date which underlines my feelings. I'll post it here safe in the knowledge it won't go down to well with some! Warning; big wall of txt incoming... Quote Hero turned Villain: In ‘defence’ of Gabby Agbonlahor No matter what your overriding opinion of Gabby Agbonlahor, there is no denying that the one time Holte End hero turned villain divides opinion like no other. From 90th minute derby day winners, England call ups and leaving the likes of Manchester United in his wake, to smoking anything he can get his hands on and hotel piss ups on the day this once famous club is relegated; his fall from grace has been a slow, meandering and ultimately painful one. For us, save one or two fleeting moments there has only been misery. You’ll struggle to find a set of fans in world football who have had it as hard as Aston Villa over the last 5 years and at times Gabby has epitomised everything that is wrong with the club. However, before you settle in for yet another rant revolving around fifty thousand pounds a week this and fatty that, let me try and set the record straight. Please bear with me… Gabriel Agbonlahor has had it hard too. In the blink of an eye he went from being the star striker of an upwardly mobile club under a manager who adored him in O’Neill, who built his 6th placed Aston Villa side around his pace, to Houllier who pretty much despised the ground he walks on the second he waltzed through the door. Gabby grew up from a teenager to a young man surrounded by a certain culture and failed to adjust. Perhaps there is a certain nonchalance to his personality, or perhaps he is, or at least was, just a little bit of a prick. Our leading goalscorer was farmed out wide, dropped, injured and back out wide again under successive managers. It wasn’t until the first season Lambert, following another injury riddled and forgettable time under McLeish (oh how we wish we truly could forget) that he found his form again. Something that is often taken away from him is just how instrumental he was in helping the club stave of relegation that year. He scored 9 goals in 28 games from the wing, the majority of them in the run in. Aided by the undeniable brilliance of Christian Benteke, Gabby seemed rejuvenated. A so-so season followed in which he was, according to the manager of the time, playing through with injury, and Gabby started to lose the support of the fan base. At that time, deserved or not, he became a bit of a scapegoat. He wasn’t fat, smoking pipes or giving it the big one on Instagram, he was simply low on confidence, injured and playing in a god awful side where he was unable to carry the weight of an absent superstar. A rip roaring, back to ‘vintage’ Gabby start to season 14/15 followed along with THAT contract. Now, let’s put yourself in his shoes here. You’re approaching 28 years old, the club you have been at since you were a child, the club where the fans still sing your name loud and proud despite your wavering form slap a 4 year, £50k a week contract under your nose. Oh, and your bang in form for the first time in 12 months or so. And the club is for sale, so it’s future uncertain. What do you do? I don’t think Gabby could have predicted the turn of events that were to come… His form almost instantly nosedived and the goals dried up. However cast your mind back, the football under Lambert at that time was dreadful. Tippy-tappy nonsense. We didn’t score a goal for 369 hours and Gabby played his part in that of course, but even the much lauded Benteke couldn’t find the net. On top of that the club was well and truly rudderless. Aston Villa were like a fish rotting from the head down and Gabby paid the price once again becoming the scapegoat for a large section of the support. His handling of his social media accounts didn’t help, promising the earth and delivering nothing at a time when actions were all we wanted, silence certainly would have served him better. Despite a short resurgence under Tim Sherwood, again cut short by injury just in time for the FA Cup semi-final, the wheels were already in motion. Gabriel Agbonlahor was about to drive off a cliff. I’m not even going to try and defend what happened next. As an instigator of the protests that came later on in the season, I can say that whilst the players were never at the top of our agenda, at least not openly, their disgraceful displays were certainly at the forefront of my mind. From Jack Grealish photographed pissed on the Tenerife concrete, Joleon Lescott tweeting a picture of his car after yet another humiliating loss, Jack Grealish again pictured sucking on a balloon, Leandro Bacuna declaring that he’s Champions League quality to Gabby and his various displays of utter twattery, it was a horrible time for all involved except it seemed from the outside for those we relied on most. Gabby became villain number one and with good reason. He was overweight, disinterested in anything but the next party and he let himself, the club and more importantly us down. Badly. You won’t find anyone who will defend his actions and certainly not me. It was a season that culminated with a balloon dildo with his face on it being the defining image, it doesn’t get any more humiliating than that and it was fully deserved. However, rather than bang on about how betrayed we all felt, I’ll leave that to other blogs, let me throw out a few caveats for consideration. · Despite rumours to the contrary and one or two notable exceptions every manager to step through the door has said how much of a consummate professional Gabby is. How much he loves the club, how hard he’s willing to work for it. O’Neill, Lambert, Sherwood, Bruce, to a man they have spoken highly of him. Those notable exceptions are Houllier and Remi Garde, though it’s also worth noting they both utilised the same fitness coach. It’s also worth noting he was already done by the time Garde came in. And Garde was shit, really shit. · To reiterate this point the club itself have handed him contract after contract and rejected all offers. An often badly ran club of course. · When people ask “why does he deserve yet another chance”, well, it’s not really ‘yet another’ chance, in my opinion. He has suffered with form, injuries and consistency under various managers, through a very tempestuous (i.e. shit) time for the club, but I don’t recall him stepping so out of line in the past. Perhaps somebody has evidence to the contrary, not rumours but actual evidence. I’d be interested to hear it. · We have ‘forgiven’ the misdemeanours of other players from that period. In particular Jack Grealish. Gabby’s age should be taken into account of course, he should know better. But is it really right for us to judge a man solely on his mental maturity? Particularly one who we know is not always the sharpest tool in the box. I don’t ask that of my footballers, they don’t need to pass an IQ test. I do ask for professionalism though and in return they ask us for our support though as I said, he’s not alone in failing us in that regard. Look at ‘Super Jacky Grealish’ now. · Let me touch briefly and finally on one slightly unrelated thing that has been grinding my gears over the years, Gabby is from all reports a good father and a good man. He does a lot of work for charity It is not our right to question his personal life outside of football, just as it is not theirs to question ours. Rather than embrace the post-truth society, rather than allow Twitter and Facebook to spoon feed us our opinions or hate to blind us I think we need to get back to basics with Gabby Agbonlahor. So much has been written about a man who has offered us so little on the pitch over the last 3 and a half years that it’s easy to forget what he was. He was a very good Premier League striker, the tormentor of St Andrews, the man who burst The Baggies. Winners against Chelsea and Arsenal, who can forget that brace? The winner at Old Trafford, a hat trick against Manchester City. Inconsistent at times, infuriating at others, but ultimately for a long while there as Jack Grealish is now, he was ‘one of our own’. Should that enough for us to forgive him? Probably not, maybe forgive is the wrong word, though he has, to be fair to him, apologised and asked us for forgiveness. Maybe the phrase ‘don’t look back in anger’ is the right path for us to take. We’re told by a man in Steve Bruce who evidently takes no shit that he’s working hard, he wants this and he knows he has a lot to make up for. Boy has he. So go on then Gabby, prove us wrong, earn the right to call yourself a Villa fan once more. This blogger certainly won’t stand in your way. Up The Villa, David. Edited January 5, 2017 by dont_do_it_doug. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TB Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 24 minutes ago, dont_do_it_doug. said: We didn’t score a goal for 369 games and Gabby played his part in that of course How can anyone defend Gabby (or anyone involved in those 369 games, for that matter)?. Truly stunning stat. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferguson1 Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Haven't quoted your post above Dave cos it's a big post, but it's pretty much where i am with Gabby too. I don't particularly like the bloke, but do we necessarily have to? Just do the business for us Gabby and help get us back to where we belong and maybe then some of us may appreciate you again. Great post and a good read. Thanks. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dont_do_it_doug. Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 4 minutes ago, TB said: How can anyone defend Gabby (or anyone involved in those 369 games, for that matter)?. Truly stunning stat. I wasn't, not really. Only in so much as I'd defend Christian Benteke for being involved also. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dont_do_it_doug. Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 1 minute ago, ferguson1 said: Haven't quoted your post above Dave cos it's a big post, but it's pretty much where i am with Gabby too. I don't particularly like the bloke, but do we necessarily have to? Just do the business for us Gabby and help get us back to where we belong and maybe then some of us may appreciate you again. Great post and a good read. Thanks. Exactly. He doesn't have to be the knight in shining armour, or 'Mr Aston Villa', but enemy number one is frankly a bit OTT for me. If he earns my respect back, he will get it. When he's on the pitch, he'll always get my support. I've added a few bits and updated the post! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TB Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 (edited) 10 minutes ago, dont_do_it_doug. said: I wasn't, not really. Only in so much as I'd defend Christian Benteke for being involved also. Ah. You've edited your post. :-) I was trying to make a joke about the absurdity of a team unable to score even once in 369 games. Edit: I've re-read your updated post. Cannot disagree with any of that. Edited January 5, 2017 by TB Re-read the updated OP 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upper north stander Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Great blog post DDID 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briny_ear Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 19 minutes ago, TB said: Ah. You've edited your post. :-) I was trying to make a joke about the absurdity of a team unable to score even once in 369 games. At times it did actually seem like 369 games, though! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TB Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 (edited) 1 hour ago, briny_ear said: At times it did actually seem like 369 games, though! Oh, yes, certainly. But I still cannot get my head around those numbers. 369 games is certainly worse than 369 hours, but 369 hours of football is still 246 games. Wikipedia claims that the longest goalless run record in English football was 11 games (jointly held by Coventry and Hartlepool). 369 minutes cannot be right, either. That's just four games. And 369 days without goals would see Villa not scoring for more than a year. I'm stumped. @ dont_do_it_doug. : where did you get those numbers from? Your blog post make sense. But to me, those numbers don't. Edited January 5, 2017 by TB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgyknees Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 I get where you are coming from Dave. I just don't believe he can or will score goals. We will likely see a good 20 minutes here and there, but that is about all we will see. The sort of form somebody like Kozak is slated for. He doesn't have good movement, he has no pace, he doesn't have a footballing brain - and he is only a good finisher thanks to the fact he used his pace to get that extra second needed to score. He won't have that extra second now. I am not surprised that he had a good cameo against Cardiff, their defence is awful. I think they have only had one clean sheet of recent and it happened to be against us, before that they were leaking stupid goals. There are Cardiff fans in my family who have been talking about their awful defence for months, so I can't take a performance from that game as proof he will lead us well in the upcoming games. But I hope I am wrong. The only problem is, we've seen this before, time and time again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 10 minutes ago, DK82 said: I get where you are coming from Dave. I just don't believe he can or will score goals. We will likely see a good 20 minutes here and there, but that is about all we will see. The sort of form somebody like Kozak is slated for. He doesn't have good movement, he has no pace, he doesn't have a footballing brain - and he is only a good finisher thanks to the fact he used his pace to get that extra second needed to score. He won't have that extra second now. I am not surprised that he had a good cameo against Cardiff, their defence is awful. I think they have only had one clean sheet of recent and it happened to be against us, before that they were leaking stupid goals. There are Cardiff fans in my family who have been talking about their awful defence for months, so I can't take a performance from that game as proof he will lead us well in the upcoming games. But I hope I am wrong. The only problem is, we've seen this before, time and time again. When was the last time kozak had a good twenty minutes. His performance against derby was utterly embarrassing. Nothing like the kind of spells Gabby has been showing since coming back into the fold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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