Sasa C is stating a position that many would rather avoid.
Before I get totally slated for the above question, I just wanted to make my stance totally clear, I do not dislike Gabby, and this is one lad who without doubt is 100% Villa, he cares about the club, he is a fan, a supporter and he really is living the dream.
I also understand that he has scored 54 league goals for the club, but, and here is the “but”, is this one player that, through no fault of his own, should perhaps be moved on….
I don’t ask this question to antagonise, or fire up a set of supporters that really are going through the mill at the moment, neither do I have any intention of an attempt at slagging off the player, but Gabby to me is pure enigma, what I mean is that since his break through under DOL at Goodison in March 2006, the fact is that this lad is not a top notch premier league striker.
Now before I cause massive offence, can we all look at the facts, on league games alone, Gabby, as an average, scores about 8 goals a season, and last year, despite the his relationship with GH being poor, he still clocked up 26 appearances in the league with a return, I think, of 3 goals…
Gabby has had 5 Villa managers during his time, well 5 if we count KMAC, and as far as I see it, not one of them has really known what to do with him..
DOL : Skint and ravaged with injuries promoted him as a CF.
MON : Played him wide right, wide left, up top, got ironic cheers when he actually subbed him, and could not find his best position.
KMAC: Too short a time to comment.
GH: Clearly did not see him as a striker, tried him left, dropped him, and was concerned enough to make Randy bring Bent in to secure goals.
AM: Now here is the worry, he compliments Gabby a lot, he plays him whenever he can, but still got Keane in for a 6 game stint, and he won’t play Gabby up top……
What I’m trying to say is that maybe it is time to let Gabby go, I don’t see any real change in him from 3 years ago, I just don’t see that he has kicked on at all, and can we really keep a player on the books just because they give 100%?
And what really is his best position…is he a winger…is he a striker…
In this window, if we could get say 10mil, should we take it?
Would you rather have Gabby and not really know what to do with him, or say a Defoe or a Johnson? (both unrealistic I know, my point is that I know what their positions are).
Is Gabby a winger or a striker, and during these difficult times, is it right that we have one player vying for two positions when neither of them truly suit him?
We have to retain a striker at our club, that man is Darren Bent, and if selling Gabby is a means to giving Bent the bullets to fire, is that such a bad thing?
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Don’t agree with this sasa. It’s a bit of a daft premise to sell one of your better players because…well, just because. There was a spell at the start of this season where would go as far as to say he was world class. Now I know there is inconsistencies but he always puts a shift in. I would be interested to know how many goals he has been involved in this season, I’d believe with assists too it’s a large percentage. But that’s not even why I’d keep him. I’d keep him because of his pace. With pace like that going forward, especially on the break away from home, gives the whole team a different dimension. An option you take away without him. Whether he is good or brilliant doesn’t really matter, we hardly have an excess of good Players desperate to join the villa! So unless we can get someone better, why replace? Also don’t see versatility as being a detriment.
Totally agree with all of your comments mate. Unless we have a seriously adequate replacement gabby should stay. He would add quality to most squads, even redknapp had been rumoured to be interested – mind you if there was an option of a straight swap gabby for Defoe that might change my mind.
We cannot sell Gabby – he will, and has been, pivotal to us for the past 2/3 years.
At Wolves he was constantly moving around the pitch and taking on players. We don’t have enough of that in our team at the moment. He’s become stronger over the past 18 months and won’t be easily muscled off the ball.
But more importantly, his passion and desire is evident, so much so that he breaths excitement into us, the fans!
Everytime he gets on the ball you can feel the electricity in the stands.
Selling him would be detrimental to everything the club stands for!
Every great squad has the luxury and versatility of at least 3 quality forwards. Our current position of bent, gabby and Keane and the removal of heskey is the best trio I can remember. With Ireland also firing, that’s not bad options at all INMO. The weakness had always been heskey.
Stop being so sentimental. I would take 10m+ for Gabby now. Sasa you’re spot on.
Id rather sell bent, who is not loyal to any club, gabby is villa through and through ian have u forgot who scored wining goals against chelski,arsenal,man u, man city, blues 3times, wba, wolves, everton should i go on? Some villa fans are ungrateful we hav a player who will go throu walls for us and u want him sold? If i was gardner or clark or any the other kids reading blogs like this might conidser moving on if fans are treat their own like that
John Terry said that Gabby was a nightmare to play against, because he strikes fast from deep. No other Villa player does that, and he is a constant threat even when he does not score. Bent has yet to convince that he makes a consistent contribution. So to lose Gabby leaves us with no regular striker, assuming that Keane really is on a short trip. Delfounso has gone to Leicester for a month, and Heskey now is a back marker, I doubt if he will ever play up front again. So why is anyone talking about selling a player who at the start of the season looked world class again?
Trevor Fisher
Sorry ian comment aimed at sasa, to me if we play 442 diamound we can play gabby and bent 2gether with ireland, nzog, albrighton mcleish is the nympte who plays wrong formation why not do a post on villa best formation for home and away?
must have missed the acid drop…. WTF? Lets be honest most of you moan about foriegn managers and players and the lack of local lads then this? Ok he’s not messi, but he’s in the top 5 players we have easily, so move him on and what? fall closer to the championship and permanent medicrity
easily our best outfield player this season .and you want to get rid.gabbys 100 % geniune villa.
out and out strikers are extremely rare and dont come cheap.
at least he contributes and cant be faulted for commitment
Gabby is a good player for us overal especially away from home where we can counter with his pace. At least he wants to stay with us and I think if we start spending again and put good players around him he will improve.
Interesting thread. I have to admit I agree.
I was am a realist and know quality players before they become world stars. I predicted Messi before he became the best, said about Bale, Ronaldo (Brazilian), Fabregas when he was 16 and mentioned van Persie in his early days.
My point is I know what makes a quality player.
Now elements gabby has which are quality is are:
-pace
-heading
-strength and hold up play
Unfortunately what let him down are the must needs to become a top player which he never will be.
He doesn’t have the following:
-football brain
-good touch
-comfortable on the ball
-quick feet and tricks
-top finishing
-see early through balls or early crosses.
You’ll find that he plays alot of games all season and doesn’t score enough and never will. He isn’t a natural goalscorer or footballer.
Get rid of heskey but give Delfouneso and Weimann more games. We can then judge if they have what it takes in the prem.
And you scout for who exactly?
Barca? Real? Arsenal? ManU? Citeh?
Who should we sign next then?
I’m sure AM would like to know.
Fuck me, I’ve heard (and probably posted) some absolute shite on here, but you take the biscuit by a mile mate
Fuck’s sake.
Amm…think you forgot a little player there bud…just one of the best ever to grace any football feild Zinedine Zidane,best player i think i ever saw live was like watchin an artist man seriously incredible..not havin a go or anythin just thought id give it a mention.:)
LOL. Darren you chief, as anon said, do you really believe your own hype???
You’re speaking out of your arse, not your crystal ball son.
Bent has 1 skill, finishing, which he doesn’t always get right anyway.
Gabby has come on leaps and bounds technically recently. I would get rid of Bent over Gabby all day.
Would never play a player that offers nothing except personal glory and that everyone else has to work around.
It’s a team game and Gabby does so much. ie. running channels and when our CB’s do one of their trademark hoofs, Bent is useless whereas Gabby will, more often than not, win the ball and hold it up and take the pressure of the defence at the same time.
Mate I know from experience as I’ve played a high level. I know what makes a good footballer.
Bent is a finisher that’s true, I’d rather have a poacher than a headless chickhen who lacks a brain or quality.
A player who plays 90% of the games all season can’t score more than 11 goals.
Funny you say about a team because with keane behind bent that is a perfect combination. One drops off picking the ball up deep and comes forward. Keane has a football brain. Gabby can’t lead the line or drop deep. He does an ok job on his own but remember this when he was in a 451 under mon we were getting 1-0 wins mainly from own goals and set pieces. Nothing to do with gabby.
Gabby will never be world class, but the fact is at the moment neither is Villa.
If we get rid of Gabby we get rid of our fastest player which is one of our most lethal attributes as a club.
And with Ireland and N’Zog [hopefully] coming good hopefully he’ll get a fair bit of decent service.
If we got 10 for him, what would we do with it? 10 mill won’t get you a better replacement nowadays.
Without Gabby, we would struggle .
Very good arguement sasa, Totally understand what yer sayin… sometimes sublime, more often looks lost, not his fault tho, he is young and perhaps times on his side but stats dont lie… yes he is everything villa stands for but is that good enough. To me he looks clumsy sometimes and he is terrible at one and one situations..to my mind thats where world class strikers come into their own,… (David Villa anyone), dont think he will ever be a 20 goal plus man,but i do think he has some other real qualities,just needs to be coached better,defo wouldnt get rid tho an important member of the squad,
Who on earth do you think would replace Gabby for 10 Million ??
You point at Gabby, Bent is hardly a technical genius, his first touch is dreadful and his work rate non existent
This post is only aimed at driving traffic, criticising one of this season best performers and most consistent players up till Wolves
Over the last few weeks I have been retreating this site quite alot as lots of the articles have been really good, sadly though reverting to type and bashing one of our own!!!
I agree Bent is technically poor, he has a poor touch and doesn’t go past players but he is a goalscorer. He is a poacher and you can’t teach that.
He lies on the shoulder of the last defender to get to rebounds first and to get ahead of through balls, as well as crosses. His movement is better than gabbys by miles, he creates space for himself to score tap ins.
If you’re Chiefy who regularly posts on Dugdale’s Villa Blog then I find your “bashing your own” comment unreal, if anyone posts negative traffic driving anti- Villa bollocks it’s that clown Dugdale, talk about the pot calling the kettle black. If your not my apologies.
Sometimes the value of a player to a team is more than merely their stats, how about qualities such as heart, loyalty and love of the club? Don’t these count for anything? So Gabby’s not perfect and has flaws in his game, so what would you rather have someone more technically gifted?Lets say Boško Balaban?
Brian Little was God to me as a kid but going by stats alone 247 appearances, 60 goals in 9 years, what’s that about 7 per season, don’t look so clever does it? Dwight Yorke 73 goals in 232 appearances over 9 years, about 8 a season, again it don’t look like Dwight was pulling up any trees at Villa Park but what is they say, “There are Lies, damned lies, and statistics” .
Sasa C appears to me your someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
I agree with drama. This post is only about driving up traffic. The villa web site at the moment shows that Gabby is leading the Terrace Trophy poll for player of the season. SO obviously proposing to sell our most popular player is going to get a lot of traffic. But wastes everyone’s time.
If there is nothing to discuss then don’t start hares running. The sack and wack brigade are always up for getting rid, but at a time when Villa attendances are down sacking the most popular player makes no sense at all. Don’t descend to the level of a pub argument at throwing out time.
trevor fisher
I agree with this, Gabby had a rough time last season but other than that i think he has been a great player for Villa, could not imagine him playing elsewhere and would be sad to see him in another clubs colours, more so than any of the other players we have sold recently
With the departure of young and downing, n’zogbia failed to provide any service whatsoever. Mcleish refused to accept that albrighton was ready early in the season and even when he did start his season, whilst always a threat, his inexperience still translated into inconsistent levels of quality service into the box. Start of the season, club was in turmoil with a manager that was way out of his depths and trying to find his feet with a cautious style of play. Who stepped up to provide the service along with scoring goals? It was Gabby. I agree that he is somewhat of an enigma and can lose his way in a game, but his counter-attack threat esp away from home is dangerous to our opponents. If mcleish could find a proper attacking system at home whereby we actually keep control of the ball for longer in the attacking third of the pitch, he’d probably have the chance to be more effective. Let’s face it it’s not just Gabby, everyone’s been shit this season at home due to mcleish’s awful tactics and clear lack of attacking intent.
Total rubbish. Gaby has played out of position without complaint while nzog gets up to speed and still provides our most potent threat in the majority of games either with goals or assists and you suggest trading him in. If more managers had played as a striker rather than a winger his goals to games ratio would be better. His commitment and loyalty are only to be applauded but the real reason to keep him is because without him we would be duller to watch and lose more games. Simple.
The reason we are so poor is because nearly all the back four, petrov, agbonlahor are all technically awful.
The back four and petrov are hoofers.
If you have players comfortable on the ball like Ireland, keane, clark, N’Zogbia etc you will work openings quicker and more effective.
I can see the frustration of Ireland everytime he makes space for a pass, the player on the ball like petrov then just knocks it back or sidewards then lumped forward by dunne or Collins.
He even had a interview with sportinglife and mentioned been on the same wavelength and mentioned days at man city.
Robinho, Bellamy and co were technically quality players where one, two touch worked as well as constant movement. Gabby is static unless it’s a ball for him to chase.
Bent is pretty much static unless it’s wing play.
We need more technical players and less hoofers. Gardner looks technically gifted and looks for a pass, he should replace petrov. Heskey, beye, Hutton, warnock, dunne and Collins all need to go. Alot of youngsters like herd, Clark, baker, Gardner, Delfouneso, Weimann, stevens, lichaj, Johnson are good technically. They need games wether on loan first or first team games.
There are players like Defoe who would be a good signing, Jarvis or Kightly.
Alex would be a decent signing.
That’s why they’re defenders and not playmakers!!!
FFS,
As Ramos said to Mourinho, “You’ve obviously never played before, or you’d know”.
(Not that you’re Mourinho, LOL.)
Well all I’ll say is have played at a high level and I’ll leave it at that. Played against villa.
No defenders still have to be comfortable on the ball. They hoof it when they are clearing things.
But when the midfield or given gives the ball with time and space they should look for a players feet.
Obviously sometimes they need a quick long ball to vary it and counter attacking. All I say is look at Barcelona they all can play football. They also close down as a team which villa are slow to do.