Gabby

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

Gabby is at his best when he doesn't have to think about what he's going to do.

[Concrete John]

The way I view Gabby, is that he's good and very useful to us, but probably not capable of becoming a truely top player.  His reading of the game is not good enough for this and his actually footballing ability is only average for the standard of the PL, but it's his pace that steps him up a level.  This was evident when he played for England.

So, he far from deserves any criticism, but he would need downgrade him to a squad player if we were to become a Cl club.

Sort of like having a Porsche Boxster until you can get a Carrerra II.

[Risso]

The way I view Gabby, is that he's good and very useful to us, but probably not capable of becoming a truely top player.  His reading of the game is not good enough for this and his actually footballing ability is only average for the standard of the PL, but it's his pace that steps him up a level.  This was evident when he played for England.

So, he far from deserves any criticism, but he would need downgrade him to a squad player if we were to become a Cl club.

Sort of like having a Porsche Boxster until you can get a Carrerra II.

I disagree John, I think he's potentially as good as any other English striker out there at the moment with the exception of Rooney, and is as good as a lot of the non-English ones as well.  He's still only young, and he clearly works hard at his game.  

The problem he has is that he's either partnered with Carew (talented but lazy) or Heskey (just fucking shit).  He therefore has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders.  Another problem is that because of our limited tactics at home, the fact that away teams work to stamp out the supply from the wings means he doesn't get a lot of service, or is left chasing over hit crosses.  A bit more guile from the centre of midfield and a quality partner would make him look as good as I think he is.

[Concrete John]

Quite possibly - one think in his favour is that he does keep improving, so long may that continue until he proves me wrong.

But in those tight games I think you need a litle more intelligence with where to be and where to make your runs, which he lacks.  I don't think it's any coincidence that we're better away from home and our best striker relies on space to exploit his pace.

As for other English strikers, I'd say that in terms of touch, finishing and movement, Defoe is better.  Crouch also has a better first touch and Bent is a better finisher.  

And I'm not trying to do the lad down, just being realistic as to what I expect of him and what he can become.

[KevinGage]

Agreed John.

I am reminded though of a certain Dwight Yorke.

Not an obvious comparison at first, Dwight for one thing always looked like he had bags of natural ability. Even when he was struggling to break into the side. Gabby looks more limited, in touch, control and awareness.

But Dwight early on never looked like a natural 20 goals a season goalscorer (save for a brief period under BFR in 1991/92), for all his fancy footwork. Even at his best, he sat far deeper than your typical goalscorer.

With the right service I think Gabby too could be a 20 goals a season forward, and I've felt that way for some time. He's improved year on year as mentioned, so he seems to have that drive and willingness to push on.
Thinking back to some of his finishes in recent campaigns there is also  something to be said for the school of thought that says he's better when he plays instinctively, when he doesn't have time to think.

Speed kills, particularly at the top flight. So long as he has that he'll always be a threat. I think I'm right in saying that he has scored at least once against all of the Sky 4. That's probably no coincidence. We used to continuously moan that our previous forwards or better players were flat track bullies, only capable of doing it against the weaker sides. This kid is different.

If he's willing to work on the other aspects of his game, gets partnered with a forward who can spot his runs and play him in and doesn't have too much burden put on his shoulders too soon, he could do save us an absolute fortune in the long run.

[django]

Gabby is the second best english striker after Wayne Rooney and should have gone to the world cup.

No wonder so many of you are depressed all the time if you think Gabby isn't good enough for us. He's a better player than Defoe or Darren Bent who people get there knickers in a twist over because we didn't sign them. Sure his finishing is wayward at times and sometimes he doesn't make the right choices, but don't compare him to players highlights alone as the other players mentioned aren't perfect either.


As for Gabby being overrated? someone like Walcott is overrated. The word for Gabby is 'underappreciated'

And he's a homegrown talent who works hard. There really is no pleasing some people.

[Merv]

I don't think there's a decision to be made about Gabby's future at all. Can he get better? I think so - of course, a 'better' partner and 'better' service will always help and I believe he has more goals in him. But we're not talking about a kid who looks promising but raw here and is maybe chipping in with a handful of goals a season. We're talking about a striker who has scored consistently in the PL for the last three-four seasons, against the best sides, and very often scoring crucial, match-winning goals. If he never improves his game one iota from here on in, we've still got a very good PL striker on our hands.

[eastie]

Amazed at suggestion he's better than defoe or bent- I'd swap either of them for him like a shot!

I rate gabby but he misses too many easy chances and he will need to improve his finishing if he wishes to be a 20 goal a season player.

Bent and Defoe are much better finishers as their goals ratio proves - I think gabby would benefit immensely in a partnership with keane.

[Concrete John]

If he never improves his game one iota from here on in, we've still got a very good PL striker on our hands.

Wouldn't question that for a second!

[django]

Amazed at suggestion he's better than defoe or bent- I'd swap either of them for him like a shot!

I rate gabby but he misses too many easy chances and he will need to improve his finishing if he wishes to be a 20 goal a season player.

Bent and Defoe are much better finishers as their goals ratio proves - I think gabby would benefit immensely in a partnership with keane.

Yes i agree Bent and Defoe are both better finishers than Gabby and i'm not saying they are bad players, but as an all round player i think he contributes more than either of them. Similarly Peter Crouch has a better touch and is more dangerous in the air but again i think Gabby is the better player because although they offer different things i think Agbonlahor offers more.

It doesn't mean that i think he is better at everything than other players, but he is good at a number of things. As others have said he is still improving, but even at the level he is already at we have had few more effective strikers in the past 30 years.

[Clampy]

Gabby is at his best when he doesn't have to think about what he's going to do.

Bar his goal away at Hull, absolutley spot on.

[cb]

I was looking at his stats on the PL site and his shots to goals ratio is very competitive with all of the other top strikers. Of the top strikers, he's only behind Torres and Bent and ahead of many of the leading lights like Roonay and Drogba. Now you can read too much into statistics, but I think that shows he's pretty good at taking his chances. Where I think he falls down is in not getting enough chances in a game. That may be due to us as a team, but I also think that he doesn't get on the end of enough crosses.

He would do well to look at what Rooney did last summer in  learning how to pick up positions on the edge of the box early and then make late runs onto the crosses we do produce into the box. I think if he could add that to his game he could easily add another 6/7 goals to his final tally, which would put him right up there, without the advantage of taking penalties. I think this is quite doable and hopefully he has a look at this over the summer.

I also think having a withdrawn striker or an attacking midfielder behind him, playing through balls in for him could be absolutely deadly and I would see him as being a little like Andy Cole during his Newcastle days in this regard. Maybe not the greatrest finisher in the world, but good enough that if he gets on the end of enough chances then he will score plenty.

[TonyD]

Gabby is a great player.  He would score much more goals if we played a more cutting passing game rather than hoof ball.  Long may he wear the Villa shirt.

[UsualSuspect]

The time to judge Gabby will be the end of next season. Until now he's improved year on year.

I said kinda the same thing to my mate today he has improved year by year but im not really convinced he can get much better than he is now. I am certain he wont get more than 10-15 league goals next season and here is the problem

Tend to agree, i like Gabby but he hasnt got a football brain in the sense that I dont think he instinctively knows what runs to make or where he needs to be. I think he has virtually reached his peak.

[pauliewalnuts]

I like Gabby, he's got lots of potential, but he's got to start delivering more of it soon.

As for England's best striker behind Rooney, if you judge your strikers by the goals they score, then Bent and Defoe have scored far more last season.

As others have said, where he doesn't really deliver in the way really good strikers do, is that he rarely creates space for himself. The best strikers have an instinctive ability to do this, as well as one for being in the right place at the right time.

He can add this to his game, and work on it at BMH, but there isn't anything like enough of it in him at the moment. I suspect that's one reason why he's not at the world cup.