The Gabby Appreciation Thread - Update: 4 year deal

[ktvillan]

No , it doesn't piss on my bonfire. As you say it is your opinion but you are wrong, no two ways about it.

Ah the famous Chris Smith "you are just wrong" argument again. You  can't really argue with it, unless you are 5 years old.

Billy Walker, I disagree, he's a decent instinctive finisher at times and he has pace, but the best strikers have movement and intelligence - just look at how Bent loses his marker and makes clever runs into space.  Gabby doesn't really have that to his game.

I think your judgement of the player is wrong but it's just my opinion, sorry if that pisses on your bonfire.

I could repeat all the good points put forward elsewhere in the thread but what would be the point? He's a good player with a record of delivering when it really matters. As a young man blessed with a Brummie accent he's had to put up with the inane lack of intelligence criticism all through his career but he keep ramming the words down the throats of his detractors. Long may it continue.

Yes following it up with "no two ways about it" really emphasizes the fact it's just an opinion. Opinion or not, you do yourself no favours by choosing to express it in a manner that would embarrass a 5 year old.   

The lack of intelligence comment refers to his football not his accent, as I'm sure you well know.  I'm a Brummie myself so I'd hardly be calling him thick because of his accent. 

[Edvard Remberg]

No , it doesn't piss on my bonfire. As you say it is your opinion but you are wrong, no two ways about it.

Ah the famous Chris Smith "you are just wrong" argument again. You  can't really argue with it, unless you are 5 years old.

Billy Walker, I disagree, he's a decent instinctive finisher at times and he has pace, but the best strikers have movement and intelligence - just look at how Bent loses his marker and makes clever runs into space.  Gabby doesn't really have that to his game.

I think your judgement of the player is wrong but it's just my opinion, sorry if that pisses on your bonfire.

I could repeat all the good points put forward elsewhere in the thread but what would be the point? He's a good player with a record of delivering when it really matters. As a young man blessed with a Brummie accent he's had to put up with the inane lack of intelligence criticism all through his career but he keep ramming the words down the throats of his detractors. Long may it continue.

Yes following it up with "no two ways about it" really emphasizes the fact it's just an opinion. Opinion or not, you do yourself no favours by choosing to express it in a manner that would embarrass a 5 year old.   

The lack of intelligence comment refers to his football not his accent, as I'm sure you well know.  I'm a Brummie myself so I'd hardly be calling him thick because of his accent. 

Not trying to pick sides - but I don't think you are reading what he says, just what you like to feel. Especially when you comment about his brummy accent. He is saying he has leverage because of his local roots...not thick because his accent.

[ktvillan]

Sorry Edvard not sure what you are getting at.  It was Chris, not me, that made the link between Gabby's Brummie accent and criticisms of his intelligence.  I merely pointed out my perception of the lack of intelligence and movement in Gabby's game,  which  has zero to do with his roots and accent.  So I don't think I've misread anything. 

[Chris Smith]

Sorry Edvard not sure what you are getting at.  It was Chris, not me, that made the link between Gabby's Brummie accent and criticisms of his intelligence.  I merely pointed out my perception of the lack of intelligence and movement in Gabby's game,  which  has zero to do with his roots and accent.  So I don't think I've misread anything. 

I said he's had to put up with it all through his career and most of that is down to him being a Brummy . Anyone who watches him regularly will have noticed how he has developed his understanding of the game and adapted to the different roles asked of him. That's a sign of an intelligent player.

The 5 year old dig I'll treat with the contempt it deserves.

[john e]

He's suffered through injury and being played out wide this campaign, but he'll be back next year with 12-14 goals.

And as a 12-14 goal striker who has a habit of scoring important goals, is this not the striker to play alongside Bent that everyone has just been scratching their heads about?

he's in his mid 20's and he's never scored 14 league goals in a single season yet.
 think he's got 3 in this injury ridden season

i dont see why every time he scores for Villa which isnt very often we all have to think he's fantastic when he clearly isnt,
 we bought Bent to score the goals the other strikers couldnt,

he has scored some important goals over the last 5 years, great, he's a local lad great, but he hasnt developed into the top class striker many people thought he would be,
he will be around for a few years yet, as there is no bigger team than Villa will come in to buy him,
but for me we need someone with a bit more skill, ball control and awarness to go alongside Bent, then we might have a really dangerous forward line to compete at a higher levelin the league

[VillaZogmariner]

You do know it's Gabby this thread is about, not Darren Byfield?

[Pete3206]

Maybe if he was given a run of games with Bent, we might see an improved goals ratio. As it is, his goalscoring figures are not that shabby.

[TonyD]

Villa man,  part of our future!

[nadz3488]

Love Gabby.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

You do know it's Gabby this thread is about, not Darren Byfield?

I'll say one thing for Byfield over Gabby.
Whilst Gabby was chucking his mess up three trolls, Byfield was bumping uglies with the gorgeous Jamelia.

[adrenachrome]

I have always liked Gabby, but I have also said that he has limitations, and have subscribed to the "football intelligence" theory: I maintained that he would improve in any areas which could be coached, but not in areas which came naturally, usually at an age when Gabby was allegedly not even interested in football.

So: football intelligence is probably the wrong term, and is certainly open to misinterpretation. If you watch young kids playing a match, even jumpers for goalposts at your local park, you can soon see certain players have an instinct about passing and movement, and some don't.   In my opinion, this has something to do with the way their brain works and cannot be coached.

The conflation of this argument with Gabby being "thick" is specious. Paul Merson is a living example of someone who possesses whatever it is in spades, but is otherwise not too bright.

The real question is: what fantasy world are we living in if our players have to be perfect in all respects. All of our players are flawed in one way or another, if they were not, then they would be playing for somebody else.

Gabby is great for us and we love him, and the noise we made when he came onto the pitch on Saturday is proof that most of the fans agree.

 

[ktvillan]

Sorry Edvard not sure what you are getting at.  It was Chris, not me, that made the link between Gabby's Brummie accent and criticisms of his intelligence.  I merely pointed out my perception of the lack of intelligence and movement in Gabby's game,  which  has zero to do with his roots and accent.  So I don't think I've misread anything. 

I said he's had to put up with it all through his career and most of that is down to him being a Brummy . Anyone who watches him regularly will have noticed how he has developed his understanding of the game and adapted to the different roles asked of him. That's a sign of an intelligent player.

The 5 year old dig I'll treat with the contempt it deserves.

No doubt you have the survey results to back up your claims that most of the criticism about Gabby's intelligence is due to his being a Brummie. Of course the fact that a fair proportion of the questioning of his football nous comes from Villa fans, many of them fellow Brummies, doesn't really support your argument.  I've watched him regularly for five years or so now and I don't see a great deal of development of his understanding of the game.  He has improved his upper body strength and he holds the ball up with his back to goal better than he used to but he's still way too static, chooses the wrong options too often, and when he's not playing as the main striker he looks like a fish out of water.  As others have said , where he needed to improve to be a really top striker was in his awareness and movement.  I'm afraid I really don't see much improvement in those aspects and maybe Adrenachrome is right and it's something you either have or you don't.  Adrenachrome also makes a good point about the misinterpretation of the word "intelligence" and the example of Merson is a good one.  Rooney would be another, far from clever in the academic sense but a very sharp football brain.  I don't dislike Gabby, he's got his good points, but if we want to compete at the very top end we need better than Gabby, such as Bent.

[TheSandman]

You do know it's Gabby this thread is about, not Darren Byfield?

Saw him play at the Bescot yesterday. As shit as ever.

He has frustrated me this season. I do probably expect too much from him sometimes leading him to frustrate me but I really cannot see what the people who do not rate him are driving at.

He scores a decent if not massive number of goals (Not every striker gets 12 goals per season), works really hard, helps the other attacking player and whilst he may lack that final veneer on his footballing intelligence but even some top strikers lack that (including our very own £20million worth of Darren Bent) so you can't really criticise him for that.

He might not start every game for me but he 100% has a significant role to play.

[SoccerHQ]

Any goodwill Houllier may build up between now and the end of the season will be lost if he sells Gabby in the summer.

Just been injury hit and played out wide too often but used properly and he'll get double figures next season as usual.

[Mister E]

Any goodwill Houllier may build up between now and the end of the season will be lost if he sells Gabby in the summer.

Just been injury hit and played out wide too often but used properly and he'll get double figures next season as usual.

Hear, hear. He's not the most intelligent player but he's good enough; played in the right role. I like his commitment and sense of occasion.
KTV and Chris S can argue all they want ... the boy's alright for us.