Libor Kozak

[Toronto Villa]

Kozak or Gestede? No brainer!  Garde is beginning to piss me off over his non - selection.

During his injury lay off he's become a hell of a player. The only time I've seen him in the flesh so to speak was against Hull and he was terrible and also embarrassing in the way he kept throwing himself to the ground in an attempt to con the referee.

During his injury lay off what has become apparent to everyone isn't that he's Marco Van Basten but that he is better than the strikers that are currently ahead of him in the pecking order. We are tired of seeing Gabby or Gestede and would like to see Kozak given an opportunity. That's all.

[Toronto Villa]

and with the right service he can score a few for us. If we are asking him to run around a lot outside then it's not going to happen

sounds exactly like Bent and now Gestede then. He's too limited to be a PL success story

not really. The question is in the penalty area who would I trust more to be smart enough to take advantage of opportunities? I'd have Kozak ahead of the other two. He doesn't have to run around to be PL forward. Until we have a better option he needs to provide us with some effectiveness in the final third when we do create chances as a team.

[Witton Warrior]

Will this become RG's "magic midfield"* issue?
Is he so bad in training/reserves that he can't get a start over Rudy who now has nobody to provide crosses to him?


* Tim not playing Vertout - Sanchez - Gana

[Villafirst]

Remi Garde is pissing off the fans now - how the fuck does useless Gestede get in front of Kozak? Also, play Adama ffs!!

[PaulWinch again]

Remi Garde is pissing off the fans now - how the fuck does useless Gestede get in front of Kozak? Also, play Adama ffs!!

Speak for yourself, this fan isn't being pissed off by Remi. He's four games into a new job and I think he's got most decisions right. He's clearly phasing Adama in.

[Clampy]

Remi Garde is pissing off the fans now - how the fuck does useless Gestede get in front of Kozak? Also, play Adama ffs!!

I think Kozak should be at least on the bench personally, but Remi is not pissing me off either.

[Whiney MacWhineface]

Remi Garde is pissing off the fans now - how the fuck does useless Gestede get in front of Kozak? Also, play Adama ffs!!

<speechless>

[peter w]

If Kozak isn't even on the bench given the trouble we are in there must be a very good reason for it. Therefore I wouldn't put him in just for the sake of it.

[pauliewalnuts]

Remi Garde is pissing off the fans now - how the fuck does useless Gestede get in front of Kozak? Also, play Adama ffs!!

Jesus Christ.

Talk about a short honeymoon period.

[saunders_heroes]

He's never impressed me but we may as well just give him ago in the first team. You never know, and all that.

[pauliewalnuts]

Worth remembering, Kozak has started 8 league matches for us and scored 4 league goals.

I am under no illusions - he won't have become Gerd Muller reincarnated while he has been out, he's not a guarantee of anything, in fact.

But, given our two other striker options are Gabby and Gestede, I find it really hard to imagine a set of circumstances in which I wouldn't consider him a worthy contender for a place.

Maybe if he'd lost a limb, or insisted in playing in clogs - maybe, and even then I wouldn't rule it out.

[TB]

Worth remembering, Kozak has started 8 league matches for us and scored 4 league goals.

I am under no illusions - he won't have become Gerd Muller reincarnated while he has been out, he's not a guarantee of anything, in fact.

But, given our two other striker options are Gabby and Gestede, I find it really hard to imagine a set of circumstances in which I wouldn't consider him a worthy contender for a place.

Maybe if he'd lost a limb, or insisted in playing in clogs - maybe, and even then I wouldn't rule it out.

A relative of mine had a compound tibia/fibula fracture - also with a botched first operation - and having witnessed the subsequent slow and painful reconvalesence, I think it always would take Kozak a long time to regain not only his muscular strength/physical abilities, but also his confidence. Two years would seem about right, I think.

IMO, his game never depended that much on pace, strength or skill, but footballing intelligence and the ability to be at the right place at the right time, so he may still be a valuable player.

I believe Garde will replace players when it's obvious that there's someone better suited to the 1st 11, but I don't see him trying to change all at once between games, like the previous fuckwit incumbent. Garde did say after watching Kozak in a U21 game (in which he didn't score) that he didn't think Kozak offered anything more than the other strikers available to him. That may still change - two goals in the last U21 game, AFAIK.

[Virgil Caine]

I am beginning to change my mind about Kozak- he looked a player so devoid of any confidence against Forest in the pre-season friendly I genuinely thought that his injury had potentially had a profound psychological effect on him (lots of P's there, sorry). I watched the latest U21 and he did look more a player winning aerial battles and going in for tackles but the quality of the opposition has to be taken into account.

We do not know if Kozak is taking longer to come to terms with, what was, a very nasty injury and the subsequent repair.For all we know he may have been asked not to be picked (hence the reluctance to go on loan) as he knows that he cannot cope with the pressure of a first team appearance. However, surely a run out for half an hour against Arsenal would be a good test - expectations are low so that it would be a good opportunity to see if he could compete without too much pressure. Although not the most gifted of footballers he does seem to have a happy knack of being in the right place at the right time when it comes to goalscoring.

[Villa in Denmark]

Remi Garde is pissing off the fans now - how the fuck does useless Gestede get in front of Kozak? Also, play Adama ffs!!

Is this a poorly executed pisstake?

Garde has had four games to come in and assess everyone.
He's given Kozak game time with the U-21s presumably for both match fitness and to have a look at whether he's got anything to offer.

Given that he'd played a few 45 minute sessions in preseason and a couple of U-21s matches in 2 years, it's understandable he's not starting. Get him some bench time and start bringing him on for 15-20 minutes at a time. Even if he was everything that the most optimistic of us hopes he is and would walk into the first XI no questions asked, I doubt that he'd be fit to start before Christmas.

[mr underhill]

Garde pissing off the fans my arse. Anybody would think Villa fans were fickle after a comment like that.