Gabby

[edgysatsuma89]

For years people would defend gabby saying he scored 'critical' goals. I don't buy that. His goals stand out for one reason ... they're so fucking rare.

[PaulWinch again]

Gabby is done unless he can get his pace back it's as simple as that.

[Toronto Villa]

For years people would defend gabby saying he scored 'critical' goals. I don't buy that. His goals stand out for one reason ... they're so fucking rare.

we're they not critical though at the time or should we rewrite the history of their significance? Just because he is poor now, or that he never had a great goalscoring record shouldn't devalue some of the goals he scored.

[OzVilla]

His asset was his incredible pace. He's had a number of injuries and being a bit older the thing that made him stand out has all but left him. He was always a technically limited player so we all kind of knew this day would arrive. It all seems to have come in the last year or 18 months when he clearly can no longer do what we remember him being able to do. He's a passenger now. In 5 a sides on the training pitch I'm sure he looks great at times because over a short space he probably is still quick. But on a full length pitch he doesn't get past players much now, doesn't close down particularly well, doesn't have the speed and energy over 90 minutes to chase back and help out. He never developed a trick, and he's not smart enough to attack spaces in the box created by movement, knock downs or through balls.

It's sad to see because we can all remember a really important Gabby goal over the years. That player is now long gone and what we have now is a very well paid, at best a 15-20 minute cameo appearance substitute. I hope Sherwood realizes this sooner rather than later because we will need 11 players pulling their weight in the next 12 games.

Spot on and this was glaringly obvious by the end of last season tbh.

So what did McThickie and the dumbass American do, thats right, give him a 4 year contract. When we should have been shipping him out we make him one of the highest paid at the club. What a message to send!

Why can't I work for people this stupid?

[villan from luton]

His asset was his incredible pace. He's had a number of injuries and being a bit older the thing that made him stand out has all but left him. He was always a technically limited player so we all kind of knew this day would arrive. It all seems to have come in the last year or 18 months when he clearly can no longer do what we remember him being able to do. He's a passenger now. In 5 a sides on the training pitch I'm sure he looks great at times because over a short space he probably is still quick. But on a full length pitch he doesn't get past players much now, doesn't close down particularly well, doesn't have the speed and energy over 90 minutes to chase back and help out. He never developed a trick, and he's not smart enough to attack spaces in the box created by movement, knock downs or through balls.

It's sad to see because we can all remember a really important Gabby goal over the years. That player is now long gone and what we have now is a very well paid, at best a 15-20 minute cameo appearance substitute. I hope Sherwood realizes this sooner rather than later because we will need 11 players pulling their weight in the next 12 games.

Spot on and this was glaringly obvious by the end of last season tbh.

So what did McThickie and the dumbass American do, thats right, give him a 4 year contract. When we should have been shipping him out we make him one of the highest paid at the club. What a message to send!

Why can't I work for people this stupid?

Not his biggest fan by some way, but was it his fault that the Captain messed up today?

[OzVilla]

No but this is a thread about Gabby, not today's game in isolation.

He's been taking the piss for a while and he needs to be outed as such.

[villan from luton]

Is he the only one then, should we have a thread about nearly all the team?

[OzVilla]

No hes not the only one but he's the worst of the offenders IMO.

[villan from luton]

Why is he the worst?

[OzVilla]

Whys he not?

Gabby is the epitome of the lazy footballer. In 9 Years playing at first team level his game has never progressed. Now you might blame the many coaches for this but i think the player should take the most responsibility. Where's Gabbys trick in the same way that Tony Daley was forced by SGT to stay behind after training and 'learn a trick'.

He rarely seeks out space infact his overall movement for a player that has relied almost entirely on pace is dreadful. His ball control had never progressed beyond mediocre, he can't tackle, rarely tracks back and his finishing is on par with Devon Lock.

He's also one of the highest paid playerst the club and is a Villa fan so you'd hope as he'd have a bit more emotionally invested than some if the other tosspots. I'm sure Gabbys new contract was for the fact that he's a local lad and that Lerner was in some way trying to get in to favour with the supporters by rewarding a club stalwart. Yet another horrendous misread.

That enough for you?

[edgysatsuma89]

For years people would defend gabby saying he scored 'critical' goals. I don't buy that. His goals stand out for one reason ... they're so fucking rare.

we're they not critical though at the time or should we rewrite the history of their significance? Just because he is poor now, or that he never had a great goalscoring record shouldn't devalue some of the goals he scored.

I don't particularly think his few goals were any more critical than a lot of other goal scorers, yet with Gabby his goals are often referred to as 'critical'. That doesn't mean to say that some weren't but i think on the whole it is largely overstated, particularly over the last 4 years. It was often used as a reason for his inclusion whereas i would look at all the 'important' games that he has done absolutely nothing in, to which there are many. That's how I've seen it anyway. I hope for our club's sake that his time on the pitch is drastically reduced as he has clearly shown he hasn't got it anymore.

[adrenachrome]

I don't think he's lazy or not committed to the cause, after all Timahh said he has been on fire in training.

The problem is, he has no natural footballing instinct beyond attacking the space between a high defensive line and every PL club know this. Go and watch a schoolboy game and even at a quite young age some of the kids know how to make runs and to create space, and how to change the whole direction of play with a single movement. This is not coached into them, they pick it up from watching games.

Gabby was not at all interested in football when he was young, and he definitely did not go to watch the Villa. When he first broke through into the first team he did and interview on TV and candidly admitted as much. He was an athlete first and foremost and came relatively late into the game.

No point at all playing him in a front two. Wide  in a front 3 is slightly better in that he will put the work in, but the problem is he will switch off occasionally. Not laziness or anything, more a lapse of concentration. What he can still do is play up front alone in certain situations - namely when the opposition play a high defensive line and are committed to attack us. If he sees the space  behind the last defender he can use his pace and the few tricks in his locker quite effectively. 

The most irritating thing about him as far as yesterday's game is that although he sacrificed some of his pace to build bulk, which is understandable to an extent given what refs permit in the PL these days,  I didn't see him in a physical tussle with anyone. Benteke has given up in this respect as well, although in his case I think he just got fed up of PL refs penalising him.

Finally, it is often forgotten that Gabby was unpopular with the fans once before, to the point where he was being booed. I remember him being interviewed about it at the time. He will soon be getting sustained gyp again unless things change.

[passitsideways]

Yeah, I'm not of the opinion that he's culpable of not giving a shit. It's just that he used to make up for the lack of variety in the runs he made with sheer pace; but now that he's aged and bulked up, he doesn't have that saving grace anymore.

It's really disappointing because he was genuinely excellent in the 2013 run-in, scoring important goals (the double against Norwich and the equaliser against QPR come to mind) and playing really well off Benteke. I thought he'd taken a step forward in that regard.

[OzVilla]

I don't think he's lazy or not committed to the cause, after all Timahh said he has been on fire in training.

The problem is, he has no natural footballing instinct beyond attacking the space between a high defensive line and every PL club know this. Go and watch a schoolboy game and even at a quite young age some of the kids know how to make runs and to create space, and how to change the whole direction of play with a single movement. This is not coached into them, they pick it up from watching games.

Gabby was not at all interested in football when he was young, and he definitely did not go to watch the Villa. When he first broke through into the first team he did and interview on TV and candidly admitted as much. He was an athlete first and foremost and came relatively late into the game.

No point at all playing him in a front two. Wide  in a front 3 is slightly better in that he will put the work in, but the problem is he will switch off occasionally. Not laziness or anything, more a lapse of concentration.

The most irritating thing about him as far as yesterday's game is that although he sacrificed some of his pace to build bulk, which is understandable to an extent given what refs permit in the PL these days,  I didn't see him in a physical tussle with anyone.

So in effect he's not lazy, he just doesn't 'get' football and has no ability to learn.  Well that's a fine line between not having a footballing brain and being a bit thick and lazy.

If we were having this discussion in the early part of his career I'd agree with you but unfortunatley he's been a professional footballer at a PL club now for 12 years. I can't believe if he really wanted to he'd have a greater understanding of the nuances of forward play. After all, isn't that partly what he's being paid to do.

It stikes metat Gabby has always played like he's a rookie, fact is he's not. He's supposed to be a leader of the group.

Maybe that's where our problems start.

[ROBBO]

I don't think Gabbys lazy he just doesn't have a footballing brain he seems constantly to make the wrong choice same with Weimann works his socks off but he is always off balance, these players are a problem because they are just not good enough.