Gabby - keep or let go

[Percy McCarthy]

Not sure many attacking players got a much of a pass (potential pun not intended), Weimann and Zog got/get loads of stick. As did Bent. Even Benteke at stages last season. Delph, Westwood and Cleverley also copped it for lack of goals/assists etc.

I was thinking more about on here, where abuse of him just pops up on unrelated topics.

[paul_e]

I have nothing against Gabby, I think at times he's been unplayable and it's undeniable that he's scored some seriously important goals down the years but I just don't see where he fits any more.  He doesn't score enough goals to play through the middle (his finishing is genuinely terrible, the pass back effort last week after he'd done everything right to that point was truly dire), his crossing is too hit and miss for him to be a suitable option wide and he doesn't have the touch or range of passing to play in the hole, so he only works in 2 up front, which doesn't really suit the rest of the squad.  I'm not going to call him lazy though, I think it's an easy label given to strikers who are doing the right thing and staying in position to counter-attack if the ball comes back.

I generally sum up established players by thinking would if I'd be happy if they played for someone else and we were linked with them, and in this case I'd be disappointed and I think most people would agree that it wasn't a great link.

Given the shape of our squad and the formations we have as options I think we can handle 4 strikers, Gestede and Ayew are both new and deserve a chance to adapt to the league/club, Kozak has been out injured for a long time but showed promise before his injury and had a good pre-season so he deserves a chance.  That leaves Gabby so for me the real question is do we want to keep Gabby or sign another striker, and the only sensible answer then is that it depends who it is.

[Louzie0]

I'd like to wait and see what Gabby does this season. For the first time in ages he has a manager who values him ( club captain) and wants him to do the best he can whilst playing to his strengths.

The team around him has changed as well as the overall philosophy, it seems, so that will help him enormously.

I'm not sure about the value of 'bulking up' v 'thin as a whippet' either way, but I think we'll see what suits him at this point in his career and how far it works, this season.

I really want this to be a cracking season for Gabby and I'm keeping everything crossed.

[Ian.]

Me to Louize, if we play with a more attacking intent that can only benefit Gabby. My fingers and toes are crossed as well that he'll have a good season.

[KRS]

He gets more stick than anyone. I think it's because he's so brilliant in his occasional blinders people hold it against him when he's average. Seems strange to me that some players get a pass for being in a crap side that has hardly attacked for five years, but not a striker/winger who is detailed half the time to help our full-back or pick up the other team's deep-lying playmaker.*

*For those of you who wonder why managers keep picking him,

A lot of the off the ball work does go unnoticed by most supporters (Westwood being a prime example), but what is clear as day is that his contribution when we have the ball and attacking is what most people see and where Gabby has consistently failed to provide sufficient end product.

[LTA]

Not consistent enough, he should be a squad player at best.  Dont get the hold he seems to have over a succession of managers to keep picking him.

[paul_e]

He gets more stick than anyone. I think it's because he's so brilliant in his occasional blinders people hold it against him when he's average. Seems strange to me that some players get a pass for being in a crap side that has hardly attacked for five years, but not a striker/winger who is detailed half the time to help our full-back or pick up the other team's deep-lying playmaker.*

*For those of you who wonder why managers keep picking him,

A lot of the off the ball work does go unnoticed by most supporters (Westwood being a prime example), but what is clear as day is that his contribution when we have the ball and attacking is what most people see and where Gabby has consistently failed to provide sufficient end product.

The thing is, a midfielder or defender can do the steady 7 out of 10 water carrier job, a defensive player that you don't notice is generally one who's not making mistakes.  For an attacking you have to be doing stuff that people notice as well, particularly when you're getting the chances to do so.

If Gabby was never in the box because he was running wide and creating space, or was going deeper and linking play I don't think he'd get too many complaints, it's when we have the ball wide and Gabby is in the middle marking the centre back. It's when he beats 2-3 men and then rolls the ball to a defender or the keeper rather than getting a decent shot off. It's when he runs in behind a fullback and crosses 3-4 feet over the heads of everyone in the box. Those are the reasons people moan about him because he really is so close to being a rvery good player but he just doesn't have the composure or awareness to ever be that player, he just hasn't got the natural instincts and he hasn't been able to use his experience to develop them, that's why he's inconsistent and frustrating.

[KRS]

I completely agree...but you also missed off that he just doesn't have the intelligence.

[Chris Harte]

Get rid. Has had a woeful record in front of goal for years now. It seems to me that the only PL side that hasn't sussed him out is Sunderland.

[silhillvilla]

Gabby to score tomorrow . To quell the noise.

[mal]

Keep. He's got nowhere near the goal return you'd expect from a striker but we haven't played him as one for almost all of his Villa career. his record 364 games 84 goals is what you'd expect from an excellent forward. By comparison:
Walcott: 325    81
Townsend: 196    21
Lennon: 421    33

[Percy McCarthy]

Keep. He's got nowhere near the goal return you'd expect from a striker but we haven't played him as one for almost all of his Villa career. his record 364 games 84 goals is what you'd expect from an excellent forward. By comparison:
Walcott: 325    81
Townsend: 196    21
Lennon: 421    33

They showed Walcott's stats on SSN the other day and it struck me that they were similar to Gabby's.

I think the merits of playing for Arsenal compared to Villa should also be factored in.

[passitsideways]

Keep. He's got nowhere near the goal return you'd expect from a striker but we haven't played him as one for almost all of his Villa career. his record 364 games 84 goals is what you'd expect from an excellent forward. By comparison:
Walcott: 325    81
Townsend: 196    21
Lennon: 421    33

They showed Walcott's stats on SSN the other day and it struck me that they were similar to Gabby's.

I think the merits of playing for Arsenal compared to Villa should also be factored in.

Conversely, I don't think Walcott was really regarded as a goalscorer until the 2010-11 season - up until that point, he was still mostly a winger who didn't really get into goalscoring positions. Since then, his goalscoring record's been substantially better, and that's as someone who rarely gets played centrally.

Gabby's goalscoring record was very decent in his first few seasons, and he also had the tendency to make a couple of bursting runs every game that resulted in good opportunities for someone else. He does neither thing anymore.

[CJ]

He missed yet another 1 on 1 with the Palace keeper in the first half today. He's now costing us points. Needs to be on the bench at best

[richardhubbard]

Gabby scored 33 in last 5 seasons and they doubled that , really shit comparison