Gabby - keep or let go

[ez]

A couple of years ago i would have said Agbonlahor was championship level. I reckon he's slipped further since then.

[rob_bridge]

Guzan was regarded as a well dodgy keeper wasn't he? We let him go and no one batted an eye lid, we re-signed him as a lazy and cheap option. A true Villa signing for the last half a decade, lazy and cheap.

Spot on.  It was lauded as some sort of coup by Lambert, when in reality nobody decent wanted him, and it stopped us having to spend proper money on a decent keeper.  And that's where we are now, with easily the shittest keeper in the Premier League stinking out our net.

totally agree

he was available for free and still nobody wanted hhm

Not long after he re-signed, there was a 'Brad Guzan Appreciation Thread' on here which you can still find if you look. It's mainly full of praise. People have short memories.

Indeed - Guzan and Benteke were the main reasons we stayed up 2013 & 2014. I thought we re-signed him pretty quickly after his contract expired so it remained to be seen that 'nobody wanted him'.

[Villa in Denmark]

Poor Gabby, way past his best indeed, but he's been turned into a scapegoat for all our problems and gets more grief than the real culprit at Villa.
Anyway, I'd play him at Sunderland. He's got a good record up there.

I honestly don't know of anyone that still defends Lerner but Gabby is the absolute epitome of what's gone wrong at the Villa over the last 5 years. Rewarded with contracts and positions of authority way above his ability, not progressed or adapted his game, become complacent, finally disappeared totally when the going got tough and drains the club of finances and good energy.

As I say, if one player summed up with way we've gone down the plug hole without so much as a murmer it's Gabby Agbolahor.

I disagree. If you're looking for a player who sums up our decline it would be Brad Guzan. Rightly let go because he was shit then laughably brought back when we realised no decent PL keeper would join us on the pittance we pay in wages.
Gabby is past his best, no question, but the stick he gets is OTT considering the amount of goals he's scored for us over the years.

I take it you've got a concrete example of this from the time?
How many times? It's not the amount of money, it's the way it's been spent.
Lambert could have signed half the number of players for double the fees and wages and not started the "bomb squad " bollocks and the accounts would have read the same.

And whilst we're at it, maybe one day you'll answer the "how much more money should have been poured down the black hole?" question that you've been running away from for over a month now.

For the record I'm not defending Lerner. He's proven from day 1 that he's absolutely clueless when it comes to running sporting organisations and should stick to do doing the philanthropic stuff he seems to get more out of. I'm challenging your hopelessly simplistic "just throw money at it" solution which was the cause of all our problems to start with.

[Villa in Denmark]

I seem to remember a lot of people at the time saying what a good re-signing Guzan was and he was great when he first replaced Given. I think we possibly need a change now though.

He was resigned as cover for Given, not as no.1 - how many clubs outside of the usual suspects keep top class keepers as their back up. Did you see Liverpool's reserve keeper against Watford?

Early in Lambert's first season Given dropped a couple of howlers and was dropped by Lambert.
Guzan came in and looked a cut above, most impressively his command of the box, where he was coming and claiming stuff in a way we hadn't seen since David James.

For 18 months he was really good. Last season his form went downhill with the rest of the team's but didn't benefit from the charlatan shake up and culminated in his f##k up at Man City.

This season he's been, to put it politely, shit. Or on a par with most of his teammates.

[lovejoy]

So 113 think keep?
Can you set up a separate board for them as either they are Blues/Baggies fans or don't have the same view of football as I do (wanting Villa to do well).

[Goldie.7]

Why do people like a player so much who does fuck all on the pitch for YOUR club.

I'm started to think some supporters actually like being shit.

I couldn't give a hoot whether he's scored vital goals against the blose, you get 3 points for winning any league game, where is this pea-brain then?

[edgysatsuma89]

I think Gabby deserves every ounce of the abuse he gets. The prick can't even keep weight off to be useful on a football pitch when he literally could pay someone to spoon feed him the correct food. The fat prick. See above for why he's a prick. A fat one.

As for Guzan I had no problem with him re-signing. He was actually recognised by a lot of people on here as a top 8 keeper at one point. He has been amazingly shit the last 1 and a half seasons though and I can't wait for a replacement. I'd even be playing Bunn now and I have no idea how good he is.

[oswald funkletrumpet]

the thing i hate most about gabby is that for how limited his game is he has done fuck all to even try and improve it. that isnt totally his fault, which begs the question what the fuck do our coaching staff actually do

[saunders_heroes]

Guzan has never been a top keeper, not ever. Top 8 keeper? I think that says more about certain fans' judgement of players than anything else.

[Legion]

Isn't he first choice of the USA?

[oswald funkletrumpet]

Guzan has never been a top keeper, not ever. Top 8 keeper? I think that says more about certain fans' judgement of players than anything else.

a bit like westwood being touted for england.

[rob_bridge]

Why do people like a player so much who does fuck all on the pitch for YOUR club.

I'm started to think some supporters actually like being shit.

I couldn't give a hoot whether he's scored vital goals against the blose, you get 3 points for winning any league game, where is this pea-brain then?

Many fans loved Collymore and even thought he deserved a 3rd season after half a dozen good games in the previous 2.

[Villa in Denmark]

Guzan has never been a top keeper, not ever. Top 8 keeper? I think that says more about certain fans' judgement of players than anything else.

Where has anyone said that he's a top keeper?

[saunders_heroes]

Guzan has never been a top keeper, not ever. Top 8 keeper? I think that says more about certain fans' judgement of players than anything else.

a bit like westwood being touted for england.

Spot on.

[Mister E]

Guzan has been a decent keeper, but continually being pasted over the last three seasons has certainly ground him down. He is now a liability.
Agbonlahor reminds me of Norman Whiteside (without the benefit of having had a reasonably stellar career): overweight, slow, misfiring and disinterested. Best simply retire him and be done with it.