It’s been a decent month. To prove that, Tim Sherwood received a nomination for the Premier League’s manager of the month award and Gabby Agbonlahor was on the shortlist for player of the month. It was announced this morning that Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger and Olivier Giroud had won the respective awards.
Nevertheless, the nominations made me wonder about the duo and whether Gabby Agbonlahor is the kind of player Tim Sherwood can get the most out of. It certainly seems that way so far.
Agbonlahor’s three goals have been the icing on the cake for what has been a much improved run of form lately.
He’s never been prolific, we all know that, and it’s not like he’s the only one in the team not scoring, but I feel that there may have been some pressure taken off his shoulders by Sherwood, which is allowing him to thrive. He is no longer the vice captain, for example. It seems like a small thing but perhaps not having to put the armband on, as he has had to do a number of times due to Vlaar’s injuries, means he feels a sense of freedom. I’m sure he was proud to lead the team but he’s not necessarily got the right characteristics for a captain, unlike Delph or Clark.
We all hoped Sherwood would come and do with Benteke what he did with Adebayor at Spurs. Although Benteke has starting scoring more too, it’s been Agbonlahor’s performances that have caught the eye so well done Tim, if it is something you have done. There could be another reason he if performing well at the moment and that is that he is a fan too. How many of us have thought or have said, “I could have done better. I should be on that pitch. I would show more passion”? Well, Gabby Agbonlahor is one of the few people who can have those thoughts and then act upon them. As a Villa player, there is no way he would want to see the club he has served faithfully relegated but as a Villa fan the feeling will go much deeper and perhaps he realises how perilous our position is at the moment and decided that he should pull his finger out.
Whatever the reason, it’s great to see Agbonlahor doing well and let’s hope he can keep it up. We’ll need him to so he can play his part in keeping Aston Villa Football Club in the Premier League.
