Pearce - Gab can get stronger

25 March 2009 20:45
England U21 manager Stuart Pearce believes Gabriel Agbonlahor can use the experience of a turbulent last ten days to make himself an even better player. The 22-year-old has scored just once in his last 16 games and endured the wrath of his own supporters when he was substituted in the 2-1 home defeat to Tottenham, when the Villa faithful ironically cheered his withdrawal. The England international started on the bench for the 5-0 drubbing at the hands of Liverpool on Sunday and was dealt a further blow when he was left out of Fabio Capello's England squad after featuring last time out against Spain. Pearce initially left the striker out of his U21 squad but called him up after Theo Walcott withdrew with a knee injury. "There are no problems with him mentally. He has been fine, no problems at all," the former Manchester City boss said. "It is important for young players to understand that they are going to have lifts and dips in form and you just have to accept that. "But there has to be people around them that can help them out at club level, where Gabby has a fantastic manager in Martin O'Neill that has seen everything before. "Gabby has hardly missed a game for Aston Villa in the last three years or so. "Of course players get disappointed when they don't play or things aren't going their way but to sit and watch a game at Liverpool I don't think will do him any harm and I think he will be stronger for it. "He has a slight injury at the moment that might keep him out on Friday but it might not. "But he is here and with us and he wants to be part of this now and in the summer. "He is one that is very close to the senior squad. He was in the last senior squad and that is credit to him." Pearce admitted that had he known Agbonlahor wasn't going to be involved with the senior squad he would have selected him straight away for the upcoming games against Norway and France. "At the time I felt Gabby was going to be named in the senior squad," he added. "Fabio spoke about his squad in the week but he didn't finalise it until Saturday night. "When Fabio suggested that he wasn't going to be named in the senior squad, it was common sense to put him in with us for his experience."

Source: SKY_Sports