Aston Villa's Agbonlahor will come back stronger, says Stuart Pearce
Mar 26 2009 by Bill Howell, Birmingham Mail
STUART Pearce has backed Gabby Agbonlahor to be mentally toughened from the experience of losing his Villa place.
Agbonlahor was dropped for the trip to Anfield after a dip in form and goal drought which led to his substitution in the home defeat to Tottenham being greeted with ironic cheers by fans.
He was then left out of Fabio Capello’s England squad for the warm-up game against Slovakia and the World Cup qualifier against Ukraine.
Pearce took advantage of that snub by naming him as a late replacement for Theo Walcott in the under-21s squad for the friendlies against Norway, tomorrow night, and France at Nottingham Forest on Tuesday.
Agbonlahor may miss the Norway game with a minor calf injury, but Pearce is clear his recent fall from grace could help the 22-year-old in the long run.
“There are no problems with him mentally. He has been fine, no problems at all,” said Pearce.
“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.
