After rediscovering his goalscoring form under new boss Alex McLeish, the striker publicly spoke of his discontent at the managerial tenure of Gérard Houllier and his assistant Gary McAllister and said that he even considered quitting the club had the previous regime remained. Meanwhile, on the pitch Agbonlahor continued to impress, scoring the first goal and setting up Darren Bent for the second in a man of the match performance against Wigan on 1 October. He then put in another man of the match performance against Norwich City in a 3–2 win on 5 November, setting up both of Darren Bent's goals and scoring the second himself. On 7 January 2012, he scored the second goal in a 3–1 win against Bristol Rovers in the third round of the FA Cup after Marc Albrighton had given Villa the lead. On 3 April 2012, after Aston Villa captain Stiliyan Petrov's diagnosis with acute leukaemia, Agbonlahor was named team captain upon Petrov's diagnosis.