Hobbit Feet

Looks class to me, touch of Laursen about him, looks like the Best Buy so far in my humble opinion, was in top three players with McGinn and Taylor.

26 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

Some work to do, so we'd better get started now, lads. 

Seen this kicking about Instagram this week, we need to have +1 on the other euro section because we won the super cup! +1 more if you count our infamous inter toto cup win. 

Anyway leaving in a minute to go to the game  get there early as parking will be a nightmare, always a sign villa are back where they belong. I’ve lumped on Mings to score first. UTV

Bruce liked to sign old experienced players that he thought could deal with the pressure and situation simply because he was terrified of getting the sack as he knew we were a sleeping giant, and probably (although we now know different) his last big club, it unfortunately was a catch 22 because they didn’t perform and ultimately let him down but he wouldn’t change his ways which cost him. He never trusted hogan because he never delivered.

1 minute ago, Enda said:

Strongly suspect DS will pick at least 10 of last week's starting 11 again, maybe a change on the wings. Can't see him dropping the full-backs.

Not sure why people are talking so much about the demands for rotation "this year"... unless we go all the way in the cups we'll have fewer matches this year than last year.

 

Don’t believe rotation due to tiredness or fatigue but more rotation for tactical reasons. I think we will use a quicker team for away games and counter with Trezeguet, at home I’d expect us to be a bit slower and use players like Jota to pick our way through teams.

9 hours ago, MNVillan said:

Okay, i really want the PL patches so I’m going to crowdsource this and give it our best guess. I’m 5’10” (178 cm) and have a 41” chest (104 cm). A large retro shirt fits me well. Stick with the large or go up to XL?

 

Ok i was in the same boat. I normally buy a large in things as I’m a Medium/large but like things with a bit of space so ordered a large then I read what everyone was saying and tried to change my order to XL but they wouldn’t accommodate it, so the Large turned up and was expecting it to be really tight but it fitted ok so I didn’t send it back, it may be a little tighter than I’d like but an XL probably would of been too large. I’m roughly the same size as you 5 10 and 41 chest. So I’d stick with the large.

He seems to split opinions after yesterday’s game even in my house hold, I actually thought he did well and probably against one of the most consistent defences in the league, Kodjia came on against tired defenders and looked poor so think that only says more about Wesley, agree I’m sure in half a dozen games will all be singing his name 

He played pretty well yesterday and doesn’t deserve some of the stick he gets, but it’s a strange one to play him, why spend £14 million on a new left back then talk about Neil taylor being part of the spine of the team and start him, I don’t think Neil Taylor is worth £14 million plus so I’m not sure of the logic Smith has used here.

54 minutes ago, meregreen said:

Not scapegoating to point out a players deficiencies. Connor simply isn’t a player who will fulfil a DM role. He’s too powder puff when competing for the ball. People see things differently I suppose.

I agree mate, if you watch their equaliser he should be charging that ball down throwing his body in front of it but he just stops and watches, he also just post a picture on Instagram saying how proud he is to make his premier league debut, yeah ok I get your proud but we lost at the end of the day so don’t really get that, you wouldn’t of seen Roy Keane be proud to lose on his debut.

Based on today’s performance I think around 12th is achievable, we competed with spurs and there will be easier matches, in confident we have a decent enough team to compete in all games

7 minutes ago, MellbergsBeard said:

Learn and move on, but never resort to just lumping it to there defence.

 

There is a time and a place to clear your lines and that evidently was one of them times. Live and learn.

Would of been a better option than Kodjia.

Looked very good, we won’t be up against teams as good as Spuds every week. My man of the match. All the players looked to get tired so hopefully will be better when we get fitter

3 hours ago, KMitch said:

Yeah, let's hope 4 of Grealish, McGinn, Hourihane, Douglas, Marvelous, & Lansbury all don't get injured at the same time.  He's was our 7th string midfielder.  

Haha yeah good one, let’s hope Lansbury isn’t injured because he never is, Grealish isn’t injured because he’s never targeted by the opposition, let’s hope McGinn isn’t suspended because he’s never over keen, let’s hope Marvelous and Douglas are not as good as Jean II Makoun or Eric Djemba Djemba because we know about as much as them right now. We don’t need all of them out only 2 or 3 and it’s problematic. All I’m saying is it’s a risk when we didn’t really need to take.

11 minutes ago, KMitch said:

We probably tried to shop him around and nobody was interested in paying a fee for him, and I don't blame them.  The main positive I can see from this deal is I no longer have to read countless pages of drivel about how Thor can "do a job" in the Premier League for us...

Yes but isn’t the transfer window open in Europe open for a few more weeks? Given he’s an international and played on the continent before I’d have thought we’d have been able to sell him for something to somebody... strange one, let’s hope we don’t get lots of midfield injuries and suspension and come to regret it.

Well deserved, what a player and what a guy. Did everything he said he wanted to do from his initial video. Can’t wait to watch him run around the premier league this season. 

15 minutes ago, useless said:

Had a feeling that this might get announced today, takes away from some of the disappointment that might be felt if we don't sign anybody.

I don’t think anyone can be disappointed with the last few months. Probably the best time I’ve ever had following villa.

24 minutes ago, TRO said:

....doesn't sound like this is on, to me.

It’s on mate. We’ll sign who we want, we’ll sign who we wanttt... We’re Aston Villa and we sign who we want!

3 hours ago, choffer said:

It's Portakabin City down there. I say "down there" but it's actually just up the road for me

 

Hardly Bodymoor Heath is it give him one look at our facilities and he’ll sign on the dotted line 

7 hours ago, Killeen30 said:

It’s used to be a big thing, the squad numbers  being annouced. 1-11 was a big thing back 20 years ago but now so many players have 'their own number' I guess it’s got less important for even the club.

An example is Andre Green wearing the number 19 shirt on loan at Preston. Players grow attached to the numbers they wear.

Wouldn’t say it’s brought him a huge amount of luck, if I was him I’d take a chance on a different number... 

29 minutes ago, KentVillan said:

Fight and mileage aren't just psychological, it's partly just who you are. Hourihane is a skinny lad who doesn't have McGinn's engine or Jack's raw talent and athleticism. I just don't think he's ever going to be a blood and thunder player, and we should just accept that he plays DM in a certain way, and not berate him for struggling with certain aspects of the game.

I actually disagree with a lot of the comments here that AM is his natural position. I reckon he'd feel most comfortable as a deepish ballplaying midfielder alongside a ball winning midfielder in a 4-2-3-1, joining the attacks late and spraying passes out to the wings. Dean Smith has asked him to play defensive mid in a 4-3-3, which is clearly DS's favoured system, but lone DM in a 4-3-3 (basically a 4-1-4-1) is a much harder role for someone with Hourihane's attributes.

He's dealt with a ton of abuse, been in and out of the team for Whelan, and stuck it out admirably. Coming off the bench when you've been dropped isn't easy, but he came on and basically put us through to the play-off final.

He's been taking pelters from the fans all summer (which he must know about) with the club chasing loads of defensive midfielders, and fans expecting him to be a bench warmer. He's come out and had consistently good games in pre-season, and he clearly has Dean Smith's trust now.

I understand everyone's reservations about him there at the back of that 4-3-3 when we're defending or playing out of defence, but it might be a price worth paying for his set pieces and long shots, which can deliver goals against any level of opposition. Also he has improved at his DM responsibilities:

• his fouls are more sensible. Yellow card vs. Leipzig was good game management, breaking up a dangerous counter attack. Last season he often did pointless fouls early on to "set the tone" and it achieved nothing.
• He looks calmer receiving the ball deep - doesn't panic and doesn't always play the Hollywood pass (although will be interesting to see if he can carry that mentality into the league when the games mean something).
• He holds his position better, although he's still not very positionally aware. But last season he would just abandon his slot without anyone covering him, leaving a huge gap up the middle for a counter attack (Sheffield Utd exploited this in the 3-3). He still does that a bit, but he seems more comfortable with what he's been asked to do.

However, if you look at Liverpool's stats last season (a good comparison because they mainly play 4-3-3 I think), you see Fabinho on 2.1 tackles per game, Keita on 1.5, Henderson on 1.4, and Wijnaldum on 1.2.

For comparison, for Villa last season McGinn had 2.1 tackles per game, Hourihane had 1.4, Whelan had 1.3, Grealish had 1.1.

So clearly Hourihane is not doing as much defensive work as a specialist DM.

Much of what you say is true but the big problem is his decision making off the ball, he doesn’t know what to do, he hesitates to close the ball down, or the space or the runner, he always seems to make the wrong decision in my opinion. And he just gets bypassed and at top level it will be very telling.

13 minutes ago, tinker said:

Wasn't the salesman for the Hogan deal our very own Dean Smith?  

Well why isn’t Dean Del Boy Smith working his magic again then and fetching us 20 million for him? 

Good question, I’m probably in the minority that doesn’t want us to sign them, I mean I don’t think I can ever forgive them for selling us Hogan, it’s like buying a car from a dodgy second hand car dealer and it being an absolute dog then going back there to buy another one. 

2 hours ago, TheAuthority said:

Remember that he's had a season and a half working under Bruce and his coaches, and MON at international level. 

He's finally getting some decent coaching now with Deano and our new backroom staff which is why I think his formed picked up in the later half of the season (remember him being booed off at VP?) I also back him to keep improving.

Yes he’s improved but we didn’t boo him for his lack of football ability, I don’t think we’ve ever done that at villla park, I mean Taylor doesn’t get booed. It was his lack of fight and willingness to get stuck that had the crowd feeling like that towards him, but he’s certainly improved that no end.

55 minutes ago, MessiWillSignForVilla said:

Probably getting loaned out again as he isn't good enough for the Premier League. It's not a coincidence that 4-5 consecutive managers have all overlooked him and Smith has attempted to replace him already.

I'll always appreciate Steer for that shoot-out performance, but it seems that - plus our run of wins - has overshadowed that he wasn't exactly brilliant in Championship. Certainly not bad, but decent at best imo. In fact, I think he was quite dodgy at times last season, but benefited from our massivel improved back four.

If we are offering him out on loan, I can't see many Championship sides rushing to sign him either, which you'd expect considering how some Villa fans speak about him.

Well I don’t understand why we would hand him a new contract then? Although it seems like he’s been around a long time he’s relatively young still in terms of a GK. I think we have a lot to thank him for last season, it’s not unfair to say without him coming back in January we probably wouldn’t of gone up. Sometimes we have very short memories, people say that there isn’t any loyalty from players in football anymore but I’m seeing it more and more from the supporters too now. I believe with some coaching from Cutler and being understudy to Heaton will bring him on leaps and bounds. I’d much rather he stayed than the other two GK’s we have.

2 minutes ago, Johnnyp said:

That's a bit crass. We can easily forget. If it's not for his performance at the Hawthorns in May we probably wouldn't be even have the conversations we are having about new players in this forum. Or away at Wednesday. I think "such an upgrade" is a bit demeaning. Steer is a quality keeper. 

I agree. Any news why he wasn’t in the squad today? I’m really hoping Heaton takes Steer under his wing and teaches him more and more and in a few years we will have a very decent keeper to take over from Heaton..