AVTuco Posted September 26, 2019 VT Supporter Share Posted September 26, 2019 I'm not sure if Conor should start, but I am sure he should play! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KentVillan Posted September 26, 2019 Share Posted September 26, 2019 What must really hurt Conor is the fact that he got dropped after the Spurs game. The score was 1-1 when he came off, and he hadn't really put a foot wrong. I also understand DS's logic, though. Conor is weaker defensively than Marvelous, while Douglas is a better all-round midfielder in open play. Having said all that, Conor seems to perform best when he has a point to prove, so I'd like to see him have a crack soon. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyblade Posted September 26, 2019 Share Posted September 26, 2019 You know what, give him a start...he's earned it. Shows players that if you take your chance, you'll get in the team and it'll give the dropped players an incentive to get back into it in the next cup match. Will make sure we have hungry players in the cup and might prove to be the catalyst for a deep run in the competition too. Win-win-win. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KentVillan Posted September 26, 2019 Share Posted September 26, 2019 10 hours ago, villalad21 said: He sound so frustrated by lack of playing time in his interview, feel so bad for him. Done nothing wrong really. Thought it was a good, professional interview. Explained his frustration calmly without undermining the manager or his teammates. I hope DS will start to be a bit more flexible with substitutions as the starting 11 settle into the main system. DS prefers to make like-for-like substitutions (usually on the wing or at DM), which limits his options in central midfield. Hourihane on for a winger would be more interesting. I fear he won't really get proper opportunities until Grealish or McGinn are injured or suspended. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted September 27, 2019 Share Posted September 27, 2019 He does have a nice habit of finding space in the 18 yard area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abdulaziz1 Posted September 27, 2019 Share Posted September 27, 2019 Needs to play more, with him, we seem more dangerous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob182 Posted September 27, 2019 Share Posted September 27, 2019 I think he’s earned himself a longer appearance than the brief cameos he’s had so far, if not a start. Watching the highlights, at first I thought that he was the one who lost their man for their goal. But then when watching it from an earlier point, it’s hard to see who should have been marking their guy that scored. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zab6359 Posted September 27, 2019 Share Posted September 27, 2019 13 hours ago, KentVillan said: What must really hurt Conor is the fact that he got dropped after the Spurs game. The score was 1-1 when he came off, and he hadn't really put a foot wrong. I also understand DS's logic, though. Conor is weaker defensively than Marvelous, while Douglas is a better all-round midfielder in open play. Having said all that, Conor seems to perform best when he has a point to prove, so I'd like to see him have a crack soon. Do you think so? He's a great young prospect but not sure he offers as much as Conor (yet) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenjiOgiwara Posted September 27, 2019 Share Posted September 27, 2019 I wouldn't mind seeing him come on as a sub, but he just isn't as good as McGinn, Jack or Marvelous. It's great with his goals and all, but I don't think scoring in cup games against sub par opposition leads to him doing this in the PL. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WakefieldVillan Posted September 27, 2019 Share Posted September 27, 2019 38 minutes ago, KenjiOgiwara said: I wouldn't mind seeing him come on as a sub, but he just isn't as good as McGinn, Jack or Marvelous. It's great with his goals and all, but I don't think scoring in cup games against sub par opposition leads to him doing this in the PL. I think you're right in terms of him being inferior to Jack and John, not so sure about Marvelous (who's had a solid enough start) but they are a different type of player - well to be honest Conor is different to all 3. We have seen before that Smith will pick players on performances and I think Conor has earned a starting berth on Saturday and it's up to him to make it his own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Pangloss Posted September 27, 2019 Share Posted September 27, 2019 There's no way he starts without moving Grealish left, which in fairness I'm not exactly against. However he certainly needs to come off the bench more, with central midfielders consistently tiring after 65 minutes he really should have more involvement. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapal_fan Posted September 27, 2019 Share Posted September 27, 2019 I'd have him in front of Marvelous on the current output. Marvelous is marginally better than him defensively, but Conor has two big green lights in set pieces and goals/assists. I think of it this way, if Conor came to the club in the same summer, with a more exotic name, he'd be in the 11. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brommy Posted September 27, 2019 Share Posted September 27, 2019 6 minutes ago, lapal_fan said: I think of it this way, if Conor came to the club in the same summer, with a more exotic name, he'd be in the 11. In fairness, Conor already has an exotic surname. So exotic that the vast majority of Villa fans don’t pronounce it correctly. If Jack Woodward can say ‘Hourihane’ correctly, why can’t Conor’s own club fans pronounce ‘Hourihane’ correctly? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KentVillan Posted September 27, 2019 Share Posted September 27, 2019 5 hours ago, zab6359 said: Do you think so? He's a great young prospect but not sure he offers as much as Conor (yet) I'm not 100% sure yet, but I think Douglas is better at receiving and shifting the ball quickly in midfield, and holds his position better. It's a tricky one, I'm not totally convinced by Douglas yet, but those are my initial impressions. I do think Hourihane is an underused weapon. I'd like to see him getting 30-45 minutes more often, as he presents a different problem to an opposing manager, which could screw up their tactics. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KentVillan Posted September 27, 2019 Share Posted September 27, 2019 19 minutes ago, lapal_fan said: I'd have him in front of Marvelous on the current output. Marvelous is marginally better than him defensively, but Conor has two big green lights in set pieces and goals/assists. I think of it this way, if Conor came to the club in the same summer, with a more exotic name, he'd be in the 11. Marvelous is a lot better than him defensively, and shifts the ball more quickly and sensibly. You might be right re: Conor getting dropped for a more exotically named Brazilian vs. Bournemouth. Was probably a case of wishful thinking about how ready Douglas was, and Conor would have done a better job in that game IMO. But I think Marvelous will be very hard to displace now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted September 27, 2019 Share Posted September 27, 2019 (edited) We're not good enough to play without a specialist DM who's main quality is breaking up play, pretty much every other team has such a player playing as the holding midfielder, only way you can get away with it is if you're a side that dominates possession but we're not. If Hourihane plays he has to play either instead of one of Grealish or McGinn, or instead of one of the wingers. The most obvious solution is to play him instead of one of the wingers, and have Grealish play out wide, Grealish playing out wide doesn't have to mean he's stuck on the wing, he can still have license to drift inside Plus we've spent almost £30m on Luiz and Nakamba, we haven't done that just to play Hourihane instead of them, a player who isn't even a DM. Edited September 27, 2019 by useless Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapal_fan Posted September 27, 2019 Share Posted September 27, 2019 5 minutes ago, useless said: We're not good enough to play without a specialist DM who's main quality is breaking up play, pretty much every other team has such a player playing as the holding midfielder, only way you can get away with it is if you're a side that dominates possession but we're not. If Hourihane plays he has to play either instead of one of Grealish or McGinn, or instead of one of the wingers. The most obvious solution is to play him instead of one of the wingers, and have Grealish play out wide, Grealish playing out wide doesn't have to mean he's stuck on the wing, he can still have license to drift inside Plus we've spent almost £30m on Luiz and Nakamba, we haven't done that just to play Hourihane instead of them, a player who isn't even a DM. It shouldn't matter how much someone costs to play. It should be on who will do the better job. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted September 27, 2019 Share Posted September 27, 2019 Well Hourihane isn't going to do a better job than Luiz or Nakamba as a DM, considering that they're actualy DMs and he isn't. If Hourihane is to play it has to be further forward in the team. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyblade Posted September 27, 2019 Share Posted September 27, 2019 Marvelous and Luiz do everything way better than Conor apart from scoring goals. Is it really worth shoehorning him into the squad because he scores goals when his passing is slow and his positioning isn't that great? The latter is far more important to our attacking play than a couple of late runs into the box to be honest. If he plays, it has to be in place of Jack or John. He's quite comfortably the third worst DM in the team otherwise. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaffer85 Posted September 27, 2019 Share Posted September 27, 2019 5 hours ago, Keyblade said: Marvelous and Luiz do everything way better than Conor apart from scoring goals. Is it really worth shoehorning him into the squad because he scores goals when his passing is slow and his positioning isn't that great? The latter is far more important to our attacking play than a couple of late runs into the box to be honest. If he plays, it has to be in place of Jack or John. He's quite comfortably the third worst DM in the team otherwise. Not really I would consider goals more important than passing he has a knack of being in the right place at the right time and that can't be thought Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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