Conor Hourihane

[TRO]

12 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

Pretty sure the pass was nowhere near Wes. Hourihane's fault. Can't predict Hourihane passing it to the defender?

That was my point......virgil reacted first, thats why it looked like it was no where near wes.....watch it back.

a player like Vardy would have been on that like a shot.

[TRO]

3 hours ago, lexicon said:

Wow, that's pretty damn scathing - don't think I agree with you there SGC.

Besides set pieces, he's got good attacking positioning, movement, passing, link up play is good, he's quicker than he looks, can finish and has a good eye for goal in general. 

His weaknesses are his inconsistent defensive work rate and the fact that he can go missing in games. The latter is certainly a big one though because if you go missing in games, you have no effect and all the positives aren't utilised, unfortunately. 

I think all in all, he's a good squad option to have but I'd have him on the bench or on in games where players need resting or the opposition is weak. 

His physicality is questionable, but you are right his link up play is decent.

[HanoiVillan]

1 hour ago, TRO said:

That was my point......virgil reacted first, thats why it looked like it was no where near wes.....watch it back.

a player like Vardy would have been on that like a shot.

I agree with this . . . for me, the problem was Wesley's anticipation, rather than Conor's pass.

[Trickster]

Conor wasn't quick enough to get to it to be able to do more with it, his starting sprinting movement is really laboured, not his fault, but it just is. I don't blame Conor or Wes for the ball not falling to him. If Wes was ahead of him, people would be saying why didn't he drop back for the cut back.

[Elton]

Hello Forum,

Agree with other posters I would have liked him to have shot when put through by Trezequet but he usually makes really good decisions in and around the box, so don’t blame him for that. I think it’s also harsh to blame him for their winner but for me he was culpable for their equaliser as he was just passive and allowed Mane all the time and space he wanted to cross to Robertson. Cup/squad player only for me.

[villalad21]

Where are we in the Luiz and Hourihane debate?

I'm currently in the Luiz camp

[Keyblade]

11 hours ago, CosmicVillan said:

Should have smashed it hard into the roof of the net with that left peg of his.

Exactly what I thought he was going to do.

[Killeen30]

12 hours ago, villalad21 said:

Where are we in the Luiz and Hourihane debate?

I'm currently in the Luiz camp

Hourihane for me.  Goal threat and assist record are too good to look past.

[KenjiOgiwara]

Think I'd play Luiz for his potential alone. Hourihane has an eye for goal and he will play plenty, but he won't improve much from here. Luiz might. 

[villalad21]

Just now, KenjiOgiwara said:

Think I'd play Luiz for his potential alone. Hourihane has an eye for goal and he will play plenty, but he won't improve much from here. Luiz might. 

Hourihane is perfect against teams like Wolves and Newcastle who will sit back and defend.

I don't see any problem with rotating them both in different games.

[KenjiOgiwara]

You can argue Luiz is better for those matches as we will have more possession. 

Ultimately I just think Luiz is a better footballer. And I've got nothing against Conor. 

Edited November 4, 2019 by KenjiOgiwara

[lexicon]

14 minutes ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

Think I'd play Luiz for his potential alone. Hourihane has an eye for goal and he will play plenty, but he won't improve much from here. Luiz might. 

I think Luiz is already a better player overall - he doesn't have the set pieces or attacking positioning of Conor - but he's better at just most other things. Also at 21, I think it's a lot more than a 'might' improve. 

[screwdriver]

I don't think Luiz has the same drive as Hourihane. looks like he's on easy street. maybe cos he's still young maybe he will find the fire in his belly....when he's playing for pep.

Hourihane should of put his foot through it on sat. it was too close range for the keeper to smother it so wesley could of tucked away the rebound.

[Dr_Pangloss]

I love the body language experts on this site.

[rodders0223]

It wasn't even the miss , it was just hit style of play.

I am not stupid, I know if you press Liverpool they will destroy you, but he didn't even try, didn't even get close to anyone. Was 'covering' Targett a few times and he just constantly let TAA come inside, was constantly standing 8 yards off him. You don't need to run out and sell yourself but just get **** close to him, engage him in the slightest.

He just annoys me, his idea of defending is just to get behind the ball, stand 8 yards off and hunch down. He is doing nothing, he is affecting nothing.

[TRO]

On 03/11/2019 at 02:29, pete101 said:

Pathetic trying to blame Conor for his cameo in last few mins. As much as I love Doug luiz, he was non existent at times but Conor is guy who is targeted on here , pure agenda , ya he should have took on the shot himself but the same guys on here crucifiying him for not would be on here saying he should have squared it if Allison had stopped it , only problem with Conor is his name is not exotic enough

You are right about Dougie.....having watched it back, he failed as the game went on to close down, he went in to drifting mode, marking fresh air, as did one or two others.

Conor is what he is....he is lightweight in the challenge....but you are right in your comments,in so much buggered if passes and buggered if he shoots.....the thing for me is....virgil reacted sharper than Wes, to the pass.

Edited November 5, 2019 by TRO

[TRO]

On 03/11/2019 at 03:00, Tomaszk said:

Nah, he put in a proper Hourihane of a performance there.

He could have shot or passed to Wes. Passing to the defender was a bad choice I think.

John McGinn isn't an exotic name, he's great.

He did pass for Wes......Virgil got there first.

[useless]

We've won six games in all competitions this season, Hourihane has started five of those games, and scored four goals.

[villabromsgrove]

Up for the Villa game today!

Hourihane demand essay:

I think something that will almost determine the result beforehand will be the lineup we go for. It’s no coincidence that we haven’t got a single point yet when we’ve gone with two defensive midfielders. Nakamba is there to break up play which he does effectively and Luiz describes his own game as sitting in front of the centre backs and moving the ball onto the midfield. If we had won against Liverpool that would have encouraged us to continue to play two DMs, which leaves the attack disconnected, Wesley isolated, cancels out flowing football, gives us hardly any possession, while we sit in a deep position, essentially allowing the opposition to come at us until they score, it relies on the entire defence having flawless games under constant pressure to keep a clean sheet and for attackers to get an occasional surprise goal out of the blue (e.g Trezeguet’s goal against Liverpool).

Look at the top teams in the league right now.. they all have at least 4 attacking midfielders start every game (which when you play 1 up front is the minimum amount to play on the front foot/ score goals/ win games).

*Liverpool:*
No defensive midfielders start- they have Fabinho and Kieta usually on the bench, this season they’ve most often played 4 attacking mids with Henderson as the most defensive mid (box to box).

*Man City:*
No defensive midfielders start- they have Fernandinho and Rodri but they’ve only been utilised as CBs this season and Gundogan has been their most defensive midfielder (box to box, playmaker) alongside 4 other attacking midfielders.

*Leicester:*
4 attacking midfielders and Ndidi (box to box but similar attributes to Nakamba, just plays a slightly further up). *We have the players to play exactly the same way Leicester do. Requires Hourihane.*

Think back to our play off final against Derby- we knew we’d most likely win that game the moment we saw that Derby had two DMs starting, whilst we had Hourihane in which meant we’d be the team taking the game to them until we out scored them.

If we had played Hourihane in place of Luiz in each game this season so far, we would be far higher up the table. We’ve only played good football with Hourihane on the pitch (the days after these games we’ve received huge media praise), and so far this is his record for the matches he’s started (if results were based on the time he’s been on the pitch only):

Vs. Spurs: 3 points
Vs. Burnley: 3 points
Vs. Norwich: 3 points
Vs. Brighton: 3 points

He’s not started any other game. How can we ignore the stats?
We’ve got 11 points the majority of those points have come from just the 4 games where Hourihane has started- the only loss was when he was taken off against Spurs for Luiz and we conceded 3 at the end of the game- and when he was taken off late against Burnley, they came back to draw. Which basically is a 100% win record when he’s started. Pretty much the same story last year. He shifts us up the pitch, he creates more key passes than any other player in the minutes he’s on. He can ball win (remember the first 20 minutes in the play off final). He scores and he assists (more than any other villa player per minute this season again). On top of this, Grealish has had his best games when Hourihane has started.

If we go with a midfield of;
Grealish (if fit), Hourihane, Nakamba, McGinn, El Ghazi or Trez then I think we’ll beat Wolves today and we’d be more to likely score multiple goals and come out with the most possession.
*We’ve played this lineup twice this year and have won both games.*
If we go for Luiz and Nakamba again today then we’ll end up with less possession, we’ll sit deeper, have a more isolated attack and will almost certainly have less than half the chances to score than Wolves do. Nothing against Luiz as he's a tidy player, but no team ever does well with two DMs and Nakamba is the more dynamic, ball-winning player who can also drive forward/ move play on fast, so he is more suited to the Premier League at the moment.

Dean Smith, please don’t respect Wolves too much. Play to win .... play Hourihane.

UP THE VILLA!

Ps: I've just seen the team selection for today .... Hourihane doesn't start.

 

 

Edited November 10, 2019 by villabromsgrove

[pete101]

Waiting for the Conor hater's to blame him today