Keener window-cleaner Posted July 13, 2020 Share Posted July 13, 2020 I think the curious case of Conor Hourihane is simply that he is on the level that he can perform against lower table PL teams, but not against the better teams. Everton and Arsenal are good chances for him to prove us wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vancvillan Posted July 13, 2020 Share Posted July 13, 2020 2 hours ago, PaddytheVillan said: I think this is unfair. He's our second top scorer He does know how to bang them in vs Crewe Alexandra and Liverpool U17s... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobbit Feet Posted July 13, 2020 Share Posted July 13, 2020 55 minutes ago, Keener window-cleaner said: I think the curious case of Conor Hourihane is simply that he is on the level that he can perform against lower table PL teams, but not against the better teams. Everton and Arsenal are good chances for him to prove us wrong. Probably a fair assessment. I’ve always said on here he’s good against certain teams the lower level or non physical teams but Smith always starts him in the wrong kind of games. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomaszk Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 I'd start him on the bench against Arsenal definitely. Bring him on later on to see if we can score late on, hopefully we're still in it. We've seen every single time there's any sort of resistance at all, Hourihane will disappear. I can't think of a more fair weather player I've seen at Villa. I'd be tempted to use him from the bench at Everton as well to be honest. Not sure. They were terrible v Wolves and could come flying out the blocks. Equally, they could have given up the season, but they came alive earlier in the season when big Dunc had five games with them, don't want to be on the end of one of those performances. We need Hourihane to stay up, but we need to use him in the right way. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enda Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 2 hours ago, Tomaszk said: I'd be tempted to use him from the bench at Everton as well to be honest. You may be right, but I can’t see Smith changing the starting eleven. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laughable Chimp Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 (edited) 6 hours ago, Tomaszk said: I'd start him on the bench against Arsenal definitely. Bring him on later on to see if we can score late on, hopefully we're still in it. We've seen every single time there's any sort of resistance at all, Hourihane will disappear. I can't think of a more fair weather player I've seen at Villa. I'd be tempted to use him from the bench at Everton as well to be honest. Not sure. They were terrible v Wolves and could come flying out the blocks. Equally, they could have given up the season, but they came alive earlier in the season when big Dunc had five games with them, don't want to be on the end of one of those performances. We need Hourihane to stay up, but we need to use him in the right way. Who would you have in starting lineup other than Conor? Our other midfield options are Nakamba, Lansbury and Drinkwater. Technically, we could move Grealish into CM but I'd rather keep him on the wing and that forces us to play El Ghazi. Perhaps play Elmo on the wing and move Grealish to CM? Edited July 14, 2020 by Laughable Chimp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 6 hours ago, Tomaszk said: I'd start him on the bench against Arsenal definitely. Bring him on later on to see if we can score late on, hopefully we're still in it. We've seen every single time there's any sort of resistance at all, Hourihane will disappear. I can't think of a more fair weather player I've seen at Villa. I'd be tempted to use him from the bench at Everton as well to be honest. Not sure. They were terrible v Wolves and could come flying out the blocks. Equally, they could have given up the season, but they came alive earlier in the season when big Dunc had five games with them, don't want to be on the end of one of those performances. We need Hourihane to stay up, but we need to use him in the right way. Hourihane vs Sigurdsson could be a modern day Keane/Vieira heavyweight midfield battle 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinker Posted July 14, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted July 14, 2020 Entering the last year of his contract . I can't believe we are letting this happen again with one of our players. He's definitely worth £10m + and even if he's not part of our plans he should be considered an asset financially. Incompetence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WooJung Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 10 hours ago, Keener window-cleaner said: I think the curious case of Conor Hourihane is simply that he is on the level that he can perform against lower table PL teams, but not against the better teams. Everton and Arsenal are good chances for him to prove us wrong. I agree, yet Deano starts him against Chelsea and benches him against Newcastle I like Conor, he is inconsistent and can go missing, especially against teams who have a lot of possession, but looking at league stats alone, only Grealish and Ghazi have contributed to more goals+assists, and both have played many more minutes than Conor. I understand that football cannot be reduced to stats, but considering how toothless we are up front I'd play him every game until the end of the season. Draws are no longer good enough we need to win, and to do that we need to score. We have to go all in, basically. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 47 minutes ago, tinker said: Entering the last year of his contract . I can't believe we are letting this happen again with one of our players. He's definitely worth £10m + and even if he's not part of our plans he should be considered an asset financially. Incompetence He signed a new contract last summer 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaVilla Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 (edited) 55 minutes ago, tinker said: Entering the last year of his contract . I can't believe we are letting this happen again with one of our players. He's definitely worth £10m + and even if he's not part of our plans he should be considered an asset financially. Incompetence Hr signed a new 4? Year contract in the summer. We love giving nice long contracts to our championship level players. Edited July 14, 2020 by MaVilla Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterw Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 I'd start him at Everton but not with much expectation. He produces one in a while decent performances and doesn't have the consistency to cut it at the top level. I don't think he goes missing in games, just that the top flight is a league too high for him. his set-pieces are still good quality though, so start him and hopefully we/he can use that to the best of his ability to try and get Everton chasing. They aren't as tall a side as palace so i'd start with the 11 that started against Palace. You can't drop too many players from a team that won the first game for so long. Ultimately he's a Championship player and I think he is one of the players Smith thought would step-up more than he has done. I'd keep him if we go down as his quality is there for all to see in the Championship. Stay up and I think e needs to be replaced. Either way, next season is his last at best. He knows what's on line at Everton. It may the last time he starts a game in the Prem, or even plays. That should be all the motivation he needs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 Like 90% of our team , he's way too slow for modern football , always looks like he's running in treacle .. during that brief spell on Sunday where Palace remembered they were in a football match , they had a break away and by the time Hourihane got back from their half , the game had ended and the Palace team were on the bus back to London To his credit he tries hard and has never let us down but he'd be better suited to American football and a special teams role where you can bring him on as required . 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 10 hours ago, Tomaszk said: I'd start him on the bench against Arsenal definitely. Bring him on later on to see if we can score late on, hopefully we're still in it. We've seen every single time there's any sort of resistance at all, Hourihane will disappear. I can't think of a more fair weather player I've seen at Villa. I'd be tempted to use him from the bench at Everton as well to be honest. Not sure. They were terrible v Wolves and could come flying out the blocks. Equally, they could have given up the season, but they came alive earlier in the season when big Dunc had five games with them, don't want to be on the end of one of those performances. We need Hourihane to stay up, but we need to use him in the right way. The thing from his point of view is......he gets judged/ criticised on the things he can't do. but the other players, don't get judged /criticised on what conor can do and they can't. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 (edited) 3 hours ago, Laughable Chimp said: Who would you have in starting lineup other than Conor? Our other midfield options are Nakamba, Lansbury and Drinkwater. Technically, we could move Grealish into CM but I'd rather keep him on the wing and that forces us to play El Ghazi. Perhaps play Elmo on the wing and move Grealish to CM? Its true, we have no standout midfielders to stick to......Jack and John have lost form for various reasons......it has been a tough old time balancing that. Edited July 14, 2020 by TRO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Follyfoot Posted July 14, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted July 14, 2020 1 hour ago, MaVilla said: Hr signed a new 4? Year contract in the summer. We love giving nice long contracts to our championship level players. On big money Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinker Posted July 14, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted July 14, 2020 5 hours ago, Zatman said: He signed a new contract last summer Whoops, what leadership we have Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keener window-cleaner Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 13 hours ago, Laughable Chimp said: Who would you have in starting lineup other than Conor? Our other midfield options are Nakamba, Lansbury and Drinkwater. Technically, we could move Grealish into CM but I'd rather keep him on the wing and that forces us to play El Ghazi. Perhaps play Elmo on the wing and move Grealish to CM? I'd probably play him against Everton, he, Targett and Grealish have at times combined quite well on the left flank and gives us one of our best attacking options (the others being Elmos crosses and McGinn/Trez rushing in on a 50/50-ball) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WooJung Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 (edited) 15 minutes ago, Keener window-cleaner said: I'd probably play him against Everton, he, Targett and Grealish have at times combined quite well on the left flank and gives us one of our best attacking options Very much this, there seems to be an understanding between the thee of them, they occupy the space on that left side well and move the ball around quickly and efficiently (by villa standards that is) and it feels like our best chances to create goal scoring opportunities could come from that side, either directly from a cross, or from a set piece won by Jack in an advanced position, which I would argue we are more likely to get though their combined play Edited July 14, 2020 by WooJung 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omariqy Posted July 15, 2020 Share Posted July 15, 2020 If we are going to go attacking then I would just play him every game. We need to go for it in every game now and whilst he will probably be a passenger in the Arsenal game, he should do ok against Everton and WHU. Plus Grealish is more effective when he plays as they combine well on the left. I don't want to see Jack playing CM and playing as deep lying playmaker again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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