Conor Hourihane

[villalad21]

He is entering his 30's so prolly the right time to get rid of him. I don't really mind.

[nepal_villan]

Think Hourihane definitely could help us in certain matches, but then we would need to have a "horses for courses" mentality - which is not really Smith's style. Anyway good to see our loans doing well - will mean we get some value when they transfer out.

[sparrow1988]

7 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

You've got McGinn and Hourihane pinned at the same level?

It depends on what your criteria is. McGinn gives a much better all round effect on the team but Hourihane gives you more in terms of output and tangible effects - goals, assists etc.

Hourihane would be ideal for a team managed by Bruce, a team that doesn't want to sieze the initiative, contain the opposition, where the midfielders just fill space really and the defence deals with the balls in to box, while still offering that threat in terms of nicking a goal with a long range shot or providing an assist with a pinpoint delivery from a set piece.

McGinn on the other hand is better for playing all other styles. Better presser, better in duels, more mobile, better ball carrier and probably a better passer under pressure, all in all a better footballer. If it was a one on one style game that you play with your mate in you back garden McGinn would destroy Hourihane. Hourihane on the other hand would easily outdo McGinn in a dead-ball competition.

For Villa, there is no doubt that McGinn is the far superior choice with how we set up and want to play.

[OutByEaster?]

Another goal for him today - he's thriving at Swansea.

[jackbauer24]

I know he has MANY detractors on here but, having seen the last dozen matches, I really don't see how he wouldn't have been a good player to have available at the moment.

If nothing else, his ability from free kicks and corners would have at least made us a threat from those positions. We are comically bad without him at set pieces.

He might be a 7 in terms of ability but it's 7 every week. Barkley is probably capable of 10 but it's 10 one week and 2s and 3s for the other 14 games. Ramsey too young/lightweight, McGinn really struggling. Luiz could be used differently.

I think letting him go on loan was a mistake. Same with Guilbert who would have been an upgrade on Elmo.

[Tom13]

4 minutes ago, jackbauer24 said:

I know he has MANY detractors on here but, having seen the last dozen matches, I really don't see how he wouldn't have been a good player to have available at the moment.

If nothing else, his ability from free kicks and corners would have at least made us a threat from those positions. We are comically bad without him at set pieces.

He might be a 7 in terms of ability but it's 7 every week. Barkley is probably capable of 10 but it's 10 one week and 2s and 3s for the other 14 games. Ramsey too young/lightweight, McGinn really struggling. Luiz could be used differently.

I think letting him go on loan was a mistake. Same with Guilbert who would have been an upgrade on Elmo.

Hourihane was not a 7/10 every week for us.

[birdman]

2 hours ago, jackbauer24 said:

I know he has MANY detractors on here but, having seen the last dozen matches, I really don't see how he wouldn't have been a good player to have available at the moment.

If nothing else, his ability from free kicks and corners would have at least made us a threat from those positions. We are comically bad without him at set pieces.

He might be a 7 in terms of ability but it's 7 every week. Barkley is probably capable of 10 but it's 10 one week and 2s and 3s for the other 14 games. Ramsey too young/lightweight, McGinn really struggling. Luiz could be used differently.

I think letting him go on loan was a mistake. Same with Guilbert who would have been an upgrade on Elmo.

For reasons only known to Connor, the effort just wasn't there for us most of the time. He has ability of course but just didn't apply himself for us when the going was tough. Too often anonymous when given the chance, of which he had many. It's great he's doing well now but the reason he's doing it for them and not us is down to him.

[PaulC]

2 hours ago, jackbauer24 said:

I know he has MANY detractors on here but, having seen the last dozen matches, I really don't see how he wouldn't have been a good player to have available at the moment.

If nothing else, his ability from free kicks and corners would have at least made us a threat from those positions. We are comically bad without him at set pieces.

He might be a 7 in terms of ability but it's 7 every week. Barkley is probably capable of 10 but it's 10 one week and 2s and 3s for the other 14 games. Ramsey too young/lightweight, McGinn really struggling. Luiz could be used differently.

I think letting him go on loan was a mistake. Same with Guilbert who would have been an upgrade on Elmo.

I think he could have given the team something.  He showed that against Fulham. Set Pieces, the odd goal etc 

[useless]

For good or bad from what I can gather Hourihane is playing for Swansea exactly the same way that he played for us, that is his all round game is pretty average, but his goals and assist record is very good.

[mole86]

1 hour ago, birdman said:

For reasons only known to Connor, the effort just wasn't there for us most of the time. He has ability of course but just didn't apply himself for us when the going was tough. Too often anonymous when given the chance, of which he had many. It's great he's doing well now but the reason he's doing it for them and not us is down to him.

I don’t think lack of effort is ever something that he could be accused of. Lack of pace, strength or even ability at times would be fair but he always gave his all for us

[TRO]

4 hours ago, jackbauer24 said:

I know he has MANY detractors on here but, having seen the last dozen matches, I really don't see how he wouldn't have been a good player to have available at the moment.

If nothing else, his ability from free kicks and corners would have at least made us a threat from those positions. We are comically bad without him at set pieces.

He might be a 7 in terms of ability but it's 7 every week. Barkley is probably capable of 10 but it's 10 one week and 2s and 3s for the other 14 games. Ramsey too young/lightweight, McGinn really struggling. Luiz could be used differently.

I think letting him go on loan was a mistake. Same with Guilbert who would have been an upgrade on Elmo.

So are you saying that amongst 25 professional players on the books, many Internationals.....We can't cross a ball with any effect, without Conor?

what an indictment on the team.

I always thought, it was one of the easier things to do as a Pro footballer?

[Mjvilla]

5 minutes ago, TRO said:

So are you saying that amongst 25 professional players on the books, many Internationals.....We can't cross a ball with any effect, without Conor?

what an indictment on the team.

I always thought, it was one of the easier things to do as a Pro footballer?

This is one of my pet hates watching professional football. Not just villa, but all sides. How many times do we see a corner hit the first man? Extremely frustrating to watch.

[TRO]

4 minutes ago, Mjvilla said:

This is one of my pet hates watching professional football. Not just villa, but all sides. How many times do we see a corner hit the first man? Extremely frustrating to watch.

I agree.

taking a corner, should be a fairly easy thing to do, for a Pro.

unfortunately for us...Jacob Murphy takes a mean dead ball, like Conor Hourihane.....but in a 25 man squad are we saying we don't have one decent one.....Targett seems the best to me, he should take the role, vacated by Conor.

[birdman]

15 hours ago, mole86 said:

I don’t think lack of effort is ever something that he could be accused of. Lack of pace, strength or even ability at times would be fair but he always gave his all for us

I didn't see it like that... on occasion perhaps. 

[Davkaus]

With conversations like this, people just don't seem to realise how different the game is at a professional level. Getting a corner in to the box is so piss easy, any tubby **** who plays in a pub league can do it.

Taking a corner with power and precision that isn't a simple claim for the keeper is a much more difficult skill, and trying to hit one like that has a higher margin of error that means, yeah, sometimes they **** up and don't beat the first man.

It's the same with free kicks. I'm shit, but I could hit the target from a 25 yard free kick 95 times out of a hundred. And at an amateur level, some of them might even go in, but against even a League 1 or League 2 keeper, they're getting saved every time because I'm just aiming to hit the target. Placing a powerful free kick in to the corner is a completely different task and it means that a Premier League player might put it over more than I would just aiming to get it on target. They'd score a load more goals though.

Edited March 14, 2021 by Davkaus

[TRO]

I am not jumping on the bandwagon, because he has scored a few goals in the lower league, but i think he was played too deep for us.He is not a combative midfielder and i think some folk appraised him as one.

[Tomaszk]

4 hours ago, TRO said:

I am not jumping on the bandwagon, because he has scored a few goals in the lower league, but i think he was played too deep for us.He is not a combative midfielder and i think some folk appraised him as one.

He was given plenty of chances in plenty of positions/roles.

In games against poor sides he did a job, sometimes. Against anyone decent, he failed over and over and over again. Any sort of tough opposition and Hourihane shat it.

We rightly never switched formation to accommodate or build around him, he simply wasn't worth it. I do however think he'd have struggled to be quite as bad as Barkley in his last few.

Glad he's scoring in the Championship, might mean we get more money for him when he moves on.

[Tom13]

He was neat and tidy, excellent finisher, but he struggled way too often for us. He is limited by his lack of mobility/strength, and inability to run with the ball.

[MotoMkali]

On 13/03/2021 at 23:56, Mjvilla said:

This is one of my pet hates watching professional football. Not just villa, but all sides. How many times do we see a corner hit the first man? Extremely frustrating to watch.

Because if you loop it, it is incredibly easy to defend. You need to hit it low, hard and with pace. That means sometimes it hits the first man but if it beats the first man you are more likely to score. How many times should konsa have scored from ste pieces in the last 5 games? 4? 

[Mjvilla]

2 hours ago, MotoMkali said:

Because if you loop it, it is incredibly easy to defend. You need to hit it low, hard and with pace. That means sometimes it hits the first man but if it beats the first man you are more likely to score. How many times should konsa have scored from ste pieces in the last 5 games? 4? 

I understand that it is more likely to hit the first man for those reasons. But the regularity with which it happens, across premier league football is higher than should be for elite footballers, in my opinion.