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Author Topic: Conor Hourihane - thanks and farewell  (Read 299952 times)

Offline BC Villain

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Re: Conor Hourihane - SIGNED
« Reply #915 on: February 17, 2018, 07:08:37 PM »
Too many occasions where games pass him by - lots of games where you don't even realise he's on the field.

Offline Matt Collins

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Re: Conor Hourihane - SIGNED
« Reply #916 on: February 17, 2018, 09:02:54 PM »
Agreed

I thought Onomah looked a lot more lively


Offline SoccerHQ

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  • GM : 19.06.2021
Re: Conor Hourihane - SIGNED
« Reply #917 on: February 17, 2018, 11:14:27 PM »
He's scored 3 since August, same as Onomah.

Edit: It's 4, I missed his Forest goal.

Hat-trick v Norwich wasn't it?

He's still a Villa central midfielder on course for double figures in the league. Dinosaurs were just retiring when we last had a midfield player capable of that it seems.

Offline PeterWithesShin

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Re: Conor Hourihane - SIGNED
« Reply #918 on: February 17, 2018, 11:27:28 PM »
Yep which is why I said since August  :P

I just think we should be expecting/hoping for more than 4 in nearly 6 months since then in division 2. AS BCV said it seems a lot of games just pass him by and he should be better than that imo.

Offline SoccerHQ

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Re: Conor Hourihane - SIGNED
« Reply #919 on: February 17, 2018, 11:29:37 PM »
He dosen't really have the same role here as Barnsley. There he was the box-to-box player and real heartbeat of their rise. At least we've stopped playing him on the left of midfield and he's been unleashed a bit more in our good run.

I still think he's a good cog in our recent good run. There are bigger issues than him anyway to solve.

Offline eamonn

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  • GM : 26.07.2020
Re: Conor Hourihane - SIGNED
« Reply #920 on: February 18, 2018, 12:53:16 AM »
He came with a reputation of being the driving force in Barnsley's midfield. I don't know if that just meant he was one of their best players as I only saw him play for them once (in his last game before he joined us when he was man of the match against Leeds).

Based on the above I expected him to be a player who takes games by the scruff of the neck but from what we've seen, he's a neat and tidy player, who goes long periods without having much impact on games but does have a knack for getting into goalscoring positions and also has a great shot on him. A cross between Sidwell and Hitz maybe, with a bit less hammer?

Offline Matt Collins

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Re: Conor Hourihane - SIGNED
« Reply #921 on: February 18, 2018, 06:36:43 AM »
Spot on

He’s been carried a bit by grealish Snodgrass and Adomah. We need him to step up now

Offline passitsideways

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  • Location: Sydney
Re: Conor Hourihane - SIGNED
« Reply #922 on: February 18, 2018, 07:10:00 AM »
Shrug, at no point in his time with us has the team been set up with him being given the licence to roam around and do whatever the fuck he wants, so I don't know why people are criticising for not abandoning his post to try and do some more of the Roy of the Rovers stuff.

Offline Matt Collins

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Re: Conor Hourihane - SIGNED
« Reply #923 on: February 18, 2018, 11:42:03 AM »
Shrug, at no point in his time with us has the team been set up with him being given the licence to roam around and do whatever the fuck he wants, so I don't know why people are criticising for not abandoning his post to try and do some more of the Roy of the Rovers stuff.

I completely disagree with this

First, because why should he have that role? He wasn’t that sort of player at Barnsley he played centre mid in a 442

Second, because in the current formation he and grealish do have an awful lot of licence and grealish has shown that he’s several levels above him in terms of exploiting that role

There’s a complete myth that if only Bruce would let him off the leash he’d become some sort of magic number 10. I just don’t see how people see that in him. He’s a good player at this level I’m not disagreeing with that, but he’s quite one paced, very one footed and can’t beat a man. I just don’t see what others seem to see at all.

Offline passitsideways

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  • Location: Sydney
Re: Conor Hourihane - SIGNED
« Reply #924 on: February 18, 2018, 12:05:33 PM »
Shrug, at no point in his time with us has the team been set up with him being given the licence to roam around and do whatever the fuck he wants, so I don't know why people are criticising for not abandoning his post to try and do some more of the Roy of the Rovers stuff.

I completely disagree with this

First, because why should he have that role? He wasn’t that sort of player at Barnsley he played centre mid in a 442

Second, because in the current formation he and grealish do have an awful lot of licence and grealish has shown that he’s several levels above him in terms of exploiting that role

There’s a complete myth that if only Bruce would let him off the leash he’d become some sort of magic number 10. I just don’t see how people see that in him. He’s a good player at this level I’m not disagreeing with that, but he’s quite one paced, very one footed and can’t beat a man. I just don’t see what others seem to see at all.

First of all, I never said that he should have been, or should be getting that sort of role - I'm simply saying that I don't think he's ever had.

I mean, I don't agree that he's been given much of a licence at all, even in this recent run, at least from what I've seen (saw a fair bit of it on AVFC, otherwise just the YT extended highlights). My perception is that it's just been Jack who's been given a free role, while Hourihane is still largely sitting back in midfield.

Which goes to my point - it's unfair to accuse him of "not stepping up" (which I'm presuming means making more game-changing contributions) when he's never been put in the position to do so.

Offline eamonn

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  • Location: Down to Worthing...and work there
  • GM : 26.07.2020
Re: Conor Hourihane - SIGNED
« Reply #925 on: February 18, 2018, 04:56:43 PM »
But he doesn't have the ability of Jack to be given a free role.

Offline passitsideways

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  • Location: Sydney
Re: Conor Hourihane - SIGNED
« Reply #926 on: February 18, 2018, 11:09:59 PM »
I think that goes without saying.

The way I see it is that Bruce sets those two up in the middle to keep it steady and sensible. It was somewhat problematic when we didn't have Jack and Hogan/Snodgrass weren't firing, since it left the team heavily dependent on Adomah, but since Jack came back, it's been fine and I'd rather not see any disruption by having Hourihane or whoever else going all cowboy on us.

Offline tomd2103

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  • Posts: 14179
Re: Conor Hourihane - SIGNED
« Reply #927 on: February 18, 2018, 11:38:47 PM »
Shrug, at no point in his time with us has the team been set up with him being given the licence to roam around and do whatever the fuck he wants, so I don't know why people are criticising for not abandoning his post to try and do some more of the Roy of the Rovers stuff.

I completely disagree with this

First, because why should he have that role? He wasn’t that sort of player at Barnsley he played centre mid in a 442

Second, because in the current formation he and grealish do have an awful lot of licence and grealish has shown that he’s several levels above him in terms of exploiting that role

There’s a complete myth that if only Bruce would let him off the leash he’d become some sort of magic number 10. I just don’t see how people see that in him. He’s a good player at this level I’m not disagreeing with that, but he’s quite one paced, very one footed and can’t beat a man. I just don’t see what others seem to see at all.

I'd have to agree with that Matt. 

Offline ChicagoLion

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  • Location: Chicago
  • Literally
Re: Conor Hourihane - SIGNED
« Reply #928 on: February 18, 2018, 11:39:05 PM »
Based on the players that Bruce selects he would appear the most able to provide a creative presence in centre midfield if Jack is not playing.
Whereas Barney is a limited footballer mare akin to running, closing and making a nuisance of himself.

Offline AsTallAsLions

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  • Posts: 8521
  • Location: Everywhere
Re: Conor Hourihane - SIGNED
« Reply #929 on: February 19, 2018, 02:23:00 PM »
Shrug, at no point in his time with us has the team been set up with him being given the licence to roam around and do whatever the fuck he wants, so I don't know why people are criticising for not abandoning his post to try and do some more of the Roy of the Rovers stuff.

I completely disagree with this

First, because why should he have that role? He wasn’t that sort of player at Barnsley he played centre mid in a 442

Second, because in the current formation he and grealish do have an awful lot of licence and grealish has shown that he’s several levels above him in terms of exploiting that role

There’s a complete myth that if only Bruce would let him off the leash he’d become some sort of magic number 10. I just don’t see how people see that in him. He’s a good player at this level I’m not disagreeing with that, but he’s quite one paced, very one footed and can’t beat a man. I just don’t see what others seem to see at all.

You are correct about his pace and he is one footed, however he also has a mean shot on him and isn't a bad passer of the ball either. Those are decent qualities for a midfielder. It's not all or nothing. He gives us something we didn't always have in midfield and that's why we bought him. He'll have ups and downs.

 


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