Dean Smith - Confirmed

[XXVilla]

Boozy's post is very good, but what is it with the current trend of calling everyone cowards? 

Hourihane may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I really don't see how limitations as a footballer makes him a coward.

I thought the same. He's gotten a lot of abuse on here but that's a proper insult.

Well jumping out of challenges as often as he  has recently allways has the potential to attract that type of comment.

chrisw1, you were a.staunch defender of Westwood,if I remember correctly. And now Hourihane? Bizarre.

Coward or no coward, Hourihane is dreadful. We are in the position we are now because we've accepted inept players.

Westwood, Hourihane..not good enough. Add Whelan to that list. He'll be picked today. He'll be shit. We'll lose. We'll moan. And rightly so.

They need hounding out. All of them.

Westwood just finished on the winning side against spuds, in the premier league

can't see Hourihane ever doing that

I couldn’t see Westwood doing that either

[mr underhill]

well, the summer's going to be interesting

[SoccerHQ]

Boozy's post is very good, but what is it with the current trend of calling everyone cowards? 

Hourihane may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I really don't see how limitations as a footballer makes him a coward.

I thought the same. He's gotten a lot of abuse on here but that's a proper insult.

Well jumping out of challenges as often as he  has recently allways has the potential to attract that type of comment.

chrisw1, you were a.staunch defender of Westwood,if I remember correctly. And now Hourihane? Bizarre.

Coward or no coward, Hourihane is dreadful. We are in the position we are now because we've accepted inept players.

Westwood, Hourihane..not good enough. Add Whelan to that list. He'll be picked today. He'll be shit. We'll lose. We'll moan. And rightly so.

They need hounding out. All of them.

Westwood just finished on the winning side against spuds, in the premier league

can't see Hourihane ever doing that

I couldn’t see Westwood doing that either

Didn't Westwood play at our win at WHL in 2015? Bacuna is also playing in Cardiff winning games, plenty of poor premier league players play in winning teams.

[XXVilla]

Boozy's post is very good, but what is it with the current trend of calling everyone cowards? 

Hourihane may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I really don't see how limitations as a footballer makes him a coward.

I thought the same. He's gotten a lot of abuse on here but that's a proper insult.

Well jumping out of challenges as often as he  has recently allways has the potential to attract that type of comment.

chrisw1, you were a.staunch defender of Westwood,if I remember correctly. And now Hourihane? Bizarre.

Coward or no coward, Hourihane is dreadful. We are in the position we are now because we've accepted inept players.

Westwood, Hourihane..not good enough. Add Whelan to that list. He'll be picked today. He'll be shit. We'll lose. We'll moan. And rightly so.

They need hounding out. All of them.

Westwood just finished on the winning side against spuds, in the premier league

can't see Hourihane ever doing that

I couldn’t see Westwood doing that either

Didn't Westwood play at our win at WHL in 2015? Bacuna is also playing in Cardiff winning games, plenty of poor premier league players play in winning teams.

That’s exactly my point. Hourihane could quite possibly end up in a PL team.

[chrisw1]

Boozy's post is very good, but what is it with the current trend of calling everyone cowards? 

Hourihane may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I really don't see how limitations as a footballer makes him a coward.

I thought the same. He's gotten a lot of abuse on here but that's a proper insult.

Well jumping out of challenges as often as he  has recently allways has the potential to attract that type of comment.

chrisw1, you were a.staunch defender of Westwood,if I remember correctly. And now Hourihane? Bizarre.

Coward or no coward, Hourihane is dreadful. We are in the position we are now because we've accepted inept players.

Westwood, Hourihane..not good enough. Add Whelan to that list. He'll be picked today. He'll be shit. We'll lose. We'll moan. And rightly so.

They need hounding out. All of them.

I can't recall being a staunch defender of Westwood, but I doubt I thought he was as bad as others did that's for sure.  You can make you own mind up but personally I'll take Sean Dyche's opinions over those of a few blokes on the internet as final Arbiter on that one.

As for Hourihane, a lot of people have made up their minds about him and that is fine.  I don't think he is a great player, but in the right system he can be very effective,  And whether you like stats or not, his still stand up extremely well.  Ultimately I simply just don't agree that he is as bad as others do, but I do agree he is not impacting on games anywhere near enough at the moment.

But the point I was making was referencing the word 'coward'  It is a pretty nasty term that is getting very over used and I do not accept that a player or managers limited ability, lack of confidence or poor run of form makes them a coward. 

[Ads]

Westwood was the poster boy for our decline. Absolutely ineffectual, in every sense.

[curiousorange]

I think people point to the fact that Westwood is still a Premier League player as proof that it was us who didn't use him properly as opposed to he who was ineffectual. But a lot of players who were absolutely forgettable have played in the Premier League. I wasn't sad we sold him and I'm less than bothered what league he's playing in.

[paul_e]

Hutton is the poster boy for our decline, rightly in the bomb squad to twitter bullshit about retiring his number, nothing about his game has changed but the expectations from the fans have gone from wanting good players to just being happy to see someone look like he gives a shit.

[robleflaneur]

Hourihane is a pretty similar player to Westwood.Hourihane the better deadball specialist and finisher,Westwood is a better passer and offers better movement.Both of them can't tackle.
Westwood is in a hardworking ,competitive team and offers that bit of guile in the midfield. For me,Bardsley is the surprise inclusion in the Burnley side.I have a lot of respect for Dean Smith but I think that he erred by not playing Hourihane in an advanced role in Grealish's absence.

[paul_e]

Hourihane is a pretty similar player to Westwood.Hourihane the better deadball specialist and finisher,Westwood is a better passer and offers better movement.Both of them can't tackle.
Westwood is in a hardworking ,competitive team and offers that bit of guile in the midfield. For me,Bardsley is the surprise inclusion in the Burnley side.I have a lot of respect for Dean Smith but I think that he erred by not playing Hourihane in an advanced role in Grealish's absence.

The problem with Hourihane further up field is that his movement is awful so he's easy to mark, playing deeper in a team that's going forward and pressing high he can come from deep and pick things up around the edge of the box but you could only get away with him doing that if you had another deep midfielder who was doing all the defensive work and playing the quarterback role, you'd also end up with Hourihane and McGinn being in each others way. At the start of the season I wanted to see them given some time together (I hoped McGinn could do the deeper ball winner role but he doesn't have the discipline for it and is reat at pressing higher up the pitch), having seen how that works out I think it's one or other with a creative player in front and a ball winner/water carrier behind/alongside.

[SoccerHQ]

Boozy's post is very good, but what is it with the current trend of calling everyone cowards? 

Hourihane may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I really don't see how limitations as a footballer makes him a coward.

I thought the same. He's gotten a lot of abuse on here but that's a proper insult.

Well jumping out of challenges as often as he  has recently allways has the potential to attract that type of comment.

chrisw1, you were a.staunch defender of Westwood,if I remember correctly. And now Hourihane? Bizarre.

Coward or no coward, Hourihane is dreadful. We are in the position we are now because we've accepted inept players.

Westwood, Hourihane..not good enough. Add Whelan to that list. He'll be picked today. He'll be shit. We'll lose. We'll moan. And rightly so.

They need hounding out. All of them.

Westwood just finished on the winning side against spuds, in the premier league

can't see Hourihane ever doing that

I couldn’t see Westwood doing that either

Didn't Westwood play at our win at WHL in 2015? Bacuna is also playing in Cardiff winning games, plenty of poor premier league players play in winning teams.

That’s exactly my point. Hourihane could quite possibly end up in a PL team.

Nah, mid table championship is his level.

He's my barometer for how good our summer transfer window is. If he's still a week in week out starter for us next season then clearly not.

[Three Spires Villa]

Hutton is the poster boy for our decline, rightly in the bomb squad to twitter bullshit about retiring his number, nothing about his game has changed but the expectations from the fans have gone from wanting good players to just being happy to see someone look like he gives a shit.

At the moment, and the last few years, someone who “gives a shit” is a blessing. Ok, at times, & more than a few he had bad games, but he tried. Personally I remember him at Everton 4-0 kicking, the year we went down, the only player who came over to the fans. Does that make him a legend, or a great player, no, did I appreciate it, yes I did. So thanks Alan.

[john e]

XXVilla

you are quite right you can’t rule anything out in football
although I still can’t see it happening but you never know

I actually think that Hourihane is the biggest disappointment of all our recent signings over the last 2/3 seasons
not because of the money we payed because he didn’t cost much
and not because he’s been by any means the worst performer there’s been far worse

But I thought he was going to be a star of our midfield, bossing it leading it, controlling it
I had massive hopes for him when he came more than any of the others

I just feel he’s come up short so far

[Steve67]

If we go mad a completely break up the current side, ready for this young and energetic style that Dean Smith is talking about, I do not see Hourihane within that.  He lacks fight, guile, bravery.  He's not fast, a good tackler, good in the air.  In fact, I appreciate that he's scored a few goals, but if he didn't take all of our set pieces, what exactly has he got?   He gets the assists because he takes everything bar the goal kicks. 

That said, I also see him as a barometer for my disappointment.  My disappointment in Aston Villa is absolutely mirrored in my disappointment of Conor Hourihane.  It's all so, meh!

[Ad@m]

If we go mad a completely break up the current side, ready for this young and energetic style that Dean Smith is talking about, I do not see Hourihane within that.  He lacks fight, guile, bravery.  He's not fast, a good tackler, good in the air.  In fact, I appreciate that he's scored a few goals, but if he didn't take all of our set pieces, what exactly has he got?   He gets the assists because he takes everything bar the goal kicks. 

That said, I also see him as a barometer for my disappointment.  My disappointment in Aston Villa is absolutely mirrored in my disappointment of Conor Hourihane.  It's all so, meh!

As has already been mentioned on this thread, a third of his goals and assists this year have come from open play so he's not a set piece one trick pony.

There's no way he's worse than Westwood and Westwood is an established Premier League player with 176 top flight appearances and counting.  Hourihane's current issues are the result of being asked to do a role he's not suited to.