Middlesbrough v Aston Villa, Sat 1st Dec @ 5.30pm | Page 11 | Vital Football

Middlesbrough v Aston Villa, Sat 1st Dec @ 5.30pm

Great first start by El Ghazi, top player by the looks of it, and he lasted the match well. And the clean sheet will have done the defence the power of good.

But reckon MOTM was rightly Hourihane, best game I've seen him play. Kept a tight grip on the midfield throughout. We're getting better all round and I think there's more to come.

A lot of us have been scratching our heads over the last 2 years, thinking we've got good players, but then we hardly ever had good performances. Now we know; we have indeed got good players. So far our dreaded run into Christmas is turning into a triumphant march. Thank you Dean.
 
sirdennis said:
If we had deano last season we would be in the premiership by now as well. The bloke can manage FACT
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Everything happens for a reason, we would’ve had a dinosaur in charge and we’d be bottom of the prem right now. Smith would’ve come in and been a failure through no fault of his own.

In this league he’s experimenting and building something special. He’ll have us back automatic this season. There will be some blips on the way but we’ll learn.
 
Hourihane moves the ball ten times better than Whelan, and like I said pre game plays 5 yards further up the field which is much better for Jack and allows us to press high. Whelan takes two touches to get it out of his feet. Hourihane isn’t always great and sometimes goes missing but when he recycles the ball early he’s a better player.

I don’t understand why people would want Whelan in our midfield when we’re now one of the top 2 footballing teams in the league.
 
We used to say that we were the man united of the championship but we’ve turned into the Barcelona of the league.
 
Impressive given he has only had what 6 weeks with them. Might be half decent with a couple of January signings. There is a keeper inside Nyland its just a bit soon for him at this uncompromising level.
 
danvilla2 said:
Hourihane moves the ball ten times better than Whelan, and like I said pre game plays 5 yards further up the field which is much better for Jack and allows us to press high. Whelan takes two touches to get it out of his feet. Hourihane isn’t always great and sometimes goes missing but when he recycles the ball early he’s a better player.

I don’t understand why people would want Whelan in our midfield when we’re now one of the top 2 footballing teams in the league.
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Let's be honest, Hourihane probably won't make it in the Prem, but he is currently what we have got and is doing a reasonable job. Same for Taylor, Barney, Whelan etc they are all doing a job and will improve. Can't wait for the kids to be good enough to play a part.
 
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