Match Thread: Aston Villa v Bournemouth, Sat 17th August, 3pm | Page 6 | Vital Football

Match Thread: Aston Villa v Bournemouth, Sat 17th August, 3pm

The point of the DM role is to make sure that SJM doesn’t have to do the work of two men and more importantly SJG never has to drop back into his own half. Conor hasn’t the legs, brawn or positional maturity to do that role, hopefully Luiz and Marvellous do.

Conor will be an off the bench impact player in Deanos system.
 
He did a great job for us in the championship and he's a great man for a free kick but he's not in the team to score goals in all fairness.

I'm very excited about Douglas, I think he is a real football fan's favourite, full of energy, skill, hunger, passion, perfectionist. Theres videos on youtuvbe 10, 15 minutes long which show his every involvement in games against Barcelona and Real Madrid and he does things in those games which Conor could only do with a PlayStation controller.

??? WTF. Of course he is there to chip in with goals, its one of his main strengths. We wouldnt be in the PL this season if he hadnt pinged one in against the Tesco bags. His passing is far better than some people give him credit for as well.
I hope Luiz is as good as you think his 10 minute video is. I'd personally rather wait until I've seen him play a couple of times to pin all my hopes on him
 
The point of the DM role is to make sure that SJM doesn’t have to do the work of two men and more importantly SJG never has to drop back into his own half. Conor hasn’t the legs, brawn or positional maturity to do that role, hopefully Luiz and Marvellous do.

Conor will be an off the bench impact player in Deanos system.
Exactly. We need a defensive midfielder who can actually defend so McGinn and Grealish can get forward.

Hourihane can come on when McGinn needs a rest. He should never be given the job of DM in my opinion.
 
??? WTF. Of course he is there to chip in with goals, its one of his main strengths. We wouldnt be in the PL this season if he hadnt pinged one in against the Tesco bags. His passing is far better than some people give him credit for as well.
I hope Luiz is as good as you think his 10 minute video is. I'd personally rather wait until I've seen him play a couple of times to pin all my hopes on him
Like I said he did brilliant for us in the championship, hes a great man for a free kick. Given time and space he can make a great pass or pop it into the back of the net but you don't get either of those things in the premier league. I like him in the squad, I think if McGinn or Grealish got injured he would be my first choice to step into that advanced or box to box role but he's not a DM, hence why we played Whelan and hence why we have signed two DMs.
 
I prefer him in a more advanced role myself, but I dont see us playing with a traditional DM every game. Against teams who are likely to dominate possession and territory, Marvelous or Luiz will probably start. If we are looking to play higher up the pitch and take the game to the opposition, I wouldnt be surprised to see Conor in the starting line up.
 
Hourihane played the quarter back role superbly in the play off final . He was doing well Saturday too. Hooking him was a mistake and we looked far worse once he went off
 
If Conor does get dropped for Luiz or Nakamba for this game, he seems like the type of lad that will work extra hard to get his place back (he came back stronger after he was a bit berated last season)

That can only improve him as a player. Having a squad of players like that would be brilliant. We need a competitive squad who are willing to be constantly improving unlike the couldn't-care-less lazy shites we've had over the last 5 or 6 years.
 
Bournemouth at home is a very different challenge to Spurs away . The team selection may reflect that.
Or we may be unchanged .
Hopefully that's useful insight, goodnight.
 
Bournemouth at home could be tricky. They don't have a great away record, but they have a style of sit back then hit you on the break which could be dangerous.

What will Dean do? My guess is he'll ignore the Bournemouth threat and go all out at them. We have pace on the wings. We should use it.

Who will he play as DM? My guess is depends entirely on what he sees in training. If Luiz looks the business he'll get it. Otherwise Connor.
 
Same line up, but if up to fitness etc would put Luiz in place of Hourihane.
Buying a player for that amount from Man city who have insisted on a buy back clause and getting player of the tournament in toulon suggests to me he must be pretty decent and therefore gets my vote ahead of Connor in that position.

El ghazi stays in . Just. Unless we can play Jota and Trez in the same team?
I think Trez and El Ghazi got the nod at Spurs because he was looking for pace and width on the counter-attack. I think Jota will play Saturday.... The good thing about all three of our "wingers" is that they can play on both sides I believe....
 
You must have missed the emergence of a small lad called Kante! Also, have you seen Fabinho and Fernandinho? Defensive midfield is an absolutely crucial spot in the modern game.

Douglas is a talented deep lying playmaker who brings the ball out from the back and can also put a shift in helping out the back four. I'm hoping with experience he can develop into a Fernandinho/Fabinho type player, but at the moment if he can run around, help the defence and pass the ball outside of dead ball situations, he deserves to start ahead of Conor dontknowhowtorun.

Don't get me wrong. I'd like to see Luiz or Nakamba come in eventually and be the long term answer if they prove to be good enough (we really don't know if they will be but we're all hopeful).

But for Saturday, I don't see why you'd drop Connor. He was no worse than anyone else last week, and like I say at home v Bournemouth where we'll be expected to be on the front foot I just think it's the perfect type of game for him.

I also, as someone said above, get sick of the constant jibes about Connor so do like to defend him a little.

He's arguably been our most productive player in the past 2 seasons in terms of goals and assists, and yet he's made a scapegoat by some because he doesn't wear an alice band and isn't particularly flash.

I think the level of stick he gets is VERY unfair.
 
I think he’s marmite because there’s two sides to Conor’s game - his dead ball goal/ assist threat on one hand; and then his lack of impact off the ball and in general play. You’ll judge him differently depending on which you choose to focus on.
 
To a point yes - clean sheets give you a better chance of winning when you do score.

When Conor doesn’t score he doesn’t offer anything else though to warrant his place.

Having a proper DM allows the supers to stay forward where they can create and score themselves, and those goals would also win games.
 
The physique of Connor doesn't bother me . I think he has actually added a bit of physicality in the last 6 months . Plenty of players out there are good without being 6ft 8 shithouses.

Cant argue with his assist and goal record.

The single most frustrating thing and it does my head in is his tendency to pass when he could progress the ball. Often sideways and backwards under no pressure when he could take the ball forward .
If I'm the only one seeing this I'm bewildered. Frustratingly he is capable of doing what I want to see him do

Add that to his game then it's a compelling case for him to be very much the man to hold that position.

Until he does start doing it, though I doubt he will now, I will question whether he should start if the new signings prove to be what we hope.
 
The single most frustrating thing and it does my head in is his tendency to pass when he could progress the ball. Often sideways and backwards under no pressure when he could take the ball forward .

Oh here we go. The old passing it backwards/sideways argument. You'll be calling him crab next.

Luckily managers seem to see what a lot of fans don't and that is that having a man who can keep possession by keeping it simple is worth its weight in gold.

Players like Barry, Petrov, Carrick, Parker, none of them were dynamic, none were massive tacklers, none drove forward with the ball... they just kept the midfield ticking over and their managers loved them for it.

The ironic thing is the same people who are moaning about players like Hourihane keeping it simple are probably the same people who think we need to start bossing possession stats more during games.
 
Oh here we go. The old passing it backwards/sideways argument. You'll be calling him crab next.

Luckily managers seem to see what a lot of fans don't and that is that having a man who can keep possession by keeping it simple is worth its weight in gold.

Players like Barry, Petrov, Carrick, Parker, none of them were dynamic, none were massive tacklers, none drove forward with the ball... they just kept the midfield ticking over and their managers loved them for it.

The ironic thing is the same people who are moaning about players like Hourihane keeping it simple are probably the same people who think we need to start bossing possession stats more during games.

You have missed Westwood off that list.