Villa v Bournemouth Poll - Who in DM? | Vital Football

Villa v Bournemouth Poll - Who in DM?

Hourihane/Nakamba/Luiz?

  • Hourihane

  • Nakamba

  • Luiz

  • Tshibola ;-)

Results are only viewable after voting.
DeanoVilla

DeanoVilla

One Bloody Number
Bit of a debate going on in the match thread. Just wondered what the concenus was.

Personally... as we're at home I'd stick with Connor Pirlo. I think taking him out in favour of a proper defensive midfielder might send the wrong message in a game we need to try and be positive and on the front foot.

Also as we're at home, and assuming we are on the front foot we will hopefully win our fair share of corners and free kicks and whatever else Connor is he's certainly our dead ball specialist.

I think I'll be in the minority, but just wondered out of the 3 options who most would pick purely for Saturday's game.
 
I think Hourihane will start but I would prefer to see Douglas. We want someone who can pick a pass and make forward runs with the ball while also tracking back and dealing with Fraser. Hourihane is a very good championship player but I don't want to see him in the team all season.
 
Can’t really say until I’ve seen more of the new lads nakamba and Luiz. My personal preference is for a specialist player who will win the ball in midfield, which I assume would push Hourihane out. I don’t think we can go in with the mentality that because it’s a “lesser” team or at home that we don’t need to be tight defensively. Having a ball wining midfielder helps to win the midfield battle, and ultimately the team that controls the midfield is more likely to win the game.
 
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I think Hourihane will start. He had a good game against Spurs and dropping him for players who may or may not be any good would be madness.
 
I think Hourihane will start which I am amazed at. I how I am wrong. With all that money at our disposal his position was one of the first I would have strengthened. Ok so we have Marvellous and Douglas great. Well, if they’re good enough put them in. If they’re not better than Connor why did we buy them?
 
Most people calling for Luiz haven't seen him play, apart from the 10 minutes against Spuds in which he looked way off the pace to me. I'd guess he is still behind the rest of the group fitness wise. I've only seen clips of Marvelous on t'internet but he seems to be a far more energetic and speedier player
 
No point in dropping Hourihane until there's a reason to.

It's a position that could be rotated with all 3 depending on who we are playing. Bournemouth at home, then Hourihane. If it's not working at least there's options to change it.
 
We need to identify how and why our midfield were unable to keep the ball at all against Spurs and address it.

Jack dropping deeper and deeper is a problem. He's the one you expect to be able to hold onto it. McGinn likes to run with the ball and not necessarily move it on quickly, the Hurricane is the least comfortable of the three on the ball under pressure. Okay defensively v Spurs but offered little in terms of holding and moving the ball quickly. Spurs moved the ball quickly with full backs/wide players always in space and available.
 
northamptonvillan said:
We need to identify how and why our midfield were unable to keep the ball at all against Spurs and address it.

Jack dropping deeper and deeper is a problem. He's the one you expect to be able to hold onto it. McGinn likes to run with the ball and not necessarily move it on quickly, the Hurricane is the least comfortable of the three on the ball under pressure. Okay defensively v Spurs but offered little in terms of holding and moving the ball quickly. Spurs moved the ball quickly with full backs/wide players always in space and available.
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I think Wesley not being up to speed really hampered us. Not blaming Wes but if we had played El Ghazi up front on his own and told him to stay on the shoulder of the last man, we could have just punted it for the corner to buy ourselves some time.

It will take him a while to get used to English football but once he does, I think we'll see big things from Wes.
 
Early days for Wesley, he's young and inexperienced and I'm not going to write him off yet by any means. However, I have two major concerns based on the little I've seen. He's undoubtedly a big lad, but he was out muscled by both the Spurs and Leipzig defenders. That may have been because they were quicker to react and more used to playing at a higher tempo. The other worry I have is his temperament. He seems easily frustrated when things don't go his way and I hope this doesn't affect his confidence. That said, when he can hold it, he sees a pass well.

All will be revealed over the coming season.
 
Stephen Jay Hawkings said:
No point in dropping Hourihane until there's a reason to.

It's a position that could be rotated with all 3 depending on who we are playing. Bournemouth at home, then Hourihane. If it's not working at least there's options to change it.
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Contributing nothing against spurs is reason enough. Four competitive matches ago he was behind Glen Whelan in the pecking order, for all his dead ball skills he's not good enough for 90% of the game.
 
david-avfc said:
my personal preference is for a specialist player who will win the ball in midfield
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Me too (especially on Saturday's evidence) and on the tiny amount of evidence I have so far that player looks to be Nakamba who I've voted for - really looking forward to seeing him, hoping for a Gueye clone, and can imagine him and McGinn being a right mare for opposing CMs when they have the ball.
 
northamptonvillan said:
We need to identify how and why our midfield were unable to keep the ball at all against Spurs and address it.

Jack dropping deeper and deeper is a problem. He's the one you expect to be able to hold onto it. McGinn likes to run with the ball and not necessarily move it on quickly, the Hurricane is the least comfortable of the three on the ball under pressure. Okay defensively v Spurs but offered little in terms of holding and moving the ball quickly. Spurs moved the ball quickly with full backs/wide players always in space and available.
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Quite agree - Jack is one of our better players for holding onto the ball and he really should never be in our box, even if we're under siege as we were in the last half hour on Saturday.
 
Bonker said:
Me too (especially on Saturday's evidence) and on the tiny amount of evidence I have so far that player looks to be Nakamba who I've voted for - really looking forward to seeing him, hoping for a Gueye clone, and can imagine him and McGinn being a right mare for opposing CMs when they have the ball.
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His CL record with Bruge is very impressive, looking forward to seeing him too but Douglas was the most exciting signing of the summer for me. Never thought the Brazil U23 captain and probably the next Fernandinho would be signing for Villa this summer.
 
ldgavfc said:
Contributing nothing against spurs is reason enough. Four competitive matches ago he was behind Glen Whelan in the pecking order, for all his dead ball skills he's not good enough for 90% of the game.
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I thought he did alright. He contributed more than El Ghazi, should we drop him?

I don't think Luiz is match ready yet, I would go with Nakamba if not Hourihane.
 
I like Connor and don't think he's as bad as some on here but I don't expect to see him playing regularly this season. IMO, he doesn't have the speed, strength or all round game to be a dominant force in the Premier League. We've bought two central midfield players and he is the weakest link.

We have to find our strongest combination quickly therefore the newcomers need game time. Deano knows what Connor offers.
 
Douglas appears to be the mould of player that will address the balance of our midfield and i’d like him to start, but i’m not sure he’ll be ready yet. I expect it to be conor.

El Ghazi will likely start because he’s an effective outlet.
 
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