Conor Hourihane done deal

[Cooperman]

Oh for a day out at the footy.

Oh yesh coops, incidentally it's almost 11 months since our last away days at blackburn and fulham

I went to an Italian division 4 game back in September and that's the sum of my live sport late January 2020.

 

[gazjones76]

Villa fan in peace - just wanted to say you've got a great player here, and good luck to Conor. I'm surprised that he hasn't gone to a club already in the Premier League as there are 6 or 7 teams in there that he would improve, but maybe it's better to join a club on the way up rather than the way down!

Best free-kick specialist we've had, fantastic knack of arriving in space in the penalty area to score goals, and an absolutely brilliant professional who will demand 100% from everyone around him. I'm already putting money on you to get promoted now, best of luck!

Then why has he only played four times this season? And did he really quit his Twitter account because of the abuse he was getting from Villa fans? In other words, he seems to be a player with strengths and weaknesses, which of course is the type of player that we get, and personally I'm happy with that. We need an older player to take pressure off our younger players, and I can see him working well with Cooper.

No problem, there are a couple of reasons really, neither of which are his fault. Hourihane started the season well, and was great in the Fulham game where he scored and set up another. We then signed Ross Barkley who came straight into the team when we beat Liverpool 7-2, after which he understandably didn’t get much of a look in.

When Barkley got injured we changed the system slightly and brought Grealish inside to play more centrally, with El Ghazi and Traore on the wings, who have then scored 7 goals between them. It’s also worth remembering that we have had a lot of games postponed so far, meaning we’ve only played 15 league games to date.

Ultimately, the problem he’s had is the competition for places is Villa’s midfield is as good as anyone outside (and maybe even inside) the top 6. He is competing for a regular place with Jack Grealish, John McGinn, Douglas Luiz and Ross Barkley - I might be biased, but that is probably close to £200 million worth of players, all of whom are in their early to mid 20s.

In terms of Twitter I don’t know about anything involving Hourihane, he doesn’t strike me as the type use it much. Ironically El Ghazi was the player who did come off Twitter after some abuse, and then scored 5 goals in 4 games, probably keeping Conor out of the team. I wouldn’t read much I TM what Twitter says anyway, you only have to look at the elected leader of the free world to see what kind of idiots populate there!

Sorry to ramble, but it’s just worth saying how popular Hourihane is with most reasonable Villa fans, and hopefully we will get to see him with you at Villa Park next season if he doesn’t come back to us. The last 10 years as a Villa fan had been pretty shitty to be honest, and for a lot of us Hourihane represented the point at which we stopped signing piss takers who just wanted an easy payday, and got a player with heart, character and ability. Hopefully we have got some exciting times ahead and we do have a really promising team at the moment, but most of us will remember what Hourihane has done for us and hold him on high respect.

Finally, if you’ve got Cardiff coming up it’s worth remembering he has an uncanny knack of scoring absolute screamers in derby games - Google his goals against Birmingham and WBA and you’ll see what I mean!

 

[Swanjaxs]

Then why has he only played four times this season? And did he really quit his Twitter account because of the abuse he was getting from Villa fans? In other words, he seems to be a player with strengths and weaknesses, which of course is the type of player that we get, and personally I'm happy with that. We need an older player to take pressure off our younger players, and I can see him working well with Cooper.

No problem, there are a couple of reasons really, neither of which are his fault. Hourihane started the season well, and was great in the Fulham game where he scored and set up another. We then signed Ross Barkley who came straight into the team when we beat Liverpool 7-2, after which he understandably didn’t get much of a look in.

When Barkley got injured we changed the system slightly and brought Grealish inside to play more centrally, with El Ghazi and Traore on the wings, who have then scored 7 goals between them. It’s also worth remembering that we have had a lot of games postponed so far, meaning we’ve only played 15 league games to date.

Ultimately, the problem he’s had is the competition for places is Villa’s midfield is as good as anyone outside (and maybe even inside) the top 6. He is competing for a regular place with Jack Grealish, John McGinn, Douglas Luiz and Ross Barkley - I might be biased, but that is probably close to £200 million worth of players, all of whom are in their early to mid 20s.

In terms of Twitter I don’t know about anything involving Hourihane, he doesn’t strike me as the type use it much. Ironically El Ghazi was the player who did come off Twitter after some abuse, and then scored 5 goals in 4 games, probably keeping Conor out of the team. I wouldn’t read much I TM what Twitter says anyway, you only have to look at the elected leader of the free world to see what kind of idiots populate there!

Sorry to ramble, but it’s just worth saying how popular Hourihane is with most reasonable Villa fans, and hopefully we will get to see him with you at Villa Park next season if he doesn’t come back to us. The last 10 years as a Villa fan had been pretty shitty to be honest, and for a lot of us Hourihane represented the point at which we stopped signing piss takers who just wanted an easy payday, and got a player with heart, character and ability. Hopefully we have got some exciting times ahead and we do have a really promising team at the moment, but most of us will remember what Hourihane has done for us and hold him on high respect.

Finally, if you’ve got Cardiff coming up it’s worth remembering he has an uncanny knack of scoring absolute screamers in derby games - Google his goals against Birmingham and WBA and you’ll see what I mean!

Thanks for this mate, appreciate you taking your time to give us the lowdown on CH, he sounds just what we've been looking for!
As for the Villa, keep on smacking the "big boys" square on the nose

All the very best, from a Jack to a Villan

 

[swansnews]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=od122l32-B8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edY9rhEiaxs

Had to be done after Gaz's post earlier...

 

[Fireboy]

Then why has he only played four times this season? And did he really quit his Twitter account because of the abuse he was getting from Villa fans? In other words, he seems to be a player with strengths and weaknesses, which of course is the type of player that we get, and personally I'm happy with that. We need an older player to take pressure off our younger players, and I can see him working well with Cooper.

No problem, there are a couple of reasons really, neither of which are his fault. Hourihane started the season well, and was great in the Fulham game where he scored and set up another. We then signed Ross Barkley who came straight into the team when we beat Liverpool 7-2, after which he understandably didn’t get much of a look in.

When Barkley got injured we changed the system slightly and brought Grealish inside to play more centrally, with El Ghazi and Traore on the wings, who have then scored 7 goals between them. It’s also worth remembering that we have had a lot of games postponed so far, meaning we’ve only played 15 league games to date.

Ultimately, the problem he’s had is the competition for places is Villa’s midfield is as good as anyone outside (and maybe even inside) the top 6. He is competing for a regular place with Jack Grealish, John McGinn, Douglas Luiz and Ross Barkley - I might be biased, but that is probably close to £200 million worth of players, all of whom are in their early to mid 20s.

In terms of Twitter I don’t know about anything involving Hourihane, he doesn’t strike me as the type use it much. Ironically El Ghazi was the player who did come off Twitter after some abuse, and then scored 5 goals in 4 games, probably keeping Conor out of the team. I wouldn’t read much I TM what Twitter says anyway, you only have to look at the elected leader of the free world to see what kind of idiots populate there!

Sorry to ramble, but it’s just worth saying how popular Hourihane is with most reasonable Villa fans, and hopefully we will get to see him with you at Villa Park next season if he doesn’t come back to us. The last 10 years as a Villa fan had been pretty shitty to be honest, and for a lot of us Hourihane represented the point at which we stopped signing piss takers who just wanted an easy payday, and got a player with heart, character and ability. Hopefully we have got some exciting times ahead and we do have a really promising team at the moment, but most of us will remember what Hourihane has done for us and hold him on high respect.

Finally, if you’ve got Cardiff coming up it’s worth remembering he has an uncanny knack of scoring absolute screamers in derby games - Google his goals against Birmingham and WBA and you’ll see what I mean!

And what goals they were Gaz, i can tell you that if he scores against the scum he will become a legend and touch wood it might be part of the first time the double has ever occurred.

 

[BanosSwan]

Glyn1 and (especially) badlands are negative, sellout supporter wnkrs. Ignore

 

[Longlostjack]

Then why has he only played four times this season? And did he really quit his Twitter account because of the abuse he was getting from Villa fans? In other words, he seems to be a player with strengths and weaknesses, which of course is the type of player that we get, and personally I'm happy with that. We need an older player to take pressure off our younger players, and I can see him working well with Cooper.

No problem, there are a couple of reasons really, neither of which are his fault. Hourihane started the season well, and was great in the Fulham game where he scored and set up another. We then signed Ross Barkley who came straight into the team when we beat Liverpool 7-2, after which he understandably didn’t get much of a look in.

When Barkley got injured we changed the system slightly and brought Grealish inside to play more centrally, with El Ghazi and Traore on the wings, who have then scored 7 goals between them. It’s also worth remembering that we have had a lot of games postponed so far, meaning we’ve only played 15 league games to date.

Ultimately, the problem he’s had is the competition for places is Villa’s midfield is as good as anyone outside (and maybe even inside) the top 6. He is competing for a regular place with Jack Grealish, John McGinn, Douglas Luiz and Ross Barkley - I might be biased, but that is probably close to £200 million worth of players, all of whom are in their early to mid 20s.

In terms of Twitter I don’t know about anything involving Hourihane, he doesn’t strike me as the type use it much. Ironically El Ghazi was the player who did come off Twitter after some abuse, and then scored 5 goals in 4 games, probably keeping Conor out of the team. I wouldn’t read much I TM what Twitter says anyway, you only have to look at the elected leader of the free world to see what kind of idiots populate there!

Sorry to ramble, but it’s just worth saying how popular Hourihane is with most reasonable Villa fans, and hopefully we will get to see him with you at Villa Park next season if he doesn’t come back to us. The last 10 years as a Villa fan had been pretty shitty to be honest, and for a lot of us Hourihane represented the point at which we stopped signing piss takers who just wanted an easy payday, and got a player with heart, character and ability. Hopefully we have got some exciting times ahead and we do have a really promising team at the moment, but most of us will remember what Hourihane has done for us and hold him on high respect.

Finally, if you’ve got Cardiff coming up it’s worth remembering he has an uncanny knack of scoring absolute screamers in derby games - Google his goals against Birmingham and WBA and you’ll see what I mean!

Much appreciated an interesting read. Hopefully the next time we play each other at Villa Park you’ll be able to sneak into our tent and we can buy you a couple of pints !

 

[Glyn1]

Glyn1 and (especially) badlands are negative, sellout supporter wnkrs. Ignore

And I luv you too BanosSwans - got no idea why you think I'm a sellout, and have never met you or badlands. If you want to stick a label on someone, you need to back it up with proof.

But my mistake about the Twitter account which was with the new keeper Hamer rather than Hourihane. At our level, anyone we get is going to have weaknesses or else they would have gone somewhere else, but in a way that makes them interesting, and like I said, I think that this is a potentially good signing with no downside. Looking forward to seeing him play.

And thanks, to the Villa fan for his analysis, which is appreciated.

 

[Glyn1]

Glyn1 and (especially) badlands are negative, sellout supporter wnkrs. Ignore

And I luv you too BanosSwan - got no idea why you think I'm a sellout (not even sure what that means), and have never met you or badlands. If you want to stick a label on someone, you need to back it up with proof.

But my mistake about the Twitter account which was with the new keeper Hamer rather than Hourihane. At our level, anyone we get is going to have weaknesses or else they would have gone somewhere else, but in a way that makes them more interesting, and like I said, I think that this is a potentially good signing with no downside. Looking forward to seeing him play.

And thanks, to the Villa fan for his analysis, which is appreciated.

 

[Glyn1]

A few seasons ago, we had the "Moneyball" type of analysts who, so far as I remember were paid a lot of money and came up with no-one. Now we have Cooper using his contacts, calling in favours and doing an excellent job (still lukewarm about his tactics, but we have the second best goal difference in the division, so hey, what do I know?). I'm curious who came up with approaching Morris .... the American owners?

 

[Baron Goblet]

I don't think he has any weaknesses in the Championship. Villa are going well, made a few signings, only played 15 game. Our gain and their loss. Villa manager has made it clear he wants him back next season. Onwards and upwards.

 

[Dr. Winston]

A few seasons ago, we had the "Moneyball" type of analysts who, so far as I remember were paid a lot of money and came up with no-one. Now we have Cooper using his contacts, calling in favours and doing an excellent job (still lukewarm about his tactics, but we have the second best goal difference in the division, so hey, what do I know?). I'm curious who came up with approaching Morris .... the American owners?

Our recruitment has improved markedly since Andy Scott had chance to build a database. Jamal Lowe especially looks a Scott player all down the line. Pacy, mobile forward who was the best player in a struggling side.

 

[PSumbler]

A few seasons ago, we had the "Moneyball" type of analysts who, so far as I remember were paid a lot of money and came up with no-one. Now we have Cooper using his contacts, calling in favours and doing an excellent job (still lukewarm about his tactics, but we have the second best goal difference in the division, so hey, what do I know?). I'm curious who came up with approaching Morris .... the American owners?

Our recruitment has improved markedly since Andy Scott had chance to build a database. Jamal Lowe especially looks a Scott player all down the line. Pacy, mobile forward who was the best player in a struggling side.

You have touched on the database which is a good point. I wonder if we have learned the lessons from the past and ensured that the database is owned by Swansea City rather than Andy Scott?

 

[Jinxy]

This really does look an exciting signing, and will no doubt encourage others with itchy feet to stay hopefully. Cooper's biggest challenge will be to give him the game time he craves!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqBZnxCNgHM

 

[Dr. Winston]

You have touched on the database which is a good point. I wonder if we have learned the lessons from the past and ensured that the database is owned by Swansea City rather than Andy Scott?

You would hope.

In any case, we seem to have found the sweet spot between scouting expertise, managerial history/contacts and executive oversight. We're sourcing the right players and showing ourselves to be prepared to walk away if the deal isn't right. We won't always get it bang on, but it looks like our success percentage is on the increase.

Be exciting to see how it goes from here.