Conor Hourihane

coyne wrote: Suggesting new formations is futile because it wont happen.  MON is so stubborn he's probably never changed his pants so it's highly unlikely he'll be changing formations anytime soon.

Hourihane done really well for first goal aswel watch him closely . Blocks defender off, very intelligent play to open up space for Adomah.

I would like to see him get a run out and hopefully cement his place in central midfield. He has 8 goals from midfield this season, him and Hogan have played a good part in Villa's form and both as in form players should be starting next month. A midfield 3 of Meyler in front of the back 4 with Hendrick and Hourihane just ahead would be worth a look.

A new player that’s 29

McG wrote: A new player that’s 29

Judge is 29, I'm not sure why that's such a big deal to people though, as we could conceivably still get 5-7 good years out of him. It's not unusual, and will become even less so, that guys make their breakthrough at a later age than was traditionally the case.

Judge was born on 11 November 1988, so he's 29, not 27 - 30 by the year's end.

Green Devil wrote: NewtNewbie wrote: Hourihane certainly isn't a number 10. I just can't see him being effective there. He's played the best football of his career to date at Barnsley, as an orthodox box-to-box midfielder in a 4-4-2. As demonstrated again today, he's a terrific striker of the ball, and we know he's capable of scoring goals, (He's Villa's second-top scorer after Adomah) but most of them come as a result of well-timed runs from deeper positions, or dead balls.  Aside from Judge and McGoldrick - both around 30 now, and have been in and around the squad for a while - Connor Ronan is the closest we have coming through in terms of a genuine number 10 in the mould of Hoolahan. Highly-rated and with good technical ability, he's in the Portsmouth team and has been entrusted with a free role at the age of 19 by Jackett. It's probably worth taking a look at him in one of the upcoming friendlies. He has one cap and was injured for the best part of the past 18 months so you're wrong there.  In truth, Judge will be like a new player for O'Neill if he can regain his form before the injuries.

He was first named in a squad in early 2015 - 3 years ago - and while he only has a solitary cap to his name, he has been named in a number of squads.

His leg-break has been well-documented and I don't think passed any of us by. It's just a case of whether can recapture the form he showed himself capable of prior to the injury. He was unlucky not to score at the weekend after coming on as a sub, hitting the post from a free-kick. Played well from the sounds of it.

Edited by NewtNewbie - 12 Feb 2018 at 6:10pm

Pipped Ian Bailey to that accolade

pre Madonna wrote: AnCearrbhach wrote: More important than the derby win was Conor's success as West Cork's Dreamiest man where he faced some much tougher opposition.  It means nothing when I wasn't even nominated.