Hotlips - MOTM!!!!

I'll admit to not being his greatest fan, but watching for the first time this season how did he get man of the match? Goal aside, I thought that he was bleddy useless. The same player that I've had the misfortune of watching since his arrival. Reid or Young should have been for me. As Sky is supposedly neutral in these matters then realistically it had to Agyemang who was destroying our defence at will in the second half.

Steve

Hourihane does ok at times as an outlet but he still stops and passes back instead of keeping the move going for my liking.

Bocco does feck all and Hayes? That's a complete mystery to me. He really could've been sat in the dugout for all he did and that's 3 games where he's been anonymous. Why sign someone on loan who's going to take 3 months to get match fit?

Greenjock wrote:

Hourihane does ok at times as an outlet but he still stops and passes back instead of keeping the move going for my liking.
.....

I used to think that about Ray Wilkins until I saw him play live. He was always there to take the pressure off his team-mates. He was always there to hold the ball. He was always there to make sure they held possession until a good opening came. He often passed back or sideways but he was damned good.

Pause for effect ......

Not that I'm saying that Hourihane is at the same level.  

Exactly, he's ok and he's there but when there's a chance of breaking quickly he never plays the right pass. He always stops looks around and passes it back and the chance has gone.

I'd understand if he sometimes played the killer ball but it's like that's Bern instilled into him, just don't take the risk ever, leave that for someone else who'll look stupid. It's bloody frustrating.

Cheers Knecht,

Till the last line, I was virtually spitting my coffee out. I know what you mean by the comparison though. I'm trying not to vent my disappointment with all things Argyle at the moment against the player. I know that I am biased against him, but just couldn't comprehend how he could be MOTM. Was trying to peek out from my blinkers for a minute. I know the Sky award is a pretty arbitrary thing, score a goal & get MOTM is the standard. There were plenty of errors from him besides the goal though: the blind backpass that led to the save by McCormick, the rant at Reckord when the pass was fifteen yards from him, the fact that he was the spare man that should have been tracking Wallace for the goal instead of marking empty space amongst others. Starting to sound a bit anti the player there. Oops.

Steve

Edited to add: He was not bad, just a standard bottom league midfielder, made some decent tackles and tried to push on and influence the game in the last ten minutes.

I'd go fo Luke McCormack myself but big lad journeyman up front for then had a terrific second half. Hourihane's a decent player but those aroubd him aren't easy to play with.

My tablet keyboard is knackered.... I'm a good speller usually.

Greenjock wrote:

Hourihane does ok at times as an outlet but he still stops and passes back instead of keeping the move going for my liking.

Bocco does feck all and Hayes? That's a complete mystery to me. He really could've been sat in the dugout for all he did and that's 3 games where he's been anonymous. Why sign someone on loan who's going to take 3 months to get match fit?

As I said elsewhere his pedestrian play is part of the problem. Good post.

Hourihane was very good today,incisive passing and excellent delivery at one or two dead ball situations.As a passing midfielder,it is impossible to go forward sometimes without jeopardising the team's defensive stability [ie,lose the ball and get caught on the break] and in those circumstances i'd have thought the obvious course of action is to look for a shirt of the same colour and pass it accurately,no matter if the ball goes 20 yards back.The only other way is to play the random chance ball and i'm fairly sure that would soon incur the wrath of the HP faithful.The only blot on his performance was a diabolical first touch which let the Pompey guy in for the shot which McCormick spectacularly turned over.Wouldn't surprise me at all if Hourihane moved to pastures new in a year or two's time and i don't think his career path will be downward.

Hourihane is a good player but i dont think he is captain material though.

knecht wrote:

Greenjock wrote:

Hourihane does ok at times as an outlet but he still stops and passes back instead of keeping the move going for my liking.
.....

I used to think that about Ray Wilkins until I saw him play live. He was always there to take the pressure off his team-mates. He was always there to hold the ball. He was always there to make sure they held possession until a good opening came. He often passed back or sideways but he was damned good.

Pause for effect ......

Not that I'm saying that Hourihane is at the same level.  

Agreed. Thought Hourihane was the only one in a green shirt who looked like a footballer myself and agree wilkins never gave the ball away cheap and his league titles in 3 different countries and numerous Englad caps under many different managers says it all.

Sorry Greenskin, I can't agree that he was very good today. He was okay. That's not a pop at either you or him though. He played an alright game in a bottom half of the lowest league game. He may still be relatively young, but he's played alot of games and IMO he'll never rise above the bottom two divisions.

Steve

I thought Hourihane was the stand out player today and as mentioned it's not always about going forward sometimes you have to go back or sideways first before you can go forward. He is a good passer of the ball and delivers a wicked cross as he did early on which Nelson managed to miss from 5 yards.
The likeness to Ray Wilkins is well made in that they rarely give the ball away.

cornysteve wrote:

I'll admit to not being his greatest fan, but watching for the first time this season how did he get man of the match? Goal aside, I thought that he was bleddy useless. The same player that I've had the misfortune of watching since his arrival. Reid or Young should have been for me. As Sky is supposedly neutral in these matters then realistically it had to Agyemang who was destroying our defence at will in the second half.

Steve

Everyone thought so too...

I've grown to really like him the last season and a half after thinking he was awful in 2011-12 but becer was he man of the match yesterday. Some great passing but too many gaffes.

I thought (watching Sky) that he was ok and that Pompey's goal was partly due to Hourihane not following Wallace into the box, he also made that poor back pass (as described above).

I thought Agyemang was the best player on the pitch by far, and Reid was our best player (apart from his shooting).

One thing that stood out was our lack of crossing ability. How can Berry and Criminal Rekord be wing backs when neither can cross?