Started all 11 league games, played every minute. 990 minutes (plus stoppages). He's scored six goals. That's (just over) a goal every other game. In terms of assists, Cranie (Crewe) and Lita (Coventry) both scored following corners taken by Conor. Against Gillingham, you could argue his shot that hit the wall was a great assist for Jennings His corner assisted Ramage's goal at Rochdale. And on Sunday, his cross set up the own goal by McArdle, and, you could again argue his fall/slip on the edge of the box assisted Hemmings... He also played in Nyatanga who crossed for Winnall's goal. So, here is a list of every BFC goal in the league this season: Lita vs Crewe, assisted by Winnall. Cranie vs Crewe, assisted by Nyatanga via Hourihane's corner. Hourihane vs Coventry, free kick. Lita vs Coventry, assisted by Berry's shot via Hourihane's corner. Hourihane vs Gillingham, 35 yard screamer. Winnall vs Gillingham, assisted by Brown. Cole vs Gillingham, assisted by Dudgeon. Jennings vs Gillingham. Hourihane vs Yeovil, 33 yard screamer. Hourihane vs MK Dons, 30 yard screamer. Hourihane vs MK Dons, 27 yard screamer. Cole vs MK Dons, assisted by Jennings' corner. Hourihane vs Port Vale, penalty. Ramage vs Rochdale, assisted by Hourihane's corner. McArdle own goal vs Bradford, assisted by Hourihane's free kick. Winnall vs Bradford, assisted by Nyatanga. Hemmings vs Bradford. So he's been involved in 10 of our 17 goals, 12 if we take the piss and include the Jennings and Hemmings goals. He also had a penalty well saved at Rochdale, and numerous other efforts repelled by keepers/woodwork. He's also created other chances that weren't converted. Onto his passing. I only have access to a basic account on a well known site, I ain't paying for extras, am not 'that' arsed. Honest. He has a pass completion percentage of 89%. (for comparison purposes, Bailey's is 79% and Jennings' 66%..) I don't quite understand what a 'key pass' is, but he's made 8. Could it be assists, or indirect passes leading to goals? Dunno, but aye. 8. Tackling? He has a 'successful tackle' percentage of 76%. But I can't see how many he's made etc. Not arsed anyway... But he's accumulated 4 bookings so far and is therefore one more away from a one match ban. Safe to say, he's our key player. And, I am looking for opinions on other players we've had in the past who have made such an impact in their first few months at the club. I can think of Hignett off the top of my head. You Reds.
Shhh I got slated a while back for calling him our best midfielder since Hignett. You should be mentioning how **** he is incase other clubs come across this thread
Ahhh yes http://bbs.barnsleyfc.org.uk/showthread.php?215328-Winnall-amp-Hourihane-in-L1-team-of-the-week
That's because he isn't our best midfielder since Hignett, really. That'd be doing Howard, Anderson, Drinkwater, Butterfield a disservice who were fantastic for us in spells in a division higher up against better quality opposition. I'd like to say he 'could' go on and emulate Higgy, Redders, Ronnie etc but like Drinkwater and Butterfield, if he continues to play like this until January chances are he'll leave as they did. In fact, I doubt any player will come here in the next hundred years or whatever and ever overtake Redfearn and Glavin in the idol stakes. Because in modern football, Barnsley FC cannot hold on to quality footballers. What must change though is Barnsley FC getting proper recompense for their quality services. Oh, and Dreamy, I wasn't comparing him to Higgy. Nobody comes close. I didn't see Glavin in the flesh, but I'm guessing he was of that ilk. But aye, I was comparing his amazing start to his BFC career, to Higgy's. I wouldn't even compare Hourihane with Hignett anyway. Different type of midfielder. I see Conor more in the Butterfield/Redfearn mould. Score screamers, great set pieces, dictate games, not afraid to tackle. Captains. (Yes, I know he's not captain but he would be if I was in charge) Rambling again.
Fair point I suppose. Although I prefer to look at it as me giving lads a few months worth of games before I start judging them, be it positively or not. I thought Chris Lumsdon was the new Redfearn after about four games. I was only 21 or summat though. It was clear to see on opening day, for me, that Hourihane was decent. Said so in my blog. I didn't see the next three games though due to holidaying so I was a little fearful that after that great win against the Gills that we were again going OTT on here after one swallow. The results since then, for a while at least, backed that up. But we've *ahem* apparently turned a corner now so we can go back to being OTT (or right, whichever floats ones boat). Me? I've just enjoyed it so far. Enjoying seeing what happens. My only moans on here have been related to team selection during that poor run where I thought Lita needed dropping , Winnall deserved a start and we needed a holding mid and right back in. Since then, we've got Winnall back in, Bree's took to the right back spot like Stonesy did, and Bailey's back in holding midfield. So in other words, even I need to chill the **** art and trust Danny at times. Because, Danny knows.
Makes you wonder the sh*t we'd be in without him. Hope I'm wrong but in January his agent is gonna be after a payday, telling Conor he can get him X times more at a Championship club, he'll then hand in a McIndoe style transfer request and we'll let him go for the customary £500,000 with ambiguous sell on clauses that don't guarantee us anything. (Yes I'm in a pessimistic mood today)
This, unfortunately, is the sad reality we face nowadays. We may keep hold of a good player for a couple of years, but we have no hope of keeping hold of a consistent very good player beyond whenever the next transfer window is. This is for two main reasons. Firstly, we no longer have the ability to generate revenue throughout the season by selling players when we need the money, so we have to suck up deficits until the next transfer window when we suddenly have to try and find a buyer to bring the money in. This, of course, was the story of our summer. This leads to clubs leaving it late into the transfer window before putting the bids in, knowing that clubs that need to sell will take whatever they are offered. So if they can't offload the player they really want to sell they often end up accepting bids for players they'd rather not sell just to balance the books. Secondly, the players' wages increase dramatically within divisions these days, never mind by moving up divisions. Just look at Craig Davies, moving to a team not much better than us, but no doubt doubling his wages at the very least. And the silly money that Premiership clubs pay mean that nobody will ever turn a move like that down again, say like Darren Barnard did all those years ago. Stones, for example, increased his wage from £1,500 per week to £30,000 per week in the space of little over a year. Or to put it another way, it takes him just over a fortnight to earn what his annual salary was at Oakwell. If a Reds player was to get offered a top half of the table Championship club he is going to increase his wages at least fivefold, although probably more. No chance of keeping players in those circumstances.
I know you're biased and everything, but I wouldn't put Butterfield in the same class as hourihane, I really wouldn't. I know it's a league below and early days, but Conor just has that touch more class and consistency. Just my opinion.
First time I saw Conor play on Sunday and I was very very impressed. What a signing. However, it's early days. Jacob Butterfield is one of the most talented midfielders I have seen play for us and could go on to great things in my opinion. He wasn't helped by the injury and moved from barnsley too early football wise which I think hindered his development but hope he keeps improving as deserves to play in the prem. Comparing Conor Hourihane to reddens or higgy is a bit silly in my opinion, he's a long way to go and would need to prove himself at a higher level. But things are looking pretty promising. Very much doubt we would accept 500k in January. If Ben is to be believed, things have change on that front.
No problem, pal. It's a game of opinions. I'm really enjoying watching him. And he's ours (for now) so I prefer him over Butterfield.
It is indeed, and it's always interesting how different eyes see different players. Conor seems to have that (as I said) class and consistency that we've been missing for a long time. It's extremely refreshing to FINALLY have someone who can actually kick a ball when it's still. We've had ones that can do it occasionally, but I don't remember anyone recently who could take corners and free kicks so consistently well.
