Hoolahan- liability

[MPR 0]

OK, nice goal last night but the bloke is going to prove a liability. There was a thread last night about how he''ll never stick to his position- proven in recent games. If he''s going to float, stick him behind the front one or two but not on the left.

1) He has almost no use of his right foot so constantly has to turn 270 degrees to get it on the left one.

2) The cross for Soton''s equaliser last night came from exactly where he should have been, instead he was swanning about in the middle of the park

3) Plastic has no idea whether to go forward or stay back. Crofty and Semmy (when he''s up for it) overlap nicely, rarely have we seen that as Plastic bombing on leaves us horribly exposed down the left

4) His little touches all over the place invariably failed to come off, again putting us under pressure.

Either give him a bollocking and tell him to stick to the wing or play a system that can cope with his meanderings.

[WeAreYellows49 0]

And without that liability we would have lost the game last night.  He''s a roving player, he has always been like that, Roeder tried to tie him in one area and he was worse.

[Lambo 0]

Exactly, I''d say Hoolahan along with Cligan is our most vital player who without we''ll offer nothing at all in attack.

[Fuglestad 0]

I''ve been abroad for the best part of a year and that is the first time i''ve seen him play for us. I was amazed at how hilariously one footed he is. Surely his right foot can''t be that bad, maybe it''s phycological.

I think he should play just behind Cureton (they were the only two who had any movement off the ball) as long as we keep it on the deck this should work. Playing him left wing exposes the left back like Hucks did. Only hucks was better and in my opinion tracked back better than Hoolahan did last night.

I think in the hole behind the striker he could excell. His goal showed what he is capable of and I don''t think we can afford not to play him, given our horrendous lack of creativity.

[Lambo 0]

He scored with his right against Barnsley.

[Beauseant 0]

[quote user="MPR"]OK, nice goal last night but the bloke is going to prove a liability. There was a thread last night about how he''ll never stick to his position- proven in recent games. If he''s going to float, stick him behind the front one or two but not on the left. 1) He has almost no use of his right foot so constantly has to turn 270 degrees to get it on the left one. 2) The cross for Soton''s equaliser last night came from exactly where he should have been, instead he was swanning about in the middle of the park 3) Plastic has no idea whether to go forward or stay back. Crofty and Semmy (when he''s up for it) overlap nicely, rarely have we seen that as Plastic bombing on leaves us horribly exposed down the left 4) His little touches all over the place invariably failed to come off, again putting us under pressure. Either give him a bollocking and tell him to stick to the wing or play a system that can cope with his meanderings.[/quote]

 

While I appreciate and share your frustration when he gives the ball away cheaply (which happened too often last night), much of our creativity stems from him. Unfortunately, like Huckerby he doesn''t always work hard defensively.That''s the price you pay for that type of player. You seem to think that because he drifts and doesn''t stick to the left wing he is automatically ceding an advantage to the opposition, but that''s incorrect. Are you suggesting that when Hoolahan goes infield the opposition right back simply ignores him and thinks "great, now I can attack at will!"?. He either has to track him or pass him on, because if no-one picks him up he will be free to control the game. This is the function of the "free" role, ie it forces difficult decisions on defenders. Unfortunately when we lose the ball in attack it can hurt us,as happened last night. Rather than "swanning about" he had bust a gut to support Russell who then proceeded to try to do a lollipop on the centreback, ran into him and fell over, like the blunt object he is.

[WeAreYellows49 0]

[quote user="Beauseant"]

[quote user="MPR"]OK, nice goal last night but the bloke is going to prove a liability. There was a thread last night about how he''ll never stick to his position- proven in recent games. If he''s going to float, stick him behind the front one or two but not on the left. 1) He has almost no use of his right foot so constantly has to turn 270 degrees to get it on the left one. 2) The cross for Soton''s equaliser last night came from exactly where he should have been, instead he was swanning about in the middle of the park 3) Plastic has no idea whether to go forward or stay back. Crofty and Semmy (when he''s up for it) overlap nicely, rarely have we seen that as Plastic bombing on leaves us horribly exposed down the left 4) His little touches all over the place invariably failed to come off, again putting us under pressure. Either give him a bollocking and tell him to stick to the wing or play a system that can cope with his meanderings.[/quote]

 

While I appreciate and share your frustration when he gives the ball away cheaply (which happened too often last night), much of our creativity stems from him. Unfortunately, like Huckerby he doesn''t always work hard defensively.That''s the price you pay for that type of player. You seem to think that because he drifts and doesn''t stick to the left wing he is automatically ceding an advantage to the opposition, but that''s incorrect. Are you suggesting that when Hoolahan goes infield the opposition right back simply ignores him and thinks "great, now I can attack at will!"?. He either has to track him or pass him on, because if no-one picks him up he will be free to control the game. This is the function of the "free" role, ie it forces difficult decisions on defenders. Unfortunately when we lose the ball in attack it can hurt us,as happened last night. Rather than "swanning about" he had bust a gut to support Russell who then proceeded to try to do a lollipop on the centreback, ran into him and fell over, like the blunt object he is.

[/quote]

Totally agree Beauseant  [Y]

[Fuglestad 0]

[quote user="Lambo"]He scored with his right against Barnsley.[/quote]

really? he seemed to do anything to avoid using it last night, was painful at times, seemed he wouldn''t even consider a four yard side foot pass, without shifting foot. Great player, but I''ve never noticed anyone so one footed.

[Canary02 III 0]

Can''t argue with any of the OP''s points but I think we get overly panicked about players shortfallings and ignore the positives that they bring to the team.

Patches is ridiculously one-footed, but he''s already 25 and I don''t think any amount of coaching is going to change that now. It''s frustrating and definitely a psychological block, but if he doesn''t trust his right peg (apart from one glorious moment against Barnsley) then why worry about it? He is what he is and is the same player we signed.

Same thing regarding positioning. It seems ridiculous to me that one of the reasons we let Huckerby go was probably to erradicate the lack of defensive cover given by Hucks in his left wing position and then replace him with a player who is equally unable to help out his full back! Is it an area that the opposition can exploit? Yes, undoubtedly. But do we benefit just as much, if not more by allowing him to drift in and probe weaknesses in the oppositions defence whilst they remain unsure how to mark him and with whom?

Hoolahan''s not perfect but he does add to the team. We need to accept his failings and equally accept the fact that you can''t make every player perfect in every way, and that applies across the entire squad and not just Hoolahan. There''s too much negativity and too much of a desire to throw the baby out with the bath water at the moment. We can have a successful team without having 11 robots who make no mistakes but have no creativity. We, as fans, need to learn to enjoy our team again.

[Canary02 III 0]

[quote user="Beauseant"]

[quote user="MPR"]OK, nice goal last night but the bloke is going to prove a liability. There was a thread last night about how he''ll never stick to his position- proven in recent games. If he''s going to float, stick him behind the front one or two but not on the left. 1) He has almost no use of his right foot so constantly has to turn 270 degrees to get it on the left one. 2) The cross for Soton''s equaliser last night came from exactly where he should have been, instead he was swanning about in the middle of the park 3) Plastic has no idea whether to go forward or stay back. Crofty and Semmy (when he''s up for it) overlap nicely, rarely have we seen that as Plastic bombing on leaves us horribly exposed down the left 4) His little touches all over the place invariably failed to come off, again putting us under pressure. Either give him a bollocking and tell him to stick to the wing or play a system that can cope with his meanderings.[/quote]

 

While I appreciate and share your frustration when he gives the ball away cheaply (which happened too often last night), much of our creativity stems from him. Unfortunately, like Huckerby he doesn''t always work hard defensively.That''s the price you pay for that type of player. You seem to think that because he drifts and doesn''t stick to the left wing he is automatically ceding an advantage to the opposition, but that''s incorrect. Are you suggesting that when Hoolahan goes infield the opposition right back simply ignores him and thinks "great, now I can attack at will!"?. He either has to track him or pass him on, because if no-one picks him up he will be free to control the game. This is the function of the "free" role, ie it forces difficult decisions on defenders. Unfortunately when we lose the ball in attack it can hurt us,as happened last night. Rather than "swanning about" he had bust a gut to support Russell who then proceeded to try to do a lollipop on the centreback, ran into him and fell over, like the blunt object he is.

[/quote]

Was typing my response when you posted this and beat me to it! Needless to say, I totally agree!

[NCFC_Shaun 0]

[quote user="Fuglestad"]

[quote user="Lambo"]He scored with his right against Barnsley.[/quote]

really? he seemed to do anything to avoid using it last night, was painful at times, seemed he wouldn''t even consider a four yard side foot pass, without shifting foot. Great player, but I''ve never noticed anyone so one footed.

[/quote]

 

Agreed. It''s so annoying aswell. Like when he cut back onto his right but wouldn''t cross because it was set up for his right foot.

[Beauseant 0]

[quote user="Canary02 III"][quote user="Beauseant"]

[quote user="MPR"]OK, nice goal last night but the bloke is going to prove a liability. There was a thread last night about how he''ll never stick to his position- proven in recent games. If he''s going to float, stick him behind the front one or two but not on the left. 1) He has almost no use of his right foot so constantly has to turn 270 degrees to get it on the left one. 2) The cross for Soton''s equaliser last night came from exactly where he should have been, instead he was swanning about in the middle of the park 3) Plastic has no idea whether to go forward or stay back. Crofty and Semmy (when he''s up for it) overlap nicely, rarely have we seen that as Plastic bombing on leaves us horribly exposed down the left 4) His little touches all over the place invariably failed to come off, again putting us under pressure. Either give him a bollocking and tell him to stick to the wing or play a system that can cope with his meanderings.[/quote]

 

While I appreciate and share your frustration when he gives the ball away cheaply (which happened too often last night), much of our creativity stems from him. Unfortunately, like Huckerby he doesn''t always work hard defensively.That''s the price you pay for that type of player. You seem to think that because he drifts and doesn''t stick to the left wing he is automatically ceding an advantage to the opposition, but that''s incorrect. Are you suggesting that when Hoolahan goes infield the opposition right back simply ignores him and thinks "great, now I can attack at will!"?. He either has to track him or pass him on, because if no-one picks him up he will be free to control the game. This is the function of the "free" role, ie it forces difficult decisions on defenders. Unfortunately when we lose the ball in attack it can hurt us,as happened last night. Rather than "swanning about" he had bust a gut to support Russell who then proceeded to try to do a lollipop on the centreback, ran into him and fell over, like the blunt object he is.

[/quote]

Was typing my response when you posted this and beat me to it! Needless to say, I totally agree!

[/quote]

 

That''s always happening to me too. Annoying isn''t it?![:D]

[nutty nigel 7,656]

[quote user="Beauseant"]

 

While I appreciate and share your frustration when he gives the ball away cheaply (which happened too often last night), much of our creativity stems from him. Unfortunately, like Huckerby he doesn''t always work hard defensively.That''s the price you pay for that type of player. You seem to think that because he drifts and doesn''t stick to the left wing he is automatically ceding an advantage to the opposition, but that''s incorrect. Are you suggesting that when Hoolahan goes infield the opposition right back simply ignores him and thinks "great, now I can attack at will!"?. He either has to track him or pass him on, because if no-one picks him up he will be free to control the game. This is the function of the "free" role, ie it forces difficult decisions on defenders. Unfortunately when we lose the ball in attack it can hurt us,as happened last night. Rather than "swanning about" he had bust a gut to support Russell who then proceeded to try to do a lollipop on the centreback, ran into him and fell over, like the blunt object he is.

[/quote]

I agree with this although to be fair I don''t think it''s a case of not working hard defensively. I don''t believe with Huckerby or Hoolahan that their defensive frailties are down to lack of effort. They just don''t have that defensive string on their bow.

If we had won last night Hoolahan would be a hero for his goal and contribution but the draw felt like a defeat so we look for negatives. We play the blame game again. Everyone can point to mistakes on route to a goal conceded. Whether it be a mis-placed pass up the field or a free man getting a free header in the box. It''s rather like a tree of causes and usually takes more than one error to happen. Creative players will always lose the ball at times, if they always took the safe option they wouldn''t be creative. We just have to try and win the ball back and start again or defend the surrended posession better than we did for their second goal last night.

 

[Yellow Rider 0]

[quote user="MPR"]OK, nice goal last night but the bloke is going to prove a liability. There was a thread last night about how he''ll never stick to his position- proven in recent games. If he''s going to float, stick him behind the front one or two but not on the left. 1) He has almost no use of his right foot so constantly has to turn 270 degrees to get it on the left one. 2) The cross for Soton''s equaliser last night came from exactly where he should have been, instead he was swanning about in the middle of the park 3) Plastic has no idea whether to go forward or stay back. Crofty and Semmy (when he''s up for it) overlap nicely, rarely have we seen that as Plastic bombing on leaves us horribly exposed down the left 4) His little touches all over the place invariably failed to come off, again putting us under pressure. Either give him a bollocking and tell him to stick to the wing or play a system that can cope with his meanderings.[/quote]

Agree about the lack of right foot but that''s it!

EVERY goal conceded in football can be put down to someone''s fault somewhere so why pick on Hoolahan for their equaliser. Rusty was at fault as has been mentioned and surely the most glaring fault was the lack of marking and challange by the defence when the ball came in to the box!!!

Wes is one of the most truly skilful players we''ve had in a yellow jersey for years and we would be seriously worse off without him. I sit in the middle of The Jarrold and against Barnsley he was hugging the touchline with two opponents closing him down. There was nowhere for him to go (or so it seemed) but with a fabulous feint and dummy he left those guys totally flat footed and had created space out of absolutely nothing! It was stunning to watch. Sorry I''ll take Wes with all his ''faults'' any day over the rest of the plodding journeymen who might take the place of this ''liability''!!

Oh, by the way, perhaps those you would prefer could step up to the mark and score the kind of ''nice goal'' the boy Wes hit last night. We could be a long time waiting!

 

[paul moy 235]

Hoolahan had a great game last night and was our most creative player and a joy to watch..... MoM IMO.  His one mistake was being taken off to be replaced by Pattison !! 

[GJP 79]

I think Wes is a fantastic player. Some of the things he does with the ball at his feet are just brilliant.

Possibly still a bit more to come from him and if we had a bit more pace upfront then his clever touches etc would make us very dangerous.