Houli is a very good footballer
hes a very limited average player with little or no upside left to his game.
just doesnt have the awareness to play in the midfield and has always been a very poor 1v1 defender. he and newman have been the banes of my life never ever capable of doing a job on a direct opponent or swap with a player whos getting badly beaten, the only thing that has saved them yr on end is their ability to kick the ball.neither have ever shown they can rotate thru the middle and play consistently well. they both keep players out of the side who have the attributes at least to be good defenders.
imo people see houli get a bit of ball which he does and they think hes a good player. he kicks the ball well on one side and delivers well most times and people think hes a good player. thats just two areas of the game what about when hes made accountable or when hes put under pressure. we want our defenders to be able to defend.
yep hees probably one of our best 22 players but imo we need to do better if we want to succeed.
imo your sml and med defenders need to do three things well. read the play well , rebound well, defend well, preferably have pace and lastly kick well. for me houli has only ever done one of the above consistently well and even then its only on one side of the body.
imo houli and grigg are great reflectors of our team, play real well when they allowed to run around free, as soon as they are made accountable and have to earn a kick or perform under real pressure they fold like concertina doors.
