Aston Villa’s loan army aren’t having the best of times this season.
Louie Barry is barely getting a game at Ipswich and Wesley Moraes has played just one league game at Club Brugge. However, on Tuesday evening, another Villa loanee had a rather embarrassing afternoon.
Indeed, Conor Hourihane started for Sheffield United against Millwall at Bramall Lane on Tuesday, but this was certainly a game to forget for the Irishman.
To put it bluntly, Hourihane had a nightmare. He wasn’t able to get involved in the game at all, having just 16 touches of the ball, he didn’t make a single tackle or take a single shot, while over 20 per cent of his passes were off the mark.
Hourihane played so poorly that Slavisa Jokanovic had seen enough after just over half an hour, Hourihane was subbed after 37 minutes, and the change was purely tactical with the midfielder seemingly not carrying any type of injury.
It’s a shame to see Hourihane struggle like this. The midfielder is undoubtedly an incredibly talented player, but for one reason or another, he just couldn’t get into the swing of things against Millwall.
It will be interesting to see where Hourihane goes from here. Sheffield United have plenty of midfield options with Oliver Norwood on the bench and Sander Berge about to return from injury.
To make matters worse, this was Hourihane’s first start for the Blades, and if doesn’t buck up his ideas, he won’t get many more chances under Jokanovic.
One thing is for sure, he can’t afford many more performances like the one he put in on Tuesday evening.
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