Garry Thompson adamant that Conor Hourihane isn’t the only one at fault for Aston Villa’s problems

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Aston Villa’s Conor Hourihane has endured a difficult time in midfield in recent weeks for Dean Smith’s side.

BBC pundit Garry Thompson has insisted that Aston Villa ace Conor Hourihane isn’t the only one to blame for the club’s problems after he received a lot of stick during his side’s 2-0 defeat to West Brom on Saturday.

But Thompson did admit that the midfielder’s defending for Albion’s second goal at the weekend was ‘borderline shocking’ and claimed that ‘every component’ of what the team is doing is ‘wrong’.

Hourihane was substituted off to ironic cheers from the home crowd in the second half, with teenager Jacob Ramsey coming on as his replacement.

While former Villa man Thompson admits that Hourihane has been poor, he also feels that there are more players ‘culpable’ for their recent performances.

“We have got a situation where you can’t just say it’s Conor Hourihane’s fault,” Thompson told BBC WM. “Hourihane for the last 18 months to two years he’s been here has been in special teams. In set-pieces, he has good delivery.

“The rest of his game is the same. He plays five-yard balls, he can’t really spray it. He’s not really a midfield player that passes the ball & dictates the play. He breaks forward and scores the odd goal.

“You know what you are going to get with him. He is a Championship player. For me, he took the blame for the second goal because I felt his actual positioning and going for the ball afterwards was borderline shocking.

“But it’s not just all Conor Hourihane. We don’t defend properly – Every component of what we do is wrong. It’s not just Hourihane. A lot are culpable.”

Republic of Ireland international Hourihane joined the club during the January transfer window of 2017 when he made the switch from then-Championship side Barnsley to Villa Park.

During his time at the club, he has showcased great ability in dead ball situation, scoring spectacular goals, but has constantly failed to impact games in the middle of the park.

While the Irishman can provide an assist or score a goal, he has had a tendency to go missing in games and has struggled to prove his worth in open play in terms of showing off his passing ability, dictating the game or even driving with the ball from deep.

Dean Smith’s side have slipped further away from the play-off places in recent weeks and in their next fixture, they will be searching for only their fourth win in nearly three months of action.