Steve Bruce is confident that Conor Hourihane will be a good player for Aston Villa.
Aston Villa boss Steve Bruce has told the Birmingham Mail that he thinks Conor Hourihane will be a ‘good player’ for the club after a rocky start to life at Villa Park.
Villa’s terrible form in 2017 continues on Saturday afternoon as Ipswich Town claimed a 1-0 at Villa Park thanks to Emyr Huws scored a late winner for the Tractor Boys.
Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce
Bruce’s men have picked up just one point in six league games in 2017, and even that was when they were 2-0 up at half time against Preston North End and ended up drawing 2-2.
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Defeats to Cardiff City, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Brentford, Nottingham Forest and now Ipswich have killed off any lingering hopes of a play-off place, with just three goals scored in those six league games in 2017.
Conor Hourihane celebrates scoring for Barnsley
Manager Bruce was backed heavily in the January transfer market, but Villa have received little for their money so far, with midfielder Conor Hourihane coming in for some criticism so far.
Irish midfielder Hourihane, 26, joined Villa from Barnsley last month, having smashed 32 goals in 131 games for the Tykes after a 2014 move from Plymouth Argyle.
Hourihane, who worked with manager Bruce at Sunderland, arrived with major hype having impressed for Barnsley this season, but has so far struggled to replicate those displays in a Villa shirt.
As he prepares to take on former club Barnsley this week, Hourihane has been defended by manager Bruce, claiming to the Birmingham Mail that he is convinced Hourihane will be a ‘good player’ for the club over time, and praised his delivery from set pieces.
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“He will be a good player,” said Bruce. “His set pieces are great and on Saturday, on three occasions really we should score. We don’t score enough, especially with the delivery, once or twice last week at Forest and then again at the weekend, we should be scoring and we haven’t,” he added.
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