Aston Villa are certainly struggling to get going this season. The club cannot find any consistency and needed a late free-kick from Conor Hourihane to escape a loss to Blackburn Rovers at the weekend.
Plenty of the players are underachieving and there is certainly some doom and gloom hovering above Villa Park.
So finding reasons to be cheerful is something Aston Villa fans should relish. One such reason is the form of one of their talented youngsters.
Mitch Clark is having a great time at Port Vale this season. The 19-year-old has become a regular for the League Two side, impressing the fans at Vale Park with his displays.
The teenager is now one of the first names on the team sheet for Neil Aspin. That is regardless of where he is playing. The versatile defender has played at left-back, left wing-back and right wing-back as well as his preferred and usual right-back position. He can also play at centre-back but has not played there for his loan club…yet.
Aston Villa have developed a lot of talented youngsters in recent times. However, sometimes it feels as though they have let them go too early. That has been proven with good Championship form for the likes of Callum Robinson, Graham Burke and Daniel Johnson – all of whom find themselves at Preston North End.
Clark, a Welsh youth international, is looking every bit like a player who could have a genuine first-team chance at Aston Villa in the years to come.
Hopefully, it will not be wasted.