I've been trying to figure out who the one player is who I would compare our Connor to, who does the same kind of job for his club and yet gets adulation rather than criticism.
The name I came up with was Christian Eriksen.
Now before you laugh, look at their goals and assist stats over the past 3 seasons -
Hourihane -
2019/20 - 1 goals and 1 assist in 274 minutes
2018/19 - 8 goals and 11 assists in 3,318 minutes
2017/18 - 11 goals and 2 assists in 3,688 minutes
Eriksen -
2019/20 - 1 goal 1 assist in 515 minutes
2018/19 - 8 goals and 12 assists in 2,772 minutes
2017/18 - 10 goals and 10 assists in 3,226 minutes
Pretty similar overall. But bare in mind Eriksen is playing in a much better team who attack more often and is surrounded by much better players.
If you aren't convinced by simple goals/assists stats, then we can drill a little further -
Taking the last 3 seasons as a whole and averaging out............
Tackles per game -
Connor 1.47
Eriksen 1.33
Clearences per game -
Connor 1.2
Eriksen 0.4
Dribbled past per game -
Connor 0.87
Eriksen 1.07
Blocks per game -
Connor 0.1
Eriksen 0.03
Times dispossesed per game -
Connor 0.37
Eriksen 1.23
Bad Control per Game -
Connor 0.7
Eriksen 1.83
Pass Success Percentage -
Connor 86.53%
Eriksen 81.87%
Now I know you'll throw in the fact they were playing in different leagues but that's besides the point. I'm not saying Connor is better than Eriksen, I'm saying he is a similar type of player and assessing each players worth to their team.
You can't say all Connor does is score and assist but is useless for the other 85 minutes, as if you said that about him you'd have to say the same about Eriksen given the stats above. And I don't hear anyone saying that about Eriksen.
Fact is Connor is a very good player at the role he does.