‘Good Pace’ – Aston Villa And Tottenham Loan Stars Get Preston Boss Praise | OneFootball

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Preston North End manager Paul Heckingbottom has praised Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur loan stars Lewis Dobbin and Alfie Devine as bright players.

In the summer, Preston brought in players on loan from Premier League giants and among their recruits, Dobbin and Devine have been standout players.

Heckingbottom admitted previously that he loves Spurs loanee Devine’s creativity and composure and the 21-year-old attacking midfielder is also loving his time at Preston.

Villa winger Dobbin is also having a brilliant season with Preston, as he has seven goals and six assists under his belt in 32 league games and the Preston boss changed his position to deploy him as a centre forward to utilise his attacking abilities this season.

On Friday night, Preston took on Stoke City at Deepdale and with the help of Dobbin and Devine ended their seven-game winless streak with a 3-1 win, with the Spurs star registering his name twice on the scoresheet.

Dobbin played a key part in Devine’s first goal and Heckingbottom praised the 21-year-old Spurs star for his pace and composure.

He also revealed that at half-time his staff showed a clip regarding set pieces to his players and stated that Devine and Dobbin followed their instructions to help Milutin Osmajic score the second goal.

“You always want to set up to defend strongly and positively against opposition but also carry a threat going the other way and it is always important, the second one”, Heckingbottom told Preston North End’s in-house media.

“Dobbo did brilliantly, keeping that alive, then Alfie was positive with the run and break and showed good pace and composure to score.

“The second one, we showed a clip at half-time about the space when we set up for free kicks down the side and I think Alfie plays Dobbo here, so we are delighted with that because that shows players listening, which is great and sometimes I am critical of that.

“They are two bright players and a good header from Mili.”

Devine’s goalscoring tally went up to eight after his brace against Stoke City and the Tottenham talent is highly rated by the north London outfit.

While Tottenham are fighting to keep their Premier League status intact, Aston Villa are striving to finish as high as possible in the league table while securing Champions League football.

If Tottenham are relegated then they could well want to rely on Devine’s Championship experience as they bid to bounce straight back up.