Aston Villa's Ron Vlaar jumps to defence of Leandro Bacuna

Aston Villa captain Ron Vlaar has given his backing to teammate Leandro Bacuna after the right-back came under recent criticism.

The 22-year-old came under fire following Villa's 4-1 defeat to Stoke City on March 23.

Bacuna was also at fault for giving away a penalty in his side's loss to Manchester United last weekend.

"He is doing really well," the Birmingham Mail quotes Vlaar as saying. "It's not easy, I know that myself, and he's not even a right full-back originally. He is improving, doing good work and sometimes you have a less good game."

The Midlands outfit are currently 12th in the Premier League table with seven games left to play.