The international break looks to be coming at the best possible time for Aston Villa, who succumbed to a fourth straight defeat in all competitions away at Liverpool this Saturday.
It wasn’t quite the pasting they were handed on their travels to Tottenham Hotspur, with Arne Slot’s Reds having to dig deep to overcome Unai Emery’s men 2-0, but it was still a defeat at the end of the day that leaves the low on confidence Villans in eighth spot in the Premier League, which is a worrying ten points behind table-topping Liverpool.
There were various different Villa underperformers that failed to step up to the mark under the intense lights of Anfield, as Emery attempts to get more out of his team on the training ground between now and their next Premier League clash, knowing that a break could be what his team desires.
Main Villa underperformers at Anfield
Before he can get to work in this department, however, the stinging defeat versus Liverpool will be firmly on his mind, with the likes of Diego Carlos struggling at the back throughout to contain the hosts’ firepower up top.
The Villa defence were all at sea for Liverpool’s opening breakaway goal, which saw Darwin Nunez fire home after Mohamed Salah rampaged forward, but the game-deciding second strike from the Egyptian at the death saw the Brazilian centre-back inexplicably head it off the electric number 11, who then ran through unchallenged to confidently seal the win.
Away from the defenders having a shaky night, the attackers were also below-par, with Morgan Rogers giving possession away a costly 21 times across the course of the game.
Ollie Watkins also fired more blanks for the away team, as the usually potent 28-year-old’s barren patch in front of goal now stretches to five games in all competitions, with the former Exeter City wonderkid only managing six accurate passes away from missing a single big chance.
But, although Rogers and Watkins underwhelmed, they have shone for their team this season away from this match in isolation.
Whereas, across the campaign to date, Leon Bailey keeps mustering up weak performances and his outing at Liverpool unfortunately followed that trend.
Bailey’s performance in numbers
It could be argued that Bailey was lucky not to receive a booking in the build-up to Nunez’s opener, having hauled down Salah viciously before the Uruguayan got the better of Martinez.
Away from that contentious moment, the Jamaica international barely got into the contest, with only 23 touches of the ball coming his way. Even the aforementioned Martinez managed more than that, with the busy Villa shot-stopper registering a heftier 36.
Bailey’s performance in numbers | |
|---|---|
Stat | Bailey |
Minutes played | 65 |
Goals scored | 0 |
Assists | 0 |
Touches | 23 |
Accurate passes | 11/15 (73%) |
Key passes | 0 |
Accurate crosses | 0/1 |
Shots | 1 |
Duels won | 1/4 |
Stats by Sofascore | |
There are more numbers, when looking at the table above, that further demonstrate how passive Bailey was against Slot’s hosts, with only 11 accurate passes coming his way from a lack of touches, alongside only managing one shot the entire game before being substituted just after the hour mark.
Thankfully for Bailey, his replacement in Jaden Philogene-Bidace failed to also flicker into life – as the ex-Hull City winger only managed eight touches himself – but Emery will be searching for better alternatives down the right flank away from the former Bayer Leverkusen attacker during the break to come.
After firing home ten goals and picking up nine assists last season in the top flight, it’s hard to not ponder why Bailey’s form has taken such a sharp and sudden decline, with zero goals and two assists coming his way this campaign from ten Premier League clashes.
Handed a 5/10 match rating after the game by Birmingham Live’s John Townley, with the journalist simply stating that the Villa number 31 is ‘struggling for confidence’, the time could now be right for Bailey to be given a break from first-team duties, as Emery goes about reinvigorating his troops to bounce back from the sorry state they’re currently submerged in.
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