View: Unai Emery must flip around his Aston Villa attack and deploy Leon Bailey on the left
Unai Emery must reconsider Leon Bailey’s tactical positioning in his Aston Villa side following yet another underwhelming performance on the right wing in the FA Cup.
The Villans capitulated in the dying stages of the third-round encounter against Stevenage (Sunday 8 January) after taking a first-half lead through Morgan Sanson – who netted his first goal in claret and blue.
An 88th-minute penalty from Jamie Read drew the Boro level before some comical defending at an injury-time corner awarded Dean Campbell the opportunity to lash home an historic winner.
Throughout the tie, Emery’s side dominated possession but struggled to break through a resolute and compact Stevenage defence. Bailey started on the right side of a front two with Danny Ings but was ineffective as he constantly looked to cut back onto his favoured left foot to no avail.
What Villa needed was an attacker who would stretch the lower league opposition and run in behind their defence, but because of his lack of a right foot, the Jamaican winger was unable to do this.
Instead, the 25-year-old would do the hard yards, run beyond Steve Evans’ side, but bring them back into the game by cutting back and shifting the ball onto his left foot.
Time after time, Villa’s attacks lost all momentum because of Bailey, who ironically is the team’s quickest and most dangerous attacker when at his free-flowing best.
A shift to the left wing would be a simple way of releasing the attacker from his self-imposed shackles and, in turn, allow him to demonstrate the raw pace he possesses. Alongside the equally speedy Ollie Watkins, Emery could transform his side’s sometimes turgid-looking attack into a front two whom Premier League defenders will go to bed having nightmares about.
The last thing defenders want to see on a weekly basis is Bailey running at them in a one-on-one situation, getting to the byline and whipping dangerous crosses into the box.
If Emery has the whereabouts to flip his attack around, it could help the ex-Bayer Leverkusen winger get out of cruise control and finally hit top gear in a claret and blue shirt.
In other Aston Villa news, Dan Bardell has had his say on the investment in the facilities at the club.