Steven Gerrard assessment of Bertrand Traore looks bang on the money as Aston Villa attacker flops v Wolves
Although Steven Gerrard made many mistakes during his time in the Aston Villa dugout, his stance on Bertrand Traore is starting to look bang on the money.
The 27-year-old winger was a peripheral figure under the Liverpool legend, with Gerrard sanctioning his loan move to Istanbul last summer after a year of warming the substitutes bench and training with the Under-23s at times.
Traore recently opened up on the tough stint under the 42-year-old, revealing his disappointment that he wasn’t given a chance to feature for Aston Villa on a more regular basis before packing his bags for Turkey.
He said: “Some things I can’t control like injuries and other things. [Daily Record]
“Under the previous manager I was pulled out of the first-team squad and went training for two weeks with the under-23s before I went out on loan.
“It was really frustrating for me.”
And although Traore hit the ground running after his return in January, scoring the winner against Leicester City and netting again just a few days later in the victory over Nottingham Forest, he has failed to make any substantial impact since.
During the disappointing 1-0 loss to local rivals Wolves on Saturday (6 May), the Burkina Faso international was anonymous during his 45 minute showing, before being hooked by Emery for Leon Bailey at half-time.
The Villa number nine started in a front two alongside Ollie Watkins, but failed to provide his counterpart with any service, completing 0 dribbles, 0 key passes and failing to successfully find a teammate with a single cross. [WhoScored]
The fact that Traore registered a total expected assists (xA) of just 0.03 highlights how little impact he had in the final third and his lack of creativity before being substituted. [Sofascore]
When looking at the attacker’s longer-term numbers since returning to Villa Park in the winter window, things don’t get much better.
In his 226 minutes of Premier League football this season, Traore has managed to successfully complete a meagre one dribble and an even more damning one key pass.
The fact that during this time January recruit Álex Moreno has managed to record a far superior total of 21 key passes and 22 dribbles, is an indictment of just how badly Traore has struggled.
Although Moreno has racked over 1000 minutes of Premier League action since moving from Real Betis, the numbers still do the talking in regards to Traore.
With Unai Emery looking to build a squad capable of qualifying and competing in Europe, it is looking more and more obvious with every passing week that winger unfortunately can’t cut the mustard.
For all of Gerrard’s failings as Aston Villa manager, it seems he hit the nail on the head in his assessment of Traore.
In other Aston Villa news, the Villans have been backed to complete one major deal in the summer after an update from Fabrizio Romano.