Unai Emery cannot start Aston Villa star Leon Bailey v Tottenham after wasteful international display
Leon Bailey has had a strange start to the season for Aston Villa, with the Jamaican impressing in a number of cameo appearances but struggling to hold down a starting place.
The 26-year-old has started just two Premier League matches this term, scoring three and assisting on a further three occasions for Unai Emery’s side as they sit fifth in the table and one point away from the Champions League places.
Many had suggested that Bailey was deserving of a start against Tottenham on Sunday (26 November) after it was revealed that no player had contributed to goals more regularly in the opening 12 matches of the league campaign. But a wasteful evening for Jamaica may well have thrown some doubt into Emery’s thinking.
The Aston Villa winger started Jamaica’s 3-2 win over Canada on Wednesday (22 November) partnering Demari Gray in attack but struggled to have a genuine impact on the clash as he spurned several decent chances.
Before he was substituted in the 89th minute, the 26-year-old missed two big chances, firstly aiming his effort straight at Milan Borjan in the Canadian goal from 10 yards before hitting the crossbar from inside the penalty area early in the second half [Sofascore].
Bailey only had 32 touches in the match, completing an incredibly low 15 passes with a completion rate of 83.3 per cent. Of those 15 attempts, only two were into the final third of the pitch and the Villa star didn’t attempt a single cross.
One of those efforts did create a chance for a teammate, but that was Bailey’s only key pass in the game as he instead looked to dribble with the ball. Worryingly, the Jamaican international only completed three of his six attempted dribbles as he was dispossessed three times.
Although he was deployed as more of a centre-forward than he typically is at Villa Park, the 26-year-old barely got involved defensively, failing to attempt a single tackle in the match and his nine duels lost was the most of any player for either side.
Despite losing 69 per cent of his ground duels and not entering a single tackle, Bailey still managed to give away two free-kicks as he needlessly fouled Canadian players to put the pressure back on the Reggae Boyz.
This wastefulness in the final third has been a regular issue for the Aston Villa man, who has underperformed his xG over the last year. Bailey sits in the 35th percentile of Europe’s forward’s for non-penalty xG per game (an already low figure) and places even lower for non-penalty goals per game in the 28th percentile [Fbref].
Only 24.4 per cent of Bailey’s shots in the last year have hit the target in the last year and if he wants to play regularly in Emery’s frontline at Villa Park, he has to start testing the goalkeepers regularly with his efforts.
Another wasteful display on the international stage may well see Emery decide to leave the Jamaican on the bench for the clash with Spurs.
In other Aston Villa news, Nicolo Zaniolo may have earned back his starting role after his 100 per cent display for Italy