Aston Villa attacker Leon Bailey unlikely to start v Sheffield United
Aston Villa attacker Leon Bailey was ineffective off the bench against Brentford over the weekend and did very little to justify his case for the Sheffield United clash.
Unai Emery brought the Jamaica international on in the final 25 minutes of the game with the Villans chasing a result, which they eventually managed to get.
They won the game 2-1 and Bailey provided an assist but there were aspects of his performance that Emery will not have been overly pleased about.
To be a starter, a wide player has to check certain boxes otherwise, he will not be seen as anything more than an impact player by Emery.
According to Sofascore, Bailey was erratic with his passes, completing just 67 per cent of them – which is very low considering that Brentford prefer sitting deep.
He was also successful with none of his three attempted dribbles – a zero per cent success rate.
He even lost three out of his attempted four ground duels and his errors could’ve proven costly against a side better at capitalising on it.
Touching the ball 19 times, he managed to lose possession nine times and such carelessness is going to prove costly more often than not.
Speaking on the Kelly and Wrighty Show, Wright said (4 December, 14:33), “Leon Bailey, saw him the other day, looked unbelievable,” and he’s certainly got to maintain those levels of consistency if he is to be starting week in and week out for the Villans.
It remains to be seen what Emery ends up doing when the Blades visit Villa Park on Friday, 22 December in the Premier League.
In other Aston Villa news, Ian Wright has waxed lyrical over a first-team player and has dubbed him “fantastic” after what he did recently.