Aston Villa: Unai Emery must drag off Leon Bailey at half-time v Middlesbrough, he’s looked lost
Unai Emery may well be tempted to drag off Aston Villa forward Leon Bailey at half-time after an anonymous 45 minutes against Middlesbrough.
The Villans were looking to seal their first FA Cup victory in eight years when they travelled to the Riverside Stadium to take Michael Carrick’s men on Saturday afternoon (6 January).
Emery made five changes for the game resting the likes of Ollie Watkins and Douglas Luiz in a potentially surprise risk given the threat Middlesbrough pose in attack.
And Aston Villa certainly grabbed control in the opening stages, creating some promising goalscoring scenarios with some lovely fluid football.
Jhon Duran, one of the most notable changes, replacing Watkins for the game forced Middlesbrough goalkeeper Tom Glover into a relatively comfortable save after a stinging shot from the angle.
The Villans looked fairly comfortable all half against the Teeside outfield but failed to muster up any real serious chances of their own and that was largely down to the disappointing first-half display of Bailey.
The Jamaican international has enjoyed a tremendous run of form in recent weeks at Villa, registering three goals and two assists in his last seven appearances in the Premier League [SofaScore].
As a result of his form, there has been talk of a new deal at the club with his contract expiring in 2025.
According to Jacob Tanswell (4 January), Bailey is set for new contract talks with Emery’s side to extend his stay in the midlands as he enters the final two years of his current Aston Villa contract.
Bailey has averaged just 48 minutes per game so far this season [Sofascore], with eight starts and ten substitute appearances, and has an average of one goal contribution every 78.5 minutes in an Aston Villa shirt from his combined tally of 11 goals and assists.
There’s no denying the former Bayer Leverkusen has emerged as one of Emery’s most devastating influences in attack over the last few weeks but he looked a shadow of that in the first 45 minutes.
As per SofaScore, Bailey failed to complete 100% of his dribble attempts, only won one of his six total duels registering an 84% losing rate, failed to record a single shot on target or off target, failed to complete any of his three cross attempts and dribbled past once in an unconvincing first-half display where he’s looked strange lost in attack.
The Jamaican was also needlessly handed a yellow card for dissent, protesting he should have had a foul after falling to the ground so easily after a duel with Middlesbrough left-back Alex Bangura.
There were several instances where Emery was looking dejected on the touchline and with the Spaniard desperate to break the FA Cup curse for his team at the Riverside, Bailey is in danger of being hooked off at half-time with Watkins and Moussa Diaby waiting for their chance on the bench.
In other Aston Villa news, a BBC pundit has waxed lyrical over a first-team player and has dubbed him “Phenomenal” after what he did recently.