Troy Deeney slams Ross Barkley in Aston Villa win v Wycombe as shock stats emerge
Aston Villa narrowly managed to scrape past League One side Wycombe Wanderers after a 2-1 win in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday (24 September).
The Villans have found themselves in the Champions League this season and, while the Carabao Cup won’t be at the top of their list of priorities, it could be their most realistic chance at silverware this term.
So, it came as a bit of a shock to see the Villans perform as poorly as they did against Matt Bloomfield’s men.
While none of Unai Emery’s players had stand-out performances, Ross Barkley and Jhon Duran both had particularly poor showings despite the former playing the entirety of the game.
Speaking live on talkSPORT (24 September, 20:47 pm) at half-time of the Villa game, Deeney singled out three of Villa’s players and said Emery would’ve been “disappointed” with their performances, which was proved right by the end of the clash.
“As the game got a little bit longer and went more into Wycombe’s favour, it felt like the Aston Villa players were looking ahead to next week and thinking let’s not get injured,” Deeney said.
“I’m pretty sure Unai Emery will get into a lot of his players and will be disappointed with the likes of Duran, Leon Bailey and possibly Ross Barkley.
“[They’re] not getting a hold of this game as they should do”.
Ross Barkley needs to step up his Aston Villa form
Since arriving from Luton Town during the summer, Barkley has been on the periphery of Emery’s starting line-up.
Granted, Villa are stacked in the midfield department at the moment and it would be impossible for everyone to play. But since he was called upon to replace the injured John McGinn, you’d have expected the former Everton man to have done better.
As per Sofascore, the midfielder made a total of 83 touches during his time on the pitch and managed an 87 per cent pass accuracy. Three of those passes were classed as ‘key’ but that still doesn’t excuse his general poor showing on the ball.
He only managed to attempt one dribble throughout the game – and he didn’t even complete it successfully.
Defensively, the former Luton Town man seemed to be even more of a calamity. He failed to win the only ground duel he was involved in and won just 57 per cent of the aerial duels he contested.
To make matters worse, he even lost possession of the ball 13 times, which shows just how wasteful he was when playing against a team in the third tier.
Although his performance wasn’t the be-all and end-all, it’s unlikely that Emery will entrust the midfielder to start a Premier League game when he can’t even hold his own against Wycombe.
In other Aston Villa news, the Villans have been handed a Champions League boost after fresh PSR update.
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