Barkley has made Emery’s mind up after what happened in Aston Villa v Brentford
Ross Barkley failed to impress as a substitute on Wednesday as Aston Villa secured a 3-1 win over Brentford.
Villa’s win against Brentford on 4 December ended their eight-game winless run with Barkley named on the bench.
Unai Emery’s side were 3-1 up when the Spaniard opted to introduce Barkley to the game in the 72nd minute but his cameo didn’t live up to expectations.
His poor showing will have made up the mind of Emery ahead of their next encounter against Southampton on 7 December.
Ross Barkley disappoints for Aston Villa against Brentford
Barkley is a player who possesses the necessary attributes to thrive in English football but almost none of those were on show against Brentford.
Despite only playing 19 minutes, he was comfortably the most disappointing player for the Villans.
According to FotMob, Barkley completed only 75 per cent of his passes, with just nine of his attempted 12 reaching the desired destination.
His composure is usually one of his key skills but a lack of that was on show on Wednesday with a failure to complete a single long pass in the encounter.
A 0 per cent dribble success rate hindered Villa’s ability to get the ball up the pitch on the transition and added extra pressure on the backline with Brentford coming straight back at them.
Barkley failed to showcase his physicality throughout the clash either, failing to win the only defensive duel he was involved in.
His one shot of the game was blocked, with an xG (expected goals) of just 0.03, demonstrating the lack of threat he offered going froward.
There is no doubt Barkley will have a role to play for Villa, but his performance against Brentford has surely eradicated any questions as to whether he could start against the Saints on Saturday.
In other Aston Villa news, Unai Emery has to break the mould and start Jhon Duran after what he did against Brentford.
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