The worldwide break seems to be coming at the absolute best time for Aston Villa, who succumbed to a fourth straight defeat in all competitions away at Liverpool this Saturday.

It wasn’t fairly the pasting they have been handed on their travels to Tottenham Hotspur, with Arne Slot’s Reds having to dig deep to beat Unai Emery’s males 2-0, nevertheless it was nonetheless a defeat on the finish of the day that leaves the low on confidence Villans in eighth spot within the Premier League, which is a worrying ten factors behind table-topping Liverpool.

There have been varied completely different Villa underperformers that did not step on top of things beneath the extraordinary lights of Anfield, as Emery makes an attempt to get extra out of his staff on the coaching floor between now and their subsequent Premier League conflict, realizing {that a} break could possibly be what his staff wishes.

Major Villa underperformers at Anfield

Earlier than he can get to work on this division, nevertheless, the stinging defeat versus Liverpool might be firmly on his thoughts, with the likes of Diego Carlos struggling on the again all through to comprise the hosts’ firepower up prime.

The Villa defence have been all at sea for Liverpool’s opening breakaway aim, which noticed Darwin Nunez fireplace house after Mohamed Salah rampaged ahead, however the game-deciding second strike from the Egyptian on the loss of life noticed the Brazilian centre-back inexplicably head it off the electrical quantity 11, who then ran by unchallenged to confidently seal the win.

Away from the defenders having a shaky evening, the attackers have been additionally below-par, with Morgan Rogers giving possession away a expensive 21 instances throughout the course of the sport.

Ollie Watkins additionally fired extra blanks for the away staff, because the normally potent 28-year-old’s barren patch in entrance of aim now stretches to 5 video games in all competitions, with the previous Exeter Metropolis wonderkid solely managing six correct passes away from lacking a single huge probability.

However, though Rogers and Watkins underwhelmed, they’ve shone for his or her staff this season away from this match in isolation.

Whereas, throughout the marketing campaign thus far, Leon Bailey retains mustering up weak performances and his outing at Liverpool sadly adopted that pattern.

Bailey’s efficiency in numbers

It could possibly be argued that Bailey was fortunate to not obtain a reserving within the build-up to Nunez’s opener, having hauled down Salah viciously earlier than the Uruguayan obtained the higher of Martinez.

Away from that contentious second, the Jamaica worldwide barely obtained into the competition, with solely 23 touches of the ball coming his approach. Even the aforementioned Martinez managed greater than that, with the busy Villa shot-stopper registering a heftier 36.

There are extra numbers, when wanting on the desk above, that additional reveal how passive Bailey was towards Slot’s hosts, with solely 11 correct passes coming his approach from an absence of touches, alongside solely managing one shot your entire sport earlier than being substituted simply after the hour mark.

Fortunately for Bailey, his alternative in Jaden Philogene-Bidace did not additionally flicker into life – because the ex-Hull Metropolis winger solely managed eight touches himself – however Emery might be trying to find higher options down the fitting flank away from the previous Bayer Leverkusen attacker in the course of the break to return.

After firing house ten objectives and choosing up 9 assists final season within the prime flight, it is laborious to not ponder why Bailey’s type has taken such a pointy and sudden decline, with zero objectives and two assists coming his approach this marketing campaign from ten Premier League clashes.

Handed a 5/10 match ranking after the sport by Birmingham Reside’s John Townley, with the journalist merely stating that the Villa quantity 31 is ‘struggling for confidence’, the time might now be proper for Bailey to be given a break from first-team duties, as Emery goes about reinvigorating his troops to bounce again from the sorry state they’re at the moment submerged in.

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