Aston Villa are back in action this weekend with an away clash against Leeds United on Sunday.
The Villans’ previous league outing saw them secure a 1-0 win over Southampton prior to the recent international break thanks to a goal from Jacob Ramsey.
In terms of what Steven Gerrard’s starting XI could look like to take on the Whites, one figure that we feel should be taken out of the team on this occasion is Leon Bailey.
During the win over Southampton, the winger had 44 touches of the ball in total before being substituted off in the 67th minute.
During his time on the pitch, the Jamaican managed to lose possession of the ball 25 times in total and ended up losing 16 of the 22 duels he was involved in.
As well as failing to have even one clear shot at goal, the 25-year-old failed to complete four of the five dribbles he attempted and even got dribbled past on two occasions by the opposition.
This display ultimately earned Bailey a rather disappointing overall match rating of 5.7/10 from SofaScore, making him the lowest-rated Villa player on the day.
Having made 26 appearances for the Midlands club, the attacker has only found the net on three occasions and supplied just three assists since arriving from Bayer Leverkusen in 2021 for a fee of £25m.
Back in April, Villa journalist, Mat Kendrick, labelled Bailey as the most “disappointing” signing from the 2021 summer transfer window.
This and the Southampton performance suggests to us that he is becoming a bit of a liability for the side in an attacking sense and not someone that Gerrard can rely on.
With all of that in mind, we feel it would be best for the Villa boss to put the winger on the bench this weekend and see if he can have a better impact coming on as a substitute if needed.
