Unai Emery has publicly admitted that one Aston Villa player has dropped his levels compared to last season. The Villans were in Carabao Cup action this week as they were knocked out of the competition courtesy of a 2-1 defeat to Crystal Palace.
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The Carabao Cup represented an opportunity for Villa to end their trophy drought, but Emery’s decision to make changes to the starting XI backfired as they failed to make it to the last eight.
After the game, Emery was asked about his decision to change the team, but the Spaniard stuck by his decision: “We started with 11 players in the first-team squad. We started with Tyrone Mings and Diego Carlos; they can play in the starting XI playing against Bayern Munich.
“We started with [Ian] Maatsen and Kosta [Nedeljkovic]. We started with [Boubacar] Kamara, with John McGinn, Leon Bailey, Jaden Philogene, Jhon Duran, and [Emiliano] Buendia. I don’t know if I can have some regret.
“We are with our way, building the team, building the structure. Today we competed, but we lost. Of course, I am disappointed and frustrated, but we competed with the players to get the performance. If I am repeating this match 100 times, I am playing with the same players.”
While Emery stands by the decision to make changes to his starting XI, he was also quite vocal about one Villa individual after the game, stating his levels now are not what they were this time last season.
Unai Emery not impressed by Aston Villa star
As reported by Jacob Tanswell, speaking after Villa’s 2-1 defeat to Crystal Palace, Unai Emery gave an honest assessment of the performances of Leon Bailey. The 27-year-old joined the Midlands side back in August 2021 from Bayer Leverkusen and has been a key individual for them since, with last season being his best in a Villa shirt.
Bailey, who is on a weekly wage of £120,000 at Villa Park, scored 10 goals and recorded nine assists in 35 Premier League games last season, as he played a very important role in the club reaching the Champions League.
The Jamaica international has struggled to make the same impact in this 2024/25 campaign, as he’s yet to get on the scoresheet in the league.
2023/24
2024/25
Goals per 90
0.44
0.00
Assists per 90
0.39
0.42
xG per 90
0.27
0.08
xA per 90
0.40
0.21
Bailey has featured in eight of Villa’s nine Premier League games this season, starting six, and his only contributions going forward have been two assists, which he got against Ipswich Town and most recently against AFC Bournemouth. This time last season, Bailey had three goals and one assist to his name after the same number of league games.