Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has revealed how he is constantly challenging Leon Bailey to rediscover his best form after a difficult start to the season.
The 27-year-old was a fundamental figure for us last season as he bagged 14 goals and 14 assists in 52 appearances across all competitions, but he’s found it hard to replicate that to start the new campaign amid ongoing fitness issues too.
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Although the Jamaican international has started to contribute assists in his last two games, he’s still without a goal in 12 games and it’s clear that he’s not his usual confident self when dribbling with the ball, and as a result, we’ve lacked the usual dynamism and attacking threat that he poses so effectively down the right wing.
Bailey himself conceded last week that he knows that he’s nowhere near his best but he is continuing to work tirelessly to try and get back to that level, and Emery has touched upon that subject this week too as he insisted that is demanding and challenging Bailey to rediscover his confidence and form as he is a vital part of his plans.
“Every day I am speaking with him about it [his form],” he is quoted as saying by BirminghamLive. “Of course, I am very, very demanding with him. He is accepting my challenge to get of him the best, like he did last year. We need him. For us he is very important and he is working to recover in everything: confidence, getting minutes and getting a good feeling. Get back to the confidence he played with last year, or two years ago as well, in some moments.
“Leon Bailey is a very specific player for us as a winger, to play on the right wing, threatening in behind and we will need him. Hopefully he will recover as soon as possible, but I think he played on Wednesday and he did good minutes.
“He is aware of how the distance [to improve] he has himself, how he was playing in November, December, January, he was playing his best moment. Now he needs to recover this performance, but we are trying to support and help to him to make him feel comfortable in our structure again.”
There is every confidence that Bailey eventually becomes a more decisive figure for us again, as with the elite-level coaching from Emery and his staff coupled with the Villa winger’s talent and ability, he will start to improve in the final third and make an important impact to further balance our attack.
Fortunately, we have the quality and depth in the squad now that sees others step up and deliver when their teammates are perhaps struggling, but with plenty of football still to be played as we try to compete across multiple fronts, Bailey will no doubt be a critical piece of the puzzle in the coming weeks and months.
The expectation is that he’ll be on the bench for our encounter with Tottenham on Sunday, and so hopefully that could be an opportunity for him to come on and impact the game positively to not only get himself back on track, but to at least continue to find ways to help the team get the desired results.
