With 15 minutes remaining, it looked as though Aston Villa were heading for their fifth consecutive defeat in all competitions.
Ross Barkley saved the day, however, scoring the equaliser against Crystal Palace with just 13 minutes left and this could be the catalyst for the club to put this poor run of form behind them and look forward.
Unai Emery won’t be panicking just yet, but his team need to return to the sort of form which saw them defeat Bayern Munich just a couple of months ago.
Aston Villa’s best and worst performers against Palace
Ollie Watkins looked lively leading the line, scoring Villa’s first goal while also registering five shots in total during the clash.
On the left wing, John McGinn was also impressive, making three key passes, having an 88% pass success rate and creating two big chances before being subbed off for Jhon Duran, who failed to really make much of an impact.
On the opposite flank, Leon Bailey continued his lacklustre form as he failed to deliver a single accurate cross from four attempts, failed with all of his four dribble attempts and lost possession a staggering 18 times during his 82 minutes on the pitch.
It was Diego Carlos who also delivered yet another poor performance for the club and Emery should be looking to drop him to the bench for their next game, no doubt about that.
Diego Carlos’ game in numbers vs Crystal Palace
The Brazilian had started eight games this term prior to the visit of Palace, but Villa conceded nine goals in those matches.
Against the Eagles, Carlos may have looked bright on the ball, completing 90% of his passes while taking 102 touches of the ball throughout the clash. That said, he was susceptible during his one-on-one battles with opposition players.
Stat
Highest Ranking
Highest pass accuracy
Emiliano Martínez (94%)
Ground duels won
Will Hughes (7)
Most successful dribbles
Ross Barkley (3)
Most key passes
John McGinn & Youri Tielemans (3)
Most shots on target
Ismaila Sarr (3)
Most tackles
Will Hughes (6)
Indeed, the 31-year-old won just two of the four duels he contested, while the centre-back also managed to lose possession ten times and made zero tackles.
It is no wonder the club conceded twice and Emery was clearly missing the presence of Ezri Konsa, or even Tyrone Mings, against Oliver Glasner’s men.
Journalist John Townley gave the defender a match rating of just 5/10 for his display on Saturday afternoon, not holding back with his criticism of the player, saying ‘Carlos let Mateta wander in the middle of the pitch to collect the ball and play Sarr through on goal. He was booked for fouling Mateta on the hour mark. Villa lack leadership at the back when Ezri Konsa isn’t on the pitch’
With a clash against Juventus coming up in midweek, Emery must get his defence sorted out, otherwise it could be a long evening against the Serie A side.
Chalkboard
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His first change should be dropping Carlos for someone who is more competent at the heart of the defence and this is an area which the manager must strengthen when the January transfer window opens in a few weeks.
If not, the Midlands side will struggle to crack the top four of the Premier League for the second year in a row. That’s a certainty.
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