Aston Villa podcaster Chris Budd has been sharing his disappointment over Ross Barkley and his latest performance for the Birmingham club in their recent 2-1 defeat against Leicester City in the Premier League.
This comes after Budd recently made an appearance on Villa-themed podcast My Old Man Said where he spoke about a number of topics concerning Dean Smith’s side.
On the subject of Barkley, who started the game at Villa Park and then substituted in the second half, Budd had this to say about the Englishman. (28.54)
He said: “I also think that for the first time the fans have been picking up on the Barkley performance thing, really since he came back into the team, which obviously, we’re watching him a lot more but for the first time you saw [against Leicester], the pundits mentioned it as well, but with Jack [Grealish] out Barkley has to be, in terms of age and the level he’s played, he has to be this the senior player and he simply wasn’t.
“You could expect somebody of his age, his experience, his pedigree, etc to at least try to take the game by the scruff of the neck and go ‘right, I need to be the main man today,’ and he didn’t stand up.”
Villa signed the midfield man on a season-long loan from fellow Premier League side Chelsea. Since arriving at Villa Park, the 27-year-old, who is currently valued at £19.35 million, has made 14 appearances for Villa in the Premier League, in which he has managed to score three goals and provide one assist along the way (per Transfermarkt).
TIF Thoughts on Chris Budd’s comments on Barkley…
Taking into account how Barkley failed to make a shot or a key pass in the game against Leicester and ultimately earn himself an underwhelming match rating of 6.45/10, it’s hard to disagree with Budd’s comments that Barkley failed to make an impact in this latest match.
Do you think Barkley should be dropped from the team?
Yes
No
In our view, Barkley will need to start putting in some solid performances for the club if he wants to keep his place in the team moving forward.