Aston Villa podcaster Chris Dolan has been sharing his thoughts on Villa midfielder Ross Barkley and his current form for the club.
This comes after Dolan recently made an appearance on The Villa View Podcast where he reflected on Villa’s recent 0-0 draw against Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League.
On the topic of Barkley, who started the match against Graham Potter’s side, Dolan had this to say about him and his performance.
He said: “He’s not looked himself since he’s been back. He hasn’t been himself. There’s no doubt, the guy’s been around the game long enough and he’ll know himself he’s not up to it but that’s probably why the frustration is there because he knows deep down, he’s not been playing well and he knows he’s being taken off because he hasn’t played well.”
Villa signed Barkley on a season-long loan deal from fellow Premier League side Chelsea. Since then, the 27-year-old, who is currently valued at £19.35 million has made 13 appearances for Dean Smith’s side in the Premier League, scoring three goals and providing one assist along the way (per Transfermarkt).
TIF Thoughts on Chris Dolan’s comments on Barkley…
Given how Barkley earned himself an underwhelming match rating of 6.4/10 for his performance against Brighton, this backs up why Dolan thinks the Englishman wasn’t at his best during the game at the Amex Stadium.
Do you think Barkley has been disappointing since he returned from his injury?
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Also, as Dolan pointed out Barkley’s frustration, this was shown after the midfielder kicked a water bottle on the touchline at Villa Park after being substituted during the second half of their 1-0 win over Arsenal last weekend.
In our view, we agree with Dolan’s point that this frustration from Barkley could be down to the fact that he feels he hasn’t been performing well and only playing a full 90 minutes once since he returned from a hamstring injury earlier in the season.