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Aston Villa: Dan Bardell criticises Bertrand Traore

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Aston Villa podcaster and journalist Dan Bardell has been sharing his thoughts on Villa winger Bertrand Traore and his recent run of form for the Midlands club. 

This comes after Bardell hosted a recent episode of The Villa View Podcast where he spoke about a range of topics concerning Dean Smith’s side, including their recent 2-1 defeat against Liverpool at Anfield.

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First up in this Gareth Barry quiz, which club did Villa sign the midfielder from?

On the subject of Traore, who started the game against Jurgen Klopp’s side but was substituted in the second half to make way for Anwar El Ghazi, Bardell had this to say about the winger’s performance at Anfield.

He said: “He’s bang off it at the moment, Traore.

“There was a period where I thought this guy’s brilliant, what a signing, he looks great, but he’s suddenly just become so inconsistent.

“He got his assist against Fulham and I thought right here we go, that might give him a little bit of a lift-off again, but [he was] just completely ordinary and just not really offering us anything at times on the flanks.”

Villa signed Traore back in the previous summer transfer window from French club Olympique Lyon for a fee of £16.56 million.

Since arriving at Villa Park, the 25-year-old, who is currently valued at £14.4 million, has made 28 appearances for Villa in the Premier League, scoring five goals and providing four assists in the process (per Transfermarkt).

TIF Thoughts on Dan Bardell’s comments on Traore and his recent form for Villa…

In terms of his performance against Liverpool, Traore only managed to earn himself a match rating of 6.58/10, making him the eighth-highest rated Villa player on the day whilst failing to have a single shot on target before leaving the pitch (per WhoScored).

Have you been disappointed by Traore's form recently?

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Looking at his recent form on a wider scale, Traore failed to score a goal or provide an assist in his five previous league appearances prior to the Fulham game where he grabbed an assist as Bardell mentioned in the podcast, which suggests that he has not been particularly effective in an attacking sense for Villa in recent weeks.

In our view, with Jack Grealish still out injured and now with Trezeguet picking up an injury in the game against Liverpool, Smith is running out of options on the wing and so Traore will have to try and turn his form around at every opportunity he gets from now until the end of the season.

In other news: ‘I don’t see him being a starter next year’ – Gregg Evans drops big claim on 26 y/o AVFC star

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