A worrying verdict has now emerged on one Aston Villa player who is struggling to find his feet this season.
Aston Villa waved goodbye to their chances of winning the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night after losing 2-1 against Crystal Palace.
Unai Emery made 10 changes to the side that drew against Bournemouth and even left some of his key players out of the squad, including Ollie Watkins, Ezri Konsa and Morgan Rogers.
This handed the chance to some of Emery’s other first-team stars. Tyrone Mings and Boubacar Kamara, for instance, were brilliant on their returns to the starting XI but a similar narrative can’t be attributed to Leon Bailey.
Villa fans were critical of Bailey’s performance against Palace as he continues to look out of sorts, and he isn’t the only player suffering from a lack of form.
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Jaden Philogene handed worrying verdict after Crystal Palace loss
Jaden Philogene is still waiting for his Villa career to take off after returning to the club in a £13m move from Hull City.
Philogene was recently sent off in the win over Fulham, which meant he missed the draw against Bournemouth but he returned to the starting XI on Wednesday night.
The fleet-footed winger has shown glimpses of his talent, most notably in the win over Bayern Munich however, journalist Dan Bardell thinks he’s lacking confidence and ‘doesn’t look quite right’.
“Philogene was the other person I wanted talk about,” Bardell said on the 1874 podcast.
“He doesn’t look quite right to me and is it a lack of confidence, there seems to be a lack of doing what he was good at during his time at Hull. I want to see him drive with the ball a bit more and take people on. I don’t think I’m really seeing that at the moment.”
Jacob Tanswell, another Aston Villa expert, agreed with his podcast partner, and compared his attributes to Jadon Sancho: “Yeah, we said in the last podcast Dan that we felt he was playing within himself and there were flashes.
“In the first half he did a little flip flap, he did a one-two and had the shot. In small areas, tight areas he’s really good. He’s very similar to Jadon Sancho in terms of, he’s not going to beat you for sheer pace but he’s very good in tight areas, good at combining with the left back or closest midfielder. But you’re right, I think he does look a little bit unsure.”
Although the 22-year-old is yet to score for Villa this term, the supporters have to trust he will come good and exceed the talent he showed while at Hull.
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Jaden Philogene has a golden chance at Aston Villa
Emery is spoilt for choice when picking who to start in the wing positions, namely John McGinn, Jacob Ramsey, Bailey and Philogene as options, with Rogers also capable of playing there.
Following the defeat against Palace, Emery admitted that Bailey isn’t performing at the same level as 2023/24 where he registered 25 goal involvements in all competitions.
The 27-year-old has suffered from a couple of injury niggles and lost his way somewhat recently but it only feels a matter of time before he comes good once more.
A player of the Jamaican’s quality isn’t out of form for long, and the former Bayer Leverkusen star can nail the right wing spot down when he’s at his best.
Currently, though, that isn’t the case, and this could hand Philogene a golden opportunity to showcase his talent and earn regular minutes.
Villa fans are crying out to see the flair he produced while at Hull but of course, against much better players, he’s struggled to replicate those match-winning displays.
