After clinching an impressive away victory at Leeds United at the weekend, Aston Villa suffered a hugely disappointing defeat against Sheffield United on Wednesday night.

Dean Smith's side boasted an incredible 72% possession, but could only manage a measly four shots on target in the entire 90 minutes, with Aaron Ramsdale rarely tested.

One man who will surely have the Villa boss worried, is Ahmed Elmohamady.

The veteran full-back has been in the team lately due to Matty Cash being out injured, and after being criticised by Smith for his role in the defeat to Leicester City, looked out of sorts once again on Wednesday.

He lost possession a whopping 20 times over the course of the game, almost double that of his season average of 10.6 per match in the Premier League this season.

The £45k-a-week earning Elmohamady was incredibly wasteful with his deliveries into the box, failing to find the target with any of the six crosses that he attempted, while he didn't manage a single successful dribble either - a complete non-entity going forward.

Writing in his post-match player ratings, The Birmingham Mail's Ashley Preece said: "Endured a really slow start and was poor throughout the first half, which encapsulated with a series of under-hit passes with one putting McGinn in trouble as McGoldrick scythed him down. Lacked any kind of belief tonight and was given a few ticking offs by Konsa next to him for the lack of an out-ball. Grew more comfortable as United defended what they had after going down to 10 men.

"However, on this showing, you'd say Matty Cash will have his starting shirt back once he's back fit again. It was Elmohamady who fell asleep at the back post for McGoldrick's match-winner, don't forget. That was a lapse in concentration which mirrored his display against Leicester. Not at the races tonight."

With Cash still out injured, and no real senior option that can play at right-back other than the Egyptian, Smith will surely be worried about that flank going forward, especially given how Elmohamady has already made some big mistakes over the past couple of games already.

Meanwhile, Dean Smith must make a ruthless call on this star...