Damning Villa stat shows how we’re struggling

It’s been a bit quiet on the ol’ stat front recently, but the team at AVFC Stats have shared this one with the wider world, and it doesn’t make for encouraging reading:

‘Only 8/98 teams in Europe’s top 5 leagues (PL, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1) have a worse shot accuracy than Villa (27%) thus far’

Goals have been a problem at Villa for a while now, and after we averaged less than a goal per game last season, we’re off to a similar start this season. In seven games to date we’ve managed six goals, and it’s a bit concerning when you consider we haven’t faced any of the league’s true elite to date. On the flip side of that at least we look like we might score this year, and we continue to create clear cut chances in the majority of games we’ve played.

We’ve discussed the strikers at the club a great deal, and here is a list of the five players at the club who have the most shots on goal per game:

Christian Benteke: 3.8 SpG (Shots per game)
Darren Bent: 2.4
Andreas Weimann: 2
Stephen Ireland: 1.5
Brett Holman: 1.3

On the face of it those stats are pretty encouraging, with three strikers topping the list, and two attacking midfielders rounding off the top five. It shows we are creating, as does the 13 shots average we have on goal per game. The fact that only 4 of these hit the target on average is the concern though, and when coupled with the stat at the top of the page highlights the fact that simply put, we’re a side that struggles to score goals.

We’ve missed some sitters already this season, and hopefully we improve on that aspect soon enough. You have to take gilt-edged chances in the Premier League. Hopefully we get at least two strikers above double figures this season, and as we touched upon in another article, we could desperately do with the midfield chipping in with more goals. Holman is looking capable, and if Ireland can add more goals to the rest of his game (which has certainly improved) we’ll be in much better shape.

It’s not all doom and gloom though, because as mentioned we’re creating the chances and getting the shots away. We just need to become a little more clinical, and we should find ourselves moving up the table.

UTV.