Early Karim El Ahmadi stats suggest we’ve signed a bit of a gem
He was our first signing of the Lambert era, and early indications continue to suggest that we’ve signed a bit of a gem in Karim El Ahmadi. He’s already been named Villa’s player of the month for August, and is arguably one of our more important players just three games into his Villa career.
I saw this stat earlier via the excellent AVFC Stats page on Twitter, and while some believe that stats aren’t the be all and end all of things, I still think they make for impressive reading:
‘Villa’s August PotM Karim El Ahmadi leads the side for passes (176), interceptions (7) and pass accuracy (86.4%) of those with 2+ apps’
He did pretty well in his Premiership debut against West Ham, was one of the only bright spots against Everton and played an important role in our draw against Newcastle on the weekend. For only £2 million, and still only 27 he could prove to be one hell of a signing. Lambert certainly looks like he’s trying to get us playing a more passing game, something the stats back up and it’s nice to have someone who looks so comfortable on the ball.
Stan Petrov was often criticised for keeping things simple, but keeping the ball is such an underrated quality in a footballer. You don’t have to look for the ‘Hollywood’ pass all the time, keeping the ball can be just as important. In El Ahmadi we have someone clearly confident with ball at feet, and it’s nice to have someone constantly looking for the football.
I will be interested to see how Ashley Westwood comes into all of this. By all accounts he is also very good on the ball, so will he be the one to sit in the middle, maybe just ahead of the back four and look to dictate play? This might give El Ahmadi a bit more of a roaming role, but of course it’s all early days yet.
Lambert has already looked like he’s made a few more than decent acquisitions, and certainly Karim El Ahmadi looks like he’s right up there.
UTV.
Aston Villa News 24/7
karim is one of the best footballers to wear a villa shirt in years.great to see a lad who genuinly loves the game.what a buy.well done lambert
Early days, I like what I see so far, but will make a considered view at the turn of the year. Whilst I hear what you say about keeping it simple and keeping the ball, if every player did this we would hardly ever score.
There is a need for someone to take the risk occasionally by making the “Hollywood” pass that splits the defence. Ireland was touted as the guy who could do this but his passing and shooting in the final third is dire – how many assists and goals has he achieved in 12 months very few!
Holman tries to do it along with Bannan, when they get it wrong off go the fans, if they pass pass to no effect off go the fans, there has to be a balance!
Karim is a quality player, along with westwood i think we have a very good centre midfield pairing.
You are absolutely spot on there. Keeping the ball is massively underrated but it is the most important skill of all. Every top team mostly has players who are comfortable on the ball in tight situations.