View: Steven Gerrard must adapt style of play to see goals flow at Aston Villa
Aston Villa have been extremely goal-shy so far in the 2022/23 season, with Wolves the only team to hit the back of the net fewer times than the Villans.
Villa have been involved in two draws in their last three matches, with their last win coming against Southampton in one of the worst games the Premier League has ever seen. Something needs to change going forward for Steven Gerrard’s men.
The Villa boss is coming under increasing pressure as his side’s toothlessness in front of goal starts to have a dramatic impact on their aspirations for the season.
If a side isn’t picking up points but is entertaining it can sometimes be accepted by fans, but when a side is consistently involved in boring affairs, fans can turn a lot quicker and that’s happening with Gerrard.
The most concerning thing for the Villa boss should be the underlying numbers that his side has produced this season. When a team is short of goals it can often be down to poor finishing or bad decision-making in the final third.
However, the stark reality for Villa is that they’re not getting the ball in dangerous areas anywhere near enough. Villa’s expected goals of 9.58 is the fourth worst in the Premier League (Wyscout). What is worrying is that it’s only 2.58 goals more than their actual total of seven.
This indicates that Gerrard’s philosophy of how he wants his side to play is not one that will create endless chances throughout the 90 minutes. Villa are in fact only underperforming by a small amount which is not what fans want to hear.
The picture doesn’t improve when you take a look at the underlying numbers of Villa’s attacking players. Ollie Watkins is underperforming his expected goals by one goal (2.21) and the same with Phillippe Coutinho (1.01). Leon Bailey and Danny Ings are both overperforming what’s expected of them, but it’s still not enough to make Villa a prolific side.
It’s clear the style of play isn’t producing good quality chances for the attacking players at the club and Gerrard would be wise to adapt his methods to ease the growing pressure on his shoulders.
In other Aston Villa news, Jamie Carragher claims Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa resembles a former Liverpool side