View: Stat shows Aston Villa midfielders must throw caution to the wind more
Sixteen Premier League goals represents a substandard first half of the season for Aston Villa, with Unai Emery’s side currently sitting in 12th position.
Five points separate the Villans and Nottingham Forest, who currently sit one place below the dreaded dotted line at the foot of the table. A couple of wins on the spin have certainly eased any relegation fears for the time being, but they still sit firmly in the rear-view mirror.
At the moment, goalscoring has been a real issue for Aston Villa and it’s something the Spaniard will be looking to rectify when his side resume their Premier League campaign against Liverpool on 26 December. Danny Ings has been the main source of goals, with Ollie Watkins chipping in from time to time, however, as a team, 16 goals to date is not going to get Villa to where they want to be, come the end of the season.
The likes of Leicester (25 goals), Brentford (23 goals) and Fulham (24 goals) are the teams Villa would like to think they can compete with this season. All three look in much better shape when it comes to the goals scored column.
So why exactly are these types of teams having more success in front of goal?
The first thing to look at is the number of touches Villa have in the box per 90 minutes, with the thinking being that the more time spent in the opponent’s box, the more chance of the ball ending up in the net.
Unsurprisingly, Villa rank amongst some of the worst for the number of touches in the box each game, with the previously mentioned teams all having a higher number of touches in the opposition’s box.
The Villans have just three players who average over three touches in the opposition box, with all three having played in central striking positions at some points this season. Interestingly Cameron Archer’s brief Premier League appearances this season have seen him register the highest number of touches in the box (4.93), however, with just 43 minutes played, his sample size is far too small.
Leicester, for example, have six players who all average three touches in the box per 90 minutes, which indicates there’s a reliance on the team to get commit forward and get into the box to create goalscoring opportunities.
This leads us to the question, are Villa’s midfielders committing themselves enough in an attacking sense?
Jacob Ramsey, John McGinn and Emi Buendia are the more attacking-minded players Emery has used so far during his tenure, so it seems sensible to focus on them.
Against Brighton and Manchester United, Ramsey managed one touch in the opposition box in both games, which is on par with what he’s managed this season. However, he did register a goal and an assist in Emery’s first fixture which shows the Spaniard is eager to get more out of the midfielder going forward.
The goal and assist were his first in six games, and if he can look to get into the box more often, he will likely become a real threat for Villa. McGinn has only averaged 0.47 touches in the penalty area each game and failed to register one touch against Brighton.
McGinn was operating in a more advanced role, and if he’s to succeed in that position, pushing forward and looking to be a goal threat is a must for the Scot. Buendia was very similar, as the 25-year-old matched his season’s average in both matches.
It’s clear Emery is trying to work out the best way to set this current group of players up, but relying purely on the likes of Ings and Watkins to be goal threats isn’t going to take Villa to where they want to be. Ramsey has shown glimpses of being a consistent attacking threat, it’s now time for more of the Villans’ deeper-lying players to follow suit.
In other Aston Villa news, the January transfer window becomes increasingly vital according to Aston Villa women experts after last weekend’s 5-0 loss at ‘Theatre of Dreams’.