Mainly down to having far too much time on my hands and being a stickler for a good stat, I decided to comprise a list of the defensive statistics for each Aston Villa defender and midfielder (excluding wingers Marc Albrighton, Stewart Downing and Ashley Young). The stats show each player’s record thus far this campaign as well as their overall Premier League record for their combined clubs in parenthesis. The stats include the average amount of goals the team concede per game, the average amount of clean sheets the team picks up and the average number of shots on target it takes to concede when each player is on the pitch. Exciting stuff I realise but it does reveal some interesting results. I will list the top 3 players in each category regarding their defensive record as well as the bottom 3 culprits.
Goals Conceded Per Game This Season
Top 3:
Steve Sidwell – 0.80
Carlos Cuellar – 0.88
James Collins – 0.88
Bottom 3:
Habib Beye – 1.8
Stephen Ireland – 1.62
Luke Young – 1.5
Goals Conceded Per Game in Overall Premier League Career
Top 3:
Steve Sidwell – 1.08
Carlos Cuellar – 1.18
Stephen Warnock – 1.23
Bottom 3:
Habib Beye – 1.41
Luke Young – 1.41
Nigel Reo-Coker – 1.39
You will notice that the top 3 in the category are the exact same player’s, in the exact same order for both this season and their overall Premier League careers. This years stats for Sidwell and Cuellar could be overlooked due to the low number of appearances each has accumulated but interestingly they are backed up by their overall Premier League career record. James Collins has a record of less then a goal a game conceded this season which indicates that he has been Villa’s key defender this term in this aspect.
Clean Sheets Per Game This Season
Top 3:
Steve Sidwell – 0.6
Habib Beye – 0.6
Ciaran Clark – 0.5
Bottom 3:
Luke Young – 0.25
Stiliyan Petrov – 0.33
James Collins – 0.38
Clean Sheets Per Game in Overall Premier League Career
Top 3:
Stephen Ireland – 0.38
James Collins – 0.33
Richard Dunne – 0.32
Bottom 3:
Stiliyan Petrov – 0.24
Steve Sidwell – 0.24
Ciaran Clark – 0.25
Interestingly Villa’s clean sheet record of 4 in 10 games this season has meant that all bar 2 (Luke Young and Stiliyan Petrov) individual player records are equal to, or higher than any player’s overall clean sheet record. Steve Sidwell is again top of the list but is surprisingly joined by Habib Beye. Beye has the most goals conceded per game but also the highest clean sheet per game record. Another baffling stat is that despite having the best goals conceded to game ratio in his Premier League Career, Steve Sidwell also has the joint worst clean sheet record out of the Villa squad with Stiliyan Petrov.
Shots on Target Per Goals Conceded This Season
Top 3:
Steve Sidwell – 10
James Collins – 9.86
Carlos Cuellar – 9.86
Bottom 3:
Habib Beye – 4.44
Ciaran Clark – 5.33
Stephen Ireland – 5.69
Shots on Target Per Goals Conceded in Overall Premier League Career
Top 3:
Carlos Cuellar – 6.59
Steve Sidwell – 6.3
James Collins – 6.12
Bottom 3:
Richard Dunne – 3.76
Brad Friedel – 4.14
Luke Young – 4.29
The amount of shots on target it takes the opponent to score may well not be down to the defenders themselves but it is an especially vital stat for Brad Friedel. Worryingly the keeper has the second worst record of the Villa squad in his Premier League career, conceding 1 in just over 4 shots on target which is surprisingly low. When it comes to defenders it may well indicate who is narrowing the shots on target down to half chances but will also come down to a lot of luck. A man who is clearly lacking in this department is Richard Dunne, who in his EPL career has conceded 1 in fewer than 4 shots on target. As you can see, the top 3 for this season and in their overall EPL careers are the same once more. Shockingly, they are the exact 3 players who made up the top 3 lists in the average goals conceded per game category so maybe it isn’t all down to luck, who knows.
Below is the full list of defensive stats for you to get your heads around!
|
NAME (Position) |
Appearances (Sub) |
Conceded/Game |
Clean Sheets/Game |
Shots On Target/Goals Conceded |
|
Brad Friedel (GK) |
10 |
1.3 (1.3) |
0.4 (0.27) |
6.54 (4.14) |
|
Luke Young (FB) |
8 |
1.5 (1.41) |
0.25 (0.31) |
6.08 (4.29) |
|
Habib Beye (FB) |
2 (1) |
1.8 (1.41) |
0.6 (0.29) |
4.44 (5.49) |
|
Carlos Cuellar (CB) |
1 (1) |
0.88 (1.18) |
0.38 (0.26) |
9.86 (6.59) |
|
Stephen Warnock (FB) |
10 |
1.3 (1.23) |
0.4 (0.28) |
6.54 (4.87) |
|
Richard Dunne (CB) |
9 |
1.33 (1.34) |
0.44 (0.32) |
6.08 (3.76) |
|
James Collins (CB) |
8 |
0.88 (1.24) |
0.38 (0.33) |
9.86 (6.12) |
|
Ciaran Clark (CB) |
3 (1) |
1.5 (1.3) |
0.5 (0.25) |
5.33 (5.73) |
|
Stephen Ireland (CM) |
4 (1) |
1.62 (1.37) |
0.5 (0.38) |
5.69 (4.45) |
|
Stiliyan Petrov (CM) |
9 |
1.44 (1.27) |
0.33 (0.24) |
6.08 (5.33) |
|
Nigel Reo-Coker (CM) |
7 (2) |
1.3 (1.39) |
0.4 (0.26) |
6.54 (4.69) |
|
Steve Sidwell (CM) |
1 (3) |
0.80 (1.08) |
0.6 (0.24) |
10 (6.3) |
|
Barry Bannan (CM) |
(3) |
1.22 |
0.44 |
6.64 |
