Aston Villa

Five Things: Defending, Conceding, Scoring, Superstars, Refereeing

By Matthew Day ⋅ March 3, 2008 ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

1. Liverpool’s dead ball deficiencies

While Aston Villa are the masters of scoring from dead ball situations, Liverpool are the worst at defending them. 14 of the 20 goals conceded by Rafa Benítez’s side have derived from set-piece situations, a defensive problem that has been a recurrent worry through the season and continued at Bolton on Sunday where the visitors were lucky to concede only one. Inter Milan have taken note.

2. Aston Villa’s late goal syndrome

Martin O’Neill’s men have been active in the final few minutes of games at both ends throughout the season, though the six goals Villa have conceded in the final five minutes of their last eight matches suggests concentration is an issue. It has cost them five points and reduced their positive goal difference by five. Avoiding those lapses in defence would have seen Aston Villa in equal fourth, just two goals behind Everton on goal difference. In the whole campaign, Villa have netted seven times in the last five minutes (and on nine occasions inside the last six) and conceded a total of nine. Net cost of those 18 goals? -1 point.

3. Another goals crisis in France

It was the same situation last season, and Ligue 1 is again attracting negative headlines for its lack of entertainment. Just 13 goals were scored in the weekend’s 10 matches, and nine of those came in three games - meaning four 0-0s and two 1-0s. The lack of predatory strikers in the league is critical and its saleability is taking a knock accordingly. Vivendi’s Canal Plus and France Telecom’s Orange have recently retained the rights for the broadcast of Ligue 1, paying a massive 668 million euros a year but, crucially, Vivendi will pay 460 million euros per annum, less than the 600 million euros it has paid since 2005 and the overall value of the deal has fallen substantially. The league shan’t have much of a future on foreign television networks either at this rate.

4. Benzema; Rooney, but better

The ever-useful Opta has delivered a Champions League comparison between Wayne Rooney and his Lyon counterpart Karim Benzema (the latest and freshest new Zidane), and all the indicators point to a superstar in the making. Benzema has netted four goals to Rooney’s three (at 126.3 minutes per strike; 166.3 for Rooney), enjoys superior shooting accuracy, chance conversion, pass completion and dribble completion - and is only 20 years of age. His goal at the Stade Gerland against United, however, is the greatest evidence that the Frenchman will soon be lighting up one of the peninsula’s major clubs.

5. Mind the referee, Juve

Prior to Sunday’s defeat against Fiorentina, Juventus had blamed their three other losses this season wholly on the referee. Valid claims or otherwise, the hypocrisy of their arguments was highly amusing considering the bianconeri’s role in the Calciopoli scandal. Even more satisfying was, after the manner in which they reacted to defeat at Reggina last weekend, the lack of focus coach Claudio Ranieri and his players have demonstrated in their subsequent two matches - a home draw with mid-table Torino and then defeat to La Viola. As scientific studies have previously revealed, players waste substantial mental energy complaining to the referee and Juventus are the case in point as now they face a struggle just to finish inside the top four.

Tags: Juventus, Karim Benzema, Ligue 1, Martin O'Neill, Rafa Benitez, Wayne Rooney

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