omariqy Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 Good: Wins against Arsenal, Norwich, Man City, Chelsea Delph Vlaar Bacuna Awful: Everything and everyone else Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingysilvers Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 (edited) Due to being a bit of a master procrastinator I decided to do a season review based on an unusual statistical source, VT “Ratings and Reactions” threads. This method has a fair few flaws (hello to all of you doing the ironic Tonev votes) but I figured that football fans generally have short memories so to get ratings from across the season based on information from people who had just watched the matches might be interesting. I dropped all the ratings into a spreadsheet and this is what it resulted in: Best Players 1) Fabian Delph (27.03 votes per match) 2) Marc Albrighton (20.47) 3) Ron Vlaar (14.61) 4) Gabriel Agbonlahor (14.00) 5) Leandro Bacuna (11.00) 6) Brad Guzan (10.39) 7) Christian Benteke (8.62) 8) Ashley Westwood (6.56) 9) Jordan Bowery (5.33) 10) Grant Holt (4.70) Worst Players 1) Yacouba Sylla (0.82) 2) Matthew Lowton (1.55) 3) Nathan Baker (1.72) 4) Antonio Luna (1.94) 5) Aleksandar Tonev (3.39) 6) Karim El Ahmadi (3.39) 7) Joe Bennett (3.40) 8) Ryan Bertrand (3.44) 9) Andreas Weimann (3.75) 10) Libor Kozak (4.07) MotM Awards 1) Fabian Delph (12) 2) Gabriel Agbonlahor (6) 3) Marc Albrighton (5) 4) Ron Vlaar, Leandro Bacuna, Ashley Westwood (3) 5) Brad Guzan (2) 6) Jack Grealish, Christian Benteke, Grant Holt, Libor Kozak, Andreas Weimann (1) It should be noted that I didn’t included players with less than 5 appearances in the Best/Worst lists as they didn’t work very well for the averages. If you want to have a look at the spreadsheet it’s available here, to sort the data select the column and go to “Data” -> “Sort Sheet…”. Please let me know if you spot any glaring errors. Edited May 12, 2014 by kingysilvers 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fun Factory Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 I just feel numb Played well in about half a dozen games and that's it. No progression at all and the realisation that we have poor players, a manager out of his depth and a owner who wants to sale up. The front 3 have been much worse this season and even our defence we did look okay in the first half of the season, fell apart in the last 8 games or so. It has been so bad that most people have forgotten we lost to a league one side at home in the FA Cup. How can we do worse than 9 home defeats and 41 points? No problem at all to beat that with this side. We have about 10 players at best who should be in a premier league squad and the rest are barely championship standard. A awful turgid painful season with as much excitement of Alan Shearer reading the yellow pages very slowly whilst copying war and peace by hand. Nathan Baker? Why just why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVTuco Posted May 12, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted May 12, 2014 Due to being a bit of a master procrastinator I decided to do a season review based on an unusual statistical source, VT “Ratings and Reactions” threads. This method has a fair few flaws (hello to all of you doing the ironic Tonev votes) but I figured that football fans generally have short memories so to get ratings from across the season based on information from people who had just watched the matches might be interesting. I dropped all the ratings into a spreadsheet and this is what it resulted in: Best Players 1) Fabian Delph (27.03 votes per match)2) Marc Albrighton (20.47)3) Ron Vlaar (14.61)4) Gabriel Agbonlahor (14.00)5) Leandro Bacuna (11.00)6) Brad Guzan (10.39)7) Christian Benteke (8.62)8) Ashley Westwood (6.56)9) Jordan Bowery (5.33)10) Grant Holt (4.70) Worst Players 1) Yacouba Sylla (0.82)2) Matthew Lowton (1.55)3) Nathan Baker (1.72)4) Antonio Luna (1.94)5) Aleksandar Tonev (3.39)6) Karim El Ahmadi (3.39)7) Joe Bennett (3.40)8) Ryan Bertrand (3.44)9) Andreas Weimann (3.75)10) Libor Kozak (4.07) MotM Awards 1) Fabian Delph (12)2) Gabriel Agbonlahor (6)3) Marc Albrighton (5)4) Ron Vlaar, Leandro Bacuna, Ashley Westwood (3)5) Brad Guzan (2)6) Jack Grealish, Christian Benteke, Grant Holt, Libor Kozak, Andreas Weimann (1) It should be noted that I didn’t included players with less than 5 appearances in the Best/Worst lists as they didn’t work very well for the averages. If you want to have a look at the spreadsheet it’s available here, to sort the data select the column and go to “Data” -> “Sort Sheet…”. Please let me know if you spot any glaring errors. Thanks for this mate, good to have some perspective. Like you said, just by looking at the lists you can see there are some flaws included. But also the "winners" in all three categories are believable. Gabby seems to have done well in the beginning of the year. He sure hasn't lately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarethRDR Posted May 14, 2014 Share Posted May 14, 2014 Decided to do that survey in the Birmingham Mail, so I'm going to be lazy and have it double as my end of season review... What is your verdict on Aston Villa's season? Good Did well enough Poor Disastrous Strong opening to the season provided the perfect platform to kick on for a potential top-half finish (or at the very least avoiding another year of scrabbling around for enough points to stumble over the finish line) but a combination of dreadful luck with injuries, underwhelming performances from established players from whom we should expect more, so-called "second-season syndrome" for players who had a breakthrough campaign last time out, the inability of the likes of Tonev and Luna to adapt/step up to this league, the lack of investment in January when it was so desperately needed and a lack of tactical nous on the part of the manager have all lead to another underwhelming campaign where once again we can considers ourselves lucky to have avoided relegation. I am not sure this luck will continue unless drastic changes/improvements are undertaken at the club. What is your view on Paul Lambert's performance? Good Average Bad Tactical ineptitude apparent in our inability to react to changes during games and our bloody-minded dependence on counter-attack as the sole means of creating chances. The latter is alarmingly evident when looking at our terrible record both at home and against those teams around us in the table whom themselves were struggling for form; games where our opponents have sat back and invited pressure that we have been able to capitalise on. Though this style of play can be effective against stronger opposition (e.g. performances against Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool), we cannot continue to rely solely on the occasional "smash and grab" result to survive or push on. In addition - though admittedly without being privy to the details - the suspensions of Culverhouse and Karsa could be seen as having undermined Lambert's position. In terms of the players themselves, persisting with Baker over Clark at centre-back despite Baker's terrible form during our run-in and Clark's relatively impressive performances at the start of the campaign was puzzling, as was the lack of opportunities afforded to Helenius (the combination of injuries to Kozak and Benteke and the ineffectiveness of Weimann/Agbonlahor/Holt surely provided the ideal opportunity to at least see if Helenius could make the step up to the first team, his performance during his all-too-scarce cameos surely warranted as such). Who or what is most to blame for Aston Villa's low league position this season? The players Paul Lambert The scouting network Randy Lerner Injuries Tactics Bad luck I think all of the above bar 'the scouting network' are applicable and I do not believe there is a great deal of difference in how much they have contributed to this poor campaign. Only a handful of players can come out this season with any credit, though constricted by finances Lambert has been found wanting tactically, injuries to Kozak and Benteke have completely blunted our attack and even if Okore had not lived up to his vaunted potential, another option at centre-back would certainly have been welcome. Ultimately, the responsibility lies with the owner and Lerner's continued frugality has been as damaging as his inability/refusal to install a managerial system that is not wholly dependent on the incumbent; a system consisting of people with experience within the game (akin to the likes of former Operations Director Steve Stride), who could imprint a specific philosophy/ethos and clear direction on the club, so that we are not lurching disruptively from one managerial appointment to the next whenever a change has to be made. Where do you think Aston Villa will finish next season? Top 4 Top 6 Top half Bottom half Relegation If a new buyer is not found, I cannot see the club moving forward and at best, we will be hoping for survival. What would you most like to achieve next season? Top 4 finish Qualify for Europe FA Cup win League Cup win Higher than the Baggies Realistically, I would be delighted for us to finish at least 12th with tangible signs of progression, no immediate threat of relegation (league status secured by the matchday 30 at the latest) and for us to not capitulate in the cups. I'll tick 'League Cup win', I guess. Unrealistically, I would like some random gazillionaire with more money than God to become possessed by the spirit of William McGregor, buy the club, revert the name of the Doug Ellis Stand to the Witton Lane Stand, redevelop the North Stand, bankroll us to the top of the league and European glory, introduce a Athletic Bilbao-esque mandate that all playing staff must have beards, re-release the Asics shattered-stained-glass goalkeeper top from 1994, have a testimonial for Stefan Postma and personally donate to me enough money to make an indecent proposal to Eliza Dushku. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted May 14, 2014 Share Posted May 14, 2014 Interesting that Gabby is so high on both best performer and MotM lists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briny_ear Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 Interesting that Gabby is so high on both best performer and MotM lists. My feeling would be most of those came early on in the season when he was pretty good. Feels like he gave up round about Christmas time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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