7-1. Seven – One. Wow, that’s the worst beating I’ve ever seen Aston Villa take. We conceded 5 in the Premiership just 5 times before. If you go back to the pre-Premiership days, there were a couple of games in which we conceded 6 in the last few decades, but the last time we shipped 7? October 1964, Old Trafford.

Yesterday was actually the 9th time that we’ve conceded 7 away from home in the league, we’ve never conceded more by the way, and we’ve also been on the wrong end of that scoreline 4 times at Villa Park. However, most recently 1935. To say football is a little different now would an understatement.

So yesterday’s 7-1 beating at Stamford Bridge was bad. Really bad.

But it’s important not to overreact; it was an absolute freak result. If you’ve already looked at the Statshacks you’ll know that there is very little difference between the games at Villa Park and Stamford Bridge statistically other than the scoreline.

Most importantly, yesterday’s loss was damaging to our goal difference, potentially to confidence levels, and while the three points would have been really welcome, we’re still doing very well compared to previous seasons at this stage.

Here’s how we stood after 31 games for the last few decades (I’ve adjusted the points for the seasons prior to ’82/83 when it used to be 2 points for a win instead of 3) [I've highlighted the years with better points totals in red and the years with a better position in the league in green]:-

League Season Position Points Final Pos
1st Division (Old) 1978/79 12 42 8
1st Division (Old) 1979/80 6 47 7
1st Division (Old) 1980/81 2 66 1
1st Division (Old) 1981/82 14 37 11
1st Division (Old) 1982/83 4 51 6
1st Division (Old) 1983/84 11 42 10
1st Division (Old) 1984/85 11 40 10
1st Division (Old) 1985/86 20 26 16
1st Division (Old) 1986/87 21 27 22
2nd Division (Old) 1987/88 1 61 2
1st Division (Old) 1988/89 15 31 17
1st Division (Old) 1989/90 1 59 2
1st Division (Old) 1990/91 17 36 17
1st Division (Old) 1991/92 7 42 7
Premier League 1992/93 1 59 2
Premier League 1993/94 5 49 10
Premier League 1994/95 11 38 18
Premier League 1995/96 4 55 4
Premier League 1996/97 5 50 5
Premier League 1997/98 12 39 7
Premier League 1998/99 6 45 6
Premier League 1999/00 6 46 6
Premier League 2000/01 10 44 8
Premier League 2001/02 7 42 8
Premier League 2002/03 14 36 16
Premier League 2003/04 7 44 6
Premier League 2004/05 10 41 10
Premier League 2005/06 15 35 16
Premier League 2006/07 14 35 11
Premier League 2007/08 7 49 6
Premier League 2008/09 5 52 6
Premier League 2009/10 7 51 ?

Don’t get me wrong, I hate the fact that we were so badly humiliated yesterday, of course I do, but we’re still in a very good position. The other teams have tricky run-ins, if we can re-group, get our heads back, we can still go on to finish strongly this season.

Maybe this game will prove to be the catalyst, only time will tell, but it’s done now and it’s time to look forward to the next one.

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6 Comments to “A Little Perspective”

  1. Villan 28 March 2010 at 1:22 pm #

    Could prove to be season defining, this one.
    As you suggest, it’s all about if we can bounce back or not.

    A week off and then Bolton away.
    Surely we can beat them.
    Can’t we??????

    Reply
    • Dan 28 March 2010 at 3:21 pm #

      i like bolton. they’re always there for us when we need a confidence boost! ;)

      Reply
  2. Stewart Rouleau 28 March 2010 at 2:02 pm #

    I knew you would eventually have the historical data – 1964! So perhaps it is bound to happen again around 2056.

    From a purely statistical perspective, how bizarre is having 22 percent of all goals allowed for the season soored in just one of 31 games played?

    Reply
    • Dan 28 March 2010 at 3:30 pm #

      it’s a rare event for sure. there’s a reason why this made headlines all around the world in places you wouldn’t expect…. even the front page of the main ESPN site, if you can believe that they acknowledged soccer’s existence.

      yes, 22% is correct and astonishing. our GD has been reduced by 35% i believe.

      Reply
    • Villan 28 March 2010 at 5:33 pm #

      Good grief, I never thought about that!

      And it’s a good point.

      Which hopefully proves it was an aberration.

      Reply
  3. Stewart Rouleau 28 March 2010 at 11:05 pm #

    It is even worse if you isolate the second half – only 12 second-half goals conceded in the first 30 games (.4 per game); then 5 allowed yesterday, nearly 30 percent of the season total.

    I guess the positive way to look at it is that they made it through 30 games without quitting late.

    Reply

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