I’m sure it’s something that is, and will be, looked at back at Bodymoor, but surely the fact that goals from set pieces are apparently drying up has to be an area of concern right now. We had 16 corners in this game and won 9 free kicks inside the West Ham half which I’m pretty certain all were used to either shoot directly at goal or at least deliver the ball into the box.

Throughout the game we had a “big’un” up front in Emile Heskey and later John Carew, plus no less than 3 centre backs who theoretically are supposed to be good in the air. While Robert Green was forced to make a few saves, none of them were anything less than bread and butter stuff you would expect any Premiership keeper to make.

This doesn’t make sense. Fix it please.

Here’s the thing. We play with three very attacking midfielders in Milner, Ash and Dowing, all of them very capable of getting down the flanks and delivering deadly balls into the box. Teams are going to do what they can to shut that down, as West Ham did, and the result will be lots of throw-ins, corners and free kicks. If we take advantage of one of these dead ball situations it will then force the opposition to chase the game. That’s when our pacy, attacking players will revel in the extra space and become truly deadly.

Without getting that breakthrough against West Ham today the visitors were able to avoid playing much football until the last 10 minutes, when they genuinely looked a threat. I’m sure I wasn’t alone in seriously fearing a late flukey goal from the Hammers to rob us of even a point.

Let’s be straightforward here; 16 corners and 9 free-kicks in the opposition half is 25 opportunities to send the ball into the danger area without another player allowed within 10 yards of the ball when it’s struck. Not only do we have big, solid defenders and strikers, we have expert deliverers of a dead ball. To come away with nothing from these chances today truly defies the odds. The law of averages says that something should have come from this.

The average position map resembles what is fast becoming pretty standard now. I should point out that the back four are very high which confirms our dominance in this game. The rest of the statistics serve to show that you can boss the possession, you can pass the ball around, you can win territory all day long, but it doesn’t guarantee a win. You may well deserve a win, but the ball has to go in the back of the net.

0	Aston Villa	Jan 17th 2010	West Ham	0
	56	Possession %	44
	18	Shots	9
	3	On Target	1
	16	Corners	4
	2	Offsides	3
		Scorers
Petrov		Booked	Kovac, Collinson, Stanislas
		Sent Off
	321	Good Passes	241
	85	Bad Passes	72
	15	Interceptions	19
	41	Tackles Won	27
	24	Tackles Lost	33
	1	Blocks	6
	15	Free Kicks	11
Starting XI: 1. Friedel 24. Cuellar 25. Warnock 29. Collins 5. Dunne 19. Petrov 8. Milner 7. Young 6. Downing 18. Heskey 11. Agbonlahor Subs: 22. Guzan 14. Delfouneso 4. Sidwell 10. Carew 2. Young 23. Beye 16. Delph
Average Position Map