I’m a little short on time right now, so I’m just going to dump the numbers and run. One thing I just want to draw your attention to is the possession. I had a conversation with someone on Twitter recently who felt that our share of possession under Houllier has been less than in the past. I’m not convinced that is the case, in fact, while it’s too early to say really, it look extremely similar to me at first glance.

However, I noticed several people yesterday quoting very different possession stats to what I was seeing during the game and by the end of the game the official Premier League feed claimed it was 50/50 I think. According to ESPN, the provider I’ve used for several years for that metric, it was 40/60. Quite a discrepancy.

I’ve decided to stick with the ESPN figure since the passing statistics showed that Blackpool had a 63% share of the completed passes (CPS%). The two metrics do tend to be similar, as logic would dictate. It’s difficult to imagine us being out-passed 3-to-2 with an equal share of the possession.

Average Position Map

There’s a tangible right-sided bias in Villa’s average position map and the attack statistics show that Villa launched 49% of attacks down that side, 23% through the middle and just 28% on the left. Blackpool, by contrast, showed almost perfect symmetry; 34% down each flank and 32% down the middle.

Aside from Villa’s focus on the right side, Blackpool’s balance begs the question of exactly why Stephen Warnock appears to be pegged back so much. It’s not just in comparison to Luke Young who joined the attack at every opportunity and fired off as many shots as Delfouneso (including the effort which was unfairly chalked off, although that isn’t officially counted since the “foul” negates it).

There I think we can look straight at Matthew Phillips who was a handful throughout, getting four shots off himself besides feeding Marlon Harewood several times including the back heel which set up the goal. He’s generally been appearing as a substitute for 20 or 30 minutes, but he certainly made a good case to get more time for Blackpool.

On the subject of Harewood’s goal, it was fitting that James Collins found the winning goal since it was his botched attempt to play Harewood offside with Richard Dunne drawn to Phillips that gifted the ex-Villan so much space to score. Harewood had more shots than anyone on the pitch; five, but just the one on target; the one he scored, obviously.

Gift that many chances to Berbatov or Hernández on Saturday and we’ll be in big, big trouble. While Houllier is quite correct that Holloway’s 10 changes would certainly have stuck a spoke in the wheel of preparation, it was still Blackpool’s second stringers we needed a late winner to beat at home.

3	Aston Villa	November 10th 2010	Blackpool	2
	40%	Possession %	60%
	21	Shots	14
	8	On Target	3
	10	Corners	8
	2	Offsides	4
Downing 28′, Delfouneso 60′, Collins 89′		Scorers	Harewood 45′, Campbell, 87′
Clark, Warnock		Booked	Keinan, Basham, Euell
		Sent Off
	215	Good Passes	364
	37%	CPS %	63%
	60	Bad Passes	73
	78%	Completion %	83%
	15	Interceptions	15
	31	Tackles Won	28
	27	Tackles Lost	28
	53%	Success %	50%
	4	Blocks	5
	14	Free Kicks	11
Aston Villa 1 Brad Friedel 2 Luke Young 3 Stephen Warnock 29 James Collins 5 Richard Dunne (Cptn) 21 Ciaran Clark 25 Barry Bannan (Off 90′) 6 Stewart Downing 12 Marc Albrighton(Off 81′) 7 Ashley Young 14 Nathan Delfouneso(Off 64′) Subs 22 Brad Guzan 9 Stephen Ireland (On 81′) 11 Gabriel Agbonlahor(On 64′) 45 Shane Lowry 30 Eric Lichaj (On 90′) 35 Daniel Johnson 50 Jonathan Hogg Blackpool 28 Richard Kingson 24 Rob Edwards 31 Dekel Keinan (Off 75′) 29 David Carney 23 Matthew Phillips 19 Ludovic Sylvestre 4 Keith Southern 18 Jason Euell (Off 72′) 17 Chris Basham 10 Brett Ormerod 9 Marlon Harewood (Off 77′) Subs 21 Matthew Gilks 5 Neil Eardley 6 Ian Evatt (On 75′) 14 Eliot Grandin 16 Luke Varney 26 Charlie Adam (On 72′) 39 DJ Campbell (On 77′)
Average Position Maps

You can find Statshacks from other games here.

[Original data and graphics courtesy of ESPN and The Guardian]