Every now and then I like to look at the statistics. I like to look at them because we have a benchmark in how we are doing; the League table, but this sort of can, sometimes, back up that position. You can get quite a lot from statistics, if you dig deep enough.
The thing is, with statistics you can also pretty much make them mean exactly what you want them to mean, so while when things are going great, the statistics are great, when things are not going so great, the statistics tend to not be so great.
It is also worth noting that these statistics are only for football played in the League - they do not factor in performances or results in either of the cup competitions we are still in.
So, looking at the numbers today, what have we learnt? Well, if you look at last months statistics, things were going great. We had the best two defenders in the League, the third and fourth best midfielders and the third best striker.
This month, Carlos Cuellar has gone from the best defender in the League to the fifth best and we now only have seven players in the top 100 instead of nine last time we looked; James Collins has dropped out as well as Stephen Warnock.
Aston Villa Players in Actim Top 100
- 4th: Gabby Agbonlahor - 419 points
- 13th: Richard Dunne - 339 points
- 15th: Ashley Young - 339 points
- 19th: Carlos Cuellar - 323 points
- 21st: James Milner - 321 points
- 32nd: Brad Friedel - 294 points
- 67th: Stiliyan Petrov - 240 points
Top 10 Keepers
- 2nd: Brad Friedel
Top 10 Defenders
- 3rd: Richard Dunne
- 5th: Carlos Cuellar
Top 10 Midfielders
- 4th: Ashley Young
- 8th: James Milner
Top 10 Strikers
- 3rd: Gabby Agbonlahor
So, we have the numbers. They are not as good as they were, but at the same time, we have only played three League games since we looked at these last.