Maron Harewood - Part 2
Friday, 26 September 08, 03:35 PM
Let's look at the 22 league games Harewood came on as a substitute. Here I break down at what time during the game he made his appearance, what the score was at the time and what the final score was.
Looking at it like this we can how many points we potentially had in our grasp before he stepped on the pitch and how many we left the stadium with. Check it out...
|
Game |
On @ |
Score B4 Harewood |
Final Score |
Pts B4 The Hare |
Pts After The Hare |
Pts Won / Lost |
|
Aston Villa vs Fulham |
77 |
1-1 |
2-1 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
|
Aston Villa vs Everton |
80 |
2-0 |
2-0 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
|
Tottenham vs Aston Villa |
66 |
1-4 |
4-4 |
3 |
1 |
-2 |
|
Blackburn vs Aston Villa |
85 |
0-3 |
0-4 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
|
Aston Villa vs Portsmouth |
70 |
0-3 |
1-3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Chelsea vs Aston Villa |
90 |
4-4 |
4-4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
|
Barry Penalty timed at 90, injury time. Harewood also on at 90. Which happened first?? |
||||||
|
Aston Villa vs Reading |
88 |
3-1 |
3-1 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
|
Carew Goal timed at 88. Harewood on at 88. Which happened first?? |
||||||
|
Liverpool vs Aston Villa |
66 |
1-0 |
2-2 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
Aston Villa vs Blackburn |
60 |
0-0 |
1-1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
|
Fulham vs Aston Villa |
46 |
0-0 |
2-1 |
1 |
0 |
-1 |
|
Aston Villa vs Newcastle |
46 |
0-1 |
4-1 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
|
Reading vs Aston Villa |
73 |
0-1 |
1-2 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
|
Arsenal vs Aston Villa |
71 |
0-1 |
1-1 |
3 |
1 |
-2 |
|
Aston Villa vs Middlesboro |
46 |
0-1 |
1-1 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
Portsmouth vs Aston Villa |
57 |
2-0 |
2-0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Aston Villa vs Sunderland |
57 |
0-0 |
0-1 |
1 |
0 |
-1 |
|
Aston Villa vs Bolton |
77 |
3-0 |
4-0 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
|
Derby vs Aston Villa |
73 |
0-4 |
0-6 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
|
Aston Villa vs Birmingham |
85 |
5-1 |
5-1 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
|
Everton vs Aston Villa |
78 |
1-0 |
2-2 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
Aston Villa vs Wigan |
69 |
0-2 |
0-2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
West Ham vs Aston Villa |
87 |
1-2 |
2-2 |
3 |
1 |
-2 |
|
0 |
||||||
So, the net effect of Harewood's 22 substitute appearances to the points column is zero. Zip. Nothing. Nada.
Now I'm not looking to start a witch hunt here and I appreciate this stats are overly simplistic, football is a much more complicated game than these stats can possibly show. But it remains a fact that Harewood only scored two goals that had an effect on the result and the overall during his time on the pitch we gained absolutely no points.
I still think he's a worthy squad member, who knows what contribution he may make behind the scenes, but I do dispute the title "impact player". The evidence suggests he's made precisely zero impact.
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Marlon Harewood - Part 1
Friday, 26 September 08, 12:28 PM
Following the recent league cup exit to QPR, Damian wrote a front page article questioning the abilities of Harewood. I'm going to agree with him and here's why...
Firstly, I didn't see anyone in the comments answering the question of his stats during the game, so I'll fill in that blank first. Marlon had 5 of the total 18 shots on goal. 2 of them were on target. Draw your own conclusions.
So let's go back in time a bit. When MON made the signing there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Since then the lad has won over a large proportion of the fans with his sheer commitment and attitude. But is that enough?? I'd attribute those same characteristics to Robbie Savage, but I don't want him in the side.... do you??
He's often described as an "impact player", largely due to him making so many appearances as a substitute and so few starts. So let's have a look at his "impact" during last season:-
In the league he was introduced as a substitute 22 times, we'll come back to those in a moment. His one start was in the 4-0 drubbing at Old Trafford. We'll leave that there shall we??
He made two starts in the league cup; the 5-0 win at Wrexham where he scored the 5th and final goal when the game was well and truly won. He also started the game in the next round against Leicester where, er, he didn't score. In fact he didn't have a single shot!! He was offside once though and he gave away 4 fouls. No wonder he made way for Luke Moore on 77 minutes. Moore did little with the time he had on the pitch either.
So back to the league and his 22 substitute appearances. He managed to rack up 5 goals. With his limited pitch time, on a per-minute basis his goal return probably isn't that bad, but did he win or save any games with those goals?
Well, his first league goal was away at Blackburn. He scored the 4th and final goal in the 89th minute. Again, the game was already won.
His next goal was the equaliser at Anfield. This definitely made an impact on the game. 3 minutes later an Aurelio own goal gave Villa a 2-1 lead. Of course we crumbled to an 88th minute Crouch equaliser, but still, Marlon's goal made the difference between a point and nothing. Before the game we'd all have taken a point away to Liverpool and thanks to Marlon we did.
About a month later Marlon's 83rd minute goal extended the 1-0 lead at Reading provided earlier by Ashley Young. Shorey, then a Reading player, popped up at the end of the game to score a consolation goal. So, without Marlon's goal it would have been a point at the Madjeski.
Marlon's next goal was again the final goal in Villa's 4-0 home destruction of Bolton. And once again the game was won, his goal makes no difference to the result.
And finally, continuing the theme, our Marlon put the icing on the cake a week later at Derby. He scored our 6th goal in the 85th minute. Nice yes, but changed nothing except the goal difference column.
So, there you go. Our “impact player” only scored two goals all season that made a difference to the results. Surely he must have a few assists to his name then?? Er, nope. Sorry.
And I haven't even mentioned that incident at White Heart Lane have I??
But as Eddie likes to point out to me, statistics don't show you everything. Personally, I think they're very much like a bikini... what they reveal is very interesting, but what they hide is vital!! ;)
Your definition of “impact player” might be very subjective. For instance, you might feel Marlon coming on the pitch changes the dynamics of the game enough to free up space for someone else to score and that's valid. It's hard to quantify statistically, but I can look at how the scoreline changed during the minutes Marlon was on the pitch and that will be Part 2.
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villafandan
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too much blah blah for the forum!!
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fastbackace said:i think we need to pull the pen out, and make the forwards even more powerful, ...
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