Kodjia’s Importance To Villa

Aston Villa`s dependence on Kodjia`s goals a real concern for Steve Bruce to address.

Aston Villa endured a disappointing 2016-17 campaign, finishing 13th in the Championship a year after their relegation from the Premier League.

The Midlanders struggled for goals all season and would have sat even lower in the table were it not for the form of star forward Jonathan Kodjia.

The Ivory Coast international cemented himself as a favourite amongst the fans, but the team`s over-reliance on the striker became apparent the longer the season went on.

Kodjia found the back of the net 19 times last term, a tally bettered by only a handful of players across the division and enough to see him crowned as Villa`s top scorer by some distance.

To put it in context, winger Jack Grealish was second on that list with just five goals despite struggling for consistency and losing his starting place as the campaign drew to a close, whilst Rudy Gestede left the club in January but still placed third with four.

If Villa can add a player or two to hit the back of the net alongside Kodjia, those betting on the club winning promotion to the Premier League next season using UK bonus codes could well be successful.

Kodjia`s goals accounted for over 40% of the Birmingham-based outfit`s league total of 47; only three sides scored less, with two of those (Rotherham United and Wigan Athletic) suffering relegation.

Defensively, Villa were relatively sound, with their 48 conceded across the season the fifth best record in the Championship, behind Newcastle United and Brighton & Hove Albion (both 40), Sheffield Wednesday (45) and Leeds United (47).

Impressive as that statistic is, it naturally left supporters wondering what might have been had they been able to get things right in the final third.

Not including Kodjia, the Villans` five other strikers notched only 11 goals in the second tier of English football.

Whilst this is partly indicative of an out of form frontline, the real issue is that the team as a whole lacked creativity and found it difficult to adapt their game plan without their talismanic forward.

The plight of Scott Hogan is symbolic of this trend; the 25-year-old was on the scoresheet 14 times for Brentford before making a mid-season move to Villa Park, but netted just once in 13 outings in claret and blue.

The Englishman did not become a poor striker overnight, so the only logical conclusion is that Villa`s style of play did not allow him to flourish in the same manner.

Kodjia`s ability on the ball allows him to come deep and fashion chances for himself, whilst the predatory instincts of Hogan mean he is a threat running in behind defences and when the ball is around the six-yard box.

That is not to say that either style is more or less effective, but merely that the team cannot play the same way with one as they would with the other.

Ultimately it is down to the management of Steve Bruce to find more goals in his side, not just from the forwards but also with contributions from midfield.

Conor Hourihane and Henri Lansbury were signed in January with a view to solving this problem, but so far have played in a system that largely bypasses the middle third of the pitch to get the ball to Kodjia as quickly as possible.

With a full pre-season to work on a new tactical approach, fans will be hoping that Bruce can find a fluid yet functional style that encourages the midfield to control the game, create chances and spread the goalscoring burden more evenly across the team.