Nathan Baker’s own goal against Reading had even his own team-mates perplexed (Picture: Getty Images)

Manchester United do it, regularly. Bradford did it, memorably. Even German fifth-tier side SV Rodinghausen have managed it, recently. But Stoke are the only side not to in the best part of eight months.

What am I talking about? Scoring against Aston Villa, of course.

The stats are pretty sobering, not to mention damning. No clean sheets in 2013. No clean sheets in any of the last THIRTY-THREE matches Villa’s first-team have played, be it league (22), cup (five) or friendly (six). A sorry run that stretches back to December 8 last year – when Villa and Stoke played out a goalless draw that was every bit as much fun as it sounds.



It’s a pretty embarrassing state of affairs if you’re a Villa fan (perhaps more so if you’re Kenwyne Jones or Jonathan Walters). And the leak hasn’t really been plugged, based on the evidence of pre-season.


They have conceded in all of their friendlies thus far, against the aforementioned SV Rodinghausen (a side at an equivalent level to Solihull Moors), two German second tier sides, plus Luton, Wycombe and Crewe.

Sure, results of friendlies mean very little – it’s all about building up match fitness, establishing patterns of play and integrating new arrivals into the squad. Performance 1, results 0. And the constant rotating of personnel in warm-up matches makes the odd defensive mix-up inevitable.

Pre-season goals conceded just add weight to the view that Villa, with their callow defence, start each match 1-0 down.

Villa leaked goals regularly from corners last season, notably in the Capital One Cup semi-final against Bradford (Picture: Getty Images)

Taken in isolation, these pre-season goals could be viewed as aberrations. But instead they just add weight to the view that Villa, with their callow defence, start each match 1-0 down.

Poor judgment blighted the inexperienced Villa defence last season.

Witness the regular corner kick fiascos or Ciaran Clark’s naivety against Manchester City in March. But sometimes it was just sheer bad luck that prevented clean sheets – own goals by Ashley Westwood, Nathan Baker and Fabian Delph stopped Villa from shutting out West Ham, Reading and Fulham.

New signing Jores Okore, highly-rated by all who saw him play for Nordsjaelland in the Champions League last season, should add quality to the spine, and Antonio Luna’s arrival adds further competition to Villa’s busy left-back slot (but more of that in a later blog).

However, Okore suffered a hamstring injury in the match against Rodinghausen and has been in treatment ever since. Without him, it may be back to the same Lowton-Vlaar-Baker-Bennett quartet which, while individually talented, seems prone to an error or two.

With Christian Benteke, Gabby Agbonlahor, Andi Weimann and Nicklas Helenius in attack next season, Villa will have goals in abundance. But if some of the basic mistakes of last season are repeated, we’ll need at least two to win matches.