MY ACCOUNT
Danny Ings has struggled to deliver since moving from Southampton to Aston Villa last summer.
The previously prolific striker, 29, has looked a shadow of his former self and his current goal tally stands at just five for the season.
Neither Dean Smith nor Steven Gerrard have got a tune out of the forward on a consistent basis — but reassuring flashes of quality suggest that the old Ings may not be gone for good.
After rounding off Villa’s 4-0 thrashing of his former club last Saturday, will Ings hit the net again at Leeds this evening?
A dramatic drop-off
Across 2019-20 and 2020-21 — his last two seasons at Southampton — Ings scored 34 Premier League goals at a rate of 0.61 per 90 minutes.
Of all players to play the equivalent of 20 full matches during that period, only four averaged more goals per 90 than the England international.
But his tally of five strikes this season works out as a far less impressive 0.33 per 90. He has also gone five or more league games without finding the net three times and has not registered in consecutive matches since his first two Villa appearances.
At £25million, Ings did not come cheap — and so far, he has not got close to justifying his price tag.
Struggling with the system
Villa are creating slightly better chances than Southampton did last season, so why has Ings been misfiring so badly following his move?
So far this term, the Midlands side are averaging 1.16 non-penalty expected goals per 90 and 0.1 NPxG per shot.
In 2020-21, Southampton averaged one and 0.09 respectively. There are many more creative teams but Ings has not historically needed to play for such a side in order to rack up the goals.
But he is having markedly fewer non-penalty shots than in any of the previous seven campaigns, going from 2.27 per 90 in 2020-21 to 1.69 this time around.
One possible explanation could be that he has struggled to adapt to playing as a lone striker, having been deployed in a pair for so long.
Signs of life
Ings’ goal against the Saints was exactly the kind we have become used to seeing from him over the years.
Showing great awareness of his surroundings, he drifted into the box at the perfect time to meet Matty Cash’s cut-back before finishing clinically past Fraser Forster.
Evidently, the Winchester native has not lost any of his striker’s instinct, which made him one of the deadliest marksmen in England. What he has been lacking is consistency.
Getting creative
He may not have been scoring on a regular enough basis but Ings has still been involved in his fair share of goals for Villa.
His total of nine goal contributions is the highest in the squad, with only Philippe Coutinho — who has played just 518 minutes compared to Ings’ 1,377 — averaging more combined goals and assists per 90 than the attacker’s 0.59.
Villa’s No20 had a hand in three of his side’s four goals last time out.
So even if he is not putting the ball in the back of the net as much as he would like, the former Liverpool man has certainly made an impact on his club’s season.
Only a matter of time
Others may be concerned by Ings’ disappointing campaign but Gerrard has no such worries — and had nothing but praise when discussing the forward’s performances.
He said: “By people on the outside, strikers are judged just on goals. But we judge players on a lot of things around their main skill set and Danny is doing fine.
“Everything we have asked him to do, he is doing. It will only be a matter of time before the goals come.”
Knocked out of the FA Cup and lodged firmly in mid-table, Gerrard’s men have few targets for the rest of this campaign.
But with two years remaining on his contract in the West Midlands, there is still plenty of time for Ings to become a Villans hero.
