King Kodjia’s Changed Fortunes: Crowd Frustration Premature?

Moans and groans followed Villa’s leading centre-forward Jonathan Kodjia around certain areas of Villa Park on Saturday. Did Tuesday’s Carabao Cup cameo quiet the Ivorian’s doubters?

Even the shortest of memories will recall the quality he exhibited during his debut season. Since his injuries, however, Villa’s one-time star attraction is yet to reach those same heights. Some have already been calling for the striker’s head. Realistically though, there are a number of reasons for reserving judgement.

The Changed Fortunes of Jonathan Kodjia

That first season witnessed Kodjia ascend from the forward branded ‘overpriced’ by his old Bristol City fans to the main man at B6. ‘£15 million down the drain, Jonathan Kodjia scores again’ was often heard. His return was an impressive 19 goals. Not only that, the Ivorian was Villa’s single shining light going forward and without his goals, the club would have been very fearful of a double relegation.

A season of football, nevertheless, can bring upheaval to a football club. Its ethos, culture and personnel can change in an instant. Steve Bruce’s first full season in charge could not rely on the goals of an injured Kodjia. Arguably it wouldn’t have needed to. Hourihane, Adomah, Snodgrass and Grabban all contributed a number of goals. This compares to Villa’s second top scorer during the 2016/17 season, Grealish, with five goals. And how much has he improved since then.

The point is, after his season of absence, Kodjia has gone from the man in the team to a man in the team.

Luxury Player Status

The Ivorian can, nonetheless, still be identified as a ‘luxury’ player. The type of player who may be anonymous for parts of the game. The type of player who may not be the biggest team player, challenge as hard for the ball or track back so readily. They are the type of player, though, who can pop up with a moment of brilliance to take a game away. This compensates for any faults.

Obviously, the later part of this description does not apply to the recovering Kodjia of late. And I do not believe we can underestimate the effect of his long-term injury.

But last season’s Villa team and the one that begun this campaign does in fact carry out the hard work that the luxury player of Kodjia’s ilk does not perform. Bruce has drilled our star man Grealish into tracking back even as far as our own box and making challenges, as an example.

Boiling Frustration

Therefore, the Villa fans who compare this work ethic to the laxer work of Kodjia are bound to get frustrated. In particular, when the striker has yet to add the benefits of goals. His side of the bargain. It is really not difficult to argue against this when you see a young Hepburn-Murphy come on and battle (and actually have minor successes) against a defender nearly twice his size. Meanwhile, I cannot say I saw Kodjia make a meaningful aerial challenge for most of the game against Wigan.

The same can be said when comparing Kodjia to striking options from last season. Keinan Davis burst onto the scene and exhibited great strength, in particular for such a young player. Meanwhile, Scott Hogan and Lewis Grabban constantly pressed and chased down the opposition in their own half. Perhaps too often, ‘King Kodjia’ is seen meandering and not applying so much pressure.

Returning to Kodjia’s recovery, a handful of games at the back end of last campaign and two games into this season are hardly enough to jump on and scapegoat a forgotten favourite. There is plenty of time for him to get firing and return to the goalscorer we know.

With the combination of this and a harder working Villa side with less reliance on the striker, Kodjia has had to reintegrate into a completely different set-up to that which he was forced out from. However, whilst he is seemingly fit and on the pitch, Villa fans will only forgive Kodjia’s luxury status when he begins to repay the team with goals once more.