Summarise the Season - 21/22

[allani]

2 minutes ago, VillaChris said:

Some will, some won't.

Wolves will have to replace Neves you suspect and rest of their side is looking a bit tired now.

Not sure what Leicester can add given they have good players all around the pitch but so many have been injured constantly so they're similar to us, Tielemans leaving aswell.

Brighton probably losing Bissouma but already got Caciedo as a replacement.

Big problem I think is Newcastle shown in last 3 months what they'll be doing over next three years so will be struggle to finish above them next year, they'll probably qualify for europe before we do.

Our squad isn't amazing...but it isn't terrible either so just got to sign a couple who can make a real difference at both ends while other clubs above us have to replace key players.

The problem is that the position where we have needed to have a key player has been left blank for 2 seasons.  So we're having to replace a key player that we haven't even managed to sign yet!!!  Our entire season is dependent on one absolutely key signing.  Get it right and the rest of the squad doesn't look so shabby.  For me the issue is that our current "spine" is Emi, Mings, McGinn and Watkins.  And that is a big problem because three of those four wouldn't fill that role at a club in the top 8.  As "secondary" players I think they are all good but we are replacing our key positions rather than filling in holes.  I sway between great optimism and huge pessimism for next season on an almost hourly basis!!!

[VillaChris]

Ideally we sign a new striker but I think that can wait until January as imagine Gerrard will think Ings can get firing in August plus Archer will get a proper chance and who knows he may take it.

Biggest problem is working out what to do upfront as we simply don't look as fluid with Buendia + Coutinho on the pitch at same time so can understand why we've only started one of them for most of the last two months. Add in seemingly wanting to get Ings and Watkins starting together and it leaves us unbalanced and too congested centrally unless the FBs are given free reign to get up and down the pitch.

We need greater flexibility, guess what we sign will show how serious Gerrard is about it. When he changed it at Burnley and put Chambers at DM we were 3 up after 50 minutes so does show a plan B can work for certain games.

[villa4europe]

Heads gone 

Not sure why, could be jack leaving, could be a bad pre season, could be several players on an individual basis, Smith couldn't turn it around and I think they gave up on him and it was disappointing, not sure Gerrard is the answer, even for him we gave up mid to late Jan and started looking at holidays but it sounds like we will just throw money at it again

I'm back to thinking there's some weird culture at the club where our players heads are never right, a good shrink could save us about £80m this summer 

Edit - Targett has summed our season up, won a player award for a great year last year, was **** terrible for us this season, now at Newcastle looking perfectly fine again, what was going on his head at villa to make his form drop off so badly? 

Edited May 21, 2022 by villa4europe

[VillanousOne]

Desperately disappointing season where zero progress was made.

The lack of preseason, injuries and trying to play without our one player to whom our entire playing system relied on.

So many signings didn't really work and our best players seemed to go backwards. Things have improved a bit recently but overall not one decision made has paid off yet.

Buendia, Chambers & Digne have done ok, Coutinho was on fire at the start.

Bailey and Ings have been hugely disappointing for various reasons.

Watkins, Konsa have had awful spells of form.

And the issue with our woefully unbalanced and toothless midfield has just continued with McGinn for some reason undroppable despite struggling to justify that, Sanson bombed out, Chuk's potential unfulfilled and Tim given just one start and cameo.

JJ & Cash have been our shining lights. But nothing else has really worked out.

There are signs of improvements and optimism that a good summer transfer window will get things moving in the right direction again, but I worry we will be talking about next season once again as a tedious and disappointing 'transition season AGAIN!

[villaglint]

5 minutes ago, VillanousOne said:

Desperately disappointing season where zero progress was made.

The lack of preseason, injuries and trying to play without our one player to whom our entire playing system relied on.

So many signings didn't really work and our best players seemed to go backwards. Things have improved a bit recently but overall not one decision made has paid off yet.

Buendia, Chambers & Digne have done ok, Coutinho was on fire at the start.

Bailey and Ings have been hugely disappointing for various reasons.

Watkins, Konsa have had awful spells of form.

And the issue with our woefully unbalanced and toothless midfield has just continued with McGinn for some reason undroppable despite struggling to justify that, Sanson bombed out, Chuk's potential unfulfilled and Tim given just one start and cameo.

JJ & Cash have been our shining lights. But nothing else has really worked out.

There are signs of improvements and optimism that a good summer transfer window will get things moving in the right direction again, but I worry we will be talking about next season once again as a tedious and disappointing 'transition season AGAIN!

Everything you say is correct there have been signs of positives and negatives however I would say that zero progress IS progress.

I know that sounds dumb but our entire team, system, form has been so tied to Mr Grealish that facing a season without him and trying to even stand still was a big ask. Of course we invested and some of that has worked some hasn’t but the fact we haven’t gone backwards dramatically is something to be pleased about I think. 
 

It’s another season of Championship revenue off the FFP books we will spend big again and don’t need loads of bodies just quality so plenty of reason to be hopeful I think. 
 

The biggest negative is just how competitive the top half of this league. Making any progress is really really tough from here on. 

[VillaParkAvenue]

6 hours ago, allani said:

We aren't going to finish 10th by signing 3 £30m players (unless we get EXTREMELY lucky).  So whilst I don't think we are far off - we probably would need to break our transfer record three times - a central midfielder, a centre back who Mings looks up to (not necessarily literally!) and a striker who can play in front of two 10s.  The teams above us will be spending money and we need to more than keep up with them.

Low spending teams finish in the top 10 every season, Brighton and possibly even Brentford do it this year. If signing three more 30m players can’t get us three more points and thus into the top half, why do we even try?

[OutByEaster?]

I think we're a better team than the one that started the season.

Watching that happen has had its ups and downs - but I think it's true.

I'm hopeful we'll be a better team again at the start of next season.

[PaulC]

Started badly after the dissapointment of losing Grealish. A number of players who we thought were going to kickon wwnt backwards, partly because of injuries. Nonebof the summer signings have been a great success although Buendia looks a player with great potential. Theres bèen an improvement under Gerrard but its a bit hit and miss. So overall ok 6/10 but looking for a big improvement next season. 

[VillaParkAvenue]

But to summarise the season: no disaster, but disappointing.

The summer signings didn’t help us nearly as much as expected. When Smith began to experiment with formations to fit them in, it was obvious this would be a season to forget.

Then under Gerrard some positive signs but very short-lived.

Starting to worry about the atmosphere at the club and the overall leadership (not just Gerrard) when good players come here and become bad. Or when they leave and become good.

[ozvillafan]

We swapped a manager that was learning his trade and "has a ceiling"....

... for a manager who is learning his trade and "has a ceiling".

[YLN]

I feel less of an attachment to the team than at any point in the past 28 years

[VillaParkAvenue]

Just now, YLN said:

I feel less of an attachment to the team than at any point in the past 28 years

Why is that?

[BleedClaretAndBlue]

I did worry for us after losing the Gucci model and seeing we had City away on the last day. On that basis im glad we can just draw a line under this shitshow season and hope for much better next time around. The league is getting tougher, everyone else will be improving and we have to catch up quick

[icouldtelltheworld]

Bumped into an old pal at New St yesterday and we were in agreement that the Villa are basically back to where they've always been in our lifetime (born 1992) - securely PL and distinctly unspectacular. No surprise that the atmosphere was better on our way back up, its going to get tougher for us now.

Based on what I've seen this season, I don't think Gerrard is the man to take us to the next level and worry that the club is making decisions now that we will get wrong for many years to come, but here's hoping I'm wrong and we're on the cusp of something fantastic

[Villaphan04]

Midtable 

[icouldtelltheworld]

1 hour ago, OutByEaster? said:

I think we're a better team than the one that started the season.

Watching that happen has had its ups and downs - but I think it's true.

I'm hopeful we'll be a better team again at the start of next season.

Measured and insightful as ever mate  

[Xela]

12 minutes ago, YLN said:

I feel less of an attachment to the team than at any point in the past 28 years

I feel less of an attachment to the overall game of football than I have ever done.  I think it is quite vulgar and immoral now

As for Villa specifically, the Lambert years were my dark years. The Villa fan as manager and captain were great years and it was a shame it ended the way it did. 

[the_eristic]

[WallisFrizz]

Don’t get the people who can’t get past the Jack and Dean years. Yes it was special and there were some genuinely delightful moments but it was 3 years! That’s a tiny dot in our history and it also included some really crappy results.  There’s some revisionism going on here.

This season has been massively underwhelming but this disconnect is peoples own choice. Why have we any more reason to feel gloomy than Everton or Newcastle, the fanbases of which are in much higher spirits than us? Hopefully a decent transfer window can create a bit of optimism again. 

My problem is with football as a whole creating a closed shop meaning it’s difficult to aspire to anything. I don’t blame Villa for that.

[QldVilla]

I think the season was set up to failure, not on purpose, but by poor planning.

The club new Jack was out the door and don't believe they really understood what that meant and at the last minute came up with the 3 signings narrative. Two of Smith's lieutenants walked out the door and again there seemed to be no planning around this change. This led to a poor start in the league and ultimately Smith losing his job.

This had a huge impact on the rest of the season, with players who probably didn't want Smith to go, but also used to the other voices and how they delivered information.

Enter Gerrard and his entourage. Can he bring his style of play and success to the club? He did well the first few weeks with wins, but the players ultimately were finding it difficult to make the transition to a different style and voices while in the pressure cooker of the PL. There's been some high points and some low points, but the two stand out issues remain of leaking soft goals from errors and not being clinical in front of goal. In my mind the team left 10-12 points out there during the season because of these failures. The lack of a DM especially after Nakamba's injury also played a huge part in the second half of the season.

I believe we're a better team than our position suggests, we're not that far from the top 6-8 teams and the off season will play a huge role in whether we can take that step. We will know by the World Cup break whether the Gerrard experiment is going to be a success, but nothing less than 7th or higher next season can be seen as acceptable.

The CB partnership needs and overhaul, we need that quality DM and CM and we need a 3rd striker to put pressure on Ings and Watkins.

UTV.