Are we a better side than last year?

[Follyfoot]

We appear to be playing in patches pretty much within ourselves and not quite clicking but still racking up the victories and the points. In addition are we better without Dougie.?

[Lerner's Driver]

Less fluent, but we have more options and we are more effective. As such, not as good on the eye (yet), but more satisfying all told.

[Dillon66]

Yes....and yes.

[Pongo Waring]

Yes! Stronger and more physicality.
Plan A and a Plan B.

[Marka Ragnos]

17 minutes ago, Follyfoot said:

We appear to be playing in patches pretty much within ourselves and not quite clicking but still racking up the victories and the points. In addition are we better without Dougie.?

Great thread idea. Like Heraclitus said, “You cannot step into the same river twice." The river and the person stepping are always changing. But that said, I think we're better primarily because we're successfully doing more this year. There are more train carriages on the engine overall, as a club, and that means we're holding our own and flourishing at a higher overall level of competition, even if, at this point, we're not in first or anything like that. Last year's Villa didn't have the bench depth or midfield passing wizardry, and Unai didn't have such a repertoire of styles to choose from with the players he had. I think we're also better because we're learning from last year. You can see it clearly in Unai. Everyone's always saying how incredible he is, but I think we sometimes don't give him enough credit as somebody who is also growing and learning, too, just like the rest of the players and staff. Unai is never static. Neither are we as supporters. You can see some of old gloom begin to fade a bit. When someone says, "That's typical Villa," it's now more a good thing, unlike for example "being Spursy."

Edited October 19 by Marka Ragnos

[Sid4ever]

I can’t remember the last time we had a bench as strong as today, we have evolved.

[Follyfoot]

I think we are as well. The only comparison I can make is between the 1977 side and the side that won the league. As exciting as the 77 side was there were points that had to be addressed to make us  more complete as a unit. It took Ron Saunders, a couple of seasons to sort that out, however it looks Emery is fast tracking this process. It’s mind-boggling what he’s doing with one hand tied behind his back

[rubberman]

Yes, and still a work in progress. The next step will see us be able to shift tactics & the way we're playing as we make the changes to personnel. 

The simple Onana > Barkley switch works but add 3/4 others and it all gets a bit fragmented. With the options we have, we'll need to get much better at this. 

[UpTheVilla26]

Yes. 

[lexicon]

Not yet, no. At our peak last season we dominated Man City and did the double over Arsenal. We've not looked brilliant for 90 mins this season yet - rather good patches in games.

However, I think it's only a matter of time. The depth we have now is quite incredible and as players come back from injury and the new ones settle in, plus the development of youngsters, we'll have progressed a lot.

[wishywashy]

In terms of the first XI atm? Probably not quite yet, especially compared to our performances in the first half of last season which was genuinely title contender level in terms of results and performances.

In terms of as a squad? Absolutely. That bench today even with just 9 players on it would have run rings around most Villa teams in the 2010s. It was mental.

Edited October 19 by wishywashy

[bcarpet]

I've been thinking the same question. To me it feels like in comparison to the start of last season we aren't as good, however we have picked up results and had the best start to a season since 98 or whatever. That said, every so often you see the football we play and you think when this clicks we could be good enough to be challenging right at the very top of the league.

[sne]

Early days yet. We are clearly better than at the end of last season. Don't think we currently are as good as during peak last season thou. Our highs are really high but our lows are quite bad. Cruising level is slightly below first half of last season I'd say. So far we are looking better in Europe (against better opponents) than we managed the whole of last season which is encouraging.

Kamara and Mings will soon be back which is huge. The right side remains an issue still.

[Brumstopdogs]

We look like we have more strength in depth but performances haven't been as consistent as when we were in top form in the first half of last season.

Signs are good though. We have some massive players available to us now and Unai is just getting started. 

Edited October 19 by Brumstopdogs

[rjw63]

We're good.

But we're not "winning at Lincoln with the aid of a missed penalty" good.

Mate.

[Farlz]

Not yet for me either. From August to December last season we were at our peak imo, felt invincible. 

Results show it's still fine but we're not even close to matching those performance levels yet. 

[MikeMcKenna]

Yes, but we are a V6 still only firing on five cylinders. We are going to give some team a thrashing . Despite problems with Bailey, Cash still being dodgy etc we were still head and shoulders better than Fulham, other than trying to hit us on the break they couldn’t cope with us. Tottenham and Liverpool away will be huge tests and the best indications of how we now compare to 23/24.

[useless]

We have more points than after the same amount of games as last season, and I think we have the same amount of points as from the same fixtures as last season, not couting Ipswich and Leicester, as they weren't in the league last season, and both probably better than last season's promoted clubs anyway.

So we're doing just as well in terms of results, and more or less our performances are very similar, that is we play very well against the top teams, see Arsenal, and Bayern Munich, but perform less well in the so called easier games, but usually still get the job done, but not always, this is exactly as it was last season, the likes of Wolves, Forest, Bournemouth, Sheffield United, Everton, West Ham, Brentford, and Crystal Palace, all got results against us, us dropping points to the likes of Ipswich and Manchester United not a new thing, and not something to worry about in the context of the season as an whole

Where we're less good perhaps is in attack, feels like we're too reliant on Watkins and Duran at the moment for goals, last season we had McGinn, Bailey, and Diaby doing very well in that regard, need Bailey back on form, and Ramsey too from goal scoring perspective, I think Watkins, Duran, Rogers, Onana, and Konsa are the only players to score in the league for us this season

[osmark86]

23 minutes ago, useless said:

We have more points than after the same amount of games as last season, and I think we have the same amount of points as from the same fixtures as last season, not couting Ipswich and Leicester, as they weren't in the league last season, and both probably better than last season's promoted clubs anyway.

So we're doing just as well in terms of results, and more or less our performances are very similar, that is we play very well against the top teams, see Arsenal, and Bayern Munich, but perform less well in the so called easier games, but usually still get the job done, but not always, this is exactly as it was last season, the likes of Wolves, Forest, Bournemouth, Sheffield United, Everton, West Ham, Brentford, and Crystal Palace, all got results against us, us dropping points to the likes of Ipswich and Manchester United not a new thing, and not something to worry about in the context of the season as an whole

Where we're less good perhaps is in attack, feels like we're too reliant on Watkins and Duran at the moment for goals, last season we had McGinn, Bailey, and Diaby doing very well in that regard, need Bailey back on form, and Ramsey too from goal scoring perspective, I think Watkins, Duran, Rogers, Onana, and Konsa are the only players to score in the league for us this season

You can add Diop to that list as well.

Edited October 19 by osmark86

[Marka Ragnos]

I think this campaign's challenge is less physical and tactical than mental/emotional. Successful Unai players are asked to do a lot intellectually. I don't mean sitting down on the pitch and working out multivariable calculus problems, but thinking constantly three moves ahead of the opposition to a very granular level. I think that's hard to sustain that, match after match, without sometimes just wanting to drift back into ComfortBall or VibesBall -- just "being confident as a team" or some such nonsense. It's human nature to want to be lazy. Ipswich was an example -- we seemed to be catching our breaths and mentally resting.