O’Neill leaves under a cloud – The timing of Martin O’Neill’s departure was hardly ideal with the Ulsterman leaving on the eve of the Premier League’s first weekend of fixtures, but his exit cannot be said to be unexpected. His clashes over a tightening of the purse strings at Villa Park all but ruined his once harmonious relationship with Villa Chairman Randy Lerner. The sale of James Milner to Man City, a move that O’Neill didn’t sanction, proved to be the straw that broke the camels back and he left the club after 4 largely successful seasons of steady progress at the helm. O’Neill wanted investment to push the club on after repeatedly banging his head against the top six glass ceiling, whereas Lerner argued, rather sensibly may I add, that O’Neill had failed to make enough of the money granted to him previously. With no middle ground to be found and the club’s star player sold for the second successive summer, O’Neill departed under a cloud and it all pointed towards testing times ahead.
European adventure alludes them once more – A tame exit at the hands of Rapid Vienna for the second season in succession wasn’t the best way to start a campaign, but may have been a blessing in disguise after all, what with the mid-season selection crisis under Houllier and an already threadbare squad stretched to breaking point. Villa, or more pertinently, Martin O’Neill often showed a degree of disdain towards Europe and it appears as if Villa simply aren’t cut out another for another European escapade at present.
A change of tack – Under former manager Martin O’Neill, Villa were often derided in some quarters (ahem, Arsene Wenger) as being a long-ball outfit. By my estimations, this was always a misrepresentation of the sides talents – sure, they were direct and the basis of their game was all about getting balls in early into the box, but they were capable of playing some lovely stuff on the deck too. This season, firstly under caretaker manager Kevin McDonald and then latterly under current manager Gerard Houllier, we’ve seen a noticeable, yet subtle shift to a more fluid, passing game from this Villa outfit. With Ashley Young often used as a floating forward and the emergence of the likes of Barry Bannan and Marc Albrighton, Villa are beginning to return to their footballing roots with a more attractive style.
You’ll never win anything with kids – One pleasing aspect of the Jekyll and Hyde performances coaxed out of the side by caretaker manager and coach Kevin McDonald was his preference for blooding in young talent into the first-team. A long-held critique of O’Neill’s tenure at the club was his refusal to trust the less experienced members of his squad while simultaneously persisting in using the same tired old legs week-in, week-out. Marc Albrighton looks to be the pick of the bunch and his 27 appearances have rendered a healthy return of 5 assists and 4 goals after some lively displays on the wing. Ciaran Clark performed ably in a number of roles and Barry Bannan’s skill also caught the eye on occasion. The future looks bright for this ramshackle bunch.
On A Wing and a Prayer – Villa’s two standout performers this campaign have undoubtedly been Stewart Downing and Ashley Young – one for his consistency, the other for his ability to do the unexpected. Downing quite rightly ended this season as the club’s Player of the Year and he has subsequently attracted strong interest from Liverpool among others. With a maturity now added to his play, he finished the campaign with 9 assists and 7 goals in the league, an exceptional return by anyone’s standards. Ashley Young may have just played his last game for the club and while he’s blown hot and cold at times this campaign, when he’s been good, he’s been very good indeed and he ends the season with 7 goals and 11 assists and has become an England regular to boot in the process. It looks doubtful that Villa will be able to hold onto both players going into next term with both keenly coveted. To lose one would be a huge setback, to lose both would be nothing short of catastrophic – they represent the very heart and sole of this new attacking Villa side and without them both, the West Midlands outfit will be a whole lot easier to play against next season.
Slackness at the back – The club’s 6th place finish last season and run to the FA Cup Final were built upon solid foundations at the back, sadly this season for Villa fans, they’ve simply not been there this term. Whereas last term the club could boast the fourth best defensive record in the league after conceding just 39 goals with 15 clean sheets thrown into the bargain, this term Villa have leaked goals almost at will at times. This season they’ve conceded a staggering 59 goals, the sixth worst in the league, and have kept a paltry 7 clean sheets. The demotion of Stephen Warnock to the club’s third-choice left back remains an ongoing mystery and the once solid partnership of Richard Dunne and James Collins simply haven’t hit the heady heights of last season’s excellence. The side’s more expansive style of play could partly be to blame for leaving the back line somewhat exposed at times but they have to do better next term to make sure this season become a blip rather than the norm.
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Mutually beneficial deal fails to transpire – There are very few such cases where a transfer deal can be interpreted as mutually beneficial, however, the James Milner/Stephen Ireland swap deal (plus the little matter of £18m on top of that) in the summer looked to be one of them. Villa were getting a player of skill and trickery, capable of unlocking even the tightest defence, whereas City were getting England’s go-to 12th man, the player for all occasions and positions, James Milner. If one side of the deal had failed to work out, well, that could be forgiven, but for both parties it’s been an unmitigated disaster. Milner has failed to breakthrough into Mancini’s first-team and Stephen Ireland was so bad that he was loaned out mid-season to Newcastle and looks unlikely to pull on a Villa shirt ever again. Milner has been sorely missed by Villa this season and his industry in the middle of the park was of such high importance that the imbalance was re-addressed in January with the arrival of Jean Makoun from Lyon.
Bent at the double – It became clear right throughout O’Neill’s spell at the club that the one thing truly holding the club back was the lack of a top-class striker. Interestingly, Lerner allowed Houllier to dig deep into the club’s apparent sparse transfer resources and funded a deal which in all honesty probably went an awful long way to ensuring the club’s Premier League survival. Bent will always have his detractors, namely blinkered Spurs fans, yet he’s a pure, unadulterated goalscorer of the highest class. He may not always be pretty, he may not always play well, but he’s a constant danger to the opposition and a return of 9 goals in 16 appearances is exactly what the doctor ordered. Many questioned Bent’s wisdom in signing for a club in the relegation zone when Sunderland were riding high in 6th place and many questioned the significant outlay of the deal – but Villa managed to finish one place above Sunderland in the league despite being poles apart on completion of the deal and Sunderland went on a barren run that dragged them right into the relegation dogfight with a sequence of 8 defeats in the 9 games immediately after Bent’s departure. If you take out the goals that Bent has scored since his arrival, ones which have had a direct and quantifiable effect on the end result of a match, then Villa would have 6 points fewer and would have gone into their final game of the season against Liverpool at the weekend needing a victory to ensure their Premier League status; this is not to mention the noticeably positive effect that he’s had on the team’s performances aside from his goals. With the costs of dropping out of the top flight now large than ever, the £24m spent on Bent in January must now represent one of the bargains of the season.
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Travel Sickness – In all honesty, the overly competitive nature of this year’s league hasn’t left any side with an overly exceptional away record, yet amidst all the mediocrity, Villa’s is still the worst of any of last season’s top 8. Last term they collected 32 points on their travels and had the third best away record in the division. This campaign though, Villa have garnered just 17 points away from Villa Park, have shipped a whopping 40 goals and have the sixth worst record in the league. Back to basics next season then.
Turning a Corner – Famed for this quite frankly laughable estimation every time Liverpool had a decent result during his last spell on these shores, Gerard Houllier’s appointment was met with lukewarm support to say the least. Is he simply a case of the right man at the wrong time for the club? He‘s also made a string horrendous faux pas‘ too, most notably the now infamous gaffe after a defeat to his former club Liverpool back in December when he stated; “I prefer to lose 3-0 to them because I like Liverpool” which hardly would have helped endear him to the club‘s faithful, nor did a dismal run of just 2 wins in his first 12 games. To his credit though, with significant backing it has to be said, Houllier has managed to drag the club out of a relegation scrap (of his own making) at the bottom into a relatively secure, if slightly false final league position of 9th this term. Another heart scare provides Randy Lerner with the perfect excuse (as crass as that sounds) to move the Frenchman on in the summer and start afresh next term under a new managerial team. The ill-feeling between the club’s support and it’s players towards Houllier et al has dogged the club all season. Houllier is anything but universally popular around Villa Park and for the club to truly turn the corner, they need a new man at the helm.
Arbitrary marks out of ten – 4/10 – Villa simply haven’t performed for large swatches of the campaign. Their form has been inconsistent all season and while the arrival and successful integration of Darren Bent does offer a glimmer of hope for the future, the club may have to prepare for another long summer of transfer upheaval with Downing and Young right at the top of many rival club’s shopping lists. After finishing 6th for three successive seasons, this has been a turbulent campaign by contrast, with undesired off-the-field bust-ups and a succession of poor performances on the pitch dominating the headlines for all the wrong reasons. If Aston Villa were a kid at school, their end of term report card would read simply – ‘must do better’. Sage words for the club to ponder going into what promises to be a truly pivotal campaign next season.
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