So what happened?

[Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle]

There's more bluenoses on here than on Smallheathbutbigchipalliance these days.

[Clampy]

There's more bluenoses on here than on Smallheathbutbigchipalliance these days.

There's more bluenoses on here than people on tbar.

[Dave]

Honestly, I think we started badly because we were disorganised, Sherwood had no idea how to prepare a team for the season.  We got rid and replaced with Garde who wanted the team to be much fitter and was trying to focus on that but was struggling with the lack of professionalism of some of our players.  In January he seemed to get something out of them but when he didn't get players in the window he seemed to lose a bit of focus and that translated to the players who, for me, saw him as a deadman walking and eased back on training, etc.  That led to us taking a couple of beatings and him getting sacked.  Finally Black acted up as caretaker and decided to try to defend his way to some points but with our ropey defence that was just a terrible decision.

That's pretty much as I remember it. The only thing I would add is that we went into the season with 5 new recruits from abroad, 4 of whom were first choice starters. Whilst they were good purchases, the best for quite a few transfer windows, but it was unduly optimistic to rely on them to be up and running from the off - especially as it is generally considered that imports take a good 6 months to get up to speed.

I'm not sure that is really the case. Fuchs, Kante and Okazaki seemed fine coming in at Leicester. Payet, Lanzini and Ogbonna had no problems at West Ham.

I don't really see it as much more than a convenient excuse.

I'm still pretty sure that if circumstance and better management had allowed Amavi, Ayew, Veretout, Gana and Traore to settle into the team then the season would have been considerably better than it was.

[Stu]

Amavi getting ACL knack in October, or whenever, was just stinking bad luck. Defensive duties aside he was comfortably our best player up until then.

[stuart r]

Lads lads lads... A Birmingham City supporter 'innocently' poses the question 'Please explain to me why you are so rubbish?' (as if he doesn't have a clue). What follows are lots and lots of polite replies from Villa supporters detailing why indeed we were sh*t and describing in detail our sh*tness. Bet he's laughing his head off.. Easy trolling.

Come lads and lasses of H&V. Focus, Don't lose your shape, Clear your lines. This lot are easy to beat but you've got to concentrate. Don't get distracted or fooled. Be ruthless. Focus focus focus

[castlefields_villan]

There's more bluenoses on here than on Smallheathbutbigchipalliance these days.

Thank you for making me laugh, yet again, Herbert !

[paul_e]

Honestly, I think we started badly because we were disorganised, Sherwood had no idea how to prepare a team for the season.  We got rid and replaced with Garde who wanted the team to be much fitter and was trying to focus on that but was struggling with the lack of professionalism of some of our players.  In January he seemed to get something out of them but when he didn't get players in the window he seemed to lose a bit of focus and that translated to the players who, for me, saw him as a deadman walking and eased back on training, etc.  That led to us taking a couple of beatings and him getting sacked.  Finally Black acted up as caretaker and decided to try to defend his way to some points but with our ropey defence that was just a terrible decision.

That's pretty much as I remember it. The only thing I would add is that we went into the season with 5 new recruits from abroad, 4 of whom were first choice starters. Whilst they were good purchases, the best for quite a few transfer windows, but it was unduly optimistic to rely on them to be up and running from the off - especially as it is generally considered that imports take a good 6 months to get up to speed.

I'm not sure that is really the case. Fuchs, Kante and Okazaki seemed fine coming in at Leicester. Payet, Lanzini and Ogbonna had no problems at West Ham.

I don't really see it as much more than a convenient excuse.

I'm still pretty sure that if circumstance and better management had allowed Amavi, Ayew, Veretout, Gana and Traore to settle into the team then the season would have been considerably better than it was.

That's what I meant by having a manager who had no idea how to prepare the team for the season.  We started last unfit, with the team split into cliques and with no plan for how to approach games and we saw a couple of months of what was, effectively, Sherwood throwing things at the wall to see what would stick.  Even though he kept us up the year before I firmly believe Sherwood is easily the worst manager we've had in my time watching the club.

[Jimbo]

Lads lads lads... A Birmingham City supporter 'innocently' poses the question 'Please explain to me why you are so rubbish?' (as if he doesn't have a clue). What follows are lots and lots of polite replies from Villa supporters detailing why indeed we were sh*t and describing in detail our sh*tness. Bet he's laughing his head off.. Easy trolling.

Come lads and lasses of H&V. Focus, Don't lose your shape, Clear your lines. This lot are easy to beat but you've got to concentrate. Don't get distracted or fooled. Be ruthless. Focus focus focus

This.

[cdbearsfan]

Amavi getting ACL knack in October, or whenever, was just stinking bad luck. Defensive duties aside he was comfortably our best player up until then.

It was, but I remember moaning before the transfer window closed that we should've signed an extra left-back as cover. The previous year we ended up with Richardson playing there and then loaned out Bennett and Cissokho. It was foolhardy not to sign an extra option.

[Villa in Denmark]

Honestly, I think we started badly because we were disorganised, Sherwood had no idea how to prepare a team for the season.  We got rid and replaced with Garde who wanted the team to be much fitter and was trying to focus on that but was struggling with the lack of professionalism of some of our players.  In January he seemed to get something out of them but when he didn't get players in the window he seemed to lose a bit of focus and that translated to the players who, for me, saw him as a deadman walking and eased back on training, etc.  That led to us taking a couple of beatings and him getting sacked.  Finally Black acted up as caretaker and decided to try to defend his way to some points but with our ropey defence that was just a terrible decision.

I was talking to a client on Friday (Spurs fan) who met Kyle Walker, Aaron Lennon and Danny Rose in a casino not long after Pochettino arrived at WHL. He said Walker ignored him, Lennon was an actual knob but Rose was pretty sound and chatty. He asked him (Rose) what life was like under Poch. Rose said it was different, intense and there was a bit of ambivalence as there was no evidence at the time that the hard work would pay off. He apparently added 'it's very different to Tim Sherwood. He just let us do what we wanted."

I think that's what went wrong for us.

I think that's exactly what it was. We gave over our pre-season preparation to a complete chancer.

Bingo. Complete lack of preseason for a squad that mostly needed to be firing on all cylinders to stand a chance compared to half a season in north London with a squad that could pretty much have sleepwalked into top 8.

[ExclDawg]

Amavi getting ACL knack in October, or whenever, was just stinking bad luck. Defensive duties aside he was comfortably our best player up until then.

I think that and Adama getting injured really took the wind out of our sails.  They both looked really promising.

[peter w]

Amavi getting ACL knack in October, or whenever, was just stinking bad luck. Defensive duties aside he was comfortably our best player up until then.

I think that and Adama getting injured really took the wind out of our sails.  They both looked really promising.

Sorry but our overseas supporters are from Shanghai and Beijing now. Your posts will no longer be read.

[Steve R]

Honestly, I think we started badly because we were disorganised, Sherwood had no idea how to prepare a team for the season.  We got rid and replaced with Garde who wanted the team to be much fitter and was trying to focus on that but was struggling with the lack of professionalism of some of our players.  In January he seemed to get something out of them but when he didn't get players in the window he seemed to lose a bit of focus and that translated to the players who, for me, saw him as a deadman walking and eased back on training, etc.  That led to us taking a couple of beatings and him getting sacked.  Finally Black acted up as caretaker and decided to try to defend his way to some points but with our ropey defence that was just a terrible decision.

That's pretty much as I remember it. The only thing I would add is that we went into the season with 5 new recruits from abroad, 4 of whom were first choice starters. Whilst they were good purchases, the best for quite a few transfer windows, but it was unduly optimistic to rely on them to be up and running from the off - especially as it is generally considered that imports take a good 6 months to get up to speed.

I'm not sure that is really the case. Fuchs, Kante and Okazaki seemed fine coming in at Leicester. Payet, Lanzini and Ogbonna had no problems at West Ham.

I don't really see it as much more than a convenient excuse.

I'm still pretty sure that if circumstance and better management had allowed Amavi, Ayew, Veretout, Gana and Traore to settle into the team then the season would have been considerably better than it was.

The settling in period has been debated here before. You either subscribe to it or not I suppose. Looking at the physicality and lack of fitness in the PL compared to other countries, I'd say it has legs. And yes, there will always be contradictory examples either way.

I'd say Gana and Ayew in particular took a while to bed in. It's anyone's guess as to whether a different manager would have made it any easier for them but, for example, the Ayew that finished the season was a much more influential player than the one that started it, and he doesn't strike me as the kind of player that needs excuses.

The imports are all good players, I am glad we have them - but taking them all in one go and expecting them to perform from the off was an enormous risk.