Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: Deano's Mullet on May 25, 2025, 06:28:02 PM
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Now its over how do you feel? This is the first season under Emery I've actually ended up feeling disappointed. Obviously qualifying the Europa is an excellent achievement but I think we'll always look back at this season as a what if campaign. I think we've flattered to deceive for long spells this season and last season we were in that Chsmps League hunt from game 2 to game 37. This year it feels like we were well off the pace, gave ourselves a fighting chance to qualify and then blew it with the stinker we've just watched.
Strange to think of a year where we're top six and won 19 league games leaving me disappointed but that's what's happened. And that's before you even throw the FA Cup in to the chat.....
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We didn’t win anything.
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B+
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A very good season. Some fantastic moments, some awful ones. The summer will be interesting.
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B-
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It never felt like we got going at any point.
6th is prob good under the circumstances, particularly with our ropey business last summer.
But feel we'll rue not kicking on this season in years to come when the chance was there.
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It’s obviously raw, but I’m going to go disappointing. We neither won anything or got Champions League so in absolute terms we’ve gone backwards in terms of what we achieved last year. I know it’s not straightforward - playing in the Champions League is very demanding. But ultimately we’ve ended up worse off.
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I think we’ve shown a lot of consistency (not always good) and largely done well managing both champions league and domestic commitments. It looks -as opposed to last season-as if we prioritized finishing the season stronger. Qualifying for Europe 3 seasons running is a good achievement. But there were an alarming number of drop offs in performance from a number of players. We started tightening up defensively towards the end of the season but the dye was cast with some of earlier failings in conceding goals from both first shot facing and in the last 15 minutes of games. Ultimately, I think this season was defined by our failings in the biggest of moments.
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Very good season but the no show at Wembley really is a stain on it.
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Getting into QF in Champions League is really good. Unai and his system still seems as good as anything but I think we do lack top level players in certain areas which gives that we are not quite at the top yet.
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We have some magical nights and some absolutely brilliant goals and results. But we fell short in key moments. It’s all the more painful given the sides that have won trophies this season. That might not be the case again next year so we will need to fight against the established sides who will likely net spend considerably more than us. It’s a B for me.
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Witnessed some Incredible games at Villa Park in the Champions League which will be talked about for a while especially if we don't qualify for it again anytime soon.
The January window made a big difference, having that strength in depth allowed Unai to change games especially in the last 20 minutes of matches and we then went onto a strong end to the season, the first half of the season cost us dearly.
B+
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Could have and should have won the FA cup. Won FA. Bottled against the worst manure team in my lifetime. We should win Europa as if spuds can win it we should be able to. 30 years next year since a trophy. Not good enough
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C.
Target was and should have been CL qualification again because of the 5 places.
To have three targets in April and lose all three of them is horrendous.
Relatively speaking it's a decent season. The way it's actually unfolded though, no.
Blown it. Again.
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C. Par. 6th with the 6th highest wages. No trophy. Downgrade on European competition. Nothing to write home about.
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The most disappointing thing is if we’d done our job we’d be there. We didn’t and regardless of an appalling ref error, we did not turn up at all.
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We've won fuck all again
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6/10 a Martin O’Neill season.
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At least we have a decent chance of winning the Europa League … or we would do if Crystal Palace weren’t in it
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To have three targets in April and lose all three of them is horrendous.
Relatively speaking it's a decent season. The way it's actually unfolded though, no.
There was a point when we were about to play PSG where I was feeling confident about all the competitions we were still in.
For most of the last decade, this seasons positions would have been a dream, but as you say - the way it played out feels disheartening.
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To use teaching vernacular:
What's Working Well
- European qualification
- Fortress Villa Park
- Some European nights that will last long in the memory
- Great business in January
- The best kit in years
Even Better If
- The dropping of points that should never have been dropped
- Post European game league performances
- An FA Cup semi-final no-show
- A lack of pace in too many games
- Some players seemingly undroppable even with marked and prolonged dips in performance
Overall B-
Minimum objective achieved but it could have delivered far more.
This summer has a feel of the Saunders seasons of the late 70s. A re-build is necessary, which might see a step backwards before the successes we crave are realised. Fan favourites will inevitably depart and their replacements might need time to imbed. We have also seen some clubs significantly underachieve this season and consequently I think top-six will be even harder to achieve next time round. That makes the cups something we need to take seriously right from the off. Us and Everton are now vying for the title of the Premier League's biggest underachiever trophy-wise.
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Yeah we blew it today, but to be honest, it was us blowing it multiple times earlier in the season that cost us, not today's game, or we would never have been in this position in the first place.
We blew it earlier in the season, spunking away easy points, but ultimately, in the end, we won't be in the Champions League next season because there are teams who, over 38 games, have done better than we have, not just today.
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Here's a prediction.
Next season is going to go one way or the other, binary, two options - amazing or dreadful. Just a feeling I have.
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The only good thing is we have consolidated our place as a top six club. The elephant in the room is no trophy.
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I'd say the season shows that we have a decent squad of players. I'd also say that there is not a single player in the squad who could actually be regarded as indispensable as of right now.
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I think there is going to be the mother of all clear outs over the summer.
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A series of missed opportunities.
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A series of missed opportunities.
Aston Villa 1983-2025.
Just the four decades of it.
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Over a season I believe you finish where you deserve.
Had some great results, especially getting to the CL QF and FA Cup SF, and going to the final game of the season to get CL qualification again, but Europa League is still a good achievement. Let’s be honest Emery is great in this competition so let’s hope that continues.
We fell short and did seem to bottle it in the big games, but all in all I think we did well.
Next season is certainly a big one for the owners and the manager to see if we can keep it going.
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7/10 compared to last season.
Next season is the one where we have to get some silverware if we are to progress. We’ve been at the crossroads before when we’ve gone the wrong way. This time I have confidence in the owners and staff that we will continue to move forward.
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Over a season I believe you finish where you deserve.
Had some great results, especially getting to the CL QF and FA Cup SF, and going to the final game of the season to get CL qualification again, but Europa League is still a good achievement. Let’s be honest Emery is great in this competition so let’s hope that continues.
We fell short and did seem to bottle it in the big games, but all in all I think we did well.
Next season is certainly a big one for the owners and the manager to see if we can keep it going.
Emery is meant to be cup king but he's still got beaten by Palace, Stevenage, Olympiakos and Everton. I wouldn't count on Europa for anything next season. Summer dealings will tell you what direction the club is heading and gearing for.
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Over a season I believe you finish where you deserve.
Had some great results, especially getting to the CL QF and FA Cup SF, and going to the final game of the season to get CL qualification again, but Europa League is still a good achievement. Let’s be honest Emery is great in this competition so let’s hope that continues.
We fell short and did seem to bottle it in the big games, but all in all I think we did well.
Next season is certainly a big one for the owners and the manager to see if we can keep it going.
Emery is meant to be cup king but he's still got beaten by Palace, Stevenage, Olympiakos and Everton. I wouldn't count on Europa for anything next season. Summer dealings will tell you what direction the club is heading and gearing for.
Yeah but re summer dealings ...
Firstly, we're cash rich on the basis of this current season where we've banked a ton of money, and secondly, the ambition in terms of signings will be driven by what is possible under PSR, far more than "we can offer CL football, do you want to join?" would do.
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Here's a prediction.
Next season is going to go one way or the other, binary, two options - amazing or dreadful. Just a feeling I have.
Yeah it feels quite a tipping point. To lose to Manure, in the position they’re in, and put in the performance we did was utterly pathetic.
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Some great moments but feels like a bit of a missed opportunity at the moment. It's true that we probably would have taken sixth a few months ago, but not sure we'd have taken winning sod all again and finishing sixth the day before semi-final, or in those heady three minutes when we were winning in Paris.
Still, it's difficult to say whether it's been a good season or not just yet, without seeing how things pan out. If we hold onto most of our top players, win the Europa League and do well in the league then this will have been a step in the right direction.
If we find two or three of our top players out the door, win sod all as usual and slip down the league next year, not so much.
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The first few player we sign should give an indication of where we are PSR wise and if this was the high water mark and it's a cycle of readjusting and coming again when we are in a better position rules wise or they change.
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Saunders'79-80 team didn't qualify for Europe and put in a poor performance when firm favourites in the FA Cup 6th round.One player was signed.
Graham Turner,probably under pressure from Ellis,sold some stars to be able to rebuild.
One team won the league,one was relegated shortly afterwards.
PSR means we have to sell first but let's get rid of the fringe players instead of a cull of first team regulars.Remember,it's been a good season again.
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Really disappointed right now. Feels like we'll never really achieve anything of note.
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At the start of the season I said I'd be happy with top six and the Champions League knockout stages. We achieved that so 7/10. Onwards, upwards.
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At the start of the season I said I'd be happy with top six and the Champions League knockout stages. We achieved that so 7/10. Onwards, upwards.
Pretty much where I’m at. There’s obviously a feeling of disappointment to not deliver CL when it was there for the taking but today summed us up this season in the league as we were somehow still in the game when Rogers “goal” was disallowed then limped to a defeat with 10 men.
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Next year is all about the level of quality we can bring in.
Ollie & Emi will be sold along with Ramsey for PSR reasons.
A massive sliding doors moment.
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I think we're only one point worse off than last season and that includes an FA cup semi final and a significant run to the CL quarter finals with all the positivity that went with it. The defeat at Wembley was galling, the defeat against PSG was Villa's version of Dunkirk - a defeat that somehow became a victory. Our ongoing inferiority complex against Crystal Palace is puzzling.Overall it was a good season that has perhaps shone a light on the sun beginning to set on a couple of illustrious careers. UTV.
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Good season, plenty more highs than lows. Continually qualifying for Europe year on year is huge.
I actually think if we get our summer recruitment right we’ll benefit next season from playing in the less strenuous environment of the Europa League and we’ll have a better league campaign next season than this one.
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Given the wage bill, resources etc , it's a poor season .
Not re-qualifying for the honey pot league is pretty disastrous.
In the big games when it mattered we melted , embarrassing, no wonder the media don't take us seriously.
Very disappointing season.
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Given the wage bill, resources etc , it's a poor season .
We've the 6th highest wage bill and finished 6th, how is that poor?
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Solid 7/10 for me.
I would have taken 6th at the beginning of the season and while.falling short is disappointing, we're getting closer to winning.
I'd hope that if we get ourselves into the same situations next season, we'll get over the line and win a trophy.
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7/10 ... can do better.
The Palace semi final defeat the biggest blot on the season ....
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I wasn't that bothered about Palace. It was the missed chances vs PSG. Not a criticism, just a regret.
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Unai Emery: "Overall, I can analyse the season. We achieved the objective, being in Europe. This is the third year in a row in Europe and we want to enjoy it. We lost opportunities over the season. We got 66 points, which is fantastic."
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7.5/10.
Slightly exceeded my expectations but as a result the near misses were even closer.
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Unai Emery: "Overall, I can analyse the season. We achieved the objective, being in Europe. This is the third year in a row in Europe and we want to enjoy it. We lost opportunities over the season. We got 66 points, which is fantastic."
That sums it up fair enough IMO. As someone mentioned earlier in the thread we need to rebuild a bit before / during next season like in the late 70s. The team as it is are potent but also some soft spots / vulnerabilities.
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We will need to get the wages and overall spending in order so we don’t have keep selling our best players every summer. Commercially we have raise more also so when we do get the odd top player we’re not breaking the bank. This summer if we can steady the ship, keep most of our best players and add one or two savvy signings we can push on again. Today is shit but it’s not all lost at all.
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Well yeah but that commercial point is massively influenced by Champions League.
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Top 6 in League. We were miles behind at the end of Feb and lost out on GD.
Europe Qualification 3rd season running.
FA Cup SF
ECL QF
Financially the most appreciated squad in the league.
Go back even 2 years ago and offer us that.
Go back 5 years and you'd be smiled at - notwithstanding the worst performing manager in Villa's recent history in StevieEffingMe in charge for a year.
Go back 7 years when were almost dead and you'd have been laughed at forever.
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Think I had us 7th and CL QFs in August so can't be too disappointed.
FA Cup however a massive disappointment. Won't get a better draw in that from round 3 onwards for many years.
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C. Par. 6th with the 6th highest wages. No trophy. Downgrade on European competition. Nothing to write home about.
A nearly season for me too. PSG on ropes at home, Palace and Man United no shows. Emery had a nightmare in those three unfortunately. But it's still 66 points, after a difficult summer too. Big nights v Bayern and PSG. Tielemans career transformed and Rogers a super signing. Cash and Digne had their best seasons at the club. Beyond that, some of our key players struggled a bit and another difficult summer ahead in the transfer market. Maybe B-.
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6/10 season overall
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Round 5 onwards, maybe. I don't think successive Premier League opponents in Rounds Three and Four is necessarily that jammy. Liverpool played Accrington Stanley and Plymouth, Man City had Salford and Leyton Orient.
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Well yeah but that commercial point is massively influenced by Champions League.
It is. And maybe we would have kept stretching things to an unrealistic level had we got in. Maybe this means we have to look at how we do things so it’s a bit more sustainable long term. We went for broke in January with Asensio and Rashford. And fair play to the club for trying. But a more reasonable and measured approach might be the way and forced upon us now.
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Got a horrible feeling we are really going to regret not qualifying for the Champions League. Another “what if” Villa moment!
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Really strange season. I would have probably settled for it at the satrt of the season but feels like a massive missed opportunity.
We bottled it when it really mattered. But was a good acheivement, but lingering feeling of this is as good as it gets.
The odds are stacked against anyone breaking the enforced concrete ceiling - and feels like missing out on Champions League well have to take a step or two back when in retrospect we should have avoided it. Feels like potentially another sliding doors moment where doing "well" is as far as we get.
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Got a horrible feeling we are really going to regret not qualifying for the Champions League. Another “what if” Villa moment!
Lerner and O'Neil aren't in charge this time. No 3 strikes and you are out.
Toon (likely), Spuds and even Chelsea won't find the balance of Premier League and ECL any easier than us.
Chelsea done well this season because they had a great competition to cut youngsters in. No hiding place for them next year.
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Got a horrible feeling we are really going to regret not qualifying for the Champions League. Another “what if” Villa moment!
Newcastle got back in (just) after a year out. Why can’t we?
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I get people are disappointed but fuck me some of you are coming across as a bit entitled on here.
CL QF
FA CUP SF
6th in the league
"c"
"6/10"
As much as it's disappointing to come away with nothing more than Europa League qualification I'd still say this is out most successful season for about 30 years (since we last won something) and came with a period of injuries that really hurt us in the winter.
I think the pressure probably did get to us in the end and we probably need to add a little more leadership into the group but if you think this was a bad season I reckon you need to take a few days to calm down and then come back to this thread.
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No one is saying it’s been a bad season.
But 2 shit the bed performances, when it REALLY mattered have stopped it being a spectacular season.
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Got a horrible feeling we are really going to regret not qualifying for the Champions League. Another “what if” Villa moment!
Newcastle got back in (just) after a year out. Why can’t we?
We can, but they had no European football. Also I suspect this will unlock their spending potential too.
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Got a horrible feeling we are really going to regret not qualifying for the Champions League. Another “what if” Villa moment!
Newcastle got back in (just) after a year out. Why can’t we?
We can, but they had no European football. Also I suspect this will unlock their spending potential too.
They didn’t go crazy last time they were because they couldn’t. What it’s done is likely allowed them to keep the likes of Isak. And even then they might still need to sell a player or two.
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A solid 8/10
We competed with the best, qualified for Europe, a Wembley Semi Final and made progress yet again, even after the Premier League are determined to make us sell some of our best players.
UTV
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The fact we will see an exodus of players with lesser ones coming in is a strange one to comprehend, after qualifying for a major European competition.
You would think it should be a massive achievement and one to build on, but somehow this really feels like a disappointment.
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That’s not necessarily true Andy. Newcastle held on to their top players despite missing out entirely on Europe. There are plenty of excellent players out there where PL, Europa League Aston Villa is a great opportunity to step up. And we will be a side that will be competing again for a CL spot.
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No one is saying it’s been a bad season.
But 2 shit the bed performances, when it REALLY mattered have stopped it being a spectacular season.
but this thread about the whole season, and people are rating it pretty much entirely because of 2-3 defeats when, in truth, it's been our best season (results wise) since the mid 90s.
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The fact we will see an exodus of players with lesser ones coming in is a strange one to comprehend, after qualifying for a major European competition.
You would think it should be a massive achievement and one to build on, but somehow this really feels like a disappointment.
How many is an exodus?
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Yeah but outcomes are ultimately what it’s about - we didn’t win anything (which we haven’t done for nearly 30 years so that’s standard) but we also qualified for a lower tier European competition. It’s a decent effort, but it can’t be anymore than that.
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The fact we will see an exodus of players with lesser ones coming in is a strange one to comprehend, after qualifying for a major European competition.
You would think it should be a massive achievement and one to build on, but somehow this really feels like a disappointment.
Which exodus are we talking about? And which lesser ones who can't possibly be as good as them are replacing them? Not heard who we have signed - didn't think we could for a couple of weeks.
If we sell everyone rumours that have said we are we' be getting rid of about 38 players.
We have people in the key footballing positions at the club who know what they are doing. That hasn't often been the case for all of my supporting life.
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The fact we will see an exodus of players with lesser ones coming in is a strange one to comprehend, after qualifying for a major European competition.
You would think it should be a massive achievement and one to build on, but somehow this really feels like a disappointment.
Which exodus are we talking about? And which lesser ones who can't possibly be as good as them are replacing them? Not heard who we have signed - didn't think we could for a couple of weeks.
If we sell everyone rumours that have said we are we' be getting rid of about 38 players.
We have people in the key footballing positions at the club who know what they are doing. That hasn't often been the case for all of my supporting life.
Oh, I completely agree, and I am sure that the club knows exactly what they are doing and who they will be bringing in.
But I suspect we’ll now be shopping at Sainsbury’s rather than Waitrose.
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On the face of it 6th position is good but our failure to turn up in the really big games (to name a recent few, today, Palace and Man City away) suggests we are some way off realistically breaking into that top group.
The Champions League sapped a lot of our energy and let's face it the Semi final performance against a good Palace side that has pace was bizarrely tactically lethargic and second gear. Memories of Olympiakos (another good side who beat us easily) come to the fore.
The FA Youth Cup win was great plus the other Youth trophies but this will be a huge summer to try and strengthen the squad and Uno needs a lot of time to reflect on where we fell short and indeed where we did well.
We are trying to employ game management but our away from home we are saying very close to the wind most of the time.
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We should probably wait until we've actually done our transfer business before deciding those coming in are inferior.
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On the face of it 6th position is good but our failure to turn up in the really big games (to name a recent few, today, Palace and Man City away) suggests we are some way off realistically breaking into that top group.
The Champions League sapped a lot of our energy and let's face it the Semi final performance against a good Palace side that has pace was bizarrely tactically lethargic and second gear. Memories of Olympiakos (another good side who beat us easily) come to the fore.
The FA Youth Cup win was great plus the other Youth trophies but this will be a huge summer to try and strengthen the squad and Uno needs a lot of time to reflect on where we fell short and indeed where we did well.
We are trying to employ game management but our away from home we are saying very close to the wind most of the time.
Failure to turn up against some utter gross earlier in the season.
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The fact we will see an exodus of players with lesser ones coming in is a strange one to comprehend, after qualifying for a major European competition.
You would think it should be a massive achievement and one to build on, but somehow this really feels like a disappointment.
Which exodus are we talking about? And which lesser ones who can't possibly be as good as them are replacing them? Not heard who we have signed - didn't think we could for a couple of weeks.
If we sell everyone rumours that have said we are we' be getting rid of about 38 players.
We have people in the key footballing positions at the club who know what they are doing. That hasn't often been the case for all of my supporting life.
Oh, I completely agree, and I am sure that the club knows exactly what they are doing and who they will be bringing in.
But I suspect we’ll now be shopping at Sainsbury’s rather than Waitrose.
The pizza flour at Waitrose is better, the rest is just more expensive.
Now Aldi fresh stuff is the dog's bollocks, Lidl also good has more selection than Aldi, better wine for sure but beer isn't as good as Aldi.
M&S is defo better overall but we just need to buy the good quality cheaper stuff.
Sainsburys - branded stuff is good when on offer.
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The fact we will see an exodus of players with lesser ones coming in is a strange one to comprehend, after qualifying for a major European competition.
You would think it should be a massive achievement and one to build on, but somehow this really feels like a disappointment.
Which exodus are we talking about? And which lesser ones who can't possibly be as good as them are replacing them? Not heard who we have signed - didn't think we could for a couple of weeks.
If we sell everyone rumours that have said we are we' be getting rid of about 38 players.
We have people in the key footballing positions at the club who know what they are doing. That hasn't often been the case for all of my supporting life.
Oh, I completely agree, and I am sure that the club knows exactly what they are doing and who they will be bringing in.
But I suspect we’ll now be shopping at Sainsbury’s rather than Waitrose.
It might just mean buying a few more of the likes of Garnacho vs Rashford at 50% of the wages and player with massive potential than the finished article. Not entirely a bad thing.
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Yeah but outcomes are ultimately what it’s about - we didn’t win anything (which we haven’t done for nearly 30 years so that’s standard) but we also qualified for a lower tier European competition. It’s a decent effort, but it can’t be anymore than that.
We've qualified for the higher tier European competition once in over 40 years, finishing top6 isn't a 'decent effort' and dismissing it as such is exactly what I mean about coming across as a bit entitled. It could've been an amazing season with a couple of different results but it's still a very good season for us.
Maybe in a few years that won't be the case but just go back and look at the threads from last summer about what would be a good season for us and compare to what actually happened, rather than looking at it through the lens of disappointment over todays result.
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It’s a disappointment, a set back.
We were a CL team now we are not.
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It also has huge ramifications on our finances which means unless we are really, really savvy in the summer there is a good chance the squad isn't as good as this years. This could be the high mark and we've ended up empty handed, again. Failing to draw against a team in 16th. That's why it's so disappointing.
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Yeah but outcomes are ultimately what it’s about - we didn’t win anything (which we haven’t done for nearly 30 years so that’s standard) but we also qualified for a lower tier European competition. It’s a decent effort, but it can’t be anymore than that.
We've qualified for the higher tier European competition once in over 40 years, finishing top6 isn't a 'decent effort' and dismissing it as such is exactly what I mean about coming across as a bit entitled. It could've been an amazing season with a couple of different results but it's still a very good season for us.
Maybe in a few years that won't be the case but just go back and look at the threads from last summer about what would be a good season for us and compare to what actually happened, rather than looking at it through the lens of disappointment over todays result.
Well yeah, but that season was this season and the reality is we needed a point against a team who has been roundly beaten by most teams lately to qualify again and we didn’t do it. It’s decent, but it’s not more than that because we didn’t nail those really critical moments.
Not saying it’s bad, but I don’t think it’s entitled to call it decent.
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We should probably wait until we've actually done our transfer business before deciding those coming in are inferior.
Indeed PWS.
Especially with our coaching team.
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It’s the prestige of the CL too.
In reality, no one gives a feck about the EL, and even less about the conference.
The only people who take any notice of those competitions, are the teams in it.
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It’s the prestige of the CL too.
In reality, no one gives a feck about the EL, and even less about the conference.
The only people who take any notice of those competitions, are the teams in it.
That might be the case in England, it’s not in Europe.
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I think we had a good start and a good end to the season, in fact, pretty much the best side going for the lest three months of the season. But, that middle part fucked us. We lost too many key players to injury, conceded too many goals per game and lost the positive goal difference, which in actual fact, stopped us from getting CL spot in the end. I wouldn't care too much if Emery rips it up and starts again, there are only a few of them that I'd be sad about if they left. 6th is fine for the squad we have. If we want more, we have to alter tactics a bit, be a bit more direct, this will mean that we have to change a few of the players, which is fine. One ask for Unai Emery I'd make, stop asking central midfielders to play as wide players, sign proper left or right sided players to do that job please.
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It’s the prestige of the CL too.
In reality, no one gives a feck about the EL, and even less about the conference.
The only people who take any notice of those competitions, are the teams in it.
Well, not just the teams in it.
Two shit teams and one who could barely be arsed to try and get out of their own half.
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It’s the prestige of the CL too.
In reality, no one gives a feck about the EL, and even less about the conference.
The only people who take any notice of those competitions, are the teams in it.
Well, not just the teams in it.
Two shit teams and one who could barely be arsed to try and get out of their own half.
Fucking hell.
I didn’t realise I lived so deeply inside your head.
I’m honoured
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He has a point though Andy.
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I don’t care about league 2 football, but I’ll still watch the play off final.
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I don’t care about league 2 football, but I’ll still watch the play off final.
So you take notice of it.
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I don’t care about league 2 football, but I’ll still watch the play off final.
So you take notice of it.
Yes, but I don’t give a feck about it, as I said.
I won’t care who wins or loses.
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In the context of 5 years ago it’s a 9/10. In the context of half time today it’s a 6/10.
So it’s probably somewhere in between. 5 CL places and we finished 6th on GD. Went further in the CL than I expected. FA Cup SF no show. A season of highs and lows. Just need to win something though. 7.5/10.
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In the context of 5 years ago it’s a 9/10. In the context of half time today it’s a 6/10.
So it’s probably somewhere in between. 5 CL places and we finished 6th on GD. Went further in the CL than I expected. FA Cup SF no show. A season of highs and lows. Just need to win something though. 7.5/10.
I'd widen the context further. In the Context of Aston Villa for the last 40 years it's well above average, 8/10 for me and a ref decision away from 9/10.
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I don't care who wins the CL this season but i'll still notice it.
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I don't care who wins the CL this season but i'll still notice it.
Me too.
Because we were in it.
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Is it any wonder we aren't taken seriously.
And people moan we aren't taken seriously.
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Top 6 in League. We were miles behind at the end of Feb and lost out on GD.
Europe Qualification 3rd season running.
FA Cup SF
ECL QF
Financially the most appreciated squad in the league.
Go back even 2 years ago and offer us that.
Go back 5 years and you'd be smiled at - notwithstanding the worst performing manager in Villa's recent history in StevieEffingMe in charge for a year.
Go back 7 years when were almost dead and you'd have been laughed at forever.
Go back to the late 19th century and we'd have been furious. Go back to 1983 and we wouldn't have taken it.
The fact is we've blown it.
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7 times in the last 90 years we've finished higher than 6th. And never has the deck being stacked so heavily against us as it is now with the financial rules. It's above decent, while still frustrating.
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I don't care who wins the CL this season but i'll still notice it.
Me too.
Because we were in it.
We weren't in the EL but you were taking notice of it.
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I don't care who wins the CL this season but i'll still notice it.
Me too.
Because we were in it.
We weren't in the EL but you were taking notice of it.
Let it go, for fucks sake
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7 times in the last 90 years we've finished higher than 6th. And never has the deck being stacked so heavily against us as it is now with the financial rules. It's above decent, while still frustrating.
Exactly, getting into the Champions League once doesn't mean missing out on goal difference is deserving of some of the comments this evening.
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This kind of demonstrates how subjective it is. My personal view is that Unai has done an incredible job and raised the bar so much, but that means expectation rises. For me we were in the Champions League this year and we aren’t next year, when we had given ourselves an amazing opportunity to be back there. It can’t go beyond decent for me, as a result. But like I say, I accept it’s entirely subjective.
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We need to look back at the manager a bit . I know that won't be a popular view , but he has somehow got it wrong in the big games , big style .
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A lot of it is marred by the fact that given results else where, and the fact we were playing the lowest ranked team out of any of the UCL challangers, we should have qualified.
If you say - all you need to do to qualify for UCL next season is not loss on the last day against a team with 39 points - you would expect us to qualify
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We need to look back at the manager a bit . I know that won't be a popular view , but he has somehow got it wrong in the big games , big style .
7th, 4th, 6th. Great stuff, new contract please.
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A lot of it is marred by the fact that given results else where, and the fact we were playing the lowest ranked team out of any of the UCL challangers, we should have qualified.
If you say - all you need to do to qualify for UCL next season is not loss on the last day against a team with 39 points - you would expect us to qualify
Unless the team on 39 points is Manchester sodding United or Crystal twatting Palace. ☹️
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Tim’s just upset that Unai signed Pau Torres, who’s played a lot of games in those 4th and 6th placed finishes.
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6th place & Europa League feels very disappointing this evening, but all things considered, it's still a great achievement given recent times.
The Palace Semi and today's surrender at OT stirred up some of the same emotions from the playoff final defeat to Fulham, or the Chelsea no-show in 2000 or years of watching England bottle it in big games. There's an air of inevitability that sets in quickly and you know it's going to be one of those days.
I really hope Unai can break through that barrier with us and actually win something. It's going to require some new faces because it's clear a few of the players have reached their ceiling this season.
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2 points worse than last season, 2nplaces worse off. Team in 4th got 69, a point more than we did last year.
6th, European Football for the 3rd year in a row. QF Champs League, SF FA Cup.
All in all it's not a bad season. We had so many injuries that we struggled to cope with 3 competitions at once. In the end we came up short in all 3.
It's gutting. But I'm proud of what we've done. A full period of rest and a full pre-season and this lot can win something under this manager.
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Really strange season. I would have probably settled for it at the satrt of the season but feels like a massive missed opportunity.
We bottled it when it really mattered. But was a good acheivement, but lingering feeling of this is as good as it gets.
The odds are stacked against anyone breaking the enforced concrete ceiling - and feels like missing out on Champions League well have to take a step or two back when in retrospect we should have avoided it. Feels like potentially another sliding doors moment where doing "well" is as far as we get.
I agree that I think this is as good as it gets at present. We’d have to have a spectacularly great transfer window where we get so much right which is difficult. I think it’s the end of the cycle with a number of these players.
One thing we do need is to look at bringing in some experienced leaders into dressing room. Players who have won and know what it takes to do so.
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Really strange season. I would have probably settled for it at the satrt of the season but feels like a massive missed opportunity.
We bottled it when it really mattered. But was a good acheivement, but lingering feeling of this is as good as it gets.
The odds are stacked against anyone breaking the enforced concrete ceiling - and feels like missing out on Champions League well have to take a step or two back when in retrospect we should have avoided it. Feels like potentially another sliding doors moment where doing "well" is as far as we get.
I agree that I think this is as good as it gets at present. We’d have to have a spectacularly great transfer window where we get so much right which is difficult. I think it’s the end of the cycle with a number of these players.
One thing we do need is to look at bringing in some experienced leaders into dressing room. Players who have won and know what it takes to do so.
I agree - we lack leaders. McGinn has been good - but not today. Martinez messed up, and Mings was on the bench. We need some people who really hate losing
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Doesn't look bad on paper, but we fucked up when it mattered and it will have long lasting effect on the club and as others have said. This is as good as it gets.
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I hate the fact that I’m more pissed off about the financial implications of whether we are now required to sell some prized assets based on bullshit PSR rules.
Success used to be about football not clever accounting.
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I hate the fact that I’m more pissed off about the financial implications of whether we are now required to sell some prized assets based on bullshit PSR rules.
Success used to be about football not clever accounting.
The fact that most supporters now have to be arm-chair accountants is a sad indictment of the game and the times in general. PSR is a disgrace.
It won't be long until the European Super League conversation comes back around.
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I hate the fact that I’m more pissed off about the financial implications of whether we are now required to sell some prized assets based on bullshit PSR rules.
Success used to be about football not clever accounting.
Well it did but football clubs need to be regulated as when cheerleaders take over board rooms then you have Leeds, us under Lerner/Tony et al
But they completely messed us PSR. The unintended consequences of it, academy farms and incentivising experienced players running down their contracts (Kamara, Tielemans...) are not in the interests of player or club development.
I just fear that capitulation today could have far reaching consequences today for us. Instead of one big name going , are we now looking at 2 or 3. I guess we will soon find out.
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I think in reality we veered too much between hot and cold in the league. Our run at the end, up to today, was incredible. But it needed to be incredible to keep us in the hunt because we’d been too poor earlier. Hopefully the Europa League will allow us to rotate a strong squad a bit more, that will mean our level won’t drop so much in the league. If we raise our floor a bit and maintain our ceiling we’ll be strong.
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A lot of it is marred by the fact that given results else where, and the fact we were playing the lowest ranked team out of any of the UCL challangers, we should have qualified.
If you say - all you need to do to qualify for UCL next season is not loss on the last day against a team with 39 points - you would expect us to qualify
Exactly.
I honestly didn't expect us to win at Old Toilet today.
It's Yanited, doesn't matter what personnel we have or the manager in the dugout. If Aston Villa need to go up there and win - even in a season when everyone else is going up there and taking the piss - it ain't happening.
But a draw would've been enough and we weren't even able to scramble that.
If we'd gone up there, played them off the park and died with our boots on that's one thing. But we stank the place out.
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In the context of 5 years ago it’s a 9/10. In the context of half time today it’s a 6/10.
So it’s probably somewhere in between. 5 CL places and we finished 6th on GD. Went further in the CL than I expected. FA Cup SF no show. A season of highs and lows. Just need to win something though. 7.5/10.
I'd widen the context further. In the Context of Aston Villa for the last 40 years it's well above average, 8/10 for me and a ref decision away from 9/10.
I think it's a solid 7/10. The complete no show v Palace was a massive disappointment considering we appointed Unai to make a difference in those type of games e.g. get the tactical plan right to win us trophies at business end of competition.
I think we're under selling ourselves a bit if we're just dismissing no shows in crucial games as "at least we're not in the championship." Not sure Man. City fans give Pep a free pass because they were still rubbish twenty years ago. Or Newcastle fans for being managed by Steve Bruce last than three years ago.
We need to back ourselves a little more and then we will win something significant, possibly as soon as next season.
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I see 5 of the original scab 6 will be playing CL next season too with the other being the Jaudis, a club owned by a country.
Chelsea sold a hotel to themselves, we all know nothing will happen to C115y while Spurs won an outrageous get out of jail card.
While we can laugh at ManYoo they are still our kryptonite.
Modern football right there.
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Is it any wonder we aren't taken seriously.
Nice use of the royal "we" there.
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In the context of 5 years ago it’s a 9/10. In the context of half time today it’s a 6/10.
So it’s probably somewhere in between. 5 CL places and we finished 6th on GD. Went further in the CL than I expected. FA Cup SF no show. A season of highs and lows. Just need to win something though. 7.5/10.
I'd widen the context further. In the Context of Aston Villa for the last 40 years it's well above average, 8/10 for me and a ref decision away from 9/10.
I think it's a solid 7/10. The complete no show v Palace was a massive disappointment considering we appointed Unai to make a difference in those type of games e.g. get the tactical plan right to win us trophies at business end of competition.
I think we're under selling ourselves a bit if we're just dismissing no shows in crucial games as "at least we're not in the championship." Not sure Man. City fans give Pep a free pass because they were still rubbish twenty years ago. Or Newcastle fans for being managed by Steve Bruce last than three years ago.
We need to back ourselves a little more and then we will win something significant, possibly as soon as next season.
Agree with every word. Mentality needs to change.
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I see 5 of the original scab 6 will be playing CL next season too with the other being the Jaudis, a club owned by a country.
Chelsea sold a hotel to themselves, we all know nothing will happen to C115y while Spurs won an outrageous get out of jail card.
While we can laugh at ManYoo they are still our kryptonite.
Modern football right there.
It fucking sucks.
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Is it any wonder we aren't taken seriously.
Nice use of the royal "we" there.
True though .
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I see 5 of the original scab 6 will be playing CL next season too with the other being the Jaudis, a club owned by a country.
Chelsea sold a hotel to themselves, we all know nothing will happen to C115y while Spurs won an outrageous get out of jail card.
While we can laugh at ManYoo they are still our kryptonite.
Modern football right there.
It fucking sucks.
We will regret not turning up today and letting Newcastle scrape into it.
They had PSR issues last summer and I reckon they'd have had to sell Isak if they hadn't made CL today.
That is frustrating. Actually limped into it winning just two of their last six games.
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How we'll laugh at the comments here when we've completed the league and Europa League double this time next year.
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I see 5 of the original scab 6 will be playing CL next season too with the other being the Jaudis, a club owned by a country.
Chelsea sold a hotel to themselves, we all know nothing will happen to C115y while Spurs won an outrageous get out of jail card.
While we can laugh at ManYoo they are still our kryptonite.
Modern football right there.
It fucking sucks.
We will regret not turning up today and letting Newcastle scrape into it.
They had PSR issues last summer and I reckon they'd have had to sell Isak if they hadn't made CL today.
That is frustrating. Actually limped into it winning just two of their last six games.
Any PSR related thing causing them needing to sell a player today will be entirely unimpacted by qualifying for the Champions League.
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We will need to get the wages and overall spending in order so we don’t have keep selling our best players every summer. Commercially we have raise more also so when we do get the odd top player we’re not breaking the bank. This summer if we can steady the ship, keep most of our best players and add one or two savvy signings we can push on again. Today is shit but it’s not all lost at all.
I think this is it, tbh.
PSR constraints are not (according to fairly reliable journos on this) as tight as they were last year. We've got the Champions League money arriving in the kitty right now. We might make one big sale a la Martinez, and clear out some big earners like Bailey/Buendia/Cash/Digne (all players that need replacing anyway), but apart from that, I don't see that many big departures from our first 11 + immediate subs bench.
What might change is more the type of incomings (i.e. no Rashford). There won't be any 200k/week signings from 'elite' clubs. But we can certainly afford to make 1-2 top tier additions like we did with Onana and Maatsen last year and improve in key areas.
Don't get me wrong, we were awful today and I'm absolutely fuming with how it's turned out, but this season has objectively been a great one. First year back in the CL we've handled it by essentially replicating our performance from last season (we got the same points that Spurs finished 5th on last year); some iconic moments and goals from the champions league, runs in two cups, Europa League and a second route back into the CL next year. Hopefully a less strenuous competition that we can rotate more for and be more fresh in the league.
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Good luck selling 2K GA+ season tickets now we are in the Europa League and playing Sundays 👍
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Good luck selling 2K GA+ season tickets now we are in the Europa League and playing Sundays 👍
The first part is a legitimate concern. However, the day of the week that we play has surely been pretty irrelevant for a couple of decades now.
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How we'll laugh at the comments here when we've completed the league and Europa League double this time next year.
Me likey.
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It's been a very good season and when you think about where we were even three years ago, it's a great time to support the club.
However, this lack of nerve seriously needs addressed as we simply don't show up to too many important games. I still cant decide whether it's down to the managers tactics in these games or the players but it's beyond Spursy now.
Anyway, we have a hell of a chance to win the Europa next year and as Spurs have shown, it's a great way into the CL so a disappointing as I am now, the reality that we are in a European comp that we could actually win is starting to dawn, if we sort of mentality problems out of course...
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7 times in the last 90 years we've finished higher than 6th. And never has the deck being stacked so heavily against us as it is now with the financial rules. It's above decent, while still frustrating.
A great stat
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Overall it's been a really good season with some frustratingly grim weeks. I won't forget some of the absolute highs, the European nights or some of the play when we were on song. Equally the no shows were crushing. That said I remain optimistic that we have the quality throughout the club to move things forward next season.
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Still, champions of the Midlands. 3 years in a row now.
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We seem to lack belief or confidence or the sense we belong at the top of the game.
We saw it first last Christmas when we should have gone top of the league, then imploding at old trafford.
This season it has been even more evident.
PSG 2nd leg - they were on the ropes and beatable. 30 mins to get the 3rd goal. We fizzled out.
FA Cup semi final. One of the biggest no-shows by any team in the last 30 years.
Old Trafford. Timid, scared, submissive.
What makes it even more frustrating is the we have shown we can beat anyone when we play well, which means the squad is good enough. But the passive nature of our performances when it matters most it too common not to be an issue.
A sports phycologist should be our next big signing.
A season that could (and should) have delivered so much ends with the most basic result, but will see massive upheaval off the pitch. Which is a gamble and a risk in itself.
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CL- We probably exceeded expectations having not been in the competition for 40+ years and were within a top goalkeeping performance away from reaching the semis. 8/10
Carabao Cup - Poor 1/10
PL - An inconsistent season overall, yet we managed to get within goal difference of a CL spot, despite losing 9 away fixtures. It was a season when consistently good home form was enough to qualify for CL and whilst our home form was decent only losing one, the 7 draws proved costly when we only needed 1 more point. Those draws were against Ipswich, Manure, Palace, Brighton, Bournemouth, West Ham and L'pool. Just 1 more win against any of those teams was all that was needed as things turned out. 7/10
FA Cup - If our fate was always going to be the Europa League I would rather have qualified for it through an FA cup win and silverware, but we decided to put in a no-show appearance on semi-final day with the lure of CL£ proving a distraction. 4/10.
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It’s hard not to be a bit disappointed, this could be the best squad we’ve ever had and we don’t have anything to show for it. I’ll remember it as a ‘what if’ season particularly down to some of the team selections in the biggest games.
Six of our competitors have Champions League football next season, it’s going to be really hard to keep our best players and compete again next year.
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The season was a rollercoaster, if you consider how we started and the injection of the high-profile / high-intensity ECL matches. Considering the game away at Citeh, the draws against Ipswich, the draws vs Wham, Brighton, Bournemouth and Manure at home ... these were the games that meant we were left with a shit-or-bust last game. It could have been an amazing season, despite all clubs being able to look back at the what-if results.
I'm looking forward to the close season!
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We didn't draw at home v Leicester, are you thinking of West Ham?
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We didn't draw at home v Leicester, are you thinking of West Ham?
Yes! Thanks for the correction.
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Financially, how cooked are we now?
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Still, champions of the Midlands. 3 years in a row now.
We win the tallest dwarf competition.
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Financially, how cooked are we now?
I'd say on the medium to well done side . The wage bill will have to come down and when shopping for loan players we won't be taking on £300k a week players no more .
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Financially, how cooked are we now?
It’s hard to say but Matt Law suggested that we are still in PSR danger and that was before not qualifying for CL. With or wage bill 94% of revenue we can expect a lot of transfer dealing before 30June and thereafter.
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We have a long list of players we want to sell, which could sort us out, including:
Dendonkar
Buendia
Bogarde
Phil
Barrenchia
Illing Jnr
Barry
But then a list of players we might have to sell:
Emi
Watkins
Kamara
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We seem to lack belief or confidence or the sense we belong at the top of the game.
We saw it first last Christmas when we should have gone top of the league, then imploding at old trafford.
This season it has been even more evident.
PSG 2nd leg - they were on the ropes and beatable. 30 mins to get the 3rd goal. We fizzled out.
FA Cup semi final. One of the biggest no-shows by any team in the last 30 years.
Old Trafford. Timid, scared, submissive.
What makes it even more frustrating is the we have shown we can beat anyone when we play well, which means the squad is good enough. But the passive nature of our performances when it matters most it too common not to be an issue.
A sports phycologist should be our next big signing.
A season that could (and should) have delivered so much ends with the most basic result, but will see massive upheaval off the pitch. Which is a gamble and a risk in itself.
Agree on the mentality issue. We’ve had two really important games in the past month and failed to show up in either.
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Good in parts, but failed to deliver when the pressure was on more than once. Much soul searching for Emery to do, as he has messed up more than once this season
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Financially, how cooked are we now?
It’s hard to say but Matt Law suggested that we are still in PSR danger and that was before not qualifying for CL. With or wage bill 94% of revenue we can expect a lot of transfer dealing before 30June and thereafter.
Cheers. Must admit the finance side baffles me
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Financially, how cooked are we now?
Not as cooked as last year as we’ve now got the UCL money hitting the books. We’ve got obvious players to move on first before touching anyone in the first XI.
It’s more the type of incoming signing will probably be different to if we’d secured CL.
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Financially, how cooked are we now?
It’s hard to say but Matt Law suggested that we are still in PSR danger and that was before not qualifying for CL. With or wage bill 94% of revenue we can expect a lot of transfer dealing before 30June and thereafter.
Cheers. Must admit the finance side baffles me
The thing is we only get to see once a year and the accounts are released several months after the year end.
So a lot of guess work.
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There’s 2 separate viewpoints now in supporting a premier league team with aspirations
One is financial other is winning a trophy
Take the Europa league final, to Man United it was all about qualifying for the Champions League because that puts you in a fantastic financial position to attract players and balance the books, etc, plus the fact they’ve won plenty of trophies, even in the last few years
To Spurs it was about winning a trophy for the first time in 17 years, yes the Champions League was a massive bonus but it was about the trophy first
I’m getting old now I have not seen my team win a trophy for 30 years,
Worse than that two of my four kids have never seen as win anything at all, and the other two were too young to remember really
So for me it’s all about winning something,
I look this season at Palace, Newcastle and now Tottenham and I’m jealous that they’ve had those moments
Id swap any of those for Champions League place
I’d actually take winning the conference league over being in the Champions League, and I know financially it doesn’t make sense, but I don’t support Villa because it’s a financial business I want to see Villa lift the trophy before it’s too late for me
So this season is a disappointment because we’ve knocked on the door yet again but come up short
Being in the Europa league is probably not as big a disappointment to me as it is for others including my own kids
Because it offers a better opportunity to actually win it, that’s the only thing that matters to me
Spurs, got a 17 year old monkey off their back Ours is nearly double that which is ridiculous really
100 million Champions League money or a trophy is a no brainer for me
Although I realise that the two can’t be totally unrelated, but we’ve been better over the last two or three years than Palace and Spurs maybe even Newcastle with or without finances they’ve put a trophy in the cabinet we’re still waiting
That’s why I’m disheartened, not because we didn’t make Champions League
(I think this is an age related post I quite understand that younger supporters feel differently)
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It's been a good season.
I'm really disappointed we didn't make the CL. Not really from a sales perspective, as we have to wheel and deal regardless. That's just our fate. But prestige, as mentioned elsewhere.
I'm proud of what we're becoming, which is indexed to that being a transition still- we're not at the summit of our ambitions yet.
4th and semi finals of the Conference League
6th on goal difference and semi finals of the FA Cup and QF of the CL. I think we were the best English side in it and PSG probably agree.
I want a trophy and maybe the universe has heard all our bitter thoughts from April going back up the M40 and conspired for this; the Europa League.
We need our 21st trophy. We need Champions League football. My better half has been badgering for Istanbul. This could be our Fulham/2018 moment.
Could. A loaded word. We were never really going to win the Champions League and the fact I'd not got anything booked for next Saturday suggests so. But what if we hadn't shipped the 3rd? "We'd have done Arsenal" was the collective and totally untestable belief in the pub yesterday. Maybe. Then what? Day dreaming again.
Would we have beat Man City? The way they played...who knows. We'd have definitely had more of the ball and created more than Palace. One for the birds.
17 minutes from the end of a season, we score. I think we avoid defeat. But we'll never know. The free kick against Bournemouth, some Stripey nobody pulling off one the most ridiculous saves you've ever seen. Watkins missing a sitter at Arsenal. Switching off against Brighton and Palace at home. And West Ham! You've forgot that one. That goal at Man City. Two corners at Liverpool. All of it bad, ignoring the 19 wins- all down to that 1 moment. We came so close. Morgan Rogers out of nowhere, puts us in front.
57 games and a lot of frustration, but totally outweighed by a lot of enjoyment.
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Two really good posts john e and Ads, sums it up perfectly. Especially for us knocking on a bit.
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Financially, how cooked are we now?
It’s hard to say but Matt Law suggested that we are still in PSR danger and that was before not qualifying for CL. With or wage bill 94% of revenue we can expect a lot of transfer dealing before 30June and thereafter.
Cheers. Must admit the finance side baffles me
The thing is we only get to see once a year and the accounts are released several months after the year end.
So a lot of guess work.
Let's not forget the 94% isn't a real thing because we extended our accounting period to 13 months, meaning 86% is a more accurate base to start from.
Since then our revenue has increased by about £100m.
If we were running as close as some are suggesting I doubt we'd have added both Rashford and Asensio.
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I’m agreeing with John e on this.
Massively disappointed about our inability to turn up for the big games and a little angry and annoyed with Unai. Don’t care if I sound fickle or entitled.
With it being highly likely we’ll be trimming the wage bill, it’s also possible we won’t go from strength to strength either… praying for a Monchi miracle
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John and Ads, two very good posts and agree with both.
Id only add, Unai won’t be here for ever so it feels like if we are going to win something its going to need to be with him
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Agreed - we’ve thrown so many points away for yesterday to become a dead rubber. Whilst the decision is of course criminal & handled well by the club, we only have ourselves to blame.
Contextually we never thought Emi would go. Now it looks like he is the cash raised will go some way to plugging the funding gap, granted we need to go out & sign at least 1 replacement.
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We seem to lack belief or confidence or the sense we belong at the top of the game.
We saw it first last Christmas when we should have gone top of the league, then imploding at old trafford.
This season it has been even more evident.
PSG 2nd leg - they were on the ropes and beatable. 30 mins to get the 3rd goal. We fizzled out.
FA Cup semi final. One of the biggest no-shows by any team in the last 30 years.
Old Trafford. Timid, scared, submissive.
What makes it even more frustrating is the we have shown we can beat anyone when we play well, which means the squad is good enough. But the passive nature of our performances when it matters most it too common not to be an issue.
A sports phycologist should be our next big signing.
A season that could (and should) have delivered so much ends with the most basic result, but will see massive upheaval off the pitch. Which is a gamble and a risk in itself.
Agree on the mentality issue. We’ve had two really important games in the past month and failed to show up in either.
Against Man Utd the mentality thing has been there for decades now. It's something inherent that keeps carrying over into subsequent seasons.
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If we had the same number of games missed through injury but dispersed more evenly we’d have got top five comfortably. That spell where we couldn’t field a central defence killed us.
More generally we’ve changed a lot to try and be more consistent. We’ve scored fewer and conceded fewer (despite the injury issues). Games have been reduced to fewer chances each way; which can be efficient when we’re playing well but can seem aimless and clueless when we’re off form.
It feels like we need to tweak further as the changes from last seasons high line and quick breaks haven’t quite found the right balance.
There have been numerous games where we’ve started slowly and a handful of key games where we haven’t turned up at all. There’s a sloppiness that’s crept in, the stats about conceding from our opponents first shot and number of times we had to come from behind show how well we did to nearly finish fifth.
Other slightly perplexing issues that need addressing. Playing Morgan Roger’s into the ground to the point he’s been ineffective for the last month. Not playing Malen and Ramsey at times where we’ve needed pace and width. Not playing Mings when he’s clearly been off of our most efficient defence.
Our inability to play at all against Crystal fucking Palace.
All of that feels like there’s plenty of room to make improvements without throwing away what we’re doing well, especially when one more point would have been enough to qualify for CL.
I just turned 48 and we’ve only had 4 better league finishes in my lifetime, 3 of which I can remember. It feels like we’re still moving in the right direction, even if the chance to spend another season in the CL at Newcastles expense might have been a bit of a sliding doors moment for our future prospects.
We definitely improved with the January loan signings adding more depth; and the challenge now is to try and build that depth while potentially having to replace established players and add back up on a tight budget.
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https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/may/26/villas-champions-league-miss-wasnt-just-about-one-bad-call?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
It's hard to disagree with anything in this article.
Nails our season completely.
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Well as per the other thread. I think to argue a moment that preceded the disallowed goal, which was 17 minutes from time, is somehow more key is just odd. Also the Sheff Utd comparison is lazy - yes we benefited from that one, but there were 8 and a half games to go at that point. It’s entirely different to the wrong decision with 17 odd minutes left in the season.
I don’t disagree that it’s not just about the disallowed goal, but to argue that isn’t the pivotal moment is just nonsense.
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Yeah it’s a bullshit article. If he’d mentioned the various games people on here have then fair enough.
To sum up his argument, Villa are
Responsible for missing out because they should have beaten Man U, they benefitted from a decision 5 years ago so what do they expect, they’ve spent a lot of money, almost too much despite selling a load of players, they’ll probably have to sell more. They shouldn’t have left it to the last game.
It doesn’t make any sense.
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Re the Guardian article, he's essentially saying it's our fault the referee guessed at his decision and guessed wrong. The "journalist" can fuck off.
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I'm with John E and Ads, their combined posts sum up most of my feelings. Apart from I think it might be our sliding doors moment, and we'll struggle to hit these heights again next season as the rules are just not letting us compete on a level playing field, with owners willing to splash the cash. So I'm all in for an all-out assault on the Europa League, even with a mid-table PL finish.
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Agree with Duncan about the need to go full on with the Europa League (see also FA Cup, League Cup) as probably easier to qualify for the CL that way than via the league.
Having said that, we are now what I'd consider an established top 6 side (7th, 4th, 6th) and if there are 5 places up for grabs again and with maybe Newcastle and Chelsea distracted by the greater intensity of the CL, then top 5 is not beyond us anyway.
It's been a good season overall, let's make next year a great one.
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I forgot to add, I think it overall it has been a good season, with a title-winning level of performance in the latter stages to get us back in contention. But we are just not mentally tough enough to get the opportunities over the line when they present themselves and this really is something Unai needs to resolve.
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Re the Guardian article, he's essentially saying it's our fault the referee guessed at his decision and guessed wrong. The "journalist" can fuck off.
Not sure but it’s probably the same fucker on the Guardian podcast basically saying tough shit.
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Does anyone (PWS or Dave usually good for this) know at what point of the season were we ever as high as top five with all our rivals having played the same number of games?
Despite our barnstorming April, I think we only hit 5th after wins against the likes of Newcastle & Saints but Chelsea and the Barcodes had a game(s) in hand. I find it easier to accept not finishing top five because we were always playing catch-up and in contrast to last season, got better as the season went on.
It was a funny season, we were solid but a tad unconvincing up to Halloween, then had an awful November and patchy December. The away games during that period is where our GD came back to haunt us in the end (losing by three at Spurs, Chelsea and Newcastle).
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Get Dr. Steve Peters in to deal with the weak mentality.
He was the psychologist behind the British cucking team at the 2012 Olympics that won everything. Also worked with Liverpool when Rodgers was manager and they turned into a machine. Ronnie O'Sullivan turned into a back-to-back World Championship winner when he got Steve Peters on his team.
Get him in.
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Get Dr. Steve Peters in to deal with the weak mentality.
He was the psychologist behind the British cucking team at the 2012 Olympics that won everything. Also worked with Liverpool when Rodgers was manager and they turned into a machine. Ronnie O'Sullivan turned into a back-to-back World Championship winner when he got Steve Peters on his team.
Get him in.
The British what team? :o
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😂😂😂
Cycling!
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I thought I'd missed an enthralling event, then!
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Get Dr. Steve Peters in to deal with the weak mentality. ]
He was the psychologist behind the British cucking team at the 2012 Olympics
A great idea to get the girls involved
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This was a good season- but it was also our nearly season
it will be tough to regroup
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It was good for what is was, and disappointing for what it could have been.
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We didn’t win anything.
This for me as well. Next season is Unai's 4th here he is now under pressure to win something.
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It was good for what is was, and disappointing for what it could have been.
This for me. Probably our 2nd best season of the century that feels less good at the moment because of how it finished and it coming a year after our best season of the century.
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https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/may/26/villas-champions-league-miss-wasnt-just-about-one-bad-call?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
It's hard to disagree with anything in this article.
Nails our season completely.
Yes some good points and this is similar to something I said in match thread before kick off.
Mistakes happen; the key is to put yourself in a position that if they go against you, they don’t matter.
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I think I've realised that it's more the excitement of watching the matches that lives with me rather than winning trophies (though I'd like to see us win the FA Cup to complete the set of those that matter in my lifetime). I never expect us to win any given trophy (or rather we haven't made it close enough for me to expect one for a very long time), so I'm more concerned with our ability to hit the heights fairly regularly, to be competitive. We did that this season and have done since Emery was installed.
That said, there seems to have been a creeping trend towards a more passive approach across Emery's reign which makes the losses harder to take anything positive from and the football generally less enthralling. Would feel better about the Palace and Manchester United games if I felt like we had given them a real shot. Didn't feel bad about the PSG defeat at all.
Overall we did marginally better than I had expected at the start of the season and it would seem daft to be disappointed for long bearing that in mind.
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Once the dust all settles i think they will all reflect back with huge disappointment at the missed opportunities , particularly the FA Cup which had opened up nicely for us.
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I'm of an age where I've seen us win at Wembley. I've also endured years of absolute bobbins. I'm comfortable with where we are now. Only 2 or 3 teams win something, this year I concede is an outlier, and we could / should have won the FA Cup. Would I take not being bobbins next year, yes I would. So on the basis we took 3rd versus 7th to that last game, I'm good with the season, I'd take it again next year.
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https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/may/26/villas-champions-league-miss-wasnt-just-about-one-bad-call?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
It's hard to disagree with anything in this article.
Nails our season completely.
I think alot of it is disingenuous.
It’s not embarrassing to question, quite legitimately, why an inexperienced referee who has veered between championship (no VAR) and the premier league (VAR) is officiating in a game of such magnitude. Case in point being the major mistake made not following VAR protocols and making the call from almost 30 yards away. Why would it not be legitimate to question that?
Secondly, throwing in the Sheffield united thing from 5 years ago is an embarrassing way to make your point and not relevant to proving it. Why not throw in the disallowed Lansbury goal away at palace that season. We should have got a point from that and they got it wrong. Therefore we’d be par.
Our failings are our failings, just as other sides have their own. What is relevant, is that no matter how badly we were playing (and we were appalling which requires a different type of inquest) the point is that with 20 minutes to go at nil nil, an inexperienced referee guessed a decision from distance that was not only wrong (which is just incompetence but see earlier point about experience) but didn’t follow protocol and which was not only worth 10s of millions but will have a significant short term impact on our arrivals and departures. Playing well or playing badly is meaningless when attributing the value or not of a decision. It was a major mistake, it cost us abd it must play a part in any final analysis. It’s like saying that losing a cup final from a bad decision isn’t relevant to assessing a season. Nonsense. Of course it’s material.
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I think I've realised that it's more the excitement of watching the matches that lives with me rather than winning trophies (though I'd like to see us win the FA Cup to complete the set of those that matter in my lifetime). I never expect us to win any given trophy (or rather we haven't made it close enough for me to expect one for a very long time), so I'm more concerned with our ability to hit the heights fairly regularly, to be competitive. We did that this season and have done since Emery was installed.
That said, there seems to have been a creeping trend towards a more passive approach across Emery's reign which makes the losses harder to take anything positive from and the football generally less enthralling. Would feel better about the Palace and Manchester United games if I felt like we had given them a real shot. Didn't feel bad about the PSG defeat at all.
Overall we did marginally better than I had expected at the start of the season and it would seem daft to be disappointed for long bearing that in mind.
This is a really good post.
The PSG game I was a combination of really gutted but immensely proud, maybe the most proud Ive been coming away from Villa Park. On the flip side Sunday was terrible but Palace was the worst, definitely the lowest Ive felt coming away from a game since Fulham 2018. To just not show up in anyway at all, was mind blowing.
In 22/23 when Emery came in we generally had good results, punctuated by losses, but then had that momentum filled run that got us to 7th, that was a joy. The first half of 23/24 was incredible, blowing then decent teams away literally battering them and the 1-0 mauling of a then tip top man city, is still one of the most complete performances I’ve seen at VP.
This run from late Feb has been title winning form and really enjoyable, but apart from the odd game (Newcastle), we now have spells in games where we do what we have to do, rather than the gorgeous football we were playing August to December 2023.
Not sure what it is, we’ve lost Dougie who was integral, but Tielemans although a different player, has been great (although him and Doug both played in that man city game). Ramsey has been in and out and not got his dynamism back yet, Bailey hasn’t been the same player, we haven’t had pre xmas 2023 Diaby. Maybe the form of those players is the difference. It also does feel as much as we have patient controlled build up. we then rely on Rogers to literally ‘do something’. The additional factor as well, other than maybe Liverpool away early in 23/24 and Spurs at home debacle, defeats when they came, nearly always felt like we were in the game. This year away games at Liverpool, Chelsea, Newcastle, Wolves, Palace, man utd, Palace again in the cup, we’ve just been battered largely without response.
Not sure if our reduced attacking fluidity and dynamism is interlinked with our propensity to fold more often.
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We've really missed the outball to Bailey who hasn't shown up this season and also Diaby who whilst not the best footballer had absolute pace in abundance . We've really missed them two and it's probably left too much on the shoulders of Watkins and Rogers.
Rashford added that pace and skill it's a shame he got injured at a critical time of the season .
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Although it was the correct decision to sell him, it’s easy to forget how much unpredictability, excitement and dynamism we lost when Duran left.
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Although it was the correct decision to sell him, it’s easy to forget how much unpredictability, excitement and dynamism we lost when Duran left.
Agree, I'd forgotten about him .
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I think I've realised that it's more the excitement of watching the matches that lives with me rather than winning trophies (though I'd like to see us win the FA Cup to complete the set of those that matter in my lifetime). I never expect us to win any given trophy (or rather we haven't made it close enough for me to expect one for a very long time), so I'm more concerned with our ability to hit the heights fairly regularly, to be competitive. We did that this season and have done since Emery was installed.
That said, there seems to have been a creeping trend towards a more passive approach across Emery's reign which makes the losses harder to take anything positive from and the football generally less enthralling. Would feel better about the Palace and Manchester United games if I felt like we had given them a real shot. Didn't feel bad about the PSG defeat at all.
Overall we did marginally better than I had expected at the start of the season and it would seem daft to be disappointed for long bearing that in mind.
This is a really good post.
The PSG game I was a combination of really gutted but immensely proud, maybe the most proud Ive been coming away from Villa Park. On the flip side Sunday was terrible but Palace was the worst, definitely the lowest Ive felt coming away from a game since Fulham 2018. To just not show up in anyway at all, was mind blowing.
In 22/23 when Emery came in we generally had good results, punctuated by losses, but then had that momentum filled run that got us to 7th, that was a joy. The first half of 23/24 was incredible, blowing then decent teams away literally battering them and the 1-0 mauling of a then tip top man city, is still one of the most complete performances I’ve seen at VP.
This run from late Feb has been title winning form and really enjoyable, but apart from the odd game (Newcastle), we now have spells in games where we do what we have to do, rather than the gorgeous football we were playing August to December 2023.
Not sure what it is, we’ve lost Dougie who was integral, but Tielemans although a different player, has been great (although him and Doug both played in that man city game). Ramsey has been in and out and not got his dynamism back yet, Bailey hasn’t been the same player, we haven’t had pre xmas 2023 Diaby. Maybe the form of those players is the difference. It also does feel as much as we have patient controlled build up. we then rely on Rogers to literally ‘do something’. The additional factor as well, other than maybe Liverpool away early in 23/24 and Spurs at home debacle, defeats when they came, nearly always felt like we were in the game. This year away games at Liverpool, Chelsea, Newcastle, Wolves, Palace, man utd, Palace again in the cup, we’ve just been battered largely without response.
Not sure if our reduced attacking fluidity and dynamism is interlinked with our propensity to fold more often.
I agree with this - we rarely hit the highs of performance that we did in the first half of last season. I think Luiz was a miss - But I think more so - Leons bailey's complete loss of form - he was excellent at times last season - and 19 GA in the league compared to 3 this year is a big part.
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Still feels a bit flat after Sunday and has felt a bit like that since that disastrous afternoon at Wembley. I think being in the Europa League would have felt much better if it had been the best option we could achieve after a late run, but it just feels a bit underwhelming given what was on offer on Sunday.
As for the season as a whole, probably one of near misses really. The Champions League run was really enjoyable with some great moments along the way. I still think if Tieleman's header loops over Donnarumma or Asensio scores his 1v1 then it might well have been us lining up to face Inter Milan on Saturday. The night against Bayern will live long in the memory, especially given the backdrop of Gary Shaw's death, as will the picture of him in the 1982 final with Duran super imposed and running towards his outstretched arms.
The FA Cup run was also enjoyable, but completely ruined by the no-show at Wembley. We seem to have a really dreadful performance in us an we saved two of them for two of the biggest games of the season.
Solid enough in the league, with only one home loss all season. I just can't help but think that it was home draws though against Bournemouth, Manchester United, Ipswich, West Ham, Crystal Palace and Brighton that were costly. That said, it's easy to forget how badly we were impacted by injuries for a large chunk of the season (Kamara's extended run at CB being a result of that) and I do think the Champions League exploits took their toll at times.
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I'm still miffed about not getting CL. I didn't think I'd be as upset and as underwhelmed with the consolation prize of Europa League. It's the manner of the tame surrender which is doing it I guess. Also, it's made me realise this is the first time we've had something we're chasing at the end of the season that hasn't gone our way since 2018. (Going up 2019, Staying up 2020, Conference League 2023, Champions' League 2024) so maybe I've got used to finishing seasons on a high.
Looking at the positives, we did better than I expected pre season, didn't look out of place at the top table at all, finally had a domestic cup run under Emery and registered our second highest top flight points total in over 30 years. Reasons to be cheerful but I'm still depressed.
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Off the pitch , as fans we've been further taken advantage of and treated like crap . The price of success ? (Without a trophy) . My wallet is braced for this weeks instalment.
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Seems about right. https://x.com/TheAthleticFC/status/1927621234126115142
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Gr-fJ6mWcAE0vgc?format=jpg)
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Its funny - but bottling the CL and FA Cup - Combined with what other clubs have achieved this season (Spurs, Palace, maybe Chelsea) - has kind of raised my expectations for next season.
I really think next year we need to get CL and Silverware - anything less kind of feels like we have hit a ceiling.
I have this massive concern that we have seen the peak of this new dawn and desperately want to be proved wrong.
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The main thing that strikes me about that survey is the fact that over half of Spurs fans declared themselves 'very satisfied' with the season, despite an absolutely pathetic league campaign.
It really underlines the fact that when all is said and done, it's silverware that counts.
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I think I've realised that it's more the excitement of watching the matches that lives with me rather than winning trophies (though I'd like to see us win the FA Cup to complete the set of those that matter in my lifetime). I never expect us to win any given trophy (or rather we haven't made it close enough for me to expect one for a very long time), so I'm more concerned with our ability to hit the heights fairly regularly, to be competitive. We did that this season and have done since Emery was installed.
That said, there seems to have been a creeping trend towards a more passive approach across Emery's reign which makes the losses harder to take anything positive from and the football generally less enthralling. Would feel better about the Palace and Manchester United games if I felt like we had given them a real shot. Didn't feel bad about the PSG defeat at all.
Overall we did marginally better than I had expected at the start of the season and it would seem daft to be disappointed for long bearing that in mind.
This is a really good post.
The PSG game I was a combination of really gutted but immensely proud, maybe the most proud Ive been coming away from Villa Park. On the flip side Sunday was terrible but Palace was the worst, definitely the lowest Ive felt coming away from a game since Fulham 2018. To just not show up in anyway at all, was mind blowing.
In 22/23 when Emery came in we generally had good results, punctuated by losses, but then had that momentum filled run that got us to 7th, that was a joy. The first half of 23/24 was incredible, blowing then decent teams away literally battering them and the 1-0 mauling of a then tip top man city, is still one of the most complete performances I’ve seen at VP.
This run from late Feb has been title winning form and really enjoyable, but apart from the odd game (Newcastle), we now have spells in games where we do what we have to do, rather than the gorgeous football we were playing August to December 2023.
Not sure what it is, we’ve lost Dougie who was integral, but Tielemans although a different player, has been great (although him and Doug both played in that man city game). Ramsey has been in and out and not got his dynamism back yet, Bailey hasn’t been the same player, we haven’t had pre xmas 2023 Diaby. Maybe the form of those players is the difference. It also does feel as much as we have patient controlled build up. we then rely on Rogers to literally ‘do something’. The additional factor as well, other than maybe Liverpool away early in 23/24 and Spurs at home debacle, defeats when they came, nearly always felt like we were in the game. This year away games at Liverpool, Chelsea, Newcastle, Wolves, Palace, man utd, Palace again in the cup, we’ve just been battered largely without response.
Not sure if our reduced attacking fluidity and dynamism is interlinked with our propensity to fold more often.
I agree with this - we rarely hit the highs of performance that we did in the first half of last season. I think Luiz was a miss - But I think more so - Leons bailey's complete loss of form - he was excellent at times last season - and 19 GA in the league compared to 3 this year is a big part.
Really interesting point(s) to consider.
I think there was a clear plan from Emery and his team to approach this season as an 'established' top 6 team who has to compete on multiple fronts, and needs to finish the season strong, avoiding the huge burnout we saw in the final few months of 23/24. As a result, I think we definitley lowered our intensity in a lot of 'winnable' games this year by design, knocking 2-3% off in the games we were winning, in order to save a bit in the tank for later in the season. Winning 2-0 rather than going for 3/4.
This led to perhaps lower peak performance levels than in 23/24, but across all competitions probably a higher floor.
A way to think about it is in 23/24 we were basically Nottingham Forest this year - amazing start to the season, thin-ish squad, ran out of steam at the end but Villa were able to just about limp over the line to get to 68 points.
It's a *really* fine balance to try and strike - avoiding burnout, managing injuries, playing well enough to win the games you need to win and then saving those peak efforts for the highest quality teams. Lets be honest - we very nearly managed it to perfection in the league - left ourselves just a bit too much to do in the final few months and our November - January performances were probably to blame for that.
If we were to make a genuine run at the title, this is probably how a team with our resources/PSR restrictions would have to do it. The Sky 6 have a much wider margin for error than we do due to the squads they can build and the money they can splash each window. And I like that is clearly how Unai is looking to build us across a season now, with that maximum level of achievement in mind.
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Martinez nominated for Save of the Season. I haven't read it, but presumably he's been nominated by Newcastle fans for saving their Champions League place? :P
https://www.avfc.co.uk/news/2025/may/28/mart-nez-nominated-for-premier-league-save-of-the-season/ (https://www.avfc.co.uk/news/2025/may/28/mart-nez-nominated-for-premier-league-save-of-the-season/)
:-X
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Who are those circa 10% of Southampton fans who are "very satisfied" with their season, and why?
But yes, I think that looks about right. I'm a bit surprised that it's not more heavily weighted towards satisfied rather than very satisfied, given how it ended. A useful reminder that people getting angry on the internet isn't representative.
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Seems about right. https://x.com/TheAthleticFC/status/1927621234126115142
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Gr-fJ6mWcAE0vgc?format=jpg)
Strong disapprove of putting blue on the left and red on the right. Are they American, FFS?
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Who are those circa 10% of Southampton fans who are "very satisfied" with their season, and why?
But yes, I think that looks about right. I'm a bit surprised that it's not more heavily weighted towards satisfied rather than very satisfied, given how it ended. A useful reminder that people getting angry on the internet isn't representative.
This is making me believe that my “happy clapper” more positive demeanour is actually the norm rather than the more miserablist tendency we see on here sometimes.
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Strong disapprove of putting blue on the left and red on the right. Are they American, FFS?
Using blue for satisfaction and red for dissatisfaction seems fine to me.
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Who are the Man United fans voting "very satisfied"?
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I suspect the survey has fallen victim to rival fan voting.
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Seems about right. https://x.com/TheAthleticFC/status/1927621234126115142
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Gr-fJ6mWcAE0vgc?format=jpg)
Fucking 6th again 😡.
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Its funny - but bottling the CL and FA Cup - Combined with what other clubs have achieved this season (Spurs, Palace, maybe Chelsea) - has kind of raised my expectations for next season.
I really think next year we need to get CL and Silverware - anything less kind of feels like we have hit a ceiling.
I have this massive concern that we have seen the peak of this new dawn and desperately want to be proved wrong.
We should start with something like the Carabao Cup and take it very seriously and not act like its beneath us .
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Who are the Man United fans voting "very satisfied"?
The ones living in Birmingham.
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Seems about right. https://x.com/TheAthleticFC/status/1927621234126115142
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Gr-fJ6mWcAE0vgc?format=jpg)
Fucking 6th again 😡.
Glass ceiling innit.
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Proof that it really only is us who ManUre actively seek to sabotage...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c79e79yq9q1o (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c79e79yq9q1o)
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Thinking positively, winning eight out of our final ten games and finishing sixth in the Premier League and qualifying for Europa League football is a creditable achievement, as is an FA Cup semi final appearance. Getting to the Champions League quarter finals was brilliant and beyond expectations. However, we put ourselves in great positions to achieve more, reaching an FA Cup Final and a Champions League qualifying place but sadly delivered two pitiful performances in two crucial games. Ultimately we've qualified for Europe for the third consecutive season. Who would have seen that coming before Unai arrived? As a fan base our expectations have been raised and we're disappointed at not achieving more but we've still had a good season imo.
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I go along with all the positive vibes in here and everything I have to say has been stated by various posters and much more succinctly. The only thing is we didn't win anything and next season we need to and that will underline the success of this new era otherwise it will all be circa 2008-11.
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I’ve got an awful feeling that this season is as good as it gets. We are still nowhere near the spending power of teams like Liverpool. Straightaway, they are throwing millions into transfers whereas, I still feel we will be looking at bargain basement signings.
This season we had a couple of exceptional chances of winning a trophy but, ultimately blew it. Can’t see us getting such good draws in the cups next season.
To sum up, the other top clubs will be able to spend money like confetti whereas we’ll be looking over our shoulders at PSR. Nothing much changes really.
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I’ve got an awful feeling that this season is as good as it gets. We are still nowhere near the spending power of teams like Liverpool. Straightaway, they are throwing millions into transfers whereas, I still feel we will be looking at bargain basement signings.
This season we had a couple of exceptional chances of winning a trophy but, ultimately blew it. Can’t see us getting such good draws in the cups next season.
To sum up, the other top clubs will be able to spend money like confetti whereas we’ll be looking over our shoulders at PSR. Nothing much changes really.
We did better the season before so how can this season be as good as it gets? Stop fretting.
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Because each season is going to be our season. By the law of averages, that should happen at some stage but, don’t hold your breath.
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I’ve got an awful feeling that this season is as good as it gets. We are still nowhere near the spending power of teams like Liverpool. Straightaway, they are throwing millions into transfers whereas, I still feel we will be looking at bargain basement signings.
This season we had a couple of exceptional chances of winning a trophy but, ultimately blew it. Can’t see us getting such good draws in the cups next season.
To sum up, the other top clubs will be able to spend money like confetti whereas we’ll be looking over our shoulders at PSR. Nothing much changes really.
We had one exceptional chance of winning a trophy, the FA cup. The manager and players , did unbelievably well to get to the QFs of the champions and within one goal of PSG. You can’t mix up over achievement in the champions league with a missed opportunity.
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I’ve got an awful feeling that this season is as good as it gets. We are still nowhere near the spending power of teams like Liverpool. Straightaway, they are throwing millions into transfers whereas, I still feel we will be looking at bargain basement signings.
This season we had a couple of exceptional chances of winning a trophy but, ultimately blew it. Can’t see us getting such good draws in the cups next season.
To sum up, the other top clubs will be able to spend money like confetti whereas we’ll be looking over our shoulders at PSR. Nothing much changes really.
No chance. We’re still very much operating with a large core of side bought by Smith who’ve adapted brilliantly under Emery. I think we’re still learning and evolving and we’re going to get better and finally win something.
I’m a believer mate.
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I’ve been a season ticket holder for more seasons I care to remember so, I’ve seen all the chat about next season will see us win a trophy. I don’t take much notice of that any more.
I’ll be the first on here to doff my cap to all the “believers” if we win anything next season or, the season after, come to that.
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Just to clarify, I’m not having a go at the owners or the manager. It’s just that whilst PSR is being used, in its current form, there’s no chance of clubs like ours being able to catch the Liverpool’s of this world. Just a fact sadly that needs sorting out sooner rather than later to make it a more level playing field
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I can kinda of get what you’re saying, Skerra. We’ve had a few glass ceiling moments. It burns you over time especially when you think that the most recent time is going to be different. Maybe it’s more late 1970’s era Saunders in fine tuning the squad rather than MON era. I honestly don’t know.
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We didn’t quite have the squad to cope with CL and maintain top 4 position most of the season. We strengthened in January which got us CL QF FA Cup Semi and PL6th.
We might have peaked as no CL next season will mean we will have to make some sacrifices. I look back on some incredible memories and some huge disappointments.
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We can’t keep blaming PSR for us not winning anything.
Crystal Palace / Newcastle will be just as hamstrung as us.
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Hopefully people realise that we don’t get a trophy for losing to the team that eventually wins a competition.
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Third season on the bounce with eight or more European matches to enjoy.
Enjoy it while you can.
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Anybody disappointed with Europa league. Take your age, add 13 years and think about how old you'll be at that point and be thankful.
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We can’t keep blaming PSR for us not winning anything.
Crystal Palace / Newcastle will be just as hamstrung as us.
I agree. They had players who turned up for the big occasion.
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One of the best nights of my life was Villa V Inter Milan in the UEFA Cup. I was 15 years old and it still makes me beam with joy now. We shouldn’t be sad to be in this competition.
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Actually, a Man Utd fan came along for the ride. He was a friend of the family and he’s always had a soft spot for Villa since.
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Third season on the bounce with eight or more European matches to enjoy.
Enjoy it while you can.
Back to football on a Thursday night then .
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Third season on the bounce with eight or more European matches to enjoy.
Enjoy it while you can.
Back to football on a Thursday night then .
Still European Football.
Enjoy it FFS or is that too much to ask?
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I’ve got no problems with the Europa league, I think the issues are more financial than they are football related
I loved being in the conference league, I know it was our first time back and that probably was the reason, Champions League games were bigger occasions and it was fantastic, but I actually enjoyed the conference league just as much and managed to get to a few away games and had some special times
Not even the so-called big six make Champions League every year so there’s no way we’re gonna be doing it either,
But European football in one of the three competitions should be what we’re playing every single season, that’s where I want us to be from now on