End of Season Report

[glasses]

Some good moments, some horrid moments.

Highlights
Man City home
Darren Bent
West Ham home
Liverpool home
Arsenal away

Lowlights
Newcastle away
Man City away
Albion away
Wolves home
Man City FA cup
Blues League cup

PR gaffes after both Man City and Liverpool

9th place in the league is not the end of the world, but it does cover up a season that at times has been painful to watch.

[DeeBoy1]

Sonlyme, absolute cracking post mate.

[not3bad]

Against that there have been some shocking performances, notably Liverpool, Man City and Newcastle away

Sunderland and Wolves (home) and West Brom (away) weren't too clever either.

[Concrete John]

And they were very, very fortunate to climb up to 9th thanks to other results on the last day.

Don't agree with that.  After 38 games the the table doesn't lie and we got better results than those below us and worse then those above us.  We deserved to be 9th.

[KevinGage]

For all the talk of positive signs and whatnot, our best form this year was when we played to our strengths - on the counter, with decent delivery from out wide.

In the first few months of the season we had a fair few games (particularly away)  where we looked like we'd overrun the opposition with Downing and Albrighton out wide, but not being able to take our chances cost us when our defence dropped the inevitable clanger. Darren Bent during this period would have been very useful.

In the latter stages of the season, it was the reintroduction of the likes of Luke Young and Petrov and reverting to a style of play not a million miles away from MON's that resulted in an upturn in form from Everton away onwards.

For the middle part of the campaign, the less said about that the better.

[Merv]

What a very, very strange season. Three weeks ago I was still sweating on relegation - we ended up beating both Arsenal and Liverpool (yes, we can argue their state of motivation, perhaps, but still) and that final position of ninth makes everyone feel a bit better about themselves.

For me, what's been the turning point, along with the signing of Bent (crucial), was that we were able to pick a settled side for the final games of the season, and able to make the odd tactical change (Delph in, Gabby in or out, Albrighton) rather than picking players to fill holes.

It's going to be an interesting summer. I can't really say I have confidence in the GH/GMac partnership, despite finishing on a high, though. I get the feeling we need the fresh impetus of a new manager to come in and drive us forward, and I think we need it soon while there's a positive air around.

[Bad English]

I can only applaud Sonlyme for his upbeat post. However, if he believes we finished "well inside the top ten", then all this summer I am going to be telling all and sundry that we "nearly won the Premier League".

[Billy Walker]

After MON left and the failed experiment with McDonald a mid table finish was about what most expected, so on that score job done. The PR stuff is a minor consideration and should not detract from the overall job. We've achieved some creditable results, wins against 3 of the top 6 and only Arsenal of the CL qualifiers winning at VP. Against that there have been some shocking performances, notably Liverpool, Man City and Newcastle away and some truly inept defending for a good half of the season. However, from January on things have steadily improved and our points to game ratio has been pretty respectable culminating in 2 very good wins to round off with the team regaining their old confidence.

So it's a c+ from me.

When it comes to the PR stuff and GH dropping clangers, we've got to remember that the media play their part, too, in blurring the picture.  I certainly got the impression this season that they enjoyed portraying GH as some kind of foreign buffoon.  Compare and contrast how they portrayed him in the printed and televised press with Kenny Dalglish, for example. 

Dalglish loses Torres and signs Carroll and Suarez: Hansen, Reade, Barrett, Evans and Maddock tell the world "King Kenny" is a genius for off-loading Torres.  There's no negative spin to suggest Liverpool are a selling club or that King Kenny isn't capable of persuading a genuine world class player to stay at Anfield. The media spun this into a resounding win for Liverpool. Yet Houllier signs Bent and it's all a desperate gamble; the French man has lost the plot and nasty old Villa have mugged Sunderland.  If we lose Young this summer will it be spun as a win for Villa?  Will it be a case of Villa off-loading a player who has failed to reach the heights of two years ago?  Of course not.  Villa will be portrayed as a selling club - even if we replace Ashley with a better player.

A lot of Houllier's misfortune has arisen from the subtle negativity of the press towards both him and our club.  If GH remains with us (and I wish him the good health to remain with us), hopefully he will have learnt that the media reports on Villa in a very, very different way to Liverpool.

[cdward]

Is it coincidence or a consequence that the latter part of the season and the good results coincided with Houlliers absence.

I think we got lucky with Arsenal, penalty that could have been given against Dunne, V. Persie hitting the post, Chamakhs disallowed goal, and Liverpool, Mereiles hitting it straight at Friedel, Suarez generally having an off day, even the fact that Albrighton was only on because of injury to Delph.
These 2 results and other results leaving us 9th, plus the joy of seeing Blues go down,  papers over the cracks as far as i am concerned.
It was a crap season with some crap results, led by a manager who appears out of his depth at times, our saving grace has been Darren Bent.
Report.
A difficult start to the season with a lack of coherent direction and leadership. Took time to settle. Not enough team spirit, and individuals must work harder. Achieved good results at times, but the lapses in concentration need to be eliminated. A good transfer window, achieved the results in the end, however nowehere near reaching full potential, can achieve much better results, has the ability, can sometimes give up too easily, must do better.

[not3bad]

Is it coincidence or a consequence that the latter part of the season and the good results coincided with Houlliers absence.

Good results?  All 2 of them?

[Ger Regan]

After MON left and the failed experiment with McDonald a mid table finish was about what most expected, so on that score job done. The PR stuff is a minor consideration and should not detract from the overall job. We've achieved some creditable results, wins against 3 of the top 6 and only Arsenal of the CL qualifiers winning at VP. Against that there have been some shocking performances, notably Liverpool, Man City and Newcastle away and some truly inept defending for a good half of the season. However, from January on things have steadily improved and our points to game ratio has been pretty respectable culminating in 2 very good wins to round off with the team regaining their old confidence.

So it's a c+ from me.

That reflects my thoughts on the season as well.

Would I be happy next year with a season similar to this one? Certainly not. But I think he should be given a full season to show us his vision for the club.

[Greg N'Ash]

aye. couldn't care less what his feelings are towards liverpool. Like a new manager is going to be in love with aston villa or whether that makes any difference to his ability to manage.

So him waving to Liverpool fans and ignoring the Villa fans is okay??

I don't care personally. He has some fond memories of his time at liverpool and responded. Some villa fans are too precious imo

Spoken by someone who clearly didn't make the 200 mile round trip in the freezing cold to see a spineless performance and then to be totally ignored - oh and to add further insult those ignored are paying his wages too.

There is absolutley no excuses for it.   

Fair enough but if we only choose future Managers from those that a) love aston villa unconditionally and b) are despised by their former club's fans, then its going to be a pretty shitty shortlist. John Gregory anyone?

[adrenachrome]

I agree with the overall tenor of the post, and it is very will written, but I was intrigued by this:

Once Gerard signed Bent and fell ill the attack changed - it was apparently Gary McAllister that was the problem,  not Gerard.  He was hated by the players said the 'insiders' and banner-painters.

These hateful haters, these painters of banners were not very productive were they? Deserted by their muses, their total artistic output amounted to  a solitary banner, and even that was subject to searching questions about its status as a banner. 

[dave.woodhall]

When it comes to the PR stuff and GH dropping clangers, we've got to remember that the media play their part, too, in blurring the picture.  I certainly got the impression this season that they enjoyed portraying GH as some kind of foreign buffoon.  Compare and contrast how they portrayed him in the printed and televised press with Kenny Dalglish, for example. 

Dalglish loses Torres and signs Carroll and Suarez: Hansen, Reade, Barrett, Evans and Maddock tell the world "King Kenny" is a genius for off-loading Torres.  There's no negative spin to suggest Liverpool are a selling club or that King Kenny isn't capable of persuading a genuine world class player to stay at Anfield. The media spun this into a resounding win for Liverpool. Yet Houllier signs Bent and it's all a desperate gamble; the French man has lost the plot and nasty old Villa have mugged Sunderland.  If we lose Young this summer will it be spun as a win for Villa?  Will it be a case of Villa off-loading a player who has failed to reach the heights of two years ago?  Of course not.  Villa will be portrayed as a selling club - even if we replace Ashley with a better player.

A lot of Houllier's misfortune has arisen from the subtle negativity of the press towards both him and our club.  If GH remains with us (and I wish him the good health to remain with us), hopefully he will have learnt that the media reports on Villa in a very, very different way to Liverpool.

Can't argue with that. We make an £18 million panic buy, Chelsea make a £50 million investment. The national media couldn't get past the idea that we weren't grateful enough to their mate Martin, then made them look idiots when our "losing interest, cutting back on his investment, no money available" owner spalashed out the first chance he got.

[Mister E]

"GH and GMac have come ninth in the premier league in their first, not even full, season when even St Martin could only manage eleventh." A silly comparison.

O'Neill came in straight after Deadly & DOL's disatrous reign & his first available choice for a team at Arsenal was Sorensen, Samuel, Mellberg, Barry, McCann, Angel, Agbonlahor, Davis, Hughes, Ridgewell, Moore.

GH & GM came in after 3 years of finishing sixth and inherited Friedel, A Young, L Young, Dunne, Collins, Warnock, Bannan, Albrighton, Clark, Delfouenso, Delph, Petrov, Reo-Coker, Downing....

And they were very, very fortunate to climb up to 9th thanks to other results on the last day.

What's your point, Paul?!
The team that MON started with at the Emirates (great day out, by the way) was actually quite good, seeing it again on your post. Perhaps a little green in terms of experience (like some of GH's teams this season) but a good 4-3-3 line up.

I'd agree that the comparisons between the GH and the MON starts and first seasons is a bit pointless; the performances are all relative to the games and form of all the other P'ship teams. This season we certainly got lucky that the other teams were fairly inept, generally.

Great opening post, but is there really much point subjecting this season to open-heart surgery? - it started badly, took an age to recover any sense of normality and then ended in difficult off-field circumstances. We just got lucky that other teams failed to perform effectifvely in the bottom half and we ended up 9th.

I think a much more valid discussion is: what do we learn from this season? How can we ensure that we do things better next time?
- Maximise the value of a good close-season by understanding and then dealing with the underlying managerial issues (if there are any).
- Maximise the value of a good close-season by understanding and then dealing with the underlying squad issues.
- Decide early on what your game-play is going to be and then get a group of players together who are committed to playing to that style, consistently.
- Pick positional specialists (IMO, it is no coincidence that we did better in the last few games because we had two specialist full backs on the team, one a particularly experienced FB).
- But also ensure you've players who are versatile, both positionally and in terms of being able to adapt during games to changing circumstances.
- Give promising youngsters some air-time; either in cameo roles for AV or in meaningful loan periods.
- Don't leave any decision / managerial vacuums: it causes deep unrest amongst players, supporters and staff. (and the media will  doubtless expose it cruelly).

... there are probably loads of other lessons-learned ... What do you reckon?