Summary of the season.

[paul_e]

For me yesterday was far too soon to start this thread, a few minutes after a game where we lost from being 2-0 up is always going to skew opinion.

Having taken that bit of time it was a frustrating season, we started like a team that met for the first time in the carpark an hour before kick off, how the summer was allowed to go so badly is a mystery to me.
That culminated in an awful spell that did for Smith where, not only were we poor in terms of results and performances but I also couldn't see what we were trying to achieve, as much as I liked him and wanted him to lead us on for years it was clear Smith was done and the board got the timing about right in my opinion.
Gerrard wouldn't have been my choice to replace him, I wanted someone who had experience of breaking a bad run of form and dealing with a squad when things go wrong, as well as being a bigger name and having a winning mentality, I think that gap in his experience was evident at times so he'll need to learn on the job.
I think the January window was excellent, happy with the outfield signings, and glad to see phil stay and Bouba come in to continue the impressive work so far. Olsen I'm less sure of but I thought he had a decent game yesterday after a dodgy start so I'll be ok with us making him a permanent addition.
On the squad I think we're not far off, 3-4 more signings of the quality we've seen so far would make me very confident in us improving massively next year.

Final point, for the last 3-4 months the results and performances have been pretty mixed but the big difference is that I can see what we're trying to do and how Gerrard wants us playing, good signings who are mostly in before pre-season and I think we will look a much better team next season. We can all see the space for minor improvements all over the pitch and I suspect the coaching team see that as well, 10 1 goal defeats, mostly in games where we were competitive, since Gerrard came in shows that even those small improvements could see us adding points.

[Steve67]

Ayup, Head Teacher Paul is at it again.  Too soon? Someone else might have started the damn thread! Smile my friend :-)

[paul_e]

Ayup, Head Teacher Paul is at it again.  Too soon? Someone else might have started the damn thread! Smile my friend :-)

I just mean that the earlier posts on here are far angrier than the ones that came today, which is no real surprise.

[Steve67]

Ayup, Head Teacher Paul is at it again.  Too soon? Someone else might have started the damn thread! Smile my friend :-)

I just mean that the earlier posts on here are far angrier than the ones that came today, which is no real surprise.

I'm just kidding mate.  I must be honest, I was bashing the letters out as I sat there watching the game and starting this thread.  Proper pissed off.

[paul_e]

Ayup, Head Teacher Paul is at it again.  Too soon? Someone else might have started the damn thread! Smile my friend :-)

I just mean that the earlier posts on here are far angrier than the ones that came today, which is no real surprise.

I'm just kidding mate.  I must be honest, I was bashing the letters out as I sat there watching the game and starting this thread.  Proper pissed off.

No I got that, just wanted to be clear. If I'd posted on here yesterday it'd have been a very different take, I guess I just don't like posting about games/seasons/players whilst there's so much anger on the forum. I think Bruce broke me for that after I was bitching about him after most games.

[Beard82]

What a strange season.

It started losing both Joe and then Dean.  It ended a dream, that we all knew deep down wouldnt happen - but was some of the most fun weve had for years, and will leave us with a sliding doors moment.

It was a bloody awful pre-season, one in which we went into the season half-baked and never seemed to recover

I was broadly happy with the signings from the summer, but only Emi ever really settled.  Ings has shown flashes of quality, but ended up missing too many chances.  Bailey other than a couple early season cameos has basically been injured - though I think there is a player in there (or so his dad told me).   

The biggest issue from the summer, apart from Joe, was the fact we failed to land another midfielder.  JWP would have been perfect I think, but I guess we were never prepared to pay what it was worth.  As a result we have played with a poorly balanced midfield

Smiths games, were typically Smith - a few amazing, and more awful.  Another sliding doors moment in that if the reverse against Wolves hadnt happened, things may have been very different

Gerrard came in, and seemed to make us harder to beat - and brought in some amazing players, but still didnt do quite enough with what he had. 

Some player seemed to have regressed impressively this season.  Targett, Watkins, Konsa and Luiz being the worse.

Great seasons by Cash and Ramsey - with the rest looking similar to last year. 

The 3 permenant january signings have all shown class, and hopefully will bring more next year. 

Overall, it feels like a missed opportunity - but given we lost our best player in a generation it was probably to be expected.

The plan seems clear, use SG name to get better players to play the SG.  And, mainly due to a lack of imagination, it does seem like the best way forward

Overall for me this season has a 5 out of 10 feel to it.  Not good enough, but reasons for encouragement

It started with the end of something special, and Im hoping that its ended with the start of something even better, but only time will tell

[nigel]

Home form disappointing.
3 games spring to mind.
Should have beaten Wolves and Watford, and would have beaten Burnley if Pope hadn’t decided to be Gordon Banks.
That’s 9 pts instead of 1 pt.

Overall, frustrating and inconsistent.

Mad though it sounds, we should have beaten Tottenham, too.

Not mad at all, I’d forgotten that game.
Again, Loris made a couple of wonderful saves in the first half which could have seen us 3 or 4 up, with no complaints from them

[LeonW]

I think in analysing this season, whilst it may appear that we’ve gone backwards because we got 10 points less and finished 3 places lower, the margins between both seasons are so fine that they are almost close to being identical:

•   We won 7 home games in season 2020/21, 6 in the 2021/22 season.
•   We lost 8 home games in each season.
•   Draws each season we’re almost identical (7 vs 6).
•   We scored 55 league goals in 2020/21, 52 in 2021/22.
•   We conceded 46 league goals in 2020/21 and 54 in 2021/22.
•   Top scorer in the league was Watkins both seasons with 14 last season and 11 this season.

So in actual fact, the team have performed pretty much to the same standard both seasons statistically. Of ‘the team,’ obviously Bench Boy left on his attainment project, Barkley went back and Targett went out on loan as the most significant player changes of the first 11 season to season, but the overall squad quality has improved with Ings, Bailey, Buendia, Coutinho and Digne.

Last season, Joe (6 goals and assists 10), Barkley (3 goals, 1 assist) and Targett (2 assists) contributed a total of 9 goals and 14 assists. Ings (7 /6), Buendia (4/6), Coutinho (5/3), Bailey (1/2) and Digne (0/4) have contributed a total of 17 goals and 21 assists for a net cost of £9m. That’s £9m for a further 8 goals and 7 assists in the Premier League whilst (presumably) operating within FFP. That is a good return and that with our purchases not all performing to the required levels. That £9m is based on the fees paid for those players vs what we received for Joe, the loan fee for Barkley (£11m) and what we bought Targett for which is the same as the fee reportedly agreed with Newcastle for purchase (£15m). It’s also worth adding that for the first time since I can remember, the club seemed poised to spot and pounce on an opportunity in the transfer market with Martinez, and Digne being great examples of such opportunism. It’s impressive how we operate in that sense and how we negotiate (Coutinho being a prime example). So in assessing that side of the club and deals season to season, I think we’ve done well.

In comparing Smith Vs Gerrard this season and last at Villa, the main differences are that we got better results against the top 6 under Smith last season (with one historic result) but Gerrard has been better in getting results against the teams near the bottom – something that Smith struggled with.

Whilst we conceded more this season, the losing margins have been less under Gerrard then Smith. Under Smith last season, we lost by more than one goal on 5 occasions and this season 3, so 8 times in 49 games. Gerrard’s Villa have only lost by more than one goal on 2 occasions in 27 games. That’s a tangible improvement.

So in summary, this season is a lot closer to last then it first appears. We’ve improved the squad overall and it shouldn’t take a massive amount of tweaking to get a 9th or 10th place finish next season even before considering the impact of Kamara and what other potential signings might do.

[LeeB]

The events of the summer turned the season into one of transition again. To be honest, I'm glad we've got through unscathed as all we knew at the start of the season was we were crap without Joe.

I think Gerrard has probably learned more by being a bit experimental in the latter third of the season with us pretty much safe, and I'm hoping that will serve us well.

[Allan C]

Obviously the season was a disappointment after the optimism of the previous one. But I’m not pessimistic about the coming season, the opposite in fact. The change of manager was needed and Gerrard was the best of the realistic candidates then touted with the job in my opinion. Lots are unhappy about our finishing position but we were only two wins from a top ten finish. I’m impressed with Gerrard’s signings to date and I’m sure he’ll sign more as we look to improve. It’s obvious that some of the squad have reached their limit and strengthening the team is a must but I’ve faith that the management team will get it right

[LeonW]

I think in analysing this season, whilst it may appear that we’ve gone backwards because we got 10 points less and finished 3 places lower, the margins between both seasons are so fine that they are almost close to being identical:

•   We won 7 home games in season 2020/21, 6 in the 2021/22 season.
•   We lost 8 home games in each season.
•   Draws each season we’re almost identical (7 vs 6).
•   We scored 55 league goals in 2020/21, 52 in 2021/22.
•   We conceded 46 league goals in 2020/21 and 54 in 2021/22.
•   Top scorer in the league was Watkins both seasons with 14 last season and 11 this season.

So in actual fact, the team have performed pretty much to the same standard both seasons statistically. Of ‘the team,’ obviously Bench Boy left on his attainment project, Barkley went back and Targett went out on loan as the most significant player changes of the first 11 season to season, but the overall squad quality has improved with Ings, Bailey, Buendia, Coutinho and Digne.

Last season, Joe (6 goals and assists 10), Barkley (3 goals, 1 assist) and Targett (2 assists) contributed a total of 9 goals and 14 assists. Ings (7 /6), Buendia (4/6), Coutinho (5/3), Bailey (1/2) and Digne (0/4) have contributed a total of 17 goals and 21 assists for a net cost of £9m. That’s £9m for a further 8 goals and 7 assists in the Premier League whilst (presumably) operating within FFP. That is a good return and that with our purchases not all performing to the required levels. That £9m is based on the fees paid for those players vs what we received for Joe, the loan fee for Barkley (£11m) and what we bought Targett for which is the same as the fee reportedly agreed with Newcastle for purchase (£15m). It’s also worth adding that for the first time since I can remember, the club seemed poised to spot and pounce on an opportunity in the transfer market with Martinez, and Digne being great examples of such opportunism. It’s impressive how we operate in that sense and how we negotiate (Coutinho being a prime example). So in assessing that side of the club and deals season to season, I think we’ve done well.

In comparing Smith Vs Gerrard this season and last at Villa, the main differences are that we got better results against the top 6 under Smith last season (with one historic result) but Gerrard has been better in getting results against the teams near the bottom – something that Smith struggled with.

Whilst we conceded more this season, the losing margins have been less under Gerrard then Smith. Under Smith last season, we lost by more than one goal on 5 occasions and this season 3, so 8 times in 49 games. Gerrard’s Villa have only lost by more than one goal on 2 occasions in 27 games. That’s a tangible improvement.

So in summary, this season is a lot closer to last then it first appears. We’ve improved the squad overall and it shouldn’t take a massive amount of tweaking to get a 9th or 10th place finish next season even before considering the impact of Kamara and what other potential signings might do.

Hopefully this will come through ok. Thought some people might like to see this. Think it feeds in to the points above.

It shows wages spent position VS actual league position. We're currently 10 in the Premier League for wages spent but our actual position is 14.

[john e]

Last season was better and more enjoyable
But I’m hoping we’re in a good place now for next season because I’m the eternal optimist

[pauliewalnuts]

I find myself wondering about Spurs’ wage bill

[Brend'Watkins]

A fragmented season. Winning at ManU was my highlight at the time. On reflection it was nothing special given how below par they’d become.  We should have finished top half, we didn’t. We’re better than we were last season marginally and Gerrard seems to be able to attract better recruits which is encouraging. That said, he has to perform from the first game next season. No excuses.

[ADVILLAFAN]

Underwhelming and slightly dull