One caveat to this: I'm not talking about Liverpool. I have plenty to say on our season and moreover the summer ahead but I'm going to discuss that in detail anyway, so there's no point reiterating myself. And I want to start at the bottom and work my way up, which means today we start with:
ASTON VILLA
Where even to begin with Aston Villa? A club in absolute disarray from start to finish, sacking two managers, disciplining multiple high profile players, a nineteen game losing run (yes really), only three wins all season (against Palace, Bournemouth and Norwich who ended up with an average position of 17th) and the third lowest points total in Premier League history. Throw in the £50m spent in the summer and it really is a tale of utter shambles.
There simply are no words for how bad Aston Villa were this season. Limp, lifeless, disgraceful, they simply lacked the technical ability, the stomach or the tactical nous for the fight. It's mad to think that my prediction of Villa getting relegated looked like a bad call after they beat Bournemouth 1-0 on the opening day of the season, their only win under Tim Sherwood, who was sacked at the end of October, as Villa picked up a solitary point from the nine games that followed. at the end of August against Sunderland, losing each of the six league games that they played in the two months that followed. When new manager Remi Garde took over, it took him a similar length of time to secure a win as Villa boss, failing to win any of his first nine games in charge before a 1-0 against a free-falling Palace side on 12th January. By that point, Villa looked sunk without a trace, on just 11 points off 21 games and eight points from safety, although Swansea had a game in hand on them.
But if things looked bad then, they only got worse, as Garde picked up just five more points as Villa boss, including a win against a Norwich side who were in a simply wretched run of form and looking like the second worst team in the division. Garde didn't even make it April, and Villa were relegated, as expected. The question as early as December was: would they be as bad as the infamous Derby? Even though they beat Derby's meager points total, Villa were scarcely better on the pitch.
Things didn't look good before the season had even started for Villa. With Ron Vlaar, Christian Benteke, Andres Weimann and Fabian Delph having narrowly avoided relegation the previous season, and none of them adequately replaced, Villa were short on quality in every single area of the pitch, with lots of money spent on average, untested, foreign players, none of whom made any significant impact apart from possibly Jordan Ayew. bought for about £8m from Lorient.
However, we've seen before in the Premier League, and even this season with the likes of Norwich, who were relegated but at least made a fist of it, simple quality isn't everything. That was Villa's second major problem. Nobody seemed to care. Nobody put in any effort. The likes of Joleon Lescott and Micah Richards looked simply uninterested, Gabby Agbonlahor and Jack Grealish's off the field antics were laughable and overall, Villa just looked like a club that had accepted its fate even before they appointed Remi Garde.
Then comes the third major issue. The managers. Tim Sherwood is not a Premier League manager. He just isn't. I'm not saying a good manager would have kept this uninterested bunch of bang average players in the Premier League but someone like Pulis or Allardyce would have at least made a good fist of it. When Sherwood was painfully and inevitably kicked to the curb, Remi Garde seemed like an odd appointment. He's a long term builder of teams, not an impact manager. I laughed when I heard Villa sacked Garde if I'm being honest. He was given no money and time to improve what was truly a pitiful squad, he was out of his element and even when he was appointed they looked a relegated club. That said, he had to do better than he did. Certain relegation and a shocking squad of overpaid, overrated egos who clearly didn't care about the club doesn't justify as pitiful a points total as Villa turned in.
And that right there is the root of the problem. Nobody at any level of the club seemed to care. Seemed to fight. Hell, at least Sherwood occasionally showed some passion, which is more than can be said for anyone else. Joleon Lescott saying relegation was a weight off the team's shoulders just sums it up. Nobody at the club cared, they were all just waiting for the inevitable. The players knew that they were getting relegated, and were all too concerned with their wages, the manager knew he was in over his head and getting sacked, the owner knew he was selling the club at the end of the season; not a single member of this travesty had any ounce of emotional investment in the club once it became clear that they were all personally compromised. The only people who cared were the same people who could do nothing to stop it: the supporters.
So where now for Villa? This club is tainted. The first thing to do is find a manager, but I can't see anyone in their right mind who would go there now; with David Moyes already saying no thanks, surely Nigel Pearson is the man to take them forwards from here? If that's even possible. A serious overhaul is needed. This is not a squad equipped for the Championship, it's not a team like Newcastle that you could see walking the division if they keep their best players and manager. This is a team that could just as easily get relegated to League One as promoted back to the EPL next season.
And at this point, all I feel for Villa is pity. It's an absolutely crying shame what has happened to this club. On the pitch, off the pitch, at every single conceivable level except financial they have fallen apart. It's not a season to forget, so much as a season to remember. To hold up, and to use as an example: both for other established Premier League clubs and for Villa themselves. Never again.
The Hard and Fast Section
- Kane and Vardy. 4-4-2. So tempting.
- Hahahahaha Sevilla. Messi is just too good.
- LVG sacked. Mourinho in. Cry cry cry.
- Heather Watson wins. Boom.
- Stokes injured. Woakes in. Give Ball a chance.
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