Season Review - Aston Villa

Aston Villa, for the most part, flourished under Martin O’Neill this season with a sixth place finish. But that doesn’t tell the whole story.

Some shrewd signings during the summer transfer window made Villa an exciting prospect for the season to follow, but few could have predicted the excellent start to the season they were about to have.

After Thomas Sorensen’s departure the goalkeeping options were reinforced significantly with the purchase of Blackburn’s veteran American keeper Brad Freidel and compatriot Brad Guzan. Promising centre-back Curtis Davies was taken from local rivals West Brom before Steve Sidwell joined after a disappointing spell at Stamford Bridge.

A serious injury to Wilfred Bouma meant that the full-back areas would need to be strengthened so O’Neill brought in two England internationals in the shape of Luke Young and Nicky Shorey. Carlos Cuellar boosted the defensive options after joining from Rangers whilst James Milner moved from Newcastle for a lofty £12 million. But perhaps Villa’s biggest bit of transfer activity was keeping Gareth Barry despite a long, drawn-out saga which almost saw the midfielder move to Liverpool.

The season started with an entertaining 4-2 win against Manchester City, which saw Gabriel Agbonlahor score a hat-trick, and was a sign of things to come as the Villains cemented their place firmly towards the top end of the table.

Impressive wins over Tottenham, West Brom and Sunderland countered defeats against Chelsea and new-boys Stoke and Wigan were thrashed 4-0 at the JJB with the likes of Ashley Young, John Carew and Agbonlahor causing defences problems with their pace and power.

It soon became clear that Villa were a force to be reckoned with and were sat comfortably in fourth place at the mid-way point of the season. Perhaps their biggest result was a 2-0 victory over fourth-place contenders Arsenal at the Emirates in November and with progress through to the knock-out stage of the UEFA Cup secured everything looked very rosy indeed for O’Neill and his team.

But things gradually took a turn for the worse after the turn of the new year. Knocked out of the FA Cup with a 3-1 defeat against Everton at Goodison Park, Villa then went on a poor run of results, including a defeat over two legs to CSKA Moscow in the UEFA Cup. And it was this result which proved pivotal in their season.

With Villa sitting in fourth and having drawn 1-1 with CSKA Moscow at home, O’Neill opted to chase qualification for the Champions League rather than progression through to the next round of the UEFA Cup by sending an inexperienced side to Russia, returning with a 2-0 defeat. It was here that the wheels began to fall off.

A dramatic last minute equaliser from Ryan Shawcross at Villa Park gave Stoke a 2-2 draw before Man City, Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester United all inflicted defeats on the Villains. Four draws from their last seven games was not enough to secure fourth place and Arsenal and Everton’s excellent late form meant the club finished the season in 6^th place.

While such a finish may have disappointed some fans given their team’s position throughout the majority of season, it can still be viewed as a progressive campaign. The team consistently beat those below them, which is a sign of a quality side, but fell away at the end of the season. This perhaps signals the need for a deeper squad, to cope with more games.

Villa are not short of money and should enter the transfer market looking to add real quality to their team. The void left by the retirement of Martin Laursen will need to be filled but in general they have a quality squad. There just needs to be some reinforcement in some areas and O’Neill can look forward to another successful campaign.

Final standings:

Premier League: 6^th

UEFA Cup: First Knockout Round

FA Cup: Fifth Round

Carling Cup: Third Round

Season Review - Arsenal

A look back at the season all 20 clubs had in 2008-09, analysing the highs and lows of each team throughout the campaign, starting with Arsene Wenger's Arsenal.


2008-09 was a bit of a mixed bag for the Gunners as their early promise faltered earlier than usual only to see an upturn in results at the end of the season, albeit much too late to mount a serious title challenge.

Having finished fourth in 2007-08 Arsenal fans were looking for their team to, once again, establish themselves as serious title challengers at the start of the season, they would have to do this though without important first-teamers such as Mathieu Flamini and Aliaksandr Hleb who joined AC Milan and Barcelona respectively. Ageing squad members Jens Lehmann and Gilberto Silva left also, leaving Wenger with plenty of gaps to fill.

The striking options were boosted by the granting of a work permit to Carlos Vela whilst Aaron Ramsey became the club's first transfer of the summer. He was soon followed by Samir Nasri before Manchester United defender Mikael Silvestre arrived late in August.

By that time the league campaign had already started but a narrow 1-0 home win over newly-promoted West Brom did little to instill confidence. Things got worse still the following week as they were defeated by Roy Hodgson's Fulham at Craven Cottage with the only goal of the game coming from defender Brede Hangeland.

Things began to pick up soon after though, as advancement to the group stage of the Champions League was secured with victory over FC Twente and Newcastle, Blackburn and Bolton were defeated comfortably. But there was to be drama at the Emirates in late September as Premier League new-boys Hull City, inspired by Geovanni, upset the Gunners with a 2-1 win.

Although concerning, the result certainly seemed to have little impact on the team initially, however, a home fixture against bottom of the league and fierce rivals Spurs did some damage. After having gone behind thanks to David Bentley's goal of the season contender early in the match, Arsenal stormed back to take a 3-1 lead mid-way through the second half. Darren Bent pulled one back for Spurs but Robin Van Persie added a fourth to seemingly secure the game for the Gunners with just ten minutes left on the clock.

But Tottenham, lead by new manager Harry Redknapp, had other ideas. Jermaine Jeans scored a marvellous individual effort to turn the pressure up slightly before Aaron Lennon scored an injury time equaliser to leave the Arsenal faithful with faces as red as their shirts.

As though that wasn't enough, a 2-1 defeat away to Stoke followed and Arsenal's title aspirations soon evaporated. A victory over Manchester United was the reaction but the inconsistency continued the following week when Aston Villa, competing with Arsenal for fourth place at this stage, came to the Emirates and left with a 2-0 victory.

With the team sitting in fifth place for most of the first half of the season Arsene Wenger knew something had to change. His reliance on buying youth and breeding them was failing him and fans had begun to question his methods. His response was the purchase of Russian star Andrei Arshavin.

But the playmaker joined during a concerning period of results for the team with four consecutive 0-0 draws highlighting the attacking problems at the club. Things began to change, however, when Arshavin started to feature after regaining full match fitness. Wins over West Brom, Blackburn, Newcastle and Wigan showed the team had turned a corner before another 4-4 draw came at Anfield, with Arshavin having his biggest impact to date with four goals.

Despite matching Liverpool in that game, the same could not be done recently against Chelsea, who proceeded to inflict Arsenal's heaviest defeat of the season, with a 4-1 win at the Emirates. Manchester United clinched the league having drawn 0-0 with Arsenal at Old Trafford before Stoke were soundly defeated on the final day of the season. But in truth, Arsenal's campaign was over much earlier than that.

Arsene Wenger can perhaps take solace in the decent cup runs of his team, reaching the semi-finals of both the FA Cup and Champions League, but there are serious problems at the club, and not just on the pitch.

William Gallas was stripped of the Arsenal captaincy in November after a verbal attack on his teammates and his discontent seems to have spread. Striker Emmanuel Adebayor, so deadly in front of goal the season before, looked out of sorts for most of the campaign and seems unwilling to remain at the club over the summer. Whilst fans have raised questions about Wenger's transfer policy after waiting all season for him to fill the void left by Flamini, it appears neither Alex Song or Denilson are the answer.

For Arsenal to move forward they need to change. Wenger will, reportedly, be given more money to spend this summer and he should try his hardest to bring in some of the world's best talent, regardless of age. Another centre-back is required urgently, Toure and Gallas have looked poor at times whilst Silvestre has proved a poor purchase. Should Emmanuel Adebayor leave then a suitable replacement must be found because without the Tongolese forward, the team will struggle to score goals. David Villa will almost certainly leave Valencia this summer and Arsenal fans would see him as big name who would bang in the goals. Perhaps the most pressing issue for Wenger to address though, is the central midfield position. Alex Song has played their recently and has done well, but Arsenal fans want more, a permanent partner to Cesc Fabregas is needed and Wenger will need to draw on all his expertise to find one. Yaya Toure has been touted as a possible candidate and that is certainly the standard of player that a club like Arsenal should be chasing.


Final standings:
League position: 4th
Champions League: Semi Final
FA Cup: Semi Final
Carling Cup: Quarter Final