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 6th 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: 6th
UEFA Cup: First Knockout Round
FA Cup: Fifth Round
Carling Cup: Third Round
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