My look back at Villa’s 2022/23 season.
It’s difficult to comprehend that all this happened in one season. This season.
I’ll start with Villa’s summer signings.
Phillips Coutinho joined permanently, by no means a success but not as bad as some would have you believe, I think that comes with having his name so closely aligned with Steven Gerrard. Has struggled with injury and fitness since Emery took over but Unai has used him in patches.
Diego Carlos was our marquee signing but ruptured his Achilles in the second match of the season. Managing to get himself back around the squad before season end would’ve been a personal success for him. He’ll be the cliche like a new signing ahead of 23/24.
Boubakar Kamara. What a player! He’s has had a couple of in juries to contend with including one that ruled him out of the World Cup. He’s only 23, in a world where we, rightly or wrongly, hear rave reviews about Moises Caicedo and Joao Palhinha, Bouba’s name barely gets mentioned, don’t get it. He’s one of the best midfielders in the league and came on a free. If, as reported, it was Gerrard’s influence that got him to sign then it makes Stevie G’s reign worthwhile.
Other incomings were Robin Olsen, Leander Dendoncker and loanees Jan Bednarek, difficult to even picture him in a Villa shirt yet alone remember him kicking a ball in one. And loanee Ludwig Augustinsson who at least provided me with, in my opinion, one my best gags. Augustinsson Januaryoutsson.
Gerrard was always a split the fan base appointment. Mainly due to his association with Liverpool rather than worry about his managerial credentials. I was one that got on board with the appointment, I didn’t even waste a bedsheet when McLeish was manager so I certainly wasn’t gonna spit my dummy out because we had a scouser in charge. But alarm bells were ringing before a ball was kicked. Gerrard took the captains armband off Tyrone Mings. I had no problems with that, but whether you agreed with it or not it was impossible not to notice that it was handled incredibly badly and it led to talks of a rift in the dressing room. This was played out in the press as Mings versus McGinn but looking back now you can see it was Gerrard versus the playing staff.
August
A poor start to the season. Opening day defeat to Bournemouth pissed on any bonfire of optimism. A home win followed against Lampard’s Everton that ultimately told us more about how sticky the Toffees season was gonna be. A trio of defeats, away at Palace, home to West Ham and away at Arsenal.
Three points from a possible fifteen. The Gerrard out camp were getting increased membership.
September
Villa got a spirited point at home to Man City in a match I spent in the medical centre under the North Stand after my son took a dicky turn. 410 mile round trip to not see a ball kicked and I was worried it’d put Oliver off attending football for a bit but a couple of weeks later I and he were back for the home win against Southampton.
Just two matches, but four points and Villa went into the international break with the discontent lowered a notch.
October
Discontent ramps up. An insipid month. Villa draw 0-0 at Leeds, 1-1 at Forest and follow it up with a 2-0 defeat against Chelsea at home.
With pressure on Gerrard at its highest we go into a fixture away at Fulham. It’s not a ‘save your job’ fixture but Villa fans are demanding an improved performance. What followed was ugly. I remained behind Gerrard for as long as I could. I joined the Gerrard out club just in time as almost as soon as the full time whistle blew Gerrard was gone.
My opinion. Contrary to most Villa fans. The end of Gerrard’s reign wasn’t as bad as the end of Smith’s. But the Villa romantics don’t want you to hear that. I think there’s a manger in Gerrard, I wouldn’t write him off going on to be a success in the future but the level he’s at right now is clearly demonstrated by what Unai went on to get out of the exact same players.
Aaron Danks took temporary charge and had two matches of opposite fortunes.
A 4-0 win at home to Brentford followed by a 4-0 at Newcastle.
November
Unlike other clubs that disregarded their manager without a plan other than hope for where they were heading. Villa’s owners had a plan and in come Unai Emery.
With just two matches before the Premier League paused for the World Cup, Emery came in and instantly got the Villa fans onside. In his first match Villa tore apart Man Utd 3-1 in Ronaldo’s final Utd match and then followed this up by doing a job on de Zerbi’s Brighton at the Amex despite going a goal down just seconds after kick off.
The contrast from Gerrard to Emery was evident after just two matches. It’s not like the shackles had been let off the players. They were playing to a plan. They were invested. They believed in what they were doing. Instantly Emery had the players on board, the fans on board. We were all singing from the same hymn sheet.
December/January
Villa returned with a Boxing Day defeat at home to Liverpool but it didn’t dampen the festive season. We went toe to toe with them in a good game. A New Year’s Day win against Spurs followed.
Emery’s first four matches, against teams that looked difficult tests for us had yielded three wins and a spirited defeat.
A home draw with Wolves came before two single goal victories at home to Leeds and away at Southampton. I remember saying at the time Villa weren’t implementing Emery’s plan to a 10/10 level. But the plan was so good that even not perfecting it was proving good enough.
A quiet January window. Emery went on the record saying he was only interested in quality and was happy to work with what he had. There wouldn’t be signings for signings sake. Moreno and Duran joined. Ings departed.
February
The toughest month under Emery. A 4-2 defeat at home to Leicester in the most in-Unai performance since he took charge followed by another two defeats to title chasers Man City and Arsenal.
The wind looked to have been taken from our sails. Nobody was concerned with relegation any longer but the talk was that we’d play the season out and come back as a stronger side for 23/24.
How wrong we were
Villa finished to month with a dismantling of Everton at Goodison in what would turn out to be the first of a ten match unbeaten run.
March
Palace beaten at home, a hard earned point at West Ham and a demolition job on Bournemouth. With other teams stumbling above us, people started piss-taking by posing for photos with their passports.
April
Victory at Chelsea was backed up with a late win away at Leicester. Back to back away wins in four days. Its on. It’s actually on.
A stodgy victory at home to Forest is followed by my performance of the season as we give Newcastle a seeing to and blow them away 3-0 at Villa Park.
In a ‘after the Lord Mayors show’ performance at Brentford Villa stumble to a 1-1 draw but Luiz’ late equaliser is crucial to keeping the unbeaten record going.
A pedestrian 1-0 win at home to Fulham and just like that, ten matches have passed and we haven’t tasted defeat. We’re fully in the race for Europe.
And then we head to Old Trafford. 0-1 and the run is over. Momentum is halted.
May
We start the month with a defeat at Wolves. All of sudden, it looks like we’ve timed our run too early and are runnning out of steam.
But Spurs are becoming more and more Spurs by the game and we’ve got them at Villa Park next. A win puts us back in the race. Anything less and we’re probably done.
It’s just happens to turn out that even if Villa v Spurs isn’t a complete mismatch, Unai Emery v Ryan Mason is. Villa win 2-1.
Two games left. Villa and Spurs level. Spurs’ goal difference slightly greater. It’s going down to the wire.
Spurs are the lunchtime kickoff against Brentford and we go to Anfield, later the same afternoon.
Half time in London and Spurs are leading 1-0. It looks like we’re gonna go into the Liverpool match three points behind. But Tottenham gonna Tottenham and 45 minutes and three goals later. Spurs 1 Brentford 3.
All of a sudden, the Liverpool game is an opportunity. After leading for the majority of the game Villa are pegged back by a massively predictable Firmino goal in his last match at Anfield but crucially Villa hang on for a hard earned point and they go into final day knowing as far as the Conference League is concerned, it’s win and we’re in.
In a match of supremely high quality Villa beat Brighton 2-1. Emery does the double over the league golden boys. Spurs’ win at Leeds is meaningless. Brentford beat Man City but they fall just short too.
7th place finish. Continental football next season for the first time in fifteen seasons.
Adrenaline is gonna last all summer. I can’t believe the season that’s just gone. 16th when Emery took over. 7th at the finish line. A genuine manager of the season candidate. Stellar seasons for Emi Martinez, Ashley Young, Ezri Konsa, Tyrone Mings, Bouba Kamara, Douglas Luiz, John McGinn, JJ Ramsey and Ollie Watkins.
We’ve got to get through a playoff round but it’s not outlandish to think that we’ll be amongst the favourites to win the Conference League and with hardly any departures expected in the playing squad and a trust in Emery and the recruitment team that any incomings will be of genuine quality there’s no reason to not think that we’ll be contending for a similar league position next time around.
Up The Eurovillans 🩷🩵