Season 2023/24

The Community Shield has kicked off, and that feint smell of football which has been gradually permeating my consciousness over the past weeks, has now fully manifested.

Thanks to Villa's Emery-inspired turnaround of last season, I feel the motivation to put thoughts to paper in this coming season, as for the first time in forever, I go into a season with a feeling that anything is possible, rather than the usual (and perfectly rational) sense of impending disaster. This in itself is un-nerving. Time will tell whether the early season optimism turns to tears before August is out. Speaking of tears, last season ended in actual tears for me. Tears of joy as John McGinn double pumped a fist towards the Holte End, having just successfully ass-shielded the ball for a corner, thus closing out a fabulous win against Brighton, the result we needed to once again (after a decade absence) clinch a place in European competition. The transformation in the Villa side from a limp, soul-less outfit under Steven Gerrard in October, to thriving, confident, classy outfit under Emery was beyond remarkable. It was Roy of the Rovers stuff. 

The optimist in me sees us as a genuine match for anybody in this league, as solid contenders for a European Trophy, and a potential prospect in the cups. But I am conditioned to exercise caution. A tough opening game at St James' park, followed by any kind of stutter in easier games vs Burnley and Everton could see the hysterical cries of "crisis". Either which way, it is a long old season, and has the prospect, if Villa can navigate a play-off round, of a series of Thursday night games. With Villa a pleasure to watch again, this is a mouth-watering prospect. Emery has tooled up accordingly, signing Pau Torres to add class and depth to our defence, Youri Tielemans [in the steal of the summer] and Mousa Diaby, who looks a real livewire. Those three, added to the returns of more mature versions of Cameron Archer and Jaden Philogene-Bidace  see the squad looking fairly strong and balanced. 

Two causes for concern. 

1) Our back-up keeper, Robin Olsen, looks shaky. He's had a couple of howlers, and Villa fans (scarred by past calamity keeper memories) do nothing to help a player regain confidence. This feels irretrievable. With new tighter laws about time-wasting and gamesmanship, it is surely only a matter of a few games until Emi Martinez picks up his first suspension, at which point all bets are off. 

2) The Pau Torres conundrum. Undoubtedly classy, and a good buy, he is going to need carefully integrating into the team. Mings and Konsa put together some simply excellent form towards the end of last season and neither really deserves dropping. In pre-season, there have been experiments with him at left back (where he looks pretty vulnerable to wingers stepping across him). Last season, Gerrard tried to make an impression by dropping Mings (and taking the captaincy off him) - which was an absolute shit move and messed up the first third of the season. I just hope we don't do something similar again. My suspicion is that we will start the season with Digne, Torres, Mings, Konsa as a back four and that all will be fine. Let's see.

I've not paid massive attention to other teams over the summer, but clearly the Saudi thing has had an effect. Chelsea seem to have done some creative accounting in that respect, and seem to be spending limitless money again. We can expect strong challenges from City, Arsenal, Newcastle, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man United, and dare I say it, Villa - whilst at the other end I am expecting some truly dismal showings from some teams, with a very strong top half of the league really restricting the ability of lower teams to get points. 

I've offered up posting rights to Stevie and Kev, Everton and Forest fans respectively; though the season might be looking too bleak for them to muster energy to contribute. We will see!