[FM23] Aston Villa FC - Holte Enders in the sky!

[Aandy]

Noticed there's not been a Villa thread for a while. Come on, people!!

 

 

ASTON VILLA FC

HISTORY

Aston Villa was founded in 1874 by four cricket players from nearby Villa Cross Wesleyan Chapel (Jack Hughes, Frederick Matthews, Walter Price and Walter Scattergood) because there were very few other local football teams and they wanted something to do during the winter break. Playing their first game with one half under rugby rules and the second half under association rules due to a lack of association football competition, Hughes et al beat Aston Brook St Mary's 1-0. Fast forward two years and a young Scot by the name of George Ramsay came across the lads playing a practice game and asked to be involved. Turns out Ramsay was pretty handy, displaying close control and a tactical nous the likes nobody had seen before in the city. With Ramsay in the side, Aston Villa quickly became a dominant force in the Midlands and capped the early days off by lifting the Birmingham Senior Cup in 1880, and going on to win in 9 out of the next 12 seasons.

In 1888, under the stewardship of club president William McGregor, Aston Villa became one of the founding members of the Football League. With Ramsay at the helm, Villa dominated the primordial days of the Football League winning the first five First Division titles and winning 3 FA Cups before the turn of the century. With the growth of popularity of the sport however, competition became more fierce but Villa were able to win another First Division title and 2 FA Cups before the outbreak of WW1.

Post-WW1 Villa were able to secure a sixth FA Cup in 1919-20 but this proved to be the final piece of silverware for almost 40 years, during which time Villa were relegated to the Second Division. Despite this, and guided by a Peter McPartland double (and a full-on KO of the Utd keeper), Villa lifted the FA Cup in 1956-57 with a 2-1 victory over Manchester Utd's 'Busby Babes'. This FA Cup win was followed by victory in the inaugural League Cup final in 1960-61, with a 3-2 victory over Rotherham.

And then another dark age. 1970 saw another relegation, this time to the Third Division. Fortunately that only lasted one season, with promotion back to the Second Division in 1971 and a new managerial appoinment: Ron Saunders. Saunders revolutionised the club and within four years had Villa back in the First Division and in Europe, with another League Cup along the way for good measure. The club went from strength to strength, eventually winning the First Division title in 1980-81 (71 years after the last title) and, most memorably, winning the European Cup in 1982 with a 1-0 victory over Bayern Munich in Rotterdam with that goal from Peter Withe (the commentary "Shaw, Williams prepared to adventure down the left. There's a good ball played in for Tony Morley... Oh, it must be! And it is! PETER WITHE!" is immortalised on the North Stand of Villa Park). The next season saw Villa win the European Super Cup, beating Barcelona 3-1 on aggregate. But financial difficulties saw significant upheval with much of the coaching staff, including Saunders, leaving the club. Villa were relegated again in 1987.

But this relegation didn't last so long as the team, managed by Graham Taylor, came back up at the first time of asking to finish 2nd in the First Division in 1989-90, before Taylor left to become a turnip.

1992 saw Sky's invention of football and the introduction of the Premier League, and Villa became one of three clubs to be both founding members of the Football League in 1888 and Premier League. A 2nd place finish in that first season was unfortunately the highlight of the club's time in the Premier League, and despite League Cup wins in 1994 (3-1 win over Man Utd) and 1996 (3-0 win over Leeds), and some seasons of excitement under the management of Martin O'Neill where Villa nearly broke into the top-4, Villa were eventually relegated to the Championship in 2016 after 23 years in the Premier League.

Fortunately, the Championship dark age only lasted 3 years and Villa were promoted via the playoffs in 2018. Villa were back in the big time and with optimism for the future with star player Jack Grealish, managed by One Of Our Own Dean Smith, and with financial support from new billionaire owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens. Sadly this early optimism didn't come to fruition, with Grealish moving to Man City for a record £100m in the summer of 2021 to be replaced by scattergun purchases of out-and-out striker Danny Ings, left winger Leon Bailey, and right-sided playmaker Emi Buendia. Smith was unable to get a song out of his new attacking line up and his dismissal came just 11 games into the 2021-22 season following 7 defeats in the first 11 games, including a run of 5 consecutive defeats. Smith was replaced by Steven Gerrard and the less said about him the better.

And that brings us today, with Villa truly one of English football's sleeping giants. We have the stadium, we have the finance, we have the players; we just haven't had the right person to bring it all together. Until you.

 

STATS

 

Highest league position:

Pre-Premier League: First Division Champions (1893-94, 1895-96, 1986-97, 1989-99, 1899-1900, 1909-10, 1980-81)

Post-Premier League: 2nd place (1992/93)

Domestic trophies:

FA Cup winners (1886-87, 1894-95, 1896-97, 1904-05, 1912-13, 1919-20, 1956-57)

League Cup winners (1960-61, 1974-75, 1976-77, 1993-94, 1995-96)

European trophies:

European Cup winners (1981-82)

European Super Cup (1981-82)

Players:

Most appearances: Charlie Aitken (660)

Top goalscorer: Billy Walker (244)

Facilities:

Stadium: Villa Park, Birmingham (capacity: 42,785)

Stadium development potential: Yes

Secondary / U21 stadium: Bescott Stadium, Walsall

Training ground: Bodymoor Heath

Rivals:

Birmingham City (fierce local)

West Bromwich Album (local)

Wolverhampton Wanderers (local)

Board:

Owners: Nassef Sawiris, Wes Edens

Chief Exec: Christian Purslow

 

PLAYING STAFF

Villa have a pretty big squad and not without quality, though with a lot of utility players and a reasonable amount of players who you'd expect to not feature beyond the first season at least. There's a very definite first XI, with some good cover, but beyond that you're really going to want to improve if you want to progress beyond season 2.

Goalkeepers: Emiliano Martinez, Robin Olsen, Jed Steer

Defenders: Matty Cash, Calum Chambers, Fred Guilbert, Lucas Digne, Ludwig Augustinsson*, Ashley Young, Tyrone Mings, Diego Carlos, Ezri Konsa, Jan Bednarek*

Midfielders: Boubacar Kamara, Marvelous Nakamba, Douglas Luiz, John McGinn, Leander Dendoncker, Jacob Ramsey, Emiliano Buendia

Forwards: Ollie Watkins, Danny Ings, Cameron Archer, Philippe Coutinho, Leon Bailey

(*denotes player in on loan)

 

Short-term focus:

First thing you're going to want to do is look at the backroom staff. which really is nowhere near good enough to reach the minimum 4-star ratings you want to see in this league. So spend some time doing that. There's more than enough in the wage budget to pick up enough good coaches to get at least 4's across the borad on the training pitch.

Ditto the recruitment team, you're going to want to invest a lot in good scouts.

Next on to your tactics. I'd say the back line more or less picks itself. Whether you want to play Konsa or Bednarek is your choice but there's not much to choose between them. Midfield again is your call, Sanson is there as a relatively decent DLP, but I'd suggest sticking with the more robust combination of McGinn and Luiz. Dendoncker is there too; all three of those CMs will offer you a 3* rating in almost every central midfield role, depending on how you want to play.

Attack is where it gets a bit more tasty, as inevitably one player is going to get left out. You could have conventional wingers with Bailey and Buendia on the left and right respectively, or you could have inverted wingers with Watkins on the left and Bailey cutting in from the right. If you like a no.10 then you could do worse than sticking Coutinho in there. We've got Danny Ings as striker, one of the best natural finishers going, but I personally enjoy having the combination of Watkins as a pressing forward alongside Ings as an advanced forward. But of course this is entirely your call!

I'd say there are plenty of players in the squad who you could look at offloading in the first window to improve the coffers. Depending on how you play Nakamba, Sanson, and Guilbert can all be sold for reasonable money early on. I'd say there is enough cover in defence, so if you're feeling brave you could cut Bednarek's loan short and save another £60k p/w in wages.

 

Mid-term focus:

Your top priority should be to bring in cover for Digne. You'll have Augustinsson in the first season but his loan deal will end in June 2023. It's well worth keeping Augustinsson because his loan deal doesn't include wages, so it's a win-win.

I'd also recommend looking at an improvement at RB. Cash is fine, but can be improved. Chambers I don't think is good enough to stay beyond season 1 so should be sold if you deem necessary.

In the summer of 2023 you'll get a few sellable assets back from loan: Davis, Wesley, Traore, and Hause should all be moved on. I'm sure you can get a few million for them, and it'll free up around £185k p/w in wages. You'll also see the return of some reasonable young players: Philogene-Bidance, A. Ramsey, Hayden, Sinisalo and Chrisene could all provide reasonable deep cover from the U21s if you choose not to loan them out again. Omari Kellyman, Josh Feeney, Rory Wilson and Tim Iroegbunam are all young players with good potential who should be nurtured.

 

Long-term focus:

WORLD DOMINATION

 

So that's it. Welcome to Villa Park! 

 

UP THE VILLA!

[Cobblers]

Thanks for this. Any idea what approx money is offered come end of season 1 and beyond?

[Aandy]

I experienced some success in S1 (finished 4th; won FA and League Cups) so this is likely boosted by that but I got around £50m and made it up to just over £70m by getting rid of some of the loan returnees and a couple of non-first teamers who were moaning.

[avillafan.com]

Had to restart game due to new laptop. New update below.

 

(Feel free to delete this post admins)

 

 

Edited November 26, 2022 by avillafan.com

[Aesorian]

I just finished my first season with Villa and I'm pretty happy with how it went.

I mostly played a slightly tweaked version of JoshDalys 4-2-3-1 for most of the season, but did experiment with a 4-4-2 and a 4-3-3 as well

Competitions:

Premier League: 3rd Place With 71 Points +31 GD
FA Cup: 5th Round (Penalty Loss to Wolves)
Carabao Cup: Semi-Final (4-2 Loss to Leeds over 2 Legs)

Transfers

 

In:
Joâo Pedro (AMLRC, ST) - Watford £32m
Victor Kristianen (DL) - FC Kobenhavn £8m
Andreas Schjelderup (AMLC, ST) - FC Nordsjaelland £5.5m (£9m)
Dion Drena Beljo (ST) - Osijek £3.2m (£3.5m)
Wilfred Singo (DR) - Torino £21m

{Jan}
Santiago Hezze (DM) - Hurracan FREE
Robert Renan (DC) - Corinthians £8m
Adam Hlozek (AML, ST) - Bayer 04 £11.5m
Tobias Gulliksen (AMLC) - Stromsgodset £4m
Japhet Tangana (DCR) - Spurs LOAN

Out:

Marvelous Nakamaba (DM) - Brighton £14.25m
Frederic Guilbert (DRL) - Brighton £4.6m
Cameron Archer (ST) - QPR LOAN
Kerr Smith (DC) - Charlton LOAN

{Jan}

Calum Chambers (DCR) - Ajax £12.5m
Danny Ings (ST) - Spurs £15m
Leander Dendonker (DM) - Leicester £17m
Ashley Young (Everywhere) - Girona £300k
Lucas Digne (LB) - Juventus £29m
Leon Bailey (AMLR) - Spurs Loan (£20m Future Fee)

Pretty much all the jan transfers out came from players who were unhappy with me; Ings, Chambers, Young and Donk were unhappy with their game time while Bailey got annoyed when I didn't want to give him a new contract a year into his current one. Digne left because I got offere £30m for him. That Meant even after the transfers in I finishined the season with almost £40m in the transfer Warchest (Bumped upto £50m by the board) and £400k p/w to play around with in wages

Squad:

Advice for anyone who picks up Villa is see if you can get Micheal Edwards as your DoF and go raid Birmingham City for a couple of their Physio's as they have a couple of really good ones that will instantly improve an area that you desperatly need to

Edited November 15, 2022 by Aesorian

[avillafan.com]

I have also finished my first season with Villa. Pleasantly happy and slightly disappointed that the season finished with no silverware.

I played with a 4-1-2-2-1 formation on Balanced setting for most the season. Occasionally i would change the mentality to positive.

 

Competitions

Premier League

 

League Cup: Quarter Final loss to Liverpool (2-3)

FA Cup: Final loss to Liverpool (3-0)

 

Transfers

IN

Martin Baturina  (Dinamo) £4.7m (£7.25m)

Andreas Schjelderup (Nordsjaelland) £4.7m (£8.5m)

Caleb Okoli (Atlanta) £25m (£30m)

Donny van de Beek (Man Utd) £19.5m

Ronnie Edwards (Peterborough) £3.7m

-- January --

Youssoufa Moukoko (Dortmund) Loan

Talles Magno (NYCFC) £5m (£7.5m)

Anton Stach (Mainz) £19.25m

Pascal Gross (Brighton) £3.5m

 

Out

(Loads of youth loans and sales so listed are major deals)

Morgan Sanson (Crystal Palace) £11.25m

Frederik Guilbert (Brighton) £6.5m

Marvelous Nakamba (Brighton) £25m

-- January --

Phillipe Coutinho (Inter) £22.5m

Leander Dendonker (West Ham) £13m

 

 

Special Mentions

Ollie Watkins who finished the season with 38 goals (33 in the EPL).

Emi Martinez finished the season with 24 clean sheets

New signings Talles Magno, Caleb Okoli and Andreas Schjelderup all had very good first seasons and have a very bright future ahead of them

 

 

Aim during the season is to shift some of the expensive deadwood at the club. I dont plan to make too many additions and i will only sign anyone if they improve my starting XI.

 

 

[JoOSTAR]

On 26/11/2022 at 16:51, avillafan.com said:

I have also finished my first season with Villa. Pleasantly happy and slightly disappointed that the season finished with no silverware.

I played with a 4-1-2-2-1 formation on Balanced setting for most the season. Occasionally i would change the mentality to positive.

 

Competitions

Premier League

 

League Cup: Quarter Final loss to Liverpool (2-3)

FA Cup: Final loss to Liverpool (3-0)

 

Transfers

IN

Martin Baturina  (Dinamo) £4.7m (£7.25m)

Andreas Schjelderup (Nordsjaelland) £4.7m (£8.5m)

Caleb Okoli (Atlanta) £25m (£30m)

Donny van de Beek (Man Utd) £19.5m

Ronnie Edwards (Peterborough) £3.7m

-- January --

Youssoufa Moukoko (Dortmund) Loan

Talles Magno (NYCFC) £5m (£7.5m)

Anton Stach (Mainz) £19.25m

Pascal Gross (Brighton) £3.5m

 

Out

(Loads of youth loans and sales so listed are major deals)

Morgan Sanson (Crystal Palace) £11.25m

Frederik Guilbert (Brighton) £6.5m

Marvelous Nakamba (Brighton) £25m

-- January --

Phillipe Coutinho (Inter) £22.5m

Leander Dendonker (West Ham) £13m

 

 

Special Mentions

Ollie Watkins who finished the season with 38 goals (33 in the EPL).

Emi Martinez finished the season with 24 clean sheets

New signings Talles Magno, Caleb Okoli and Andreas Schjelderup all had very good first seasons and have a very bright future ahead of them

 

 

Aim during the season is to shift some of the expensive deadwood at the club. I dont plan to make too many additions and i will only sign anyone if they improve my starting XI.

 

 

Insane season!

 

Can you share your tactic + settings (team instructions, player instructions, etc.)? 

Edited November 27, 2022 by JoOSTAR

[Aandy]

Just entering October in the 2025-26 season and so far am happy with progress. 

Success of the first season (FA and League Cups) hasn't been replicated, but we're an established top-4 team now playing our third consecutive season in the Champions League. Made it to the KOs last season after topping the league but lost to Real Madrid, this season's league run in a bit more tough facing the likes of Inter, Barcelona and Real Madrid (for the third time in 3 seasons). So far drew 1-1 to Inter at San Siro and beat Fenerbache 3-1 at home.

League going well so far, top of the table unbeaten after 7 games with away victories against Arsenal and Chelsea under our belt. The Arsenal win was a real backs to the wall job, after going 2-0 ahead early on we spent the rest of the game repelling wave after wave of Arsenal attacks (Arsenal are to horrible to play against in these last couple of editions), eventually winning 2-1 after locking it down despite several late chances from the eternally busy Gabriel Jesus.

My squad is largely based on a ragtag combination of rejects and cheap players. My record transfer is Eberechi Eze for £36m after he got relegated with Palace. Other notable transfers being Alexis Mac Allister for £21m (after Brighton got relegated), Conor Gallagher for £20m (Chelsea reject), Rodrygo for £33m (Real Madrid didn't want him), and Dominic Calvert-Lewin for £18m (Man City bought him, hated him, sold him). I've also bought in Endrick because that's the thing to do in FM23. He's currently out on loan. Other big name is probably Joao Pedro from Watford, who I got for £26m in the first window. 

I did get an unhappy Eduardo Camavinga on loan for the second half of last season. He couldn't displace Kamara at the base of my midfield and wasn't worth the £64m Real wanted to make the deal permanent.

Players remaining from the starting squad are: Emi Martinez, Boubacar Kamara, Lucas Digne, Matty Cash, Douglas Luiz, Leon Bailey, and Ollie Watkins. Ben Chrisene getting some opportunities as deep LB cover, and is developing nicely, but will never be more than backup.

I feel the squad has all but reached it's limit now, if I want to progress further it's time to really open up the chequebook and bring in some real, expensive talent to propel us to that next level. The biggest concern I have is that of consistency. When everybody plays well we can beat anyone, but far too often I'm dragging my attacking players off with 30 minutes to go with <6.5 ratings and massively underperforming xG.

[Aandy]

On 26/11/2022 at 15:51, avillafan.com said:

I have also finished my first season with Villa. Pleasantly happy and slightly disappointed that the season finished with no silverware.

I played with a 4-1-2-2-1 formation on Balanced setting for most the season. Occasionally i would change the mentality to positive.

 

Competitions

Premier League

 

League Cup: Quarter Final loss to Liverpool (2-3)

FA Cup: Final loss to Liverpool (3-0)

 

Transfers

IN

Martin Baturina  (Dinamo) £4.7m (£7.25m)

Andreas Schjelderup (Nordsjaelland) £4.7m (£8.5m)

Caleb Okoli (Atlanta) £25m (£30m)

Donny van de Beek (Man Utd) £19.5m

Ronnie Edwards (Peterborough) £3.7m

-- January --

Youssoufa Moukoko (Dortmund) Loan

Talles Magno (NYCFC) £5m (£7.5m)

Anton Stach (Mainz) £19.25m

Pascal Gross (Brighton) £3.5m

 

Out

(Loads of youth loans and sales so listed are major deals)

Morgan Sanson (Crystal Palace) £11.25m

Frederik Guilbert (Brighton) £6.5m

Marvelous Nakamba (Brighton) £25m

-- January --

Phillipe Coutinho (Inter) £22.5m

Leander Dendonker (West Ham) £13m

 

 

Special Mentions

Ollie Watkins who finished the season with 38 goals (33 in the EPL).

Emi Martinez finished the season with 24 clean sheets

New signings Talles Magno, Caleb Okoli and Andreas Schjelderup all had very good first seasons and have a very bright future ahead of them

 

 

Aim during the season is to shift some of the expensive deadwood at the club. I dont plan to make too many additions and i will only sign anyone if they improve my starting XI.

 

 

Brilliant season there! Incredible work. Looking forward to hearing about how you get on going forwards

[avillafan.com]

On 28/11/2022 at 14:25, Aandy said:

 

I feel the squad has all but reached it's limit now, if I want to progress further it's time to really open up the chequebook and bring in some real, expensive talent to propel us to that next level. The biggest concern I have is that of consistency. When everybody plays well we can beat anyone, but far too often I'm dragging my attacking players off with 30 minutes to go with <6.5 ratings and massively underperforming xG.

Interesting point this. I will post another update at the end of season 2 but i am finding this season consistency is proving a major issue. I go from smashing Villereal 5-1 in the Champions League to struggling to draw against a Norwich side destined for relegation.

[avillafan.com]

Season 2

Decent season but a drop off in players originally at the club that i put faith in. I changed my formation to a 4-2-3-1 in the final third of the season and started to see a little more consistency. I ended up bringing in more players than i would have liked also. As I approach season 3, it really has to be about adding quality and building on an already impressive youth setup.

Competitions

Premier League

 

League Cup: Winners vs Crystal Palace (4-0)

FA Cup: Quater Final loss vs Liverpool (0-1)

Champions League: Final loss vs Liverpool (pens)

 

Transfers

IN

Luke Thomas (Leicester) £28.5m (£33.5m)

Youssofa Moukoko (Dortmund) £46.5m

Telmo Arcanjo (TND) Free

Josip Sutalo (Dinamo) £13m (15m)

Pierluigi Gollini (Atalanta) Free

Aster Vranckx (Wolfsburg) £10m (13m)

~ January ~

Dominic Calvert-Lewis (Everton) £28m

Issahaku Abdul Fatawu (Sporting) £1m (£4.4m)

Conor Gallagher (Chelsea) £30m

Serginho Dest (Barcelona) £10.75m (£14m)

 

Out (Major transfers only)

Wesley (Torino) £4.1m

Leon Bailey (Mainz) £23m

Diego Carlos (Everton) £18.75m

Bertrand Traore (Everton) £8.5m

~ January ~

Pascal Gross (Rennes) £1.6m

Matty Cash (Celtic) £15.5m

Ezri Konsa (Stoke) £16m

 

Special Mentions

- Youth players starting to step up. Kaine Kesler Hayden (30 appearances), Ronnie Edwards (10 appearances), Jaden Philogene-Bidance (19 appearances), Kerr Smith (10 appearances).

- Emi Buendia finished the season with 20 assists to his name.

- Moukoko with 27 goals in all competitions.

[beverage1982]

Lovely to see a Villa thread. Quick question. I had this last year and seems to be again this year but has anyone had the issue where no matter how you play him Diego Carlos gets terrible ratings? Like every game.

[avillafan.com]

On 09/12/2022 at 13:34, beverage1982 said:

Lovely to see a Villa thread. Quick question. I had this last year and seems to be again this year but has anyone had the issue where no matter how you play him Diego Carlos gets terrible ratings? Like every game.

Ill be honest, by the time he was fit, i had a settled centre back partnership so sold him as soon as someone matched what we paid for him.

 

I dont know if its this years FM but it seems to be that the ratings on CB's are a little harsh anyway. Prime example, a striker scores 3 and misses 10 chances and gets a rating of 10. A CB scores 3 from 3, gets a clean sheet and only gets a 9.2

[beverage1982]

18 hours ago, avillafan.com said:

Ill be honest, by the time he was fit, i had a settled centre back partnership so sold him as soon as someone matched what we paid for him.

 

I dont know if its this years FM but it seems to be that the ratings on CB's are a little harsh anyway. Prime example, a striker scores 3 and misses 10 chances and gets a rating of 10. A CB scores 3 from 3, gets a clean sheet and only gets a 9.2

He did it on 22 for me too. Just seems to average low 6s every game and makes players around him worse too.