At first I have to make an embarassing confession. Despite what I said few posts ago, we didn't actually qualify for Europe... I got a note on FM saying the extra UEL spot will be given based on league position but when I checked the winners of the domestic cups, I could see that 8th placed Spurs had won the FA Cup and 10th placed West Ham had won the Conference League meaning they got the additional European spots and not us. Maybe I was too excited to push forward on my save and didn't notice this at first, so apologies for any inconvenience.
Come to think, my 1st season with Aston Villa was still a success of sort and in reality their fans & board alike would be absolutely pleased with 7th place finish for 2022/23 season.
Aston Villa F.C. Season 2023/24 - Woah, we're half way there, Woah, livin' on a prayer!
Anyway, onwards and upwards. We have played the first half of the 23/24 season, and let's investigate the first half in two parts.
The 1st quarter
We started the season well with two wins in our first 3 Premier League matches. I started the season with 4231 formation and thought we had finally found our way to play and would achieve success with it.
However, things quickly turned sour, as we didn't win any of our next 6 PL games and even got eliminated from EFL Cup against Championship side Sheffield United.
I felt we were playing okay football but felt that we had to do an awful lot to score and our opponents always seemed to score with ease.
So, soon enough, like my predecessor Steven Gerrard, I was struggling with formations and team selections. In situations like this I like to take a step back and think what I would change, if I inherited this situation from some other manager.
![]()
The 2nd quarter
I settled for 433 formation and crucially dropped our line of pressure and defensive line deeper. I had previously used the high lines by defeult with almost all of my FM saves since... well since when I can remember really and it just wasn't working this time. I also activated the Drop Off More instruction, as I found most of the goals scored agains us could be prevented this way.
![]()
Our pacey wingers are well suited for this style of play and the midfield three with 1 defensive, 1 hybrid and 1 more advanced option seems to offer nice balance for the team.
Slowly but surely the results started to improve as well. First we turned losses to draws and then draws to wins. In November we won 2/3 of our PL games with the only draw being against Chelsea at the Bridge.
December 2023 was the best month of our Aston Villa career as we won 5 out of the 6 games only drawing against Manchester United at Old Trafford. As a result I recieved my first manager on the month award in FM23!
We started the year 2024 with perhaps our most enjoyable victory yet as we beat Manchester City 2-1 at Villa Park. We managed to limit their scoring chances and were clinical enough ourselves to snatch 2-1 win against the most OP team in this year's FM.
![]()
![]()
Therefore after 19 gameweeks, we are 3rd in the Premier League with 10-6-3 record and 36 points. Some teams have played one game less than us, but nevertheless we should be pleased with the season so far. Ironically enough, this is a very similar position than what we had last season during this time and remains to been if we can keep this form up or will there be another 2nd half collapse.
![]()
You can see the player stats (PL) for the 1st half of the season below.
Come to think, my 1st season with Aston Villa was still a success of sort and in reality their fans & board alike would be absolutely pleased with 7th place finish for 2022/23 season.
Aston Villa F.C. Season 2023/24 - Woah, we're half way there, Woah, livin' on a prayer!
Anyway, onwards and upwards. We have played the first half of the 23/24 season, and let's investigate the first half in two parts.
The 1st quarter
We started the season well with two wins in our first 3 Premier League matches. I started the season with 4231 formation and thought we had finally found our way to play and would achieve success with it.
However, things quickly turned sour, as we didn't win any of our next 6 PL games and even got eliminated from EFL Cup against Championship side Sheffield United.
I felt we were playing okay football but felt that we had to do an awful lot to score and our opponents always seemed to score with ease.
So, soon enough, like my predecessor Steven Gerrard, I was struggling with formations and team selections. In situations like this I like to take a step back and think what I would change, if I inherited this situation from some other manager.
The 2nd quarter
I settled for 433 formation and crucially dropped our line of pressure and defensive line deeper. I had previously used the high lines by defeult with almost all of my FM saves since... well since when I can remember really and it just wasn't working this time. I also activated the Drop Off More instruction, as I found most of the goals scored agains us could be prevented this way.
Our pacey wingers are well suited for this style of play and the midfield three with 1 defensive, 1 hybrid and 1 more advanced option seems to offer nice balance for the team.
Slowly but surely the results started to improve as well. First we turned losses to draws and then draws to wins. In November we won 2/3 of our PL games with the only draw being against Chelsea at the Bridge.
December 2023 was the best month of our Aston Villa career as we won 5 out of the 6 games only drawing against Manchester United at Old Trafford. As a result I recieved my first manager on the month award in FM23!
We started the year 2024 with perhaps our most enjoyable victory yet as we beat Manchester City 2-1 at Villa Park. We managed to limit their scoring chances and were clinical enough ourselves to snatch 2-1 win against the most OP team in this year's FM.
Therefore after 19 gameweeks, we are 3rd in the Premier League with 10-6-3 record and 36 points. Some teams have played one game less than us, but nevertheless we should be pleased with the season so far. Ironically enough, this is a very similar position than what we had last season during this time and remains to been if we can keep this form up or will there be another 2nd half collapse.
You can see the player stats (PL) for the 1st half of the season below.
1
