Football Season Guide

Finished in ninth place last season after struggling all campaign defensively. Only bottom-dwellers Leicester allowed more than Aston Villa’s 48 goals in 22 rounds. This combined with the many injury issues all campaign led to a mostly poor year. Coach Arroyo saw her Scottish striker Scotland Kirsty Hanson net 12 goals, finished third in the Golden Boot race, which nearly 50% of the team’s 28 goals. Outside of Hanson it was hard to find good forward player all campaign. Hanson was sold this summer. In attempt to replace her with a similar-type player signed Danish striker Amalie Vangsgaard from Juventus. She should be the new main number nine. Coach Arroyo preaches possession-based football and active pressing when not having the ball. For that she needed more energy in midfield. Tried to find it on the transfer market this summer. Both Kielland and Melgård are new inner midfielders that come from teams who use the same philosophy a lot. The departure of main goalie D’Angelo shouldn’t be a major issue. Her form was not great all of last season and the new Japanese goalie Okuma is arguably a better player. Not much has been done to strengthen the pretty poor defence yet. The only notable new defender Mathilde Harviken. The lack of evident improvement defensively and the departure of the main goal threat all of last season Hanson make Villa look as if they had taken a step back. That said if captain Daly, winter signing Jean-François and solid defender Anna Patten ca n stay healthy all season the displays could be better.