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