Aston Villa FM22 guide: Navigate high expectations after Smith's departure

Football Manager 2022 arrived on November 9, 2021, and with it came the chance to manage any club in world football from your couch. For those drawn to Aston Villa, the timing felt deliberate. Dean Smith had just departed, Jack Grealish's £100 million sale had been reinvested in fresh talent, and the club sat at a crossroads—ambitious enough to chase European football, constrained enough to demand real tactical thinking. The game offered something the real world could not: a second chance to prove you could do what Smith could not.

Your first meeting as Villa manager happens in Christian Purslow's office. The chairman lays out the club's history, its facilities, its trophies, and then the hard part: what the board expects. The press had predicted an eighth-place finish, but Purslow's vision ran deeper. You would need to sign players to sell for profit while staying within a wage budget of £70,000 per week. By the end of your first season, a mid-table Premier League finish was mandatory, along with reaching the fifth round of the FA Cup and the fourth round of the League Cup. By 2023, the club wanted a top-half finish. By 2026, Europa League football. Your contract expires at the end of 2023-24, which means you have roughly two seasons to prove yourself before the board decides whether you stay.

The squad you inherit has real teeth. Danny Ings arrived as one of the Premier League's most lethal strikers, his finishing and determination both rated at 18—the highest marks in the game. Leon Bailey, signed from the Bundesliga, brought pace rated at 18 and acceleration at 17, the kind of winger who could turn a match in moments. Morgan Sanson, despite injury troubles in real life, showed passing and teamwork at 16, a midfielder with the kind of all-around profile that holds a team together. The staff recommended a Gegenpress system with wing play, which meant the squad was built to press high and attack down the flanks.

But the squad report from assistant manager Craig Shakespeare revealed serious gaps. The team had youth, partnership chemistry, midfield depth, and technical ability in dribbling and acceleration. It lacked overall squad depth, struggled with marking and concentration, and showed weaknesses in decision-making, bravery, work rate, stamina, and leadership. These were not small problems. A team that couldn't concentrate would leak goals. A team without leadership would fracture under pressure. You would need to either sign players who could shore up these weaknesses or find a tactical system that minimized them.

The youth academy offered hope. Lamar Bogarde, a full-back with a low current rating but exceptional potential, represented the long-term future. Carney Chukwuemeka, just 17 years old, was already valued between £14.5 million and £19.5 million despite his low profile—a sign the club believed in his ceiling. Axel Tuanzebe arrived on loan from Manchester United, a defender with determination and pace both at 16, valued between £30 million and £36 million, giving you a full season to decide if he was worth keeping. The under-23 squad had impressed enough to earn respect after a respectable showing against Liverpool's first team in an FA Cup match earlier in the year.

Your transfer budget to work with was £20 million in year one, rising to £25.25 million in year two. It was tight for a club with European ambitions, which meant every signing had to count. Trezeguet was the only injury concern at the start—out for seven to eight months with cruciate ligament damage—so you would have a relatively healthy squad to work with from day one. The real challenge was not the players you had but the expectations hanging over them. A mid-table finish was the floor, not the ceiling. The board wanted top-half finishes within two years and European football within five. You had the pieces, the budget was constrained, and the margin for error was thin. The question was whether you could navigate those expectations or whether you would become another name in the long list of managers who tried and failed at Villa Park.