Atleast they were far more better than Chelsea and Manchester United, I appreciate their efforts. Aston Villa fully understood that they can't win the title or end the season as a runner up, so instead they maintained their 4th position on the table just to qualify for the Champions league. The team should try to improve, it is not just all about qualifying for the Champions league, are they competent enough to compete in the league because it will be very tough as most Champions from other leagues will us be competing, just as you said about their defence line, they should kick off enhancing it, I really want to see them do better coming season.
Aston Villa's performance is better than Chelsea, Manchester United and Newcastle as a club that played in the Champions League last season. This club will not participate in the Champions League competition next season because the three clubs did not end up in the Champions League zone, Aston Villa is not the only representative club The Premier League which has qualified for next season will have fierce competition in the Champions League with other top clubs and Aston Villa must show its best performance so as not to be left behind by other clubs competing in the Champions League. I think Aston Villa will be the underdog club in the Premier League in the competition Champions League next season.
Even so, we really need to appreciate the efforts that the coach has made in building Aston Villa's performance so far. Indeed, this club is not included in the ranks of the top clubs in the league, but because this club is able to compete strongly in the Premier League and qualify for the Champions League next season, the club from other leagues also need to be alert, and Aston Villa must also improve its defensive system so that it is not like Manchester United last season where this club conceded a lot and made a lot of mistakes, so they did not qualify the Champions League from group phase