Remi Garde - Departs Aston Villa

[LeeB]

Apart from ability we lack physical presence, athleticism and experience.

But apart from that we're okay.

I forgot to mention our warm up is shite too

I cant agree with that Pat. I was only saying on Sunday to my mate how good we look in the warm up. Its when the other team get involved that it all goes to pot

We lost 3 nil to the cones in the warm up at Southampton

They were pressing us well.

[aj2k77]

Apart from ability we lack physical presence, athleticism and experience.

But apart from that we're okay.

I forgot to mention our warm up is shite too

I cant agree with that Pat. I was only saying on Sunday to my mate how good we look in the warm up. Its when the other team get involved that it all goes to pot

We lost 3 nil to the cones in the warm up at Southampton

They were pressing us well.

Too much movement for us.

[mr underhill]

they looked like cones on ice

[brian green]

Well you might say our play has become conical of late.

[Mister E]

The alternative is NOT Route One or hoofball, it is fast, direct, thrusting football using the best qualities of your players and eliminating their individual flaws - being easily dispossessed, bad first touch, floaty crosses, running and pointing, proneness to panic.

In a nutshell start to punch your weight by doing what you can do well and stop not landing a punch at all by trying to do things you are not up to.[/b]

I hate to say it, but that sounds like Leicester.

It does, and there's nothing to be embarrassed about that right now. They play to their strengths and work the shite out of the oppo. Great - what we don't do.

[aj2k77]

Look how quickly Vardy closes down and harasses the opposition to the big lumbering carthorse we have trying in vain to change his direction.

[brian green]

But by chance when he fluked a fumble from Twat in the Hat what did he do? He fell over.

[peter w]

Sorry can't do links. This was taken from a French football magazine

Remi Garde: “It was necessary that I arrived in an ambulance.
Speaking to L’Équipe, Aston Villa manager Remi Garde looked back on his first few weeks at the helm of the Premier League strugglers. Extracts.

Aston Villa are 20th. Do you tell yourself that you have not started your England managerial career in the best place?

Of course the standings are paramount in the short term, but there are other things: I had quite a special meeting with the owner, and I needed this connection. The project is not simply about saving the club’s position in the Premier League. We have to rebuild a team that, according to what I have been told, was not sufficiently built with solid foundations. For the last three or four seasons now, Villa has only just saved itself. So things are not functioning well, despite having the ninth biggest budget in the Premier League.

On his first month in charge…

It is not like I am discovering a new type of job. It is certainly quite peculiar to arrive whilst the season is ongoing, at the head of a team who had just lost seven matches in a row. It was necessary that I arrived in an ambulance, in some way. The job is not different, for the moment, because I am concentrating on the team and in terms of finding solutions as to how we play.

Are you annoyed at Lyon President Jean Michel Aulas for not allowing you to bring some of your former coaching staff with you to Aston Villa?

No, I am not annoyed with him, because I understand his position, especially at the time at which I asked him. Aside from that, I did not have any choice but to ask him, and I am sure that he understood that I was going to do so. But I tried because it was very important for me, and it remains so. In terms of the role of manager in England, there are boxes that I still need to fill.

Your coaching staff is really quite small…

Yes, it is missing at least one person. But this has also allowed me to spend more time directly with my players, instead of immediately taking a back seat like a manager. I needed to be close to them at the start.

Would avoiding relegation be a feat?

Oh of course. I have said to the players: that is our title for the season, succeed in doing something that nobody can see us doing, and that has never been done.

If you are relegated, will you remain at Aston Villa?

My discussions with the owner also covered that. I wanted certain assurances, and he said to me that if the club was relegated that the project would remain in place, and that he was counting on me to keep it going. So I am working for the medium-term too.

But would you want to stay?

I would want to stay if I feel that everyone is behind me, yes. A season in the Championship, it is not what people dream of, but we can rebuild the foundations of this club quite quickly. Relegation, nobody wants that, but if we are in the Championship and the club still wants me, I will go again with Villa, the answer is yes.

Will the January transfer window radically change the face of your team?

Radically, I don’t know, but it could change, yes, and I hope that it will change. Sometimes, the window is not a welcome thing, it can destabilise a team, but in our case, we could benefit from it.

On Sunday you play against Arsenal and Arsène Wenger, is this a little bit special for you?

A little bit, but I do not want to overdo it either. It brings a tear to the eye because it is thanks to this club and the very same manager that I was able to discover nearly 20 years ago English football that I so love.

Have you spoken to him on the phone?

Not since I arrived. But I spoke to him before, yes. I spoke to him when I had other contacts with English clubs (Newcastle and Sunderland). I called him (this time), but I already had a great desire to come here. His advice is always very informative.

Arsène had always said very positive things about you, and generally speaking it is thought that he does not speak to his players…

He speaks only a little, but he always hits the nail on the head. That is Arsène’s strength. He is a great communicator, not in terms of quantity but in terms of quality. As he speaks only a little, when he does, everyone is always listening. And like all the managers, when he speaks to the press, he is also speaking to his players.

It seems we know more from L'Equipe what is going on than from the Tom Fox thread.

[The Left Side]

Thanks for posting the L'Equipe interview, the more I hear from RG the more I like him... i've almost written off this season already, hopefully we see a few signs of encouragement in the January transfer window and build for the long term. Anyone got a time machine?

[brian green]

Remarkable how much easier you feel when you able to have some clear information about what is going on.  Compare what we get via L'Equipe with the waffle, marketing speak and banalities we have endured from the channels that have been used by the club for the last five years. The phrase "arrived in an ambulance" alone deserves a round of applause.

[olaftab]

Remi says if we get relegated we will deal with by reorganising and coming back.

[Richard E]

I'd love to know what this "project" is that will remain in place if we get relegated. I have seen precious little evidence of a discernible strategy for a very long time.

[olaftab]

If this project was real being relegated is surely part of it otherwise it has long ceased to be a viable project?

[Toronto Villa]

Seems that Remi is basically calling it like most have seen it for a while on Gabby and N'Zogbia. I don't expect either to be with the club for much longer.

[PeterWithesShin]

Seems that Remi is basically calling it like most have seen it for a while on Gabby and N'Zogbia. I don't expect either to be with the club for much longer.

As Zog is out of contract in 6 months that's a pretty safe bet!