Remi Garde - Departs Aston Villa

[ROBBO]

Every manager since O'Neil has had his hands tied behind his back, they don't get sympathy from me because they took it on knowing the score and they all made more money than most of us will ever see but everyone of them failed. If Garde is not backed by Lerner I hope he walks and keeps his reputation in tact for another day and another club.

[amfy]

The thing about 'new manager bounce' is that it isn't real.

 New manager bounce is personality led and doesn't last. A handful more games last season we would have gone down with Sherwood because it had already run out.

If Garde had brought a new manager bounce, we might have crawled up to 19th, 18th or even out of the relegation zone by now, but without any substance behind it, we would just drop back in well before the end of the season. I like his more measured approach of trying to build it slowly, and he is certainly far tougher than his history teacher look suggests.

I didn't like the selection on Saturday, but could see with Sanchez, Okore, & Lescott taken out, what he was trying to do. The worse mistake was not changing it when it wasn't working. He tried to compensate for our weakened defensive situation, by packing midfield, but it was completely ineffective because no-one looked really sure what they were doing, probably because it was a last minute plan. It is the first time I have really bemoaned him not 'going for it', because on this occasion, we had nothing else that had any chance of working.

[AV82EC]

The thing about 'new manager bounce' is that it isn't real.

 New manager bounce is personality led and doesn't last. A handful more games last season we would have gone down with Sherwood because it had already run out.

If Garde had brought a new manager bounce, we might have crawled up to 19th, 18th or even out of the relegation zone by now, but without any substance behind it, we would just drop back in well before the end of the season. I like his more measured approach of trying to build it slowly, and he is certainly far tougher than his history teacher look suggests.

I didn't like the selection on Saturday, but could see with Sanchez, Okore, & Lescott taken out, what he was trying to do. The worse mistake was not changing it when it wasn't working. He tried to compensate for our weakened defensive situation, by packing midfield, but it was completely ineffective because no-one looked really sure what they were doing, probably because it was a last minute plan. It is the first time I have really bemoaned him not 'going for it', because on this occasion, we had nothing else that had any chance of working.

This.

[Clampy]

The thing about 'new manager bounce' is that it isn't real.

 New manager bounce is personality led and doesn't last. A handful more games last season we would have gone down with Sherwood because it had already run out.

If Garde had brought a new manager bounce, we might have crawled up to 19th, 18th or even out of the relegation zone by now, but without any substance behind it, we would just drop back in well before the end of the season. I like his more measured approach of trying to build it slowly, and he is certainly far tougher than his history teacher look suggests.

I didn't like the selection on Saturday, but could see with Sanchez, Okore, & Lescott taken out, what he was trying to do. The worse mistake was not changing it when it wasn't working. He tried to compensate for our weakened defensive situation, by packing midfield, but it was completely ineffective because no-one looked really sure what they were doing, probably because it was a last minute plan. It is the first time I have really bemoaned him not 'going for it', because on this occasion, we had nothing else that had any chance of working.

I think the worst thing was not keeping Bacuna at left back. Whilst it not being ideal, hasn't really let us down there.

[olaftab]

Yes agree on new manager bounce. It works in relegation situations if the team is in the fight, which we are not, with about 10 games to go. It's not sustainable over a long period.

[LeeB]

The thing about 'new manager bounce' is that it isn't real.

 New manager bounce is personality led and doesn't last. A handful more games last season we would have gone down with Sherwood because it had already run out.

If Garde had brought a new manager bounce, we might have crawled up to 19th, 18th or even out of the relegation zone by now, but without any substance behind it, we would just drop back in well before the end of the season. I like his more measured approach of trying to build it slowly, and he is certainly far tougher than his history teacher look suggests.

I didn't like the selection on Saturday, but could see with Sanchez, Okore, & Lescott taken out, what he was trying to do. The worse mistake was not changing it when it wasn't working. He tried to compensate for our weakened defensive situation, by packing midfield, but it was completely ineffective because no-one looked really sure what they were doing, probably because it was a last minute plan. It is the first time I have really bemoaned him not 'going for it', because on this occasion, we had nothing else that had any chance of working.

Great post amfy, I've kind of taken a weird solace that we didn't get the 'bounce' with this one.

I think maybe the things those sort of managers use to get the bounce, may be also the seeds of their undoing.

[Irish villain]

Every manager since O'Neil has had his hands tied behind his back, they don't get sympathy from me because they took it on knowing the score and they all made more money than most of us will ever see but everyone of them failed. If Garde is not backed by Lerner I hope he walks and keeps his reputation in tact for another day and another club.

Houllier and McLeish were arguably more wasteful than MON in the transfer market. They landed us with such deals as Makoun (Bent kept us up so I will leave him out even though he was a badly utilised resource), N'Zogbia, Given and Hutton who was subsequently frozen out for two years before being made a key player on an improved contract! Downing, Milner and Young all went for double what we paid but the club failed to adequately replace those players. In 2009 our midfield options were Barry, Milner, Young, Petrov, NRC & Sidwell and by 2012 it was Bannan, Westwood, Holman, Delph & N'Zogbia. Sound investment?

And that is the nub of the problem at villa . In every year since MON left the club has made extremely poor decisions and when selling players has failed to adequately replace them. The heart was ripped out of our team and replaced with poor players. Barring one or two exceptions (Benteke obviously, Okore and, being generous to the club, Lowton, Westwood and Bacuna) our signings have been absolutely atrocious. Wasters like N'Zogbia, flops like Makoun plus bargain basement purchases like Tonev, Bowery, Dawkins, El Ahmadi, Luna, Grant Holt, Helenius, Joe Cole, Sylla, Kieran Richardson. Gavin McCann looks like a world beater compared to some of the players who have lined up in our midfield in recent seasons.

Over the last few seasons we have been well warned by the football Gods about where our approach was taking us. Yet we have blindly continued along the same path and in the summer we failed to replace Benteke's goals. We finished 17th last season with Benteke and Delph in the side. We clearly needed a big investment in that team to pull away from the relegation places. Yes, we did invest in the team but we sold its two best players. Benteke kept us up for three seasons and we replaced him with a Championship player who is only good in the air. Ayew seems to be the long awaited upgrade on Weimann/Gabby.

We have failed to reach 40 points in three of the last four seasons and in none of the last four years have we matched the dizzy heights of the 42 points, eight clear of Birmingham in 18th place, achieved in the season before Randy bought the club. Failing to buy a recognised, premier league goalscorer after we sold Benteke was absolute madness but fits in with the villa we have come to know since 2010/11. The sad thing is the club's hierarchy absolutely deserves what is happening to it right now. They have been playing Russian Roulette and it has caught up with them.

For the fans this has been a slow death by a thousand cuts. Yes, we have scraped survival over the last half decade but we have smashed so many unwanted records in the process. For the most part we have fielded teams lacking character & ability and have been a soft touch conceding late goals while rolling over too easily. Traditionalists like myself may not like the way football is now but sadly you either adapt or get left behind and we are being left behind. Did we ever imagine we would be envious of sides fielder by Southampton, Swansea, Leicester, Watford? Each year the list grows longer and I am not sure our team will be cut out for the battles of the Championship. Lerner's failures have left this club with a very uncertain future. 

[Meanwood Villa]

I know he doesn't deserve the lion's share of the blame for this woeful season but let's face it, no win in your first 8 games as a manager is pretty shite.

[dave shelley]

Remi Garde is adjusting to managerial life in this division as are a great deal of the players on the pitch.  For that alone Garde needs to be cut a little slack.  He's going to make mistakes but, as long as they're not continually repeated then we have to give the man time.  It becomes a different story if he doesn't learn.  See Sherwood, Tim.

[preston28]

I know he doesn't deserve the lion's share of the blame for this woeful season but let's face it, no win in your first 8 games as a manager is pretty shite.

Does that not reflect the extremely poor squad & lack of depth rathe than the manager? I doubt any manager would get much out of this poor inept bunch of players?

[cdward]

It's like buying a Ford Focus and lining it up in a race against Formula 1 cars. It doesn't matter how good the driver is, or how much the mechanics can fine tune out of the engine, you will not be able to compete in the race, waiting for another car to crash or break down has been the way we have survived for the last 3 seasons.

[David_Nab]

Would any one one wanted Pardew when he was at Newcastle , would anyone want him now at Palace who he has got to 5th?

Managers can make a difference  but that can take time if the ground work ins't there to start with.Pardew is benefiting from being left a solid side by Pulis and has a chairmen who actually knows what he is doing.Same at Leicester ,Ranairi is benefiting from being left a team high on form with decent players brought from great scouting.

Put it this way Ranairi / Pardew both flying high at current clubs if there were Villa boss would they be do any better than Garde , I'm no so sure and equally I think you could have put Garde in at Leicester and they would be in a similar place.

As pointed out above the bounce under Sherwood was short lived IMO I think the FA Cup final was one of worst things that could of happened , the board forgot about the  league and got complacent thinking we would push on when reality is we have continued to struggle.

As for spending in the Summer we were one of the highest and net spend over the last 5 years we have spent as high as some others ( we have generated little in sales ) yet still we have not fashioned a decent side.Leicester are 2nd with a team costing less than we paid for Veretout /Ayew and Amavi.We have just continually purchased poorly.An example is buying Gestede and having no decent crossers in the side after letting 2 wingers go for free in Albrighton and Jordan Graham who are both doing well at Leicester and Wolves.We did the same with Bent a striker who needed wingers and we sold our best ones and didn't replace them.

[aj2k77]

Remi hasn't been the most inspiring so far but he's a long term appointment hopefully with more substance than style.

[DaveD]

If you buy a bunch of cheap French players who have no experience at this level and may or may not be able to cut it, it makes perfect sense to get a manager to match.

[auntiesledd]

Remi hasn't been the most inspiring so far but he's a long term appointment hopefully with more substance than style.

I'm yet to be convinced whether RG is the right man for the poisonous job, but I'd be astonished to see him stay long term. Unless he fancies continuing to work with a squad that will inevitably be devoid of any real quality & commitment, that is. I'm of the opinion that he'll be all too aware of the constraints (now historically) bestowed upon his position & will look to save any credibility he may still possess at the end of this season by doing a sharp offski. And frankly who the Hell could blame him?