Remi Garde - Departs Aston Villa

[rob_bridge]

I still think we'll be relegated, though I have a bit more hope that we might not go down completely without dignity.

I do get the feeling, though, that Garde can get us straight back up. He wants to play good football but he also clearly brooks no bullshit, and with a proper bit of preparation he could be a success in the Championship.

That's my feeling too.

Get rid over the next 5 months of Gabby, CNZ, Richardson, Guzan, Clark, Sinclair, Richards for starters. Lazy and/or poisonous and too associated with ongoing failure.

See how Lescott, Westwood and Bacuna get on for rest of the season.

Most of the others deserve a chance - hopefully we can keep hold of Ayew and Veretout and Okore.

[Monty]

It's been mentioned a million times but it's worth restating: for all the punditocracy bleating about our untried, non-Premier League fruity foreigners, our best players have definitely been the imports, and our worst players those signed from within England.

[AVH87]

It's been mentioned a million times but it's worth restating: for all the punditocracy bleating about our untried, non-Premier League fruity foreigners, our best players have definitely been the imports, and our worst players those signed from within England.

Agreed, if we had a team with the quality of Amavi/Veretout/Ayews all over the pitch we'd be okay. British based signings Sinclair, Richards, Gestede etc. have underperformed and players signed in previous windows left in the squad haven't been good enough for a long time.

[PaulWinch again]

I still think we'll be relegated, though I have a bit more hope that we might not go down completely without dignity.

I do get the feeling, though, that Garde can get us straight back up. He wants to play good football but he also clearly brooks no bullshit, and with a proper bit of preparation he could be a success in the Championship.

I agree. I believe that's the style Remi wants us to play, albeit with more precision as it develops, and if that's the case we would batter the Championship and do pretty well in the top flight as well. Maybe Duverne's fitness regime is starting to pay dividends, we pressed for the entire 90 minutes yesterday.

[Martin Wadsworth]

We beat palace at home by a scrappy goal and now we are going to go on a title winning form run!Really?

If we don't snatch at this glimmer of hope then we may as well throw the towel in. Why can't we enjoy the moment and look forward to beating Leicester?

By all means enjoy the moment, but thinking we are staying up is futile.

Who has said that we're staying up?

Great thing about last night was that those who were in the crowd thought 'sod it, why can't we enjoy it?' The eruptions of joy when we scored, and at the final whistle, were worth being there for. From little acorns....

[Witton Warrior]

If we could cross with quality we would be dangerous!

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

It's been mentioned a million times but it's worth restating: for all the punditocracy bleating about our untried, non-Premier League fruity foreigners, our best players have definitely been the imports, and our worst players those signed from within England.

Agreed, if we had a team with the quality of Amavi/Veretout/Ayews all over the pitch we'd be okay. British based signings Sinclair, Richards, Gestede etc. have underperformed and players signed in previous windows left in the squad haven't been good enough for a long time.

Makes a mockery of all this "PL experience" shite.
The players with most PL experience are Guzan and the defence of Hutton, Richards, Lescott and Richardson and they have been consistently poor, lacking cohesion and full of basic, schoolboy errors!
Evidence if ever it was needed that it's complete bollocks, but you'll still get the Lawrensons of this world saying we lack PL experience.

[Monty]

Clark also has plenty of PL experience, and Gestede is a very 'English' style player with a few years of playing in this country behind him. Westwood is also 'experienced' in English football. Adama has less experience of this country than Grealish, but which of them has looked more dangerous?

In fact, the best indicator of whether or not a player will be good for us is indeed experience of playing in England - ie, if they have it, they'll be shit.

[Toronto Villa]

Westwood looked so much better yesterday with a forward who actually moves like a forward should.

[ozzjim]

If we could cross with quality we would be dangerous!

We really miss Amavi from that respect. 

Although credit to Bacuna and Cissokho I thought both were excellent last night and Bacuna in the last ten minutes was reading the game very well and driving us on.

[rob_bridge]

It's been mentioned a million times but it's worth restating: for all the punditocracy bleating about our untried, non-Premier League fruity foreigners, our best players have definitely been the imports, and our worst players those signed from within England.

Yup.

I had a bit of disagreement with one of my work colleagues- genuinely nice bloke - over this.

Said we should look to sign Crouch. I said why - he'll cost a couple of million and 40-50k per week and would want a contract of at least 2.5 years. Though Crouch is genuine pro he could easily degrade like Cole, Richardson, Lescott until recently etc.. leaving us with more debt.

[rob_bridge]

It's been mentioned a million times but it's worth restating: for all the punditocracy bleating about our untried, non-Premier League fruity foreigners, our best players have definitely been the imports, and our worst players those signed from within England.

Agreed, if we had a team with the quality of Amavi/Veretout/Ayews all over the pitch we'd be okay. British based signings Sinclair, Richards, Gestede etc. have underperformed and players signed in previous windows left in the squad haven't been good enough for a long time.

Makes a mockery of all this "PL experience" shite.
The players with most PL experience are Guzan and the defence of Hutton, Richards, Lescott and Richardson and they have been consistently poor, lacking cohesion and full of basic, schoolboy errors!
Evidence if ever it was needed that it's complete bollocks, but you'll still get the Lawrensons of this world saying we lack PL experience.

There is only one Lawrenson. Thankfully. There are many other lazy dimwits in punditry who echo his bollocks but he has got away with it for far too long.

[Dave]

It's been mentioned a million times but it's worth restating: for all the punditocracy bleating about our untried, non-Premier League fruity foreigners, our best players have definitely been the imports, and our worst players those signed from within England.

Yup.

I had a bit of disagreement with one of my work colleagues- genuinely nice bloke - over this.

Said we should look to sign Crouch. I said why - he'll cost a couple of million and 40-50k per week and would want a contract of at least 2.5 years. Though Crouch is genuine pro he could easily degrade like Cole, Richardson, Lescott until recently etc.. leaving us with more debt.

Crouch wouldn't command wages anything like that.

Just like there's no way Derby are paying Bent what he was earning with us and we won't be paying Lescott what he was earning at Man City. As players get to his age their wages drop considerably.

He's now 35, his next two year contract will be for £25,000 per week tops.

[Clampy]

I see the big IFs are making a comeback.

If IF IF IF

Of course it's IF. We can't sit here and say 'when' we'll beat Leicester because we might not.

[shipscat]

It's been mentioned a million times but it's worth restating: for all the punditocracy bleating about our untried, non-Premier League fruity foreigners, our best players have definitely been the imports, and our worst players those signed from within England.

Yup.

I had a bit of disagreement with one of my work colleagues- genuinely nice bloke - over this.

Said we should look to sign Crouch. I said why - he'll cost a couple of million and 40-50k per week and would want a contract of at least 2.5 years. Though Crouch is genuine pro he could easily degrade like Cole, Richardson, Lescott until recently etc.. leaving us with more debt.

Crouch wouldn't command wages anything like that.

Just like there's no way Derby are paying Bent what he was earning with us and we won't be paying Lescott what he was earning at Man City. As players get to his age their wages drop considerably.

He's now 35, his next two year contract will be for £25,000 per week tops.

Plus he's on a free at the end of the season...Although I suspect there will be a few takers for him