Remi Garde - Departs Aston Villa

[OCD]

Gil seems to be coming of age and there's no question as to who should be in the team out of him and Grealish. I would loan Jack out for the second half of the season and hope he grows up a bit. He's a talented kid but we've seen time and time again that if a player doesn't have the right mental attitude, it doesn't matter how much talent they have.

[ozzjim]

I think that's a pretty fair assessment Liam.

I'd keep Grealish for now. His potential makes it a chance worth taking fir the next 18 months. If he's not settled down to be a regular, productive member of the team by then, it's probably not going to happen for him in B6.

As for playing style, it looks like your lot have settled on one.

What's best. Survival with Pulisball or relegation with Mowbray?

Had Tone been given a fair crack of the whip (like his predecessors have baring Mel) then we would have survived, in my view. Also, there is a happy medium which can be found between Mowbray and Pulis.

One of the mistakes both of our clubs have done is swap managers regularly without following any sort of plan. Much like Swansea follow a model of how they wish to play, both of our clubs seem to be blowing with the wind rather than settling on an approach and building around it. You cannot go from someone like McLeish and Lambert to Sherwood and Garde and equally we cannot go from Clarke, Mel and Irvine to Tony Pulis. It then requires overhauls of the playing staff which are becoming too frequent.

In answer to the question of Jack Grealish - well, I think you're better off without. I think he carries baggage, much like Berahino does and has that sort of attitude which will be more of a disruption than a positive influence. He has growing up to do and quickly but if you're in for a rebuilding job, I'd rather do it without the nuisances.  Personally, I'd prefer someone like Carles Gill every time.

Even before, to go from Houllier to McLeish in a  summer was a ridiculous step footballing wise. As talking sense goes, you are looking far too much like even from the outside looking in it is clear what our board have struggled to grasp. I have said a number of times I would sooner take relegation and stick with a manager like Garde who looks like he wants to play football, than to play the style and manner in which Pulis plays the game.

I agree with OCD on Jack, I would look to loan him out to a championship club. He is too talented to let him go, and there are aspects to him that show he has some very positive sides away from the pitch that are not widely reported in the way the bad is, but he has to learn to play as part of a team and give his all when he is not influencing a game. He also needs to get his confidence back.

[Villa in Denmark]

I think that's a pretty fair assessment Liam.

I'd keep Grealish for now. His potential makes it a chance worth taking fir the next 18 months. If he's not settled down to be a regular, productive member of the team by then, it's probably not going to happen for him in B6.

As for playing style, it looks like your lot have settled on one.

What's best. Survival with Pulisball or relegation with Mowbray?

Had Tone been given a fair crack of the whip (like his predecessors have baring Mel) then we would have survived, in my view. Also, there is a happy medium which can be found between Mowbray and Pulis.

One of the mistakes both of our clubs have done is swap managers regularly without following any sort of plan. Much like Swansea follow a model of how they wish to play, both of our clubs seem to be blowing with the wind rather than settling on an approach and building around it. You cannot go from someone like McLeish and Lambert to Sherwood and Garde and equally we cannot go from Clarke, Mel and Irvine to Tony Pulis. It then requires overhauls of the playing staff which are becoming too frequent.

In answer to the question of Jack Grealish - well, I think you're better off without. I think he carries baggage, much like Berahino does and has that sort of attitude which will be more of a disruption than a positive influence. He has growing up to do and quickly but if you're in for a rebuilding job, I'd rather do it without the nuisances.  Personally, I'd prefer someone like Carles Gill every time.

Sorry, that was a little unfair on Mowbray v Pulis. I just remember some of your fellow fans giving it a right load of sanctimonious bollocks that season about "playing the right way."

We'll have to disagree about him getting it right in the end. Nothing I can recall from that season or anything he did after suggests to me that he'd got anything more to offer.

Your comment about the switching of styles is bang on. It's something that's been discussed to death on here and I don't think there's many who'd disagree.

Pepe Mel was probably the anti Sherwood. He should have been given the next season instead of being binned in the summer. The exact opposite applies to Sherwood.

The potential upside with Grealish I think is worth giving him the chance, particularly if Garde continues to weed out the the troublemakers and bad apples.

Gil is what he is and I think someone who will thrive if there's a remotely competent striker in front of him.

[Risso]

The last few results and importantly, the performances have been encouraging, but he's still got a lot to do.  Improving from Sherwood's record-breakingly shit points per game ration to a better but still certain relegation ratio isn't much to write home about, if we're using that as a criteria.

[ozzjim]

I agree Risso. I said a few weeks back if he can get it up over a point per game on average then it does show improvement.  He still needs to find a few wins to give more confidence longer term but he is hampered by having the worst forward line in the league by a distance.

[Jimbo]

He's turning round the juggernaut. It'll take some time, and perhaps a bit of maintenance, to build up some speed in the other direction.

[Chico Hamilton III]

He's not close to turning it round yet but I'll concede that he's applied the brakes. All this means though is that instead of flying off the cliff to the 2nd division like Evel Kneivel going over the Snake River Canyon, we're more like Wile E.Coyote reaching the edge of a cliff, hovering for a while before looking down, then staring back towards the camera and letting gravity taking over. Same result.

[paul_e]

He's not close to turning it round yet but I'll concede that he's applied the brakes. All this means though is that instead of flying off the cliff to the 2nd division like Evel Kneivel going over the Snake River Canyon, we're more like Wile E.Coyote reaching the edge of a cliff, hovering for a while before looking down, then staring back towards the camera and letting gravity taking over. Same result.

I disagree, I think 5 points from games against 1st, 11th and 14th is the definition of turned it round, if we can build on this I still think we can get 32-36 points which might be enough (probably not but we should aim for that as a minimum because if nothing else it will be good form to carry into next year) - 4 points every 3 games would get us to 33 so a striker who can turn games like Leicester and the Baggies from draws to wins could make a huge difference.

[Chico Hamilton III]

I disagree. Still rooted to the bottom of the league, 10 points adrift, means nothing has turned round but our rate of descent has slowed a bit. I see no way out.

[paul_e]

I disagree. Still rooted to the bottom of the league, 10 points adrift, means nothing has turned round but our rate of descent has slowed a bit. I see no way out.

but what you're describing is a recovery, that can only come after things have turned around.

[Chico Hamilton III]

I disagree. Still rooted to the bottom of the league, 10 points adrift, means nothing has turned round but our rate of descent has slowed a bit. I see no way out.

but what you're describing is a recovery, that can only come after things have turned around.

OK, he's turned things around. But why are we still facing in the same direction?

[Clark W Griswold]

Sometimes when it's such a shitstorm it takes longer to put right. I must admit I was losing the faith a bit up to and including Wycombe away but since then there has been a definite improvement which must be accountable to Garde. We're starting to see that he can have an impact, and to be honest a slow improvement might suggest a better long term than someone coming in and doing well immediately for a couple of months and the novelty then wearing off like with Sherwood.

[ozzjim]

His comments about Lescott are interesting. I think he has clearly forged an alliance there that is getting through to the others.

[old man villa fan]

The next stage of recovery is to increase our points yield and to start closing the gap with other teams. I do feel that we will run out of games to overtake three teams though.

[oldhill_avfc]

And to do that he's got to either change the style of play &/or find some pace in midfield/wide ... and possibly risk some of the defensive cover.

I hope he's got the courage to take a few risks in the next few games - you just don't want to die wondering........