Remi Garde - Departs Aston Villa

[Legion]

I liked Houllier and think he could have done well for us if circumstances had been different. You make a very good point about Garde following after Judas. Interesting thought.

[Ron Manager]

He's the manager we needed after Joe Mercer!

[Ger Regan]

He only started managing Lyon in 2011, so it would have taken remarkable foresight to have hired him when O'Neill left, which is not really something the board is famed for.

[Dante Lavelli]

He's the manager we needed instead of Houllier.

Fixed.

Good point. Or possibly after Houllier.

Houllier was a mistake, I think. He was too arrogant, didn't understand the club and was destined for another stint in hospital. Besides which, despite the revisionist view, he tried to change too much too soon, and was't very good.

I don't know what his circumstances were at the time, but Garde could have followed O'Neill, I think he'd still be here now and we'd be in good health.

I disagree.  Houllier would have been the ideal sacrificial lamb, identifying the likes of Dunne/Collins/Gabby as old school luddites, whereas I think Garde would have been the perfect 'good cop' picking up the pieces after Houllier's abrasive style. 

Ultimately, I think that the club needed/needs to be broken without the boys club mentality in order to foster a better and more professional work ethic.  Houllier was ideal for this and I fear Garde could lose the good will of the crowd before this process is complete.

[Percy McCarthy]

He's the manager we needed after Joe Mercer!

Joe Mercer was the manager we needed after Joe Mercer.

[Jimbo]

There's a measured intelligence and a sense of integrity about Garde. He's changing things gradually, the only way they can change where a culture is so deeply ingrained. When interviewed, he hasn't put his foot in it, or said anything utterly brainless, unlike his predecessors. I can't see Remi Garde saying "I just do" when asked why he thinks we'll stay up / go down.

[gpbarr]

I've seen plenty of us since he arrived.  Enough to know that he is - like most others at the club - not fit for purpose.

Oh dear. The rush to judgement of some (particularly those not even here more than 15 games) is truly, jaw dropingly shocking.

[pauliewalnuts]

There's a measured intelligence and a sense of integrity about Garde. He's changing things gradually, the only way they can change where a culture is so deeply ingrained. When interviewed, he hasn't put his foot in it, or said anything utterly brainless, unlike his predecessors. I can't see Remi Garde saying "I just do" when asked why he thinks we'll stay up / go down.

Or going on about "a Remi Garde side" like he had some sort of Fergusonian management record.

What puzzles me is how people are looking at his record and judging him no better, totally ignoring the fact that he came here 10 games into a season which was already a catastrophe, into a club with obvious problems behind the scene.

We spent the Sherwood months of this season saying how gobsmackingly shit we were. On top of that, since then, we've lost the quickest to settle signing of last summer, yet somehow some of us seem to think we should have turned it around by now. Really?

This was a relegation bus heading for a cliff (like the last episode of the Young Ones) when he arrived here, it'd be a miracle if he could turn that around. As it would have been with Big Sam, Pulis or any of the other predictable relics whose names we hear reeled out.

[KevinGage]

I seem to recall one of the main arguments for getting rid of Sherwood was we had assembled a strong squad of players in the summer (a few even comparing it to BFR's business in 1991) and it was only his tactical idiocy that was holding us back.

Coming into a club bottom of the league in November is far from ideal, but it is not worse than the situation Pulis inherited at Palace in 2013, and various Sunderland managers have had to contend with for the past five years.

The better managers (and Pulis) find a way. Garde hasn't.

[kippaxvilla2]

'When Remi Garde is backed into a corner, no one puts Remi Garde in it, Remi Garde comes out fighting.'

[Louzie0]

If we could sign Patrick Swayze....

[paul_e]

I seem to recall one of the main arguments for getting rid of Sherwood was we had assembled a strong squad of players in the summer (a few even comparing it to BFR's business in 1991) and it was only his tactical idiocy that was holding us back.

Coming into a club bottom of the league in November is far from ideal, but it is not worse than the situation Pulis inherited at Palace in 2013, and various Sunderland managers have had to contend with for the past five years.

The better managers (and Pulis) find a way. Garde hasn't.

The issue is we're toothless and the squad wasn't fit enough.  He's fixed the latter and it's got us to the point of being capable of holding our own but the inability to address the former is still holding us back.  If you give him a month to work on the fitness since then we've played 9: 1w/5d/3l and conceded 10 goals, the issue is we've only scored 5 so we can't turn those draws into wins.  If he can get a striker then I think we'll start to see a more realistic measure of the improvement he's made.  I think we look much more like a team capable of competing in this league now than we did for the first 10 games.  On faith I think he can find a way and has in fact found it, he's just missing a key part of the plan.

[ciggiesnbeer]

I seem to recall one of the main arguments for getting rid of Sherwood was we had assembled a strong squad of players in the summer (a few even comparing it to BFR's business in 1991) and it was only his tactical idiocy that was holding us back.

Coming into a club bottom of the league in November is far from ideal, but it is not worse than the situation Pulis inherited at Palace in 2013, and various Sunderland managers have had to contend with for the past five years.

The better managers (and Pulis) find a way. Garde hasn't.

Not an opinion I want to hear but your reasoning is hard to refute.

[old man villa fan]

At the beginning of the season I think most people thought that the players that were here last season were going to perform far better than they have.  In fact I would go as far to say that I do not think any one of the players has performed anywhere near how they did last season and that is shocking.

I thought the new players would be adding to what we had, not propping the side up.

[ozzjim]

I think there are key differences. Pulis walked into Palace and had Puncheon and Bolasie ready made. Those 2 playing full tilt meant he had the most un Pulis like season ever. We don't have anyone of that quality (at least that they showed that season) and their defence had already had much longer together. Sunderland are still on the brink this season, so I don't think they have done that brilliantly either, Advocaat came in with 9 to play and got 12 to save them last season, but they have not been as bad as we were when Garde arrived having lost what 8 in a row?

The new players had hardly had any game time to settle and there was clearly huge issues in the squad. I think he is 2 wins off doing a good job at the moment, as that would have us still in the hunt, as it is he is doing ok at the moment, but does show promise of someone that can do well in the longer term.