Remi Garde - Departs Aston Villa

[Toronto Villa]

After yesterday I do wonder what squad and team he will select for the balance of the season. He has to be at his wits end and some players might just disappear. Whether he has plans on staying or leaving he has really nothing to lose by cutting ties with players that have completely let him down. Nobody saw yesterday coming and yet even after a few good weeks we folded like a cheap tent. It will be interesting to see his next move.

[Steve67]

Surely to God he won't keep selecting Bacuna.

[old man villa fan]

I think there was a strong hint yesterday in his interview that there are a number of players that do not want to play for the club.  It does not matter how good a motivator you are, if a player does not want to play, anything the manager says falls on deaf ears.

For many seasons now we have bought similar types of player, particularly in the midfield.  When was the last strong, big, ball winning midfield player we had - Boateng? (and even he was not that dominant)

Football these days is all about pace and power, the exact opposite where we have been for too many years.

With the right manager and coaches, you can build a competitive squad on very little if you start at the bottom and look to develop some of your own players.  I would rather see us spending money to cut our losses and get rid of some of our players.

As I see it, Lerner will be very reluctant to spend money paying off players, even though it is the right thing to do.  There is a stench of lack of desire running through the squad and that cancer has to be cut out.

The club is big enough to rebuild and be competitive again, provided a long term view is taken and we accept starting from the bottom.  I am fed up with people saying this player or that player will be ok in the Championship.  I am sorry, but if they are not good enough for the PL now, they should be sold/given away to make way for players who will be good enough in the future.  The only exceptions to this would be the young players who have yet to be given a fair chance and bringing in a few hardened pros that can take us part of the journey back to where Villa should be

[django]

As I see it, Lerner will be very reluctant to spend money paying off players, even though it is the right thing to do.

The club is big enough to rebuild and be competitive again, provided a long term view is taken and we accept starting from the bottom. I am sorry, but if they are not good enough for the PL now, they should be sold/given away to make way for players who will be good enough in the future.

I agree that is what we should do. But I also can't see Lerner paying up peoples contracts and paying for the 20 or so new players we would then need to sign. That's why I think Remi will be gone one way or another, because either he or the board will look at it and realise that he'd be in charge of largely the same squad of players who have shown they don't respond to him.

The few players who have done well for him will be the only ones who there would be any interest in.

I also agree with your assessment about pace and power, its importance and our lack of it. We are so slow, physically and in terms of the teams style of play, ponderous and indecisive, we always give the opposition a chance to get back in their shape.

[old man villa fan]

As I see it, Lerner will be very reluctant to spend money paying off players, even though it is the right thing to do.

The club is big enough to rebuild and be competitive again, provided a long term view is taken and we accept starting from the bottom. I am sorry, but if they are not good enough for the PL now, they should be sold/given away to make way for players who will be good enough in the future.

I agree that is what we should do. But I also can't see Lerner paying up peoples contracts and paying for the 20 or so new players we would then need to sign. That's why I think Remi will be gone one way or another, because either he or the board will look at it and realise that he'd be in charge of largely the same squad of players who have shown they don't respond to him.

The few players who have done well for him will be the only ones who there would be any interest in.

I also agree with your assessment about pace and power, its importance and our lack of it. We are so slow, physically and in terms of the teams style of play, ponderous and indecisive, we always give the opposition a chance to get back in their shape.

Unless there is a clear out, we will keep on sinking lower and lower.  The better players will want to leave if they can see nothing being done.  The only hope is that a few of them will say they want to be part of a rebuilt side without the over paid/non-performing rubbish.

We have to cut away the dead wood or we will never see any green shoots of recovery.

[ozzjim]

How fucked we are was demonstrated perfectly yesterday when the guy who saved us 3 years in a row was on their bench, having cost 32 million, while we had a guy who is nowhere near premier league level any more as our only forward fit.

The idea of not selecting Bacuna is great, but throwing in Lyden right now into this shit storm is not going to do him any good really.

Truth of the matter is a lot of them are mid table championship players, and the ones not are either past it, or not got the attitude to hold it together.

Garde is fighting to hold that together, without any forwards, Amavi, Traore, Sanchez for the last 6 weeks. He must be tearing his hair out.

[django]

That's why I can't see us coming straight back up sadly. I think there will be a lot of deadwood knocking around next season and maybe even after that.

I reckon we'd need to make 3 or 4 good quality signings on top of what we have to get automatic promotion from the championship, if we lose 2 or 3 of our better players we'd need to be signing 6 or 7 decent players of a Jordan Rhodes, Will Hughes type level (I'd like us to try and sign Daniel Johnson back too). I can't see us doing that let alone us getting rid of other players who we'd then have to replace.

Hopefully Gardner and Callum Robinson can offer something at that level but still a lot to do.

[Toronto Villa]

Getting to the start of next season in the Championship or PL will change how we all feel. Because it is impossible not feel as though absolutely everything is shit right now. Many of these players care but given the depth of problems right now I don't think they know how to deal with it. No player likes getting battered or simply losing week after week. It must be shit for them too even if they have flash cars and homes.

When the next season starts there will be an immediate change of perspective because that's what a new season brings. It's essential we keep Garde and allow him to put this disaster behind him. Support him and slow him to bring in and get rid of players and coaches. Only then will we see things start to improve. I look at a side like Hull, sat top of the Championship with a lot of the same players that were relegated. They would have felt much the same as us last season but now with some wins and positive energy they are a very different group of players. There's no reason why some of the players at the club now, some who have been written off couldn't with some positivity and belief make the same transition. I want this season done with as fast as possible because it isn't helping with anything. Least of all belief. I don't buy we will sink into oblivion. I do think we need an end to the last few years and we do need to regroup and start again. Maybe the Championship will be the opportunity to start again that the entire club needs.

[pbavfckuwait]

It is a wide held belief that most of the new signings last year had relegation clauses put into their contracts, but remember these clauses work both ways, the players will have a release fee within their contracts and if the Snake is anything to go by, what that will be god only knows.

I think the likes of Richards because he thinks he is too good for the Championship, Ayew, Okore last year of contract so have to sell up, Ghana is possibly a good prem midfielder in the right team, that's from what came in the start of this season, that I believe will move on.

Gill was attracting interest from Spain and I honestly think he will be to lightweight for the Championship, Kozak may call it a day and move on, also how long has he got left on his contract. Obviously Nzog will be gone.

Then we come to the ones we would probably like to shift, Guzan be surprised if he does not go back to the States, Hutton wont be going no where, even on reduced wage he would still not get it elsewhere, Gabby here for the duration of his last payday and knows he would not get the wedge anywhere else. Gestede  no takers, or takers who again will not match his reduced wage, Westwood he's here to stay.

Ones I am not sure off, Sanchez again maybe off, Adama because of his injury more chance of keeping but you never know, Veretout 50 /50, , Clarke, Baker and Bennett, can see someone like the bitters looking at Clarke, but whatever way there will be a massive turnover.

With reduced forecasts on season tickets, match day attendanxces, especially reduced away support turn up, T.V money reduction and a overall vision of Hollis, cut , cut and cut some more, I honestly wonder who would want the task of putting Humpty Dumpty Randy Lerner F.C back together and out of the ones who would want to have a crack which one they will pick, because Garde will be gone, nice man or not he is not stupid and this board have done him over once already. Bright future maybe not.

[pbavfckuwait]

Sorry I forgot about Bacuna, easily done when I was thinking of footballers, I think he will move on for his own sake, his career at Villa is over and I think he knows it, whatever level we would be playing at, go for a cheap fee to Holland or Belgium.

[LukeJames]

Accepting that Garde inherited a load of dross, one constant is that with four managers I have regularly watched professional footballers that are incapable of making space, making themselves available for a pass, helping a team mate in trouble. We constantly see a player getting crowded and losing possession because there's nobody available. They stroll around watching as if it's not their job. Even if they are piss poor, this is a basic tactic and it is still happening.

Absolutely this! It pisses me off more than anything else and has been consistent to us for almost a decade.

[liam]

I get frustrated that the last 2 management appointments (Sherwood and Garde) we never brought their coaches with them. With the lack of planning and the boards desperation to appoint, we never thought about assistant manager or coaching team. Sherwood worked with Ramsey who was at QPR and Gardes team wouldn't be released by Lyon. It says everything about our half arsed planning we never took this into account.

[Mister E]

After yesterday I do wonder what squad and team he will select for the balance of the season. He has to be at his wits end and some players might just disappear. Whether he has plans on staying or leaving he has really nothing to lose by cutting ties with players that have completely let him down. Nobody saw yesterday coming and yet even after a few good weeks we folded like a cheap tent. It will be interesting to see his next move.

It seems to me that something has seriously "poisoned the well" recently. Yes, we have been broken for a long time, but the utter capitulation from about the 4th minute suggests that something else has happened.
Garde is either parrt of the problem or the solution - we just don't know which yet.
The rest of this season is effectively going to pass us by, I suggest, and the questions in my head now are: who will own the club and who will be in charge of setting a coherent strategy, from June onwards? If it's the same crew, then the pain continues.

[MattW]

Bacuna was a bag of nerves made worse by the booing.  Richards was my Mandy of the Match because most of the others do seem to care a bit (very little bit in Lescott's case) but Richards clearly does not give a shit.

Richards made one of the most half arsed attempts to beat and then close down the opponent I have ever seen. It was in the second half, up by their byline. The guy barely broke into a sprint all game. You know someone is taking the piss when they offer absolutely nothing going forward but yet are constantly caught out of position at the back.

Remi keeps taking him off, I think he has his number but has had to play a bit nice because we've needed him. I wouldn't be surprised to see him dropped now though.

I agree. I suspect that next game Sinclair, Lyden and Hutton may start ahead of the three they replaced on Sunday.

[brian green]

Agree Mister E.  That total return to being an insubordinate rabble last Sunday was caused by something.  The surrender was so total that it must have been triggered by an event or events.

Lescott's post match fan baiting was worse than any fan provocation I have ever seen at the club including Hodge and Callaghan. However, in its vileness it shone a bright light into the cesspit that is the dressing room in eight words - I am going home to count my money.  The quality of the players, their fitness, the quality of their coaching, team selections, substitutions, transfer policy - all mean absolutely nothing if the players do not want to play.

OMVF a couple of posts back mentioned George Boateng and he was a really good, hard player with a fantastic engine but when Boro and Southgate started calling he turned his back on us in a shot and made his infamous comment about being a 'Villa legend'.  Disloyalty has become the norm in football but we have got it in epidemic proportions at our club.

A hard core of the current squad are in pay back mode.  Take a hard look at the way Richards played on Sunday.  Every drift out of position, every shrug of his shoulders, every stroll back to where he should have been was like KMac's team selection at Tottenham.  It screamed out Fuck This and Fuck The Villa.  Lescott went on record via his magic trouserphone to confirm the same message.  Gabby clearly did not fancy it and ran away.

I know I should not say this and I truly apologise if it offends cooler headed posters but there has been a number of occasions this season when I could not help thinking that several of our players were throwing the game.

It would not have surprised me in the least if a football betting scandal like the Grobbelar case was exposed in the media and Villa player's were implicated.  I know absolutely that there is not one shred or vestige of evidence for such a fiction, BUT, my mind keeps coming back to trying to rationalise the endless stream of self destruction by our team this season.

Back to what turned them back into spineless jellyfish.  Was it Gabby scoring a goal and being brought back in out of the cold?  Or was it the cancellation of their break in the sun?   We can only, as always, sift through the wreckage for clues.