Remi Garde - Departs Aston Villa

[Villa in Denmark]

Tony Cascarino in todays Times:' Garde Gets It All Hopelessly Wrong' Remi Garde's managenent of Aston Villa is abysmal.  Liverpool beat Manchester City by pressing:Garde asked his side to sit off. That is not good enough.

I feel a bit sorry for Garde because he walked into this shitfest but let's face it he's offered precious little so far so I'm not surprised to read this kind of thing in the media.

As someone else pointed out above, he'd started to get things moving in the right direction with a decent points return over 5 or 6 games after New Year.  I'll hazard a guess that the threat of being publicly and unceremoniously ditched by new arrivals disappearing on the 2nd Feb has wiped out what little leverage he had with tosspots like Gabby and Richards.  Unless he's got at least 50% of the dressing room he can count on he's f##ked regardless of how good a coach or man manager he is.   Having been on both sides of the fence in my professional life I can unequivocally say that you can't manage someone who's not prepared to at least try and meet you half way.

I'm not comparing him to Clough, but even someone as good as Clough was completely stitched up by a Leeds squad that had decided from before he arrived that they were going to get rid of him.

[ciggiesnbeer]

I still like him but the performances have got much worse recently. We can blame players & the board (and should) but Garde needs to take his share as well and that share is rising.

[gpbarr]

I still like him but the performances have got much worse recently. We can blame players & the board (and should) but Garde needs to take his share as well and that share is rising.

Yes well the players cant be sacked (because they are holding the club to ransom and treating the fans like mugs - it's frankly disgusting) and the board are a bunch of yes-men who just follow Lerner's orders to cut at all costs (and then escape back to the cozy boardroom & their fine houses in their rather nice cars). Garde on the other hand who certainly hasn't got it all right is an easy scapegoat - which is exactly what he is now - and I am sure it'll make some happy to see him gone. If ever there was a better example of firing the messenger...

[Archie]

I still like him but the performances have got much worse recently. We can blame players & the board (and should) but Garde needs to take his share as well and that share is rising.

Same for me. The responsibility for this dreadful season must be distributed, there are many culprits.
We can blame Lerner for cutting all costs but we must acknowledge that nevertheless he spent 50 mln in the last campaign. Considering that Lerner is trying and sell the club, that's not bad, in situation like ours other clubs went into adminstration.
The general director, the sporting director and the scouting chief are responsible to invest these 50 mln. £  in crap players.
On the other hand, Garde must be blamed for not improving the team since his arrival. If the squad collapses after conceding a goal, if there isn't any fighting team spirit,  if the defenders don't mark the opponents and always are in the wrong position, if we don't have any distinctive style of play, that's a managerial responsibility.

[Steve67]

I agree with Archie. This is a systemic problem of which Remi is a part. Not his players, poor recruitment, lack of backing, disinterested owner, players with attitude and so on and so on. I just hope that this is all a part of the Steve Hollis brief to get it sorted and begin to rebuild the terrible reputation that the club now has. I think, once heads have rolled at the end of the season, including one or two of the players, only then can we begin to move forward.  However, I dread another cheapskate managerial appointment. Only 30% bounce straight back into the Premier League, we simply have to get this one right.  For me, despite the systemic issues above, Remi doesn't show me that he has enough in his locker. You will always have players who don't bust a gut and cliques in the dressing room. He has to manage it, not show that famous Gallic shrug.

[old man villa fan]

The co-commentator on Saturday said that it does not matter what defensive system you play, if players are not willing to pick players up or make an attempt to get to the ball first, it is not going to make any difference.

Cascarino's comment about standing off is not the manager's idea, it is down to Agbonlahor.  Ayew tries to close players down Sinclair when he comes on tries to close players down and even Gested was trying, so it is not a tactic.  Add in Westwood who is just trying to hide now and you can see why Gana visibly gave up with about 10 minutes to go.  He must have been thinking "why the f*** should I run my b******* off with these lazy b******* around me".  To his credit, he pulled himself out of it and dragged himself back into the game for the last 5 minutes or so.

Having improved since the new year, our slide back coincided with Ayew's suspension and Gabby coming back into the team.  Also, Hutton alongside Richards has coincided with us the shambles over the last two matches.  Before that (Liverpool aside), the defence had been playing far better.

[kippaxvilla2]

If you believe the latest reports Remi is set to stay on in a different role of Technical Director. Strike that it's for France.

[mr underhill]

that's a bit like being the engineering director of Lada in the 1970s given the limited talents of our squad. He'll be on the first plane out of the country come the end of the season.

[mr underhill]

Ha! didn't read the for France bit!

[sickbeggar]

I wonder if they're going to to do some symbolic sacking of him once we're mathematically certain to go down because if they thought we had a hope of staying up, they'd have sacked him after the last line of results. Wouldn't put it past those weasels to try and shift the whole disaster on to his shoulders

[Chico Hamilton III]

Bottom line is that we have a shit owner with a shit board, shit players and a shit manager. Every aspect of the club is second rate except the support.

[MarkM]

Bottom line is that we have a shit owner with a shit board, shit players and a shit manager. Every aspect of the club is second rate except the support.

Can't disagree with this

[Archie]

Bottom line is that we have a shit owner with a shit board, shit players and a shit manager. Every aspect of the club is second rate except the support.

Sad but true.

[Allan C]

I can't understand why we mostly agree that the team is the worst ever and in my opinion not one of them Premier league class, yet getting rid of RG and appointing someone else will change things??? They are useless and no one will change that simple fact. I fear we are stuck with them too cos who will buy any of them

[Chico Hamilton III]

I can't understand why we mostly agree that the team is the worst ever and in my opinion not one of them Premier league class, yet getting rid of RG and appointing someone else will change things??? They are useless and no one will change that simple fact. I fear we are stuck with them too cos who will buy any of them

I can't think of any other manager who would publicly announce that his team isn't the one he would pick if he had the choice. Tell someone they're shit and then expect them to jump through hoops for you? It is a shit team, but I honestly reckon that I could have got more points out of them than Garde has. I could sit in a press conference with a smacked arse for a face, moaning about the hand I've been dealt but I wouldn't expect that to motivate anyone other than the oppoosition