The Rémi Garde thread

[briny_ear]

I am wondering whether the belief that Remi will do well is partly down to the fact he's a foreign manager who speaks well. I can't help thinking if Pearson had come in and got 3 points from 6 games there would be zero praise.

Hard to speculate. But I am sure that if Sherwood had stayed on and only got 3 points from the next 6 games, he would be getting industrial levels of abuse as the most useless manager in Villa's history.

[PompeyVillan]

Thing is, you don't suddenly start a winning run without showing a bit of solidarity and a few decent performances before hand. Leicester were rock bottom last year but actually playing quite well. They took the positives from their defeats and built this truly remarkable run of form that sees them at the top of the league. We need to start somewhere.

Confidence is a key issue for us, for me the players have looked more comfortable and confident under Garde, and are gradually coming to terms with what he wants.

If Remi throws on Traore against Newcastle and we lose, we're back to square one. As it is we have a point and something to build on. Making decisions through desperation will most certainly get you relegated. That's what I felt with Sherwood, he lacked control and destroyed the teams confidence.

Garde is slowly truing to rebuild this confidence and he's done a decent job certainly with Ayew and Veretout, two of our more talented players.

Perhaps it is too little too late. But without steadying the ship somewhat we run the risk of stumbling from one decision to another. Even if it means that we 'get it together' and get relegated, ho hum that's better than going down in a complete mess, as we were.

We'll see.

[terrytini]

3 hours ago, blandy said:

Exactly. You need about 8 highly competent payers and 3 gifted/flair players as the cherry on the cake. At the level (premier league) we're in, we don't have the 8 to allow the 3 to make an impact (I'm not sure we've got the 3 either). Whichever manager we've had, the results have been similar. The squad is not good enough.

I agree with most of this.

The only bit I differ on is that, fool that I am, I DO think we have 10-12 players who are good enough.

For me, thproblems are ;

that is not enough, ( because of injuries and suspensions)

those that are have either been playing in or come in to a Team that was utterly shot after years of stagnation, struggle, and poor management, this won't go overnight. ( Other than Sunderland I can't think of any others who have been on life support for so long, a massive benefit the Watford's, Leicester's, Norwich etc have over us)

however many are up to it you get nowhere without a commanding, confident keeper. Guzan has never been the former and is now also not thelatter,

and finally the other thing you need is a goalscorer ( so maybe 8, 2 flair, and one good striker). Does anyone really put Leicester up there had their striker only scored four ? Even the United's and Chelsea's struggle without a goalscorer.

Finally, in the spirit of Christmas I will risk getting pilloried by saying who I think has both sufficient ability and character......bearing in !one that as I have said above they may not be exhibiting it.And im not saying they are great, but good enough for 10 th

The 8 would be Hutton, Richards, Okore, Sanchez, Vertout, Ayew, Amavi, Ghana, and the three would be Gil, Traore and Grealish.

I don't think any of these are great, but just about fit the 8/3 idea.

Trouble is as I said above, no keeper or striker, too few to cover injuries, and additionally you can't actually make a team out of them as it doesn't work Sanchez anGhana, and it wouldn't work with those three, they are too similar in both their positives and negatives. So at the moment for example, I'd say we only have about six who are good enough and fit enough to play together. Therein lies the problem !i

[terrytini]

29 minutes ago, briny_ear said:

Hard to speculate. But I am sure that if Sherwood had stayed on and only got 3 points from the next 6 games, he would be getting industrial levels of abuse as the most useless manager in Villa's history.

But surely that's because it would be been six MORE crap games from somebody who'd been going downhill since April ? And had an entire pre season,  AND created his own mess ?

For myself I did give Sherwood time ( and regret it) and do see improvements under Garde which haven't ( and this isn't uncommon) translated to points, and do respect the task he was given,. I think it's a bit patronising for people to say he is given time because he's foreign (( or vice versa).

Edited December 21, 2015 by terrytini

[TRO]

5 minutes ago, terrytini said:

I agree with most of this.

The only bit I differ on is that, fool that I am, I DO think we have 10-12 players who are good enough.

For me, thproblems are ;

that is not enough, ( because of injuries and suspensions)

those that are have either been playing in or come in to a Team that was utterly shot after years of stagnation, struggle, and poor management, this won't go overnight. ( Other than Sunderland I can't think of any others who have been on life support for so long, a massive benefit the Watford's, Leicester's, Norwich etc have over us)

however many are up to it you get nowhere without a commanding, confident keeper. Guzan has never been the former and is now also not thelatter,

and finally the other thing you need is a goalscorer ( so maybe 8, 2 flair, and one good striker). Does anyone really put Leicester up there had their striker only scored four ? Even the United's and Chelsea's struggle without a goalscorer.

Finally, in the spirit of Christmas I will risk getting pilloried by saying who I think has both sufficient ability and character......bearing in !one that as I have said above they may not be exhibiting it.And im not saying they are great, but good enough for 10 th

The 8 would be Hutton, Richards, Okore, Sanchez, Vertout, Ayew, Amavi, Ghana, and the three would be Gil, Traore and Grealish.

I don't think any of these are great, but just about fit the 8/3 idea.

Trouble is as I said above, no keeper or striker, too few to cover injuries, and additionally you can't actually make a team out of them as it doesn't work Sanchez anGhana, and it wouldn't work with those three, they are too similar in both their positives and negatives. So at the moment for example, I'd say we only have about six who are good enough and fit enough to play together. Therein lies the problem !i

We have too many the same as you say, but moreover, we have players, but no team.

[mikeyp102]

8 hours ago, Butterfingers said:

I agree but I don't see how gambling with the formation 

 

I don't think brining traore on would've changed the formation that much second half.. Westwood was playing as a right midfielder, he could've dropped back to cm and Sanchez gone off. Would've kept a similar shape but could've given traore the opportunity to run at collocini and their lb (I forget who that was), ayew was beating them why couldn't have traore. Agreed that Gil or Grealish were viable options but imo traore would have had a field day.

[Stevo985]

5 hours ago, Mantis said:

If anything, I sometimes wonder whether part of the negative sentiments people are expressing towards him are precisely because he's foreign and is somebody many people here had never heard of before.

Absolutely this.

I don't think anybody is giving him time because he's foreign.

But there are literally people admitting they don't or didn't want him precisely because he IS foreign.

[Keyblade]

5 hours ago, PompeyVillan said:

Thing is, you don't suddenly start a winning run without showing a bit of solidarity and a few decent performances before hand. Leicester were rock bottom last year but actually playing quite well. They took the positives from their defeats and built this truly remarkable run of form that sees them at the top of the league. We need to start somewhere.

Confidence is a key issue for us, for me the players have looked more comfortable and confident under Garde, and are gradually coming to terms with what he wants.

If Remi throws on Traore against Newcastle and we lose, we're back to square one. As it is we have a point and something to build on. Making decisions through desperation will most certainly get you relegated. That's what I felt with Sherwood, he lacked control and destroyed the teams confidence.

Garde is slowly truing to rebuild this confidence and he's done a decent job certainly with Ayew and Veretout, two of our more talented players.

Perhaps it is too little too late. But without steadying the ship somewhat we run the risk of stumbling from one decision to another. Even if it means that we 'get it together' and get relegated, ho hum that's better than going down in a complete mess, as we were.

We'll see.

This this this.

[villan_007]

I think everybody's opinion is null and void. We're rock bottom, a first for many of us. We watch every game with a scowl and nit pick the very smallest of errors.

We're on the border of wanting to change the manager every 3 weeks.

If this was ancient Rome, it would be a permanent thumbs down.

Actually, what am I even talking about? This season has finally sent me over the edge. Cliff edge, here I come.

[Demitri_C]

well for whats its worth i think he is doing the right things to make  a nightmare situation not so bad. getting rid of rubbish like gabby, n zogbia, richardson and unused players like senderos, and kozak then recalling cissokho is good management in my view.

I dont think its fair to judge him just yet but he certainly has more knowledge than bloody sherwood. the back four looks lightly more organised too. just the link between midfield and strikers is really poor. 

[KSV]

47 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

well for whats its worth i think he is doing the right things to make  a nightmare situation not so bad. getting rid of rubbish like gabby, n zogbia, richardson and unused players like senderos, and kozak then recalling cissokho is good management in my view.

I dont think its fair to judge him just yet but he certainly has more knowledge than bloody sherwood. the back four looks lightly more organised too. just the link between midfield and strikers is really poor. 

Yeah were linked with a few players to rectify that situation as well. He will need time but he has made some odd decisions.. Lambert like decisions with regards to tactics. Best man for the rebuild. Just wish we got Big Sam or someone on a short term contract then brought him in the summer or something with his team.

[Demitri_C]

It seems to be an ongoing pattern gardes complaining about players fitness levels, sherwood did the same when he replaced lambert.

 

Bit alarming isnt it?

[DCJonah]

15 hours ago, PompeyVillan said:

Thing is, you don't suddenly start a winning run without showing a bit of solidarity and a few decent performances before hand. Leicester were rock bottom last year but actually playing quite well. They took the positives from their defeats and built this truly remarkable run of form that sees them at the top of the league. We need to start somewhere.

Confidence is a key issue for us, for me the players have looked more comfortable and confident under Garde, and are gradually coming to terms with what he wants.

If Remi throws on Traore against Newcastle and we lose, we're back to square one. As it is we have a point and something to build on. Making decisions through desperation will most certainly get you relegated. That's what I felt with Sherwood, he lacked control and destroyed the teams confidence.

Garde is slowly truing to rebuild this confidence and he's done a decent job certainly with Ayew and Veretout, two of our more talented players.

Perhaps it is too little too late. But without steadying the ship somewhat we run the risk of stumbling from one decision to another. Even if it means that we 'get it together' and get relegated, ho hum that's better than going down in a complete mess, as we were.

We'll see.

We got a draw against city and Southampton. When do we start trying to win and not just getting something to build on?

 

[AndyC]

1 hour ago, Demitri_C said:

It seems to be an ongoing pattern gardes complaining about players fitness levels, sherwood did the same when he replaced lambert.

 

Bit alarming isnt it?

It has been a long running problem that we cannot compete over 90 mins. I remember some stats on this site last season or maybe the season before showing the prem league if games finished after 70 mins or something like that, we were top 6 or 8 I believe?

[Zatman]

4 minutes ago, AndyC said:

It has been a long running problem that we cannot compete over 90 mins. I remember some stats on this site last season or maybe the season before showing the prem league if games finished after 70 mins or something like that, we were top 6 or 8 I believe?

been a serious issue for ages. I remember John Terry questioned it many years ago when we were in top 6

[sexbelowsound]

16 hours ago, PompeyVillan said:

Thing is, you don't suddenly start a winning run without showing a bit of solidarity and a few decent performances before hand. Leicester were rock bottom last year but actually playing quite well. They took the positives from their defeats and built this truly remarkable run of form that sees them at the top of the league. We need to start somewhere.

Confidence is a key issue for us, for me the players have looked more comfortable and confident under Garde, and are gradually coming to terms with what he wants.

If Remi throws on Traore against Newcastle and we lose, we're back to square one. As it is we have a point and something to build on. Making decisions through desperation will most certainly get you relegated. That's what I felt with Sherwood, he lacked control and destroyed the teams confidence.

Garde is slowly truing to rebuild this confidence and he's done a decent job certainly with Ayew and Veretout, two of our more talented players.

Perhaps it is too little too late. But without steadying the ship somewhat we run the risk of stumbling from one decision to another. Even if it means that we 'get it together' and get relegated, ho hum that's better than going down in a complete mess, as we were.

We'll see.

Feel like this should be stickied because this will eventually get lost but the same round and round discussion will continue.

[DCJonah]

I don't. It's such a negative approach to a club bottom of the league.  Being relegated on a record low (for us) amount of points while trying to continue to build on something has no interest to me at all. 

We could have lost had Traore come on, but with those conditions and the way newcastle were playing we could have easily won the game as well. Being this scared of losing does nothing for a team that sit rock bottom at Christmas.  For the last 4 years we've been a team too afraid to lose and what the **** has it done for us? Why would anyone want that approach to continue?

 

[briny_ear]

4 hours ago, DCJonah said:

 For the last 4 years we've been a team too afraid to lose and what the **** has it done for us?

What it's actually done is meant we've lost a lot of matches.

I think people are trying to interpret the current cautious and relatively unsuccessful approach as something planned - cautious, gradual building, etc.

But the fact remains we are still losing loads of matches too easily and even the ones we are drawing are mainly down to the failings of the opposition.

[ozvillafan]

4 hours ago, briny_ear said:

What it's actually done is meant we've lost a lot of matches.

I think people are trying to interpret the current cautious and relatively unsuccessful approach as something planned - cautious, gradual building, etc.

But the fact remains we are still losing loads of matches too easily and even the ones we are drawing are mainly down to the failings of the opposition.

"Failings of the opposition" is down to interpretation. Are they failing because they are garbage? Or are they failing because we are making life difficult for them?

I tend towards the latter. Good teams that are low on form usually find it when playing against us, so this means we are doing something different.

That said, I agree with you about the cautious approach. The time for "softly softly", "gradual building" and "try not to lose" is gone. We need points. You only get them if you play positively and take the risk of going for it.

[Stevo985]

The draw against Newcastle certainly wasn't down to the failing of the opposition.