The Rémi Garde thread

[Harry]

1 minute ago, Dr_Pangloss said:

To be honest, they are much better than the shite that we bought in to replace them. The only one borderline on that one is Cleverley, who I thought was pretty shit, but would still get into this team. 

I agree they would all get into this side but that says it all really. I do think we have bought some decent players in the last window but we have chucked them all in at the deep end and just hoped it would all be OK which clearly its not.

[Jay.P.A]

Here's my two cents folks;

I believe Garde is a good manager, based on what people may ask, but when we have the ball we've actually played some very decent stuff. The movement and the passing has probably been the best it has been in the last 3 seasons or so. It's just silly individual mistakes in our defence which are costing us games, as well as a lack of a cutting edge upfront.

He's come into this job, which is basically a poisoned chalice under the Lerner dictatorship. BUT, in saying that, we need to give him at least two transfer windows to sort out the mess others have created. I sincerely believe, if given time, Garde could prove to be a great manager for us - the only problem is that it looks like we'll go down under his management.

If by some miracle we end up surviving, I don't think we'd be in this mess this time next year.

Edited December 28, 2015 by Jay.P.A

[jackbauer24]

Last season we were the worst team to survive. We then replaced;

Delph with Gana (considerable downgrade)

Cleverley with Veretout (marginal downgrade at moment, maybe in future it won't be)

Benteke with Gestede (considerable downgrade)

Vlaar with Richards (much the same, both either great or awful and getting on a bit and subject to injuries)

Weimann with Ayew (considerable upgrade)

Baker (loan) with Lescott (again, much the same, either invisible or a disaster)

and then Traore who is almost an addition to the squad. All the other signings don't, or can't (Amavi), play.

Fundamentally we didn't replace Hutton, Sanchez or Richardson at all. So there, to me, is no debate that this squad is considerably worse than the squad that was awful last season. Which is why I find any debate about managers kind of pointless - football fans generally only recognise a manager as being good if they're getting results and I maintain that is IMPOSSIBLE with this squad of players.

It was over the second we didn't improve the squad. Even if you want to argue some of the players were good signings, you'd struggle to say they are better than what left with a straight face. It always amazes me that people can't see past 'bad players getting bad results = bad manager' - no manager could get this squad safe.

[Genie]

I'm not sure how Garde got the job to be honest.

I'd love to know why the villa hierarchy decided that this was the man to get us out. 

[GasGasGas]

Overrated just because he used to be an Arsenal player. Some people seem to think that he automatically MUST be good just because of this.

These people point to a lack of quality in our players, Sherwood lost 7 in a row so he wouldn't have gotten the 4 points that Garde has... as excuses.
Well News Flash: good managers manage to achieve results even with poor players and that's exactly what defines a good manager?

Look at the bizarre decisions he has made that surely, surely, good managers would not have made:
- waiting till we started to send in crosses and Gestede causing trouble with them, then subbing him off immediately to kill our attacking threat
- we have been saying just how crap Richardson is, probably THE WORST that we have and what does Garde do? Play him over the likes of easily better players and we lose
- many of us can see that Richards is simply not a CB and has all the flaws playing there, asking for him to be placed at RB instead and what does Garde do? Play him at CB. He costs yet another goal and we lose
- Lescott has started to improve and we actually look reasonably solid with him at CB in recent games so he gets dropped to the bench as a reward
- Gestede put in a good shift against West Ham and that team performed reasonably well in that game (and Newcastle too) so he gets dropped in favour of Sinclair and Richardson who have been part of insipid performances during the season. We play like crap again and lose
- he throws on Insomnia in a solitary game, and then never again. That reeks of desperation / trial and error to me

[andyh]

Today he picked pretty much the same team that had previously got us into this mess.

how the **** did he think they were going to be good enough to win a game?

[Nabby]

Be interesting to see what happens next match as he has 2 CMs left and only Gestede as a striker to play with Gabby/Kozak frozen out

 

[The Fun Factory]

37 minutes ago, Jay.P.A said:

Here's my two cents folks;

I believe Garde is a good manager, based on what people may ask, but when we have the ball we've actually played some very decent stuff. The movement and the passing has probably been the best it has been in the last 3 seasons or so. It's just silly individual mistakes in our defence which are costing us games, as well as a lack of a cutting edge upfront.

He's come into this job, which is basically a poisoned chalice under the Lerner dictatorship. BUT, in saying that, we need to give him at least two transfer windows to sort out the mess others have created. I sincerely believe, if given time, Garde could prove to be a great manager for us - the only problem is that it looks like we'll go down under his management.

If by some miracle we end up surviving, I don't think we'd be in this mess this time next year.

I don't believe in miracles. And we will probably be in a bigger mess this time next year floundering around mid table in the championship/

Edited December 29, 2015 by The Fun Factory

[Hanky]

Be interesting to see what happens next match as he has 2 CMs left and only Gestede as a striker to play with Gabby/Kozak frozen out

 

Surely the natural progression would be to move Richardson another place up the field?

[GeordieVillan]

I like him. He seems like a mature, down to earth sensible manager. The kind of guy who could lay the foundations for a bright future.

I think I disagree with alot of people in that I don't think our squad is actually that bad in terms of quality, its good enough to stay up - the problem is the squad is not balanced, and unbelievebly 2 managers this season have not found a lineup, formation or tactics that is our "best", and we are now at the half way point. That is simply staggering. I thought Remi had it sorted with the diamond and Ayew and Gestede up front, and now today he's changed it totally.

I think Remi has been too negative, but Sherwood being overly positive is the reason we've had some demoralising defeats this season (Leicester and Swansea stick out in my mind). I can understand that he is trying to avoid opening us up too much so that we don't lose games late on, as our confidence is so fragile, but where does it stop? While we are all resigned to relegations as fans, at some point Remi has to approach every game with an attacking mentality like our lives depend on it - otherwise whats the point? I thought that point would have been the last 3 games and the next game at Sunderland, but thats obviously not the case. Sherwood had lost me, but at least he was trying to win games, even if his approach was crazy and without any logic at times.

We are now 12 points adrift, and while I don't agree it would take Champions league form for us to survive (Champions league form would be needed only if the teams above us display Europa league form - if thats makes sense), at some point Remi has to win a bloody game. If we go another 5-6 without winning a game, how can he possibly keep his job?

Edited December 29, 2015 by GeordieVillan

[markavfc40]

3 hours ago, DCJonah said:

Wouldn't surprise me at all if Garde equals Sherwood with 4 points after 11 games. 

Sherwood took 4 points from 10, Kev Mac then had a game in charge and Garde has 4 points from 8 games. Sherwoods record was a disgrace this season and Garde has simply followed suit and continued the shite form. Either this is a very poor group of players, we are appointing poor managers who are getting nothing like the best from this squad, or both. I think it is either the first or the last.

Edited December 29, 2015 by markavfc40

[Farlz]

Team selection was a bit dodgy today, still 100% has my support though 

[terrytini]

Here's a little nightcap.

As far as my maths allows....

Lerner has had 8 and half seasons.

313 Home Premier League games

We've won 58. That's 7 per season on average, and includes our " golden age".

And only 32 of those wins were against current Premier Clubs.

Nighty night !

[Bunnski]

I'm not happy with him but I'm all for giving him the rest of the season to show he can improve things and let him bring in a few of his own signings.  

[markavfc40]

As far as I can tell no one is calling for him to be sacked, not even close, and as long as he can show some half decent upturn in results he will obviously get to the end of the season. If however results continue as they have and we continue to go game after game with out a win and averaging around 0.5 points a game under him then questions will need to be asked around if he is the right man in the medium to long term.

We are going down there is zero doubt about that for me now. I just want Remi to ensure we don't go out with a whimper and do what he failed to do today, and for much of his time here, and actually start setting us up to go out and have a good go at winning some games.

Edited December 29, 2015 by markavfc40

[Richard]

I think even a championship side would have won a game in the last 11 we gave played

[gilbertoAVFC]

I'd love Garde if we were a stable mid-table side as we have a young squad who he clearly knows how to nurture. Tactically he is clearly talented.

However, we were fighting for our lives these last three games and it's like he has a memo from the board to just "keep it respectful". He is far too conservative for my liking given the situation we are in. The board threw the towel in a long time ago and today I have. We are finished in this league.

[carlitobrigante]

Very conservative line ups and tactics considering we have nothing to lose now.

I cant believe it looks like i am not going to see a starting line up of Gill, Grealish, Traore lining up behind Ayew. That with a base of Veretout & Gueye  is the one line up that might have got the crowd off their feet and more importantly score some goals.

Garde is doing his best i suppose, as i do think we clearly have the worst squad in the league. 

 

Edited December 29, 2015 by carlitobrigante

[Keyblade]

Honestly, the only thing about the line-up you could fault him for was probably Richardson, but he played well all things considered. He was nowhere near the reason why we lost or even failed to win. He had no other choice with the defensive changes. There was just no way in hell Lescott and Okore could play 2 games in 3 days. He also made the highly coveted, early Adama sub at around 60 mins.

[srsmithusa]

10 minutes ago, Keyblade said:

Honestly, the only thing about the line-up you could fault him for was probably Richardson, but he played well all things considered. He was nowhere near the reason why we lost or even failed to win. He had no other choice with the defensive changes. There was just no way in hell Lescott and Okore could play 2 games in 3 days. He also made the highly coveted, early Adama sub at around 60 mins.

Said sub had minimal positive effect.  A few more crosses yes, but no real product.  We have a team playing like crap.  it's normal that we would hold out hope "if he would only play ------------"  We just don't have the players that can fix the disease that's killing us.  Not Adama, Not Gil, Not Grealish.  They are a bit more fun to watch agree as they show some style, but they are all extremely limited, and have very little end product... at least in this league.