With a new manager in place, there’s a lot to do for Rémi Garde – Aston Villa are rock bottom of the Premier League, out of the league cup and arguably heading for relegation.
The question on every fan’s lips is “can Garde keep Villa up?” and, if he can, how will he do it?
With the summer arrivals from Ligue 1, it makes logical sense that Garde is the man to take the club forward. Whilst he has only managed one club and has no Premier League experience as a manager, he is no strange to the English top flight.
One former Villa player who has spoken out about Garde’s appointment is Thomas Hitzlsperger. Thomas Hitzlsperger, speaking exclusively to 888sport.com following Rémi Garde’s appointment as Aston Villa’s manager said:
“Now people are excited at a new manager and he did well at Lyon but of course it’s a gamble as he has no experience as a manager in England. But if you listen to Arsene Wenger he rates him highly and the plus is there are players signed from Ligue 1 so he speaks their language. He knows these players and it might help to integrate him quicker and better than most English managers.”
Hitzlsperger, loved for his powerful shooting, clearly thinks that Garde is able to move the club forward and, for the sake of the club’s fans, I hope he’s right.
Read the full and frank interview – including Hitzlsperger’s thoughts on Rémi Garde and Tim Sherwood, here.
The Author
Matt Turvey
Matt is the owner of, and chief writer for, Aston Villa Life. He is also a columnist for the Wolverhampton Express & Star, appearing in the Kick Off pullout on Saturdays and the Final Whistle pullout the Monday after Aston Villa play, as well as every Thursday as a blogger on their website. He has previously been featured as a writer on Football365 and Life's A Pitch, and was a regular pundit for Sports Tonight TV on Sky.Comments 19
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hello matt nice to see you on here are you gonna change your picture to you beardy One 😉
matt- whats your thoughts and feelings on Garde for or against?
yesterday has to be turning point for villa
the holy trinity oreilly fox lerner
fox we put big work into turning round villa get a proper job what your good at
lerner we invested heavily in summer what did he buy villa only spent between 5/10m among lowest again sky gave a great break down last night
sky neville laughing boy carragher couldnt keep straight faces all night we are laughing stock gabby should retire quick after last night shaming
mcdonald gana traore are tired
he had better bench than team go with lover boy gabby not a bit wonder our young players have dried up with him as coach what a numpty
Hi Mark.
Aye, long time – been very busy with work and also the Express & Star.
Regarding Garde, I think that he is a good fit for the recruited players that we have brought in over the summer. Clearly the Lyon job is a different beast to the Villa role – Lyon are a top team in Ligue 1 and whilst Garde has done very well developing players at his former club, I think he’ll be tested with the challenges of the Premier League and its riches.
That doesn’t mean he’ll flop – but I think that he would be well advised to take the route Wenger has and focus around a French core going forward.
Ultimately he will need time and it is a question of time and Lerner really needs to give Garde that opportunity to have a period of building. It may involve relegation or it may not, but this is a manager who needs seasons to develop rather than months, and the senior management need to give him that or else it will be another wasted situation.
I’m hopeful, but also appreciate the task is a big one – the question is will Garde be more Wenger in his ethos and success, or will he be a French version of Roberto Martinez during his time at Wigan…
Have a slight suspicion that there may be a divide between the Brits and other nationalities, judging by the team selections of TS and Kmac who virtually ignored the foreign contingent. Simple solution…get rid of the Brits, if the last two games is an indication of their talent and commitment then they won’t be missed.
I think it will take Remi a couple of games to sort out the rubbish that he inherited but i’m confident he has the determination to succeed, ultimately he will have ambitions to take over from Wenger.
Steamer,
The weird thing about KMac last night is it felt like a stand with Sherwood – picking players who, to the looks of any other person, seemed like the wrong call.
Can Remi succeed? I hope so and, as you say, if he does, he’d be a perfect fit for Arsenal.
Hopefully he can keep us up in the first instance though…
I’m with you, Matt. Traore tired? How can that be possible? He’s barely played 30 minutes! Gana does run around, but that’s football. Maybe he was unhappy, instead.
Good to see you back Matt .
From a Remi doubter I’m now a Remi lover . I like his style and it’s about time we had an intelligent , measured and professional man in charge .
Steamer and Matt – the exclusion of any new foreign players was a stand against something . At least those sitting on the bench can look forward to a second start – it is like our season starts on Sunday .
Man City 2 Sevila 1. Could do with the city players getting a few Knocks ( nothing serious , just enough to have them out for Sunday). But keep the faith , we beat man city 3-1 at VP last season – without Benteke if my memory serves me well. I was there and it was a fluke – but you never know . Yaya ran the show last time but Bacuna had a wonder free kick and Hart came out for a shocker and allowed Weimann in .
Maybe Arsenne will loan us a few players too 🙂
Is a funny old world – the idea that Gil is not suitable for starting but Grealish is tells its own story, both about MacDonald and Aston Villa’s plight over the past few games and the past few seasons.
City will be an interesting game. I think expectations are low, but we perform best when the focus is taken from us and put on the other team.
Can we win? Who knows but I think we’ll see a change of personnel and more use of the likes of Ayew, Amavi, Traore et al rather than Richardson or others…
Interesting point re: Wenger loaning players Jenny – possibly as we’re no threat to him and it would help augment our squad.
The big challenge, however, is making sure that we’re not dead and buried by the time the window opens…
Matt- I’m actually made up to have him can’t put a finger on why I just think he has an Aura of someone who knows what he’s doing. Fox just looked rather miffed when he saw the team and I couldn’t help but laugh at him and Riley sat either side of the intensity that Garde brought to the moment.
Whether foxes demeanour was to do with the selection I don’t know but that was a surreal night.
I really hope the old team do not bugger this up because there’s no doubt that we will need them all to pull together. Have heard he’s friendly and approachable in training and intense at the match I personally can’t wait to see that, sick of Tims sour face at the end.
good to see your beardy face mate
Arsenal fans are speculating he may be here to take over from Wenger as Wenger will go upstairs soon as DOF. My feeling is he is his own man and treated properly will build something special of his own with us.
mark k
glad to think some knows what they are doing at villa park,at minute wouldnt even trust tealady to get right order ,mcdonald deserves sack for last 2 matches if thats his way of doing things
JG- its was totally weird I don’t know if Kmac has trouble saying the French players names 🙂
crazily it may be down to communication, maybe he felt he had a better chance of sticking to a plan with English speaking players? Its the only logical explanation other than 2 fingers. Not playing Gil is a crime and kmac being surprised how well he did when he came on was bizarre too.
I feel a positive campaign being put in motion, surely its better to tell your players they’ re shit?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34717305
Take that back, (although it was tongue in cheek) watched his interview, talked sense, has a personality and humour and is a breath of fresh air compared to Tim. Is paving the way for a team not individuals , talks positively without it sounding like bull.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3302681/Remi-Garde-confident-new-ideas-improved-team-spirit-help-fire-Aston-Villa-Premier-League-table.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490
Comes across like a leader – all about the team not all about I . He seems genuine and honest . Instead of making excuses he offers solutions . Good move to reassure the non French players too . Sending a message to everyone – it’s ability and commitment , not nationality to earn your place .