Villarocker

Just the fact that he picked the kind of team the majority of us would pick is a great start. If anything, it proves what we've all suspected, that the new players are good enough, it was just Sherwood being an arsehole that prevented them from playing.

One thing we should all remember about the summer signings, they still need time to get all of the splinters out of their arses because they've spent too much time sat on the bench. Once that happens they'll be fine.

Bacuna had Sterling in his pocket in the cup semi last season but that version of Sterling wasn't switched on or too interested. I'd like to see Gana and Sanchez in front of the back four with Gana being the player breaking with the ball. I'd have Gil as the third midfielder but further up the pitch. I'd play Sinclair wide left and Ayew wide right and any one of Gestede, Gabby or Kozak up front. Amavi and Hutton at full back with Richards and Clark at centre back. Guzan will be inspired today, he owes us from the last time we played them.

Considering he's got this history of picking teams/formations depending on on the opponent, I am not going to read too much into his team selection today. Having said that, if certain players don't start or don't even make the bench when fit, I'll be a bit concerned. Not so much with Garde but, the player.

Brilliant post from HanoiVillan above! Personally, although believing that, on paper, Villa's fight to stay in the Premier League is not irretrievable, I sense that Garde will fail to keep us up. I say this because I think the position he's starting from is a cruel one. Cruel because we're rock bottom and a couple of wins from safety with Man City, Everton, Southampton and Arsenal to play in his first five games. Even if we beat Watford in between and nicked a point elsewhere, we'd still be in the bottom three with 8 points from 16 games. However, I've had enough of all the chopping and changing now. We need someone to create an identity and organise the squad. Garde is a young manager and, unlike his last couple of predecessors, I think he has a calmness about him that would stand us in good stead for the future. Being a young manager means he can also mature with the young squad that we have now. As long as he's not a complete disaster, I would stick with Garde now and let him work on building something, even if we do go down this season. Give him the chance to bring us back and kick on from there.

The league table looks bloody frightening tonight. Say we lose the next two, we go away to Watford at least 12 points adrift. Lose that and we're 5 wins to make up with 24 games to go. That's tough! Next crucial opponent is then Newcastle and we could be 3 or 4 wins behind them by the time we play them. Same against Norwich. We can't afford to accept defeats against the likes of Man City and Everton. The points need to start coming in ASAP.

I just hope that we stay tight tomorrow and don't leak goals. Not many of us would expect us to get anything from the game and with our defence looking a shambles every game a lot of us are probably expecting a hammering. If we lose, I just hope it's not in a way that destroys any lift that they may have been given by Garde coming in and, that it doesn't harm our goal difference.

In the grand scheme of things, with so many games to go and so many points to play for, 4 points really isn't a lot to pull back. I guess people are looking at our next 6 games and imagining that the 4 point gap will be 6, 8 or even 10 points but the reality is that we won't know what it will be until after those games have been played. Who knows, we might get 5 or 6 points ourselves and there might not even be a gap after those games.

I think that part in the PC, where the journo asked Garde if he had it in writing that he has the final say on transfers, was the journo having the same sense of dismay at how transfer dealings happen at Villa as other people. I didn't see any harm in that. My biggest worry was that, when asked if he had it in writing that he would have final say on transfers, Garde's response was "that's the problem". Maybe he is accustomed to working with the same kind of set-up as he had at Lyon but, if he doesn't get it the same way here, how will he then react? For all we know, he could think he will get it his way and, if he doesn't, walk out on the club and who knows where we would be then. Before anyone shoots me down for suggesting that, did anyone foresee Martin O'Neil quitting the club on grounds of constructive dismissal just days before the start of a new season?

Triangular passing will never catch on - Garde out!

Gestede must be loving that training session because there's a Villa player within 5 yards of him when the ball bounces off him

Everyone's entitled to an opinion and mine is that Westwood doesn't offer much in any specific area. He cannot protect the defence, take a decent corner or free-kick, has no pace to speak of, can't dribble, can't go past a player with ease. is only real ability is his passing and that is nothing really worth raving about. I think he is average in a poor side that lacks confidence. When he eventually moves on it will probably be to a Championship side such as Derby or Forest.

eh? What you on about. You asked who raved about him? It clearly annoys you. That is a general point.So if a player has a really good game, and I say he's good, really good, that means from henceforth I think he's a superstar? Do you not understand basic things like context or are you so wrapped up in your disgust at anyone taking pleasure in the game that you don't care a shit about it? hahahahahahahaha. Like you've never taken things out of context. nothing annoys me here doug. Certainly not someone thinking ashley westwood is good. I just disagree. I made a point to support my disagreement and you then challenged it. So I proved it. Instead of you holding your hands up and saying, yeah maybe there was a time where people raved about him a bit more than they do now, you just criticise my opinion further. Maybe there are a few examples of people raving about him more than they do now. That proves nothing in the wider context of the debate. You have stated that it proves he's not very good, it really does not do that. On any level. I didn't say that people raving about him proves he's not very good. I said, that the way that people speak about him now (having previously raved about him) shows that he's not very good. The quotes I used were the first I came to. Like I say theyl be a lot more recent ones linking him to an England call up. People are starting to realise that he's not very good. He's previously had better players around him. Read my post again. I have quoted you verbatim. I made sure of it. It still does not prove what you say it does. Not in the slightest. You're twisting peoples words to suit an agenda. Most people think he's decent. Still. Even when the squad as a whole is being decimated. I have already agreed that most people realised he's not "very good" a while ago, well done you. Still an OK player with a part to play. Is this the more vocal alter ego of TacticsTim?

For some reason I cannot edit my above post so, here goes: The optimist in me hopes that Remi Garde is a magician who will inspire us to many victories and up the league into mid-table comfort

The person in me that has witnessed the first eleven league games this season thinks that you can write off the following games as defeats, from our remaining fixtures: Man City (x2), Arsenal (x2), Man Utd (A), Chelsea (H), Southampton (A), Liverpool (H), Everton (A). That leaves us with 18 games and a possible 54 points to get a minimum of 30 points from. Difficult ask that but, not impossible: Watford (4 pts), Norwich (4 pts), Bournemouth (3 pts), Sunderland (1 pt), Albion (1 pt), Leicester (3 pts), Newcastle (4 pts), Stoke (1 pt), West Ham (3 pts), Swansea (1 pt) Crystal Palace (3 pts), Everton (1 pt), Spurs (1 pt). That's 7 wins and 9 draws to get us to 34 points. That's not losing 16 games out of the remaining 27, which shouldn't be too difficult if the guys find some form.

The managers have to say good things about Lerner because he's employing them. Let's see if he thinks the same way if he's here in a year or two and not given any backing in the transfer market. For now, I am just happy that we have a manager at all and, that he seems to be level headed and with knowledge of formations and tactics. That'll do for starters!

I liked his demeanour when I saw his interview on TV this morning. He seems to have a more likeable style than the arrogance of the last manager and the arsey style of Lambert and O'Neil. I like the way he said that the French players will have to just get on with it because English will be spoken in the dressing room. Maybe there's been a hint of self pity in them since they arrived and he's been made aware of it so he's letting them know from the start that it's not acceptable? Who knows? Let's hope he can get the team playing well because they're better than what they've shown so far.

He needs to play in the role behind the striker where he doesn't have to worry about making big tackles or tracking back etc. He is the guile we have cried out for, for years now. Play Sanchez directly in front of the back four as the protector who breaks up play. Play Gana as the man who goes box to box and does a bit of everything. Play Gil behind the striker who takes shots from around the edge of the area and who spreads the play out wide to the attacking wide players and, little slide-rule passes for the striker to run on to etc.

You could put your house on us going down if we don't buy at least 3 decent players in January. We need a new centre back back and striker for starters.

If he makes a full recovery from his surgery I would definitely offer Ron Vlaar a deal until the end of the season with a view to another year or two if he does OK. For free, he's got gotta be better than Lescott and Clark?

The defence is priority Randy. Spend some money or we'll finish bottom for sure.

Whether I think he'll be a success or not, hats off to the man for taking this job on. He needs Moses and Jesus as back-up, never mind those French compatriots of his!

If that really is the best team we can select, relegate us now and put us out of our misery.

Totally agree with you. Team and formation were piss poor and I wouldn't allow such outdated and negative coaching anywhere near our youngsters. I hope Garde brings his own coaches in at all levels so that we have continuity throughout the football club.

Our full backs are staying back too much and not offering any support to our forwards. Poor, poor tactics tonight and much worse than anything seen under Sherwood. We will lose this 3 or 4 nil without a single blow. At least go down trying FFS.