Five Things Remi Garde Must Do

SillySeason look into the job at hand for Aston Villa’s new manager

Aston Villa Football Club announced their new manager last week following the sacking of Tim Sherwood, and SillySeason have put together a Five Things list of what Remi Garde needs to sort out at Villa Park.

Garde watched on from the stands as he saw his new side lose 3-1 to Tottenham Hotspur on Monday night, and no doubt he will have drastic changes in story for the Midlands club.

But what do our writers here at SillySeason think he should be changing?

Alex Batt gives us his Five Things that Garde needs to do to be a hit.

5) Find His Best XI

Enough of this chopping and changing malarkey.

Tim Sherwood loved to fiddle with his team and his tactics. Week after week there would be a new XI or a new formation and that is simply not good for a team’s stability and confidence.

Remi Garde needs to come in, address what he has at his disposal and find an XI and a formation that works best with that.

Consistency is needed at Villa Park and it needs to start from the top.

4) Play Carles Gil

The footballing world was stunned when Aston Villa announced the signing of Carles Gil, but then Tim Sherwood rarely played him.

The only real technically gifted option at Villa, along with maybe Jack Grealish, so Garde must use him a lot more.

Put him just behind the strikers or on the wing and let his flair do the talking. Yes Villa need the backbone and the fight, but they also need to offer something up top and Gil can do that.

Villa didn’t even look like scoring under Sherwood, but introducing this guy could be a different story.

3) Make Villa Park A Fortress Again

Villa Park used to be a very tough ground to go to for any team, but it doesn’t have that reputation anymore.

Back in the Martin O’Neill days, it was a tough feat to go to Villa Park and leave with all three points. However, under Paul Lambert and Time Sherwood, it’s been way too easy for visiting teams.

Even the big guns used to struggle coming here, but not any more, times have changed and it’s something Garde must address. He needs this ground buzzing and bouncing again and wins will ensure that.

2) Find a Striker

Losing Christian Benteke (and Fabian Delph) didn’t help Tim Sherwood, but failing to replace them was catastrophic.

When you are fighting relegation, you need goals. Goals can keep you up in this league and it’s something Villa don’t have anymore.

Jordan Ayew could provide a few, as could the midfield, but they don’t have that 15 goals a season striker anymore.

Gabby Agbonlahor is offering nothing at the minute and the side look so shy up front.

Diving into the January window is vital for Garde, especially in the attacking department.

1) Use Arsene Wenger

The two have a great relationship due to their days together at Arsenal and Arsene Wenger could actually help out Remi Garde at Villa Park.

It could be a smart idea from Garde to get in touch with Wenger and maybe try to get some fringe players on-loan for the remainder of the season.

Mathieu Debuchy could be an option due to his lack of first-team football, as could the likes of Alex Iwobi and Jeff Reine-Adelaide.

Villa could be smart here and get some fresh, young talent in to help them.

 

So there are Five Things we think Remi Garde should do at Villa Park.

What are yours?

Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt