Rémi Garde takes charge of his first game as Aston Villa manager on Sunday, when the Premier League’s bottom club host the leaders Manchester City, and the Frenchman desperately needs to find a way of reviving their fortunes. Villa have lost their last seven league games, picked up only one point from a possible 30 and are heading for a long winter of discontent unless there is a spectacular turnaround. The former Arsenal midfielder has already said that he is “not a dreamer or a magic man”, so in the absence of a wild imagination or a wand, we take a look at what the 49-year-old needs to do to keep Villa up and emulate Crystal Palace’s great escape under Tony Pulis two seasons ago.
1 Generate a collective goal threat
The obvious concern for Villa supporters when Christian Benteke departed for Liverpool in the summer was where the hell the goals were going to come from? Nothing seen over the first 11 games has allayed those fears. Villa have averaged less than a goal per game and registered the lowest number of shots on target in the Premier League.
The word toothless springs to mind and if Garde learned anything at White Hart Lane last Monday night it was that Gabriel Agbonlahor is good for taking the kick-off (two of his eight touches on the night) and little else. Rudy Gestede at least offers an aerial threat for Villa to exploit, but they need to play to his strengths more, and it is imperative that Jordan Ayew, Jack Grealish, Carles Gil, Scott Sinclair and Adama Traoré (if we ever get to see him) chip in along with the midfielders behind them because, unlike in the past, a prolific goalscorer is not going to keep the club up this season.
2 Get the most out of their quartet of French summer signings
Villa raided Ligue 1 and spent £34.7m on Idrissa Gana and the three Jordans – Ayew, Veretout and Amavi – in the summer but, so far, have had precious little in return. Ayew has scored in his past two league games and showed some flashes of promise and Gana looks like he has the potential to be a reasonable replacement for Fabian Delph over time but Vertout has not kicked a ball since the 1-0 home defeat against Stoke a month ago and Amavi has lost his place to Kieran Richardson.
While Tim Sherwood never seemed convinced about their merits, the former Lyon manager Garde will not need to spend any time reading up or watching DVDs to know what they can offer and his arrival ought to have been a shot in the arm for all four of them – clearly that is what the Villa board are hoping. The bottom line is that Villa need that quartet on the pitch, justifying their transfers fees as well as the judgement of those that recruited them.
3 Inject some flair and a bit more Gil
One of the more curious things about watching Aston Villa since the turn of the year is that Carles Gil is seen so fleetingly. When the Spaniard does get a rare run out, he often shows some lovely touches, as was the case when he came on as a second-half substitute against Spurs and gave a desperately poor Villa team a fresh dimension.
Barry Bannan, the former Villa midfielder, probably summed up the thoughts of many supporters on Monday night when he tweeted: “Don’t have a clue why this Gil don’t play, every time I seen him he looks class.” With Grealish, Ayew and Traoré also in the squad, Villa have some creative options and it would be good to see Garde liberate one or two of those talents, but in particular Gil. After all, it is hard to see this Villa squad possessing the qualities to survive by grinding out results.
4 Stop the rot and spend wisely
First, and foremost, Villa need to stop the rot and make sure that they are still in touch with the pack by the time the transfer window opens – something that could be easier said than done looking at a fixture list that sees them go to Everton and Southampton and host Arsenal in three of their next four matches after City.
Forget all the talk of a long-term vision, the priority in January must be to sign a couple of players for a short-term fix. Whether they can get the right personnel will depend on not just Randy Lerner’s willingness to spend – something Garde sounds reasonably confident about – but also their prospects of survival.
Another striker to give Garde an alternative option to Gestede’s physical presence ought to be high on the wish-list, and can two of Micah Richards, Joleon Lescott, Ciaran Clark or Jores Okore be relied upon to be fit and error free in central defence? Garde, without doubt, is going to need some help.
5 Perform a minor miracle to keep rock bottom Villa up
To put Villa’s precarious position into context, since the Premier League was reduced to 20 clubs in 1995-96, only four clubs have had four points or fewer at this stage. Manchester City (1995-96), Sheffield Wednesday (1999-00) and QPR (2012-13) were all relegated. Crystal Palace, in 2013-14, had an identical record to Villa after 11 matches (W1, D1, L9) and survived, with Tony Pulis, appointed in late November, going on to be named Premier League manager of the year.
It is no exaggeration to say that Garde may well end up in the running for the same trophy if he turns Villa’s fortunes around, so bleak is their predicament now. While Pulis built from a solid defensive base – in the 24 games it took him to steer Palace to safety, they kept 11 clean sheets – it is a safe bet that Garde’s style will be more expansive.
Either way, it will be some feat of escapology to get Villa out of the mess that they are in, and no one should underestimate that task.
