After Tim Sherwood’s sacking, Remi Garde has emerged as the favourite for the role. The former Arsenal defender has been linked with other Premier League jobs in the past and had talks over the vacant Newcastle job last January, but he now looks set to take over at Villa Park. He will bring a different outlook to Aston Villa as he will bring more tactical knowledge than Sherwood had. Moreover, Garde will know several of the players in the squad, due to their past in Ligue 1, therefore he should be able to get more out of them than they have showed thus far.
Garde knows English football well after a stint in the Premier League as a player and his time as a pundit for French television. He has also been mentored by Arsene Wenger and Gerard Houllier, which will stand him in good stead if he does get the job as expected. The latter had a spell in charge at Villa Park and he will have told Garde all about the club, which will have convinced the Frenchman to take a gamble on Aston Villa. There is no doubt that the former Lyon boss will have had lots of offers in the last year as he is regarded as a promising coach in Europe.
There are two big reasons why Garde is a good candidate for the vacant post at Villa Park. Firstly, he is willing to work on a limited budget and he showed at Lyon, that he can be successful without spending lots of money. Secondly he is excellent at managing and developing youth players. This will be a important for Villa as they have several promising players, who need guidance and Tim Sherwood simply wasn’t up for that task. Alexandre Lacazette developed into one of the most in-demand forwards in Europe under Garde and if he has a similar effect on the likes of Jordan Veretout, Adama Traore and Jack Grealish, Villa could have a very exciting team on their hands.
His role at Arsenal has been overlooked by some, as he was only a bit part player for the club. However players who played alongside him have said how crucial he was in getting Arsene Wenger’s message across to the squad. He was a link between the staff and the players, which was important as Wenger’s profile in England wasn’t huge at the time. He is seen by some in France as a potential successor to Wenger, but he needs to prove himself in the Premier League. If he does get the Villa job, it will be a huge risk, but it will bring huge rewards if he impresses. The squad is there for Garde to do very well as they have a lot of quality, especially in the players they bought in the summer.
Tim Sherwood did his job and kept Villa in the Premier League when it looked like they were going to be relegated. Now the club need a longer term manager to build something at the club with the young talented squad that they have available to them. Remi Garde may be untested in the Premier League, but the likes of Mauricio Pochettino, Ronald Koeman and Slaven Bilic have all come in and had an immediate impact. It is becoming fashionable to appoint untested foreign managers and Garde looks like he is a very good bet for Villa.
