Blog: Time for Remi Garde to go away
With Remi Garde facing his first away fixture of his tenure as Aston Villa manager, blogger Matthew Turvey looks at what lies ahead.
The second game of Garde's era as Aston Villa manager kicks off tomorrow at Goodison Park.
The question is, where do the club go from here? Do they build on a solid draw against Manchester City? Or do they stumble again as they seek to move off the foot of the table?
In the opposite dugout will be Roberto Martinez, a manager who Villa rather publicly pursued not once, but twice, in recent years, but whose time at Wigan Athletic was polarising opinion.
Little can be said about Garde's approach based solely on a single game.
But the hope for many fans will be that Villa's French manager will be able to espouse a philosophy that leads the club to success or, at the very least, safety.
Martínez, during his stint at Wigan, got the Latics playing with style and squeezed the most out of current Villan Charles N'Zogbia.
That was only to find himself in charge as the Lancashire club went down following the aforementioned French forward's sale.
Wigan managed to win the FA Cup on their way down to the Championship an achievement, although one countered by the suffering brought about by relegation.
Which, in a very roundabout fashion, is something that Villa will have to be aware of the threat of relegation, and the need for substance above style.
Against City, Villa were functional and effective, although it remains to be seen as to whether Garde will maintain such a mentality going forward.
Certainly there is room for more flair, but only if it comes with success - superfluous style is little but a footnote in history for those who go down, little consolation compared to survival.
Being bottom, Villa have a mountain to climb.
Despite having the majority of the season left to grab points, there is still fear - fear of relegation, fear that this may be another dark chapter in the club's history.
Perhaps things will turn around, but only time will tell. Villa are far from dead and buried, but they do need to improve - significantly - if they are to get out of the rut they have found themselves in.
The hope is that Garde will be more like Arsene Wenger - the man he is slated to be similar in style to - rather than former manager Tim Sherwood who left the club adrift at the bottom of the table.
Understandably, fans remain cautious - Sherwood's arrival heralded a view from some fans that success was around the corner.
But the club has found themselves further entrenched in issues and facing a real challenge if they are able to stay up. Can Villa do it?
For the fans, the hope is that survival can happen, although the change required to make it happen.
It will need to be rather significant or else the Villans will find their permanent Premier League record finished come May.
You can follow Matt Turvey's regular opinions at www.astonvillalife.com, via the site's Twitter account @astonvillalife, or via his own Twitter account @mturvey_star.
