Aston Villa Appoint Remi Garde as Their New Manager

Aston Villa needs a hero. Following a crushing 1-3 defeat against Tottenham Hotspur on Monday, the Lions have officially dropped to the last place on the 2015 2016 Premier League table. 11 games into the season, the Lions have only picked up four points, winning one match, drawing another, and losing the remaining nine. They are two points behind Sunderland, currently their nearest competition.

With how awful Aston Villa's start to the 2015 2016 has been, it was only a matter of time before manager Tim Sherwood was fired from his position. Now, just a week and a day after Sherwood's October 25^th sacking, Aston Villa appoint Remi Garde as their new manager, will he be the clubs hero?

New Blood

On November 2^nd, following their loss against Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa announced that they had officially appointed Remi Garde as their new club manager. Garde, a former defender and defensive midfielder, spent time in the Premier League toward the end of his senior career, playing with Arsenal from 1996 to 1999. Prior to his stint with the Gunners, Garde had played at Lyon from 1987 to 1993, and at Strasbourg from 1993 to 1996.

Remi moved to the administrative side of football in 2003, rejoining Lyon as a coach. He slowly rose up the ranks at his old football club, eventually being appointed the head coach in June 2011. He found success in the position, pushing his club to top-five finishes in each of the three seasons he served as manager. He also coached Lyon to a pair of French soccer titles in 2012: the Coupe de France and the Trophee des Champions.

Despite his obvious managerial talent, Garde reportedly felt drained at the end of the 2013 2014. He ultimately decided to resign and spend more time with his family, rather than continue as Lyon's head coach. After a sabbatical during the 2014 2015 season, though, Remi is evidently ready to make a comeback to football. Could the new blood be what Aston Villa needs to turn things around?

An All-Time Great in the Making?

In the press release that announced Garde's hiring, Aston Villa described him as "one of Europe's most exciting coaches." Bernard Lacombe, meanwhile, the advisor to Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas, has called Remi Lyon's Pep Guardiola.

Both of those claims are big ones, and it is too early in Garde's career to say whether or not he could ever be a Guardiola-level manager. However, Remi's successes at Lyon did prove that he has a knack for managing that many first-time coaches do not. Should he channel the same talent to turning things around at Aston Villa, he could be an all-time great in the making.

Why Remi Garde is the Right Man for the Job

In a piece about Garde's Aston Villa hiring, The Guardian discussed the situation that Garde inherited at Lyon in 2011. As the article noted, Lyon was making budget cuts at the time, selling top players and largely starting over with a fresh slate of young talent. The Guardian also noted that Garde's predecessor at Lyon, Claude Puel, was something of a "disciplinarian" coach, which meant that the atmosphere at the club wasn't exactly positive when Remi took over.

Sound familiar? While Tim Sherwood wasn't a disciplinarian, the other factors that surrounded Garde's first season at Lyon are very similar to what he will face as he gets things underway at Aston Villa. The Lions also sold a lot of their top talent over the summer-specifically forward Christian Benteke and midfielder Fabian Delph-and are also trying to rebuild with young talent. Sherwood wasn't able to make all of his transfers mesh as a cohesive soccer squad, but perhaps Garde, who has already accomplished the feat elsewhere, will.

Do you think Remi Garde can turn the wearers of the Aston Villa jersey 2015 2016 into winners? Or do you think that it's too late for the Lions to turn things around this season? At Soccer Box, we want to hear your thoughts! Find us on social media to chat with other football fans, we are present on multiple networks including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.