Aston Villa vs Leicester City: Remi Garde believes his message is hitting home at Villa at last

Rémi Garde still has some way to go to prove he was the right man to take charge of a team in Aston Villa’s predicament, but the Frenchman believes his players are at last beginning to understand what he is about.

Villa went from four points below a position of safety to 11 adrift as they failed to win any of Garde’s first nine matches in charge; but while their chances of escaping the drop remain slim, the last week has delivered improvement in the shape of a win against Crystal Palace and a 1-1 draw with high-flying Leicester City on Saturday.

“I’m very happy with the way we’ve played the last two games,” Garde said. “They were not easy because they were against teams who were full of confidence when we were not.

“You ask if it took a while to get across to my players what I wanted to do and probably it did. And maybe my message did not go through to everybody. But now I find people who understand my message. The way we have played and the spirit we showed, the way we have gone through difficult periods within these games pleased me a lot because it means that the players I picked today have a good attitude.”

The former Arsenal midfielder is not long on managerial experience but he has shown himself to be tough enough to leave out established players.

Striker Gabby Agbonlahor has made only one two-minute appearance since Garde took over at the beginning of November and those named only as substitutes on Saturday included club captain Micah Richards and US goalkeeper Brad Guzan, dropped in favour of Mark Bunn, who justified his inclusion by saving a first-half penalty from Leicester’s Riyad Mahrez.

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It was a second failed spot-kick in a row by Mahrez, whose form, along with Jamie Vardy’s famous goalscoring exploits, was key to the run of eight wins in 10 matches that let Leicester briefly hold a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League before Christmas. Since then, the Foxes have recorded only one win in five league matches and Mahrez’s effectiveness has dipped. His manager, Claudio Ranieri, feels he needs better protection from referees but also to adjust to being a marked man.

“He was fantastic at the beginning and now a lot of people are around him, trying to take the ball or to take the legs,” Ranieri said. “It’s important the referees are very close to him but it’s important he understands now that everyone wants to stop him. He has to be very clever.”