Remi Garde has admitted that keeping Aston Villa in the Premier League this season will be a "very difficult mission" but insisted that he can bring an improvement to the club's situation.
Villa are rock bottom of the Premier League table with just four points from a possible 33 after losing 3-1 at Tottenham Hotspur on Monday night, a game which Garde watched from the stands after being officially unveiled earlier in the day.
After signing a three-year deal, the former Lyon boss accepted that he had a monumental task on his hands to preserve Villa's record of never having been relegated from the Premier League.
"There is a lot of work to do," he told reporters. "But [Villa owner] Randy Lerner came this week and had a chat with the players because I think it was important for them to hear the owner. He is the man who runs the club and who loves this club, and I have been impressed.
"He convinced me to help do better with this team. I had good meetings and feelings with this new person which made my decision to accept this very difficult mission. Football is about scoring goals and not conceding so we need to improve in both situations.
"We will work hard to do it and have started already in the last two training sessions. It is a new start for the team. My main target was to meet with the players and give them a lot of confidence quite quickly because we have a little game on Sunday. I'm not coming to prepare the team for next season in a lower division."
Garde's reign starts in difficult fashion on Sunday as Premier League leaders Manchester City travel to Villa Park to face a side who have lost seven league matches in a row.
Tom Nightingale
