Big clubs, great clubs are always looking to the next game, never resting on their laurels or mulling over past defeats or achievements – it’s part of their winning mentality.
So, for Aston Villa, the only matter of importance is this Saturday’s home game against Stoke City. We have to set aside our insecurities and recent frailties, forget the high emotions of the derby night victory against Birmingham City and concentrate on securing the necessary three points before the international break.
We simply must start on the front foot and forget the currently favourite tactic to sit back and take the sting out the game. Saturday offers a most decent opportunity to put the first win on the board since the opening day.
For the first time in his short tenure, Tim Sherwood came under the most critical and sustained scrutiny after this weekend’s Liverpool reverse, with large sections of supporters calling for him to be sacked. It is inevitable after the disappointing finish to last season and the lacklustre start to this campaign that fans will question the long term managerial credentials of Sherwood.
His team selections, substitutions and tactics have understandably caused a great deal on consternation, this term especially.
Sherwood must surely understand though that it is hard to criticise a manager if he picks a team on merit. Ciaran Clark and Jordan Ayew both fully deserved to start at Anfield after their impressive performances on Tuesday against the Blues, yet both found themselves unused at Anfield – Sherwood ignored that most basic football management principle of never changing a winning team.
As for the tactics deployed at Liverpool our defensive set up provided welcome relief for the struggling home side, showing them far too much respect.
The situation with Tim Sherwood though is uncomplicated. Just like beleaguered Liverpool manager Brendan Rogers did on Saturday, he now has to did stand up to the flack. It goes with the territory of being a Premier League manager, and he will either sink or swim.
Although he has limited managerial experience, Sherwood is well versed with the temporary nature of English football having spent a long and varied playing career that spanned the length and breadth of the country. His downbeat demeanour in recent post match interviews suggests he may now be half expecting to be thanked for his services.
It is unlikely also that the strengthened back room team at Villa Park, that now includes Sporting Director Hendrik Almstadt, would exercise the same degree of patience that preceded the dismissal of Paul Lambert.
The Author
Matt Greenhill
Comments 7
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Interesting comments, Matt.
However, I suggest we just need a wee bit more patience. 😉
As to “Sherwood ignored that most basic football management principle of never changing a winning team.”, I feel that what was considered right for a home cup match against a championship-based side does not necessarily apply for selection against the likes of Liverpool at Anfield. If we had won in a Premiership match then the rule cited would apply, of course.
Tim is still trying to work out what his best permutation is, and it’s only now that he has a squad that’s virtually free of injuries for the best to be picked.
I continue to wait with baited breath to see what the next team selection will be like, in the anticipation that the corner will be turned in October.
As we head into October and the start of autumn , we are already in dire straits in terms of our league campaign. We have to beat Stoke, which in itself is no easy task and one we rarely seem to manage since their promotion a few years ago. Another defeat and we will be past alarm bells territory and heading into panic stations, as we are heading into an even more difficult period fixtures wise, where any points will be hard to earn. The real worry is we haven’t looked good at all this season if we are being honest, and I include Leicester and bournemouth in this, yes we won on the south coast but we were second best to everything the cherries did bar the score line , leicester we doing ok and had two break away goals which were finished off with aplomb, but once the foxes started playing with pace and purpose we imploded. The rest of the games we have been shite, we even struggled against bloose and the team were booed off at half time. TS needs to sort this and sort it quick, Newcastle showed the green shoots of recovery with a good performance against Chelsea but us and Sunderland and the Geordies are in danger of being cut adrift before Christmas , although I do feel others could be dragged back into it, with the likes of Bournemouth losing Callum Wilson for 6 months.
But we have to start doing it for ourselves rather than being reliant on 3 other teams being worse than us every year.
Without serious improvement we will go down and miss out on the massive TV pay deal , this will effectively destroy any hopes of even keeping up with teams like WBA and God forbid the vermin/wolves if they go up. It cannot be underestimated how important this season is and so far we are making a complete fucking hash of it, over to you Tim and co because time is running out on your tenure with each passing defeat.
I think ‘lacklustre’ is a very kind word to use to our start of the season….4 points out of a poss 21 i can think of other words!
After all the hope in the summer and excitement about new players it has been the worst poss start.
I honestly believe we are going down. You simply dont go 6 years with always conceding stupid goals, not scoring enough, not being able to win at home with out eventually being punished.
What will get us this season is the fact that other teams are all fairly good. There wont be 3 really bad ones to keep us up.
Agree TS has had some injuries to contend with, but 7 games in we should know our best formation at least.
Need a settled side asap to start picking up points. Along with TS realising Westy, sinclair should not be automatic starters.
Id like to see a settled side of
Guzan
Richards Okore Lescott Amavi
Sanchez
Vertout Gana
Gill Gestede Grealish
Think we have to play 3 in midfield…not good enough to get away with 2 in there.
Agree with the above, a settled side, a settled formation that players fit into as opposed to the round pegs, square holes approach of previous managers. We also need a plan B either a change in formation mid game or change in personnel that can influence the result.
Overall we need signs that TS is learning and not an arrogant fuck who thinks he knows it all now. We need to work on fitness as we tend to tire out towards the end of game mainly due to lack of possession and having to chase but even then we’re not high in the ground covered charts which suggests less movement from our players.
Still refer back to only being beaten by single goals, so we aren’t getting dumped on so it shouldn’t take too much to turn defeats into draws and wins.
It’s far from TS out but we need to get consistent quickly and pick up points before we are cut adrift and beyond Sunderland no other team looks to be playing bad football just not getting the results whereas in previous seasons there were a number of bad teams going through extended bad patches.
UTV
Hi Matt I agree Timbo should of at least realised a conservative approach at Anfield would be nothing more than target practice for skilful players. We Barely got away with it against The scum what made him think no threat would worry Liverpool? surely putting them on the back-foot and keeping the ball is more effective than parking the bus with players with no HGV licence. In Recent seasons we have done well by attacking Liverpool why not when they were on a losing streak? when we finally had a go they fell apart at the back.
For me rather than a Plan B we need a plan A rather than the A- we have had the last few games. Its annoying when you have to use subs to create the team that should of started in the first place. Subs should be used to change the angle of attack or see a game out in the last 10-20 mins, not rescue the game constantly.
Not sure on the fitness angle, a lot can depend on mind set, a fearful mind will tire you out quicker than someone that’s up for it. If this lot are not fit enough they never will be. Match fitness is the one that counts because that’s when adrenaline and cortisol hit you, nobody get worked up over a practice match against your mates.
One thing I will say is Tim needs to pick players that are playing well not training well, the 2 things have almost no relation. Some people come out of there shells when nothings at stake and look world beaters, some become absolute animals when there is, on match day you want the latter.
Another thing I forgot to mention, Language barrier. Gueye made this statement
“I have a good friend in Charles N’Zogbia who has helped me. He has shown me some good places to go and he translates for me on the training ground. The most important thing for me now is to adapt well.”
How much of a problem is the ability to communicate in training and whilst in the game?
If Tim wins 4 out of the next 6 he will of equalled his points from the 13 league games last season!
sobering thought.