It's not Sherwood!

[Mister E]

It's an amazing turnaround, but it also makes you wonder what the fuck Lambert was doing.

He wasn't just failing to get the best out of this squad, he wasn't even getting a middling return for the resources he had.

I said on the post-match thread, that's 14 goals in our last 7 league games. More than we scored in the first 25 under Lambert, that's how much he was holding us back.

The difference in how the respective managers have dealt with Jack Grealish speaks volumes.  Lambert saw a young kid full of energy and decided to play him out wide probably because he thought he'd do a shift out there.  Sherwood has come in and has given him a chance in his natural in his natural position, which he has taken.   

Yes! Never saw Jack as a winger, and it maddened me when Lambarse played him wide.

[Villa in Denmark]

Agreed. It shows that Sherwood is a lot better than many of us feared, and also that Lambert was somehow worse than many of us thought.

As much as the results, it's the performance levels that are amazing, and especially how he's taken on some of the "big boys". Maybe the months out gave him some time to reflect on the hammerings he got on occasions.

When we gifted that first goal last week, I'm pretty sure we'd have got hammered under Lambert, mainly due to lack of belief, but Sherwood's Spurs side last season would have also been in danger of a 4 or 5 goal drubbing due to a very open all or nothing style.

What we've seen the last fee weeks is a balanced approach that makes use of the player's strengths, but also has hard work and defensive discipline at it's core.

He does seem to have learned an awful lot. His Spurs team were so predictable and awkward, Eriksen always out of position and those bizarre experiments attempting to play Kyle Walker in every position except right back. Now, he looks like Jurgen bloody Klopp - the plans are very clear, there's a bit of variation and mixing it up but without muddling up the general style, all the players are in the best roles for them.

And - and this needs to be said - he does seem to be a little bit mental, which makes him so much more of a wildcard than XYZ British plodder you might care to mention. I hope he keeps it up - it still seems unsustainable somehow, somehow too good to be true, but I hope he keeps it up - and it should be enough to keep us up. And then there's the final...

As you were saying.....

[Toronto Villa]

Respectfully Monty, what seems unsustainable? Playing good football? Having players confident and believing in themselves? Scoring goals? I don't expect us to walk the league or play like this every week, but I am struggling to understand what is unsustainable about the overall level of our play. Are you so beaten down that watching Villa play this well, and certainly as a contrast to the past few years is that unbelievable that you don't think it has a chance of lasting under Sherwood? Because I don't think he'll ever want to play another way as a core philosophy.

[enigma]

What used to annoy me was the assertion that nobody could do much better than Lambert on the limited resources he had. Well Sherwood has proven that to be the load of bollocks it always was. Everything from performances to results have been transformed without him spending a penny on transfers.

[Rudy65]

It's an amazing turnaround, but it also makes you wonder what the fuck Lambert was doing.

He wasn't just failing to get the best out of this squad, he wasn't even getting a middling return for the resources he had.

I said on the post-match thread, that's 14 goals in our last 7 league games. More than we scored in the first 25 under Lambert, that's how much he was holding us back.

Amazing and god awful stat at the same time

[Toronto Villa]

Just to further clarify what I'm saying, we're not playing at a CL level. We are playing at a level that allows us to maintain a top 8 position. I think that is very sustainable. If that is what he achieves next season then it is a very good turnaround to what we had become accustomed to. The challenge then with better players is to push on again but no point getting too ahead of ourselves. But I think what we are seeing is a level we should be at every week.

[Monty]

With respect backatcha, TV, the slightly giddy tone of your post is exactly what I find unsustainable - they are so pumped up and they're on a roll, improving every week, and they seem so emotionally hyped. I'd just be interested to see what happens if, next season, we hit a less rosy patch of form: maybe Delph isn't bursting past players every week, Benteke's missing chances, you know. I'm sure that Sherwood's improved our level, but I'd like to see him over a full (and normal!) season, with its ups and downs, before we start proclaiming him the messiah.

Though, if he wins the FA Cup, he needs do sod-all else to earn his place in Villa history.

[Toronto Villa]

There's nothing giddier about my tone than everyone who is seeing things with their own eyes. You are pretty much now the only one still hanging to this "it won't last forever" position. I've said from the very start who cares if it does or doesn't because most managers never last more 3-4 years anyway. It's like you are waiting for the bubble to burst so you can say told you so.

Most of us, and I think I speak for a good number now are just really happy at how things are going, find it a fantastic turnaround in our fortunes, enjoying the moment and not at all looking that far ahead. Why are you so obsessed with how it will all end?

[Monty]

Urm...because it's my point of view? Where on earth have you got the notion from that I'm not happy with the situation? Do you only read the posts of mine in which I'm slightly cautious so you can jump on them?

You've accused me of wanting Villa to fail, as well, which is ludicrous. My voicing an opinion about the long-term pisses on your chips that much? Your second paragraph says, basically, 'why are you saying what you think? Can't you just think and post in exactly the same way I do?', which makes you sound a little cultish.

[Toronto Villa]

When you accuse someone of being giddy and now cultish then you've basically accused me of being some sort of cheerleader or brainwashed which is disrespectful. That I have my opinion without any really intelligent observation.

Like I said most people have given up thinking that it might all end in tears, just that you have brought it up again while trying to be positive. You're right it is your opinion and I never said your opinion was wrong. I just question why you are still of that belief? No problem if you don't care to debate it.

[ozzjim]

Lambert had lost himself in the woods somewhere. The end of his first season he found the magic formula. He then spent 2 years desperately trying to replicate it but failed badly. He lost the players confidence somewhere, and in failing to replace/ build a team around him there was no buffer or advice going either way. In the end it was a bit of a mentally torturous relationship.

The flip side of this bubbly, over confident, full of himself cockney bloke breezing in like he owns the place, bringing a full on coaching team, re-imaging the scouting, changing the training regimes in a week and totally revitalising the whole club, it is staggering really the impact he has had. I am always amazed when I am reminded in press articles that he is actually older than Lambert. Long may it continue, and please god along the road somewhere he does not get tactically driven into his shell in the way Lambert was, and Gregory ended up.

[Toronto Villa]

That's a fair point Ozz. What we don't know is what the future holds in terms of outside influence. As he matures as a manager will he become more conservative or will he hold true to what he believes today? Lambert was destroyed over three seasons but I never saw any of his teams even at the end of the first season string together games like this. There were certainly great moments along the way before it all crashed to earth. The summer will be so interesting not just on that front but also on everything else surrounding the club that it could be all change and all this debate will be for nothing.

[Monty]

I said your tone was slightly giddy, for which I don't blame you given how well Villa are playing! It's terrific - we're nowhere near out of it yet, but of course it's terrific. It was all good-natured TV, I assure you.

It's just my view, and I've told you exactly why I hold it in an above post. That line of yours - 'most people have given up thinking that it might all end in tears, just that you have brought it up again' - sounds genuinely weird, like you think I've just ruined a perfectly fun dinner party by bringing up the inevitability of death. You know, we were all having such good fun here, thinking the same thing, and then you said something else - well, why not? It's just a point of view, and I bet most other people wouldn't care to have H&V turned into some sort of 'safe space', free of bad vibes.

[dave.woodhall]

Pack in arguing, the pair of you.

[danno]

Did he sign any players at Spurs?
It's too early to think about anything other than staying up.

But I do think its fair to reserve judgement on Sherwood until he buys and sells a few players.
The transfer market has tripped up managers far more experienced than Sherwood.
We know we can't compete with Chelsea Man City etc. financially, so using the transfer market wisely is vital.

Even so, chuffed with Tim Sherwood so far like.