It's not Sherwood!

[silhillvilla]

We're 6th on current form. It doesn't matter which games the wins came in, that is better than okayish.

Indeed it's good bordering on very good considering where we were

[ciggiesnbeer]

Top 6? Pish , how about top one?

 

[Rudy Can't Fail]

After Hull only okay-ish form would likely have sent us down so we have been better than that.

Two wins from 7 up before yesterday was nothing to shout about. Those 3 points yesterday were massive for us.

So why not just say 3 wins in 8, or you could even say 5 wins in 10 in all competitions. That's better than okay-ish.

Because if you read my original post I was refering to the league games up until yesterday, you should read it, I say lots of nice things about Timmy.

How do you manage to get five wins in ten when he's only been in charge for 9 games?

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

After Hull only okay-ish form would likely have sent us down so we have been better than that.

Two wins from 7 up before yesterday was nothing to shout about. Those 3 points yesterday were massive for us.

So why not just say 3 wins in 8, or you could even say 5 wins in 10 in all competitions. That's better than okay-ish.

In in 3 of the 4 defeats nobody would have begrudged us a point in each based on how we played. We've gone from a team that capitulated at the first sign of pressure to one that plays to the end of games with a chance of winning them.

We should also bear in mind that 3 of the losses could easily have been drawn, or gone our way; and I doubt we'd have drawn against QPR if we had a match-fit left back.

Remember also that Sherwood has achieved this turnaround in the midst of a massive injury crisis, with a couple of suspensions thrown in.

[PeterWithesShin]

Timmy has to get some credit for Leicester in the cup considering he was in the dressing room at HT and we went on to win.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Remember also that Sherwood has achieved this turnaround in the midst of a massive injury crisis, with a couple of suspensions thrown in.

I mentioned this yesterday and it shouldn't be under played how the players have pretty seamlessly fitted into the system rather than looking like a disjointed rabble that met 10 minutes before kick off in the Villa Tavern car park.

[old man villa fan]

I am quite surprised that people are coming to conclusions on the manager and on what he can achieve.  He has less than a season in management in the PL.  He may go on to be a complete flop or a top manager given time and more experience.

[john e]

The other massive change is that Silhillvilla is more positive than half of the site on here now

That is a miracle

[ciggiesnbeer]

I don't think anyone is jumping to conclusions to be fair. The spectrum of opinion seems to range from "Good job so far,  omens look good for the future" to "Decent job so far, not convinced for the future."

Thats a step up from "Will Lerner sack Lambert now we are bottom of the league?"

[Steve67]

Given the lack of hope, the lack of goals, a bored Christian Benteke, a pants Thomas Cleverly, massive injury lists and a severe bout of pissed offness from the fans, Sherwood has done superbly. Cleverly and Benteke are excellent at the moment.

[Eigentor]

I was underwhelmed when he was appointed and thought that there was a strong possibility that he would relegate us this season. Fortunately, it seems that I was quite wrong.

The keenest followers of English football over here claim that Sherwood has the enthusiasm and motivational skills to give Villa a short-term boost, but lacks the vision and knowledge to provide long-term success. That's my suspicion, too, but hopefully, I will be proved wrong on that account as well. Time will tell.

[Toronto Villa]

The obvious question being regarding these keen followers of English football, is what are they basing that opinion on? I mean they might be right. Or they might be completely wrong. The truth is, as with any managerial appointment, that none of us know how this will turn out. He might be brilliant in the transfer market or bringing kids through, or he might have a bunch of duds. He might continue to excell at his job or might flame out. We don't know. What I do know is that what he has done so far at Spurs and now with us is becoming less jammy and more a result of design. And especially with us, I believe he has begun to put into place a structure that might sustain a good level of performance as opposed to much of what we have all seen these past 4 years. Now the takeover might change everything off course but none of us know what that will bring. But if nothing else he is proving little by little that he has deserved his chance at being a PL manager with us and he isn't all clenched fists and emotion. That behind it he might be more astute than he is being given credit for.

[john e]

Pellagrini was the thinking mans tactical genius
With all the treasure in heaven he spoofs the league title then in his follow up year struggles to make top 4
So ends up not being all that as a tactical maestro with zero motivational skills

Hel be out of a job come summer
 

[supertom]

I don't think Sherwood is purely about gusto either. The whole "tactics Tim" moniker is a bit disrespectful. I think he's shown in the West Brom games, and Sunderland and Spurs, that he can put together an effective game plan. I think we showed a bit of nous yesterday, and also in the first West Brom game in particular. He's also brave enough to admit when he gets it wrong, as he did against Utd.
I don't think Timmy is purely a light the taper and run sort of a manager. He's got a little bit more too him than that. I don't see him being the full on tactician that some managers are, and he never will be. But he does have more a brain than people give him credit for. You can't get by in this league on motivation alone.
One thing he has identified which seemed to be alien to Lambert for the majority of his time here, is our strengths, and Sherwood plays to them. As such he's got Benteke back to his best, Gabby playing well, and we've even seen Zogbia turning in performances.
I always felt our squad was more blessed with attacking talent than defensive, so scoring 13 in 25 games was utterly woeful. Especially given the defence wasn't entirely watertight. His biggest success has been the simplest change.

[Risso]

It's not like Sherwood is a newly retired ex-pro who's been fast tracked into his first management job.  He was first team coach under Redknapp at Spurs for a few years, and whatever we all think of Redknapp, he did a good job there and had some very good players.