It's not Sherwood!

[PeterWithesShin]

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.

[Monty]

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.

[john e]

The man is a sorcerer and witchcraft is the only possible explanation

[PaulWinch again]

As I said earlier in this thread he's been brilliant.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Be what it may, he's managed to get us the points on the board with a never ending injury list. Hell, if he can even get N'Zogbia to put a shift in, there may be some witchcraft behind all of this.

Sherwood has stuck to his plan of trying to improve us game by game, week by week, evolution not revolution, which considering our position, was a very bold move. First half today was as good as it's been for a very, very very, long time. Second half wasn't too shabby either. We're not even even a counter attacking team anymore; on recent performances we're a bloody hard working, skillful, footballing side.

Welcome to the 21st Century Aston Villa. It's taken a bloody long time getting here.

[Villa in Denmark]

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'd love to know what WestleyArms is making of it all.

[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.

[LeeB]

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'd love to know what WestleyArms is making of it all.

Ha ha, I'd forgotten about him.

[SoccerHQ]

One of the things I'm loving about his management is how quickly we're starting and setting the tempo in home games. Looking at Sherwood's games at VP, the only one we didn't turn up to and dominate the first half was Swansea when they outplayed us.

All the others we've been great in, West Brom, QPR who we battered after we fell behind and even Stoke we were leading until just before half time.

A lot of  football is complicated but some of it isn't. You start a high tempo from the start in home games, getting players forward and forcing the away team on the backfoot is more likely to lead to first goals and home wins.

It just makes such a good chance to the McLeish year and Lambert years where it seemed like we won about 3 home games in that period.

[ciggiesnbeer]

Its his tactics. He keeps getting it right. I accused him of being an English tactical plodder when he arrived.

Never been happier to be proven so utterly wrong

[Walmley_Villa]

The thing I loved today was that at 3-1 up he could easily have taken Jack or CNZ off and bolstered the defence leaving us sitting back but he didn't. The best form of defence is attack. Lambert would have taken two of them off and invited Everton onto us for 25 mins trying to hold on. I love the positive tactics. The tactics thing with Sherwood is a myth.

[dekko]

Good quote here:

'We are looking like a Tim Sherwood side,' he said. When pressed on what that meant, he added with a wink: 'One that wins.'

If he wasn't our manager I'd probably hate him, which I think makes me love him more.

[bob]

We're not even even a counter attacking team anymore.

About time!

[tomd2103]

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.   

[Monty]

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...