It's not Sherwood!

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

The substitutions by TS made no sense, but...

...all three Leicester goals could very clearly be put down to individual defensive errors.

Goal 1: crap marking at the near post.
Goal 2: crap marking (standing about) by Bacuna/Richards while Vardy actually moved towards the ball
Goal 3: Guzan (and possibly Hutton? Richards? aiding/abetting)


Consolation? Our goals were well made and as a result of our good play.

[Villa in Denmark]

I posted this in Februaryhere

For what it's worth, I think short term, just the boost of a new manager with a bit of enthusiasm will be enough to get this squad over the line. There really is some dross in this league and our squad is definitely one of the better ones in the bottom half so even some half decent performances should get the job done. 

I wouldn't be surprised if we're wondering how long he'll last by time we get to Christmas though.

It would be just bleeding typical if this proved to be once in a decade prediction that comes true.

[old man villa fan]

We have a manager with less than a season of management experience.  Some of the comments being made completely ignore this and expect him to act as if he has ten years experience.

Like young players, he will make mistakes but I would hope that every supporter wants him to learn from them and take the team forward.  Sometimes I think that some supporters make their minds up at day one and are critical from that point, just waiting to have a go.

I have heard other experienced managers say that their players had made mistakes that cost them in the game.  Players know when they have made mistakes and they should be strong enough to accept it.  I would much prefer to hear things that I have actually seen rather than like Lambert saying we were excellent, when it was clear we were not.

Sherwood has taken a tremendous gamble with the clear out but I think most would agree, it was needed.  What he needs now is a bit of luck in being able to put is best team out, with options.  A bit better run of the ball wouldn't go amiss as well.

[passport1]

At half time my other half enquired about the score and I informed her we were one up and young Jack had scored."Well thats good news " she replied. "Not really their manager will make tactical changes in the second half and our mob will ignore them " was my response.

"But surely your Tim bloke can make tactical changes aswell?"  She asked. I didn't bother replying.

[pauliewalnuts]

We have a manager with less than a season of management experience.  Some of the comments being made completely ignore this and expect him to act as if he has ten years experience.

Like young players, he will make mistakes but I would hope that every supporter wants him to learn from them and take the team forward.  Sometimes I think that some supporters make their minds up at day one and are critical from that point, just waiting to have a go.

I have heard other experienced managers say that their players had made mistakes that cost them in the game.  Players know when they have made mistakes and they should be strong enough to accept it.  I would much prefer to hear things that I have actually seen rather than like Lambert saying we were excellent, when it was clear we were not.

Sherwood has taken a tremendous gamble with the clear out but I think most would agree, it was needed.  What he needs now is a bit of luck in being able to put is best team out, with options.  A bit better run of the ball wouldn't go amiss as well.

Sunday wasnt about luck though, was it?

You can point at individual players and their errors but those players wouldn't have been under such pressure had it not been for a failure to react to an opposition change followed by some baffling substitutions.

I think he gets a lot of things right. I like his signings, I like his ethos, and his enthusiasm clearly motivates players.

He needs to stop repeating mistakes, though, or all the positives will be forgotten. Only he can make that happen.

You are right, he is an inexperienced manager, but the fact is he is managing in a very tough league, and experienced or not, he is going to have to live up to expectations.

That is all part of the deal.

In his favour I'd the fact that ours are probably as low as they have been on thirty years, so it shouldn't be hard

[ozzjim]

Also, in fairness to fans expecting him to get things like Sunday right, he played in and won the premier league, as a bloody midfielder, so should be able to recognise when you get to the point of having to tighten up and get some fresh legs on. He may be an inexperienced manager, but he has been a player and coach for near on 30 years now, and Sunday was idiotic for someone who has 5 games experience in the game, let alone the amount Tim has. To defend the substitutions later was even more silly.

I really like him, I really like what he is doing at the club and think he has incredible potential but he has to learn fast, or indeed swallow his ego and succumb to not going gung ho at all times.

[Ger Regan]

Unlike (presumably) most on here, I don't particularly like Sherwood, as I think he's a self-serving egotist in the 'arry mould. That said, if I were a chelsea fan (shudders), I couldn't see myself liking Mourinho either, but I wouldn't let that cloud my judgement as to whether he was doing a good job or not. Likewise, sherwood deserves credit for keeping us up last year, even if it did go to pot towards the end.

Sherwood seems to have the support of the players (although how long will that last if he continues to blame them for defeats is anyone's guess), but his continuing inability to read and react to tactical switches from the opposition is starting to really annoy me. Yes, the players deserve some blame for individual errors, but as paulie infers, the likelihood of errors being made is increased when the opposition spend more time in your half.

The other thing is that a lot of the issues that spurs fans noted are still relevant today. Never mind pointing to last season, what are the realistic chances of him learning from his mistakes if he's still making the ones that he made during his time there?

[tony scott]

I think the inexperience factor only makes sense when you've not been exposed to the  requirements of the premiership before.  I just think he made a mistake and he will go  on making them.  I just hope they all won't be as costly.

[old man villa fan]

Football management is easy if you have played the game at the top and been involved as a coach.  We have so many in this country that have made a success of the job ...... or not.

[achilles]

I am fed up of people going on about Sherwood’s lack of experience!

On Saturday, Villa were two goals up and winning the game, what was not required was to substitute a mid-fielder with a forward when scoring goals was not the issue but defending the lead might well be. On top of that substitution the forward coming on has shown absolutely nothing of value so far in his limited time at the club! This was not inexperience but plain stupidity by Sherwood, as the vast number of supporters could see what was required and it was anything but this!

So far I have been amazed at Sherwood’s tactical naivety but I feel that this is because of his sheer arrogance that he knows best!
I am not certain he can change as this is part of his makeup but I sincerely hope that he does as I am fed up of changing managers and achieving nothing! 

[CT Villan]

Leaving the players aside for a moment (though they are culpable too)...Sunday's second-half was not just a Sherwood tactical failure, it was a Sherwood, Wilkins, Robson, Parks et al failure and there's no lack of experience amongst that group which makes it all the more surprising.

[Toronto Villa]

We should be sitting comfortably with 8 points right now. As much as that sounds negative it's also positive because we've played well enough to be in that spot. How we've not got 4 points more a down to a number of things, mostly a lack of collective naivety and discipline to finish things off. One can only hope we will learn from that because it is becoming a bad habit and threatening to outweigh much of the good Sherwood has brought to the club.

[Bad English]

As a stopgap measure pending the long, slow maturation of the gaffer's tactical nous, could we not have some Forrest-Gump-plays-American-football-style roll-down banners in the Witton Lane stand, opposite the dugout? At the appropriate moment in the match the crowd could indicate that a change in tactics is needed by chanting "SUB TIMMY! SUB!". Then a banner displaying the type of player required could be unfurled: "MIDFIELDER TIM!", "BUS TIM!" or "BANZAI! TIM!*

* Only kidding, he doesn't need that one.

[brontebilly]

Unlike (presumably) most on here, I don't particularly like Sherwood, as I think he's a self-serving egotist in the 'arry mould. That said, if I were a chelsea fan (shudders), I couldn't see myself liking Mourinho either, but I wouldn't let that cloud my judgement as to whether he was doing a good job or not. Likewise, sherwood deserves credit for keeping us up last year, even if it did go to pot towards the end.

Sherwood seems to have the support of the players (although how long will that last if he continues to blame them for defeats is anyone's guess), but his continuing inability to read and react to tactical switches from the opposition is starting to really annoy me. Yes, the players deserve some blame for individual errors, but as paulie infers, the likelihood of errors being made is increased when the opposition spend more time in your half.

The other thing is that a lot of the issues that spurs fans noted are still relevant today. Never mind pointing to last season, what are the realistic chances of him learning from his mistakes if he's still making the ones that he made during his time there?

Re learning from his mistakes, unfortunately my money has always been on no he wont.

If Tim Sherwood was chocolate he would eat himself.

imo, thats four league games in a row where we have been done tactically but the concerns go back to the Southampton game last season

He hung his players out to dry in that game, same after the cup final and now again with a whole new squad we have the same blame game being played

We have miles better players now but he seems to think its beneath his role to help his players out when they are on the pitch with tactical changes

[Toronto Villa]

Our players need to be held accountable to their actions. The individual mistakes killed us as much as his own ability to tactically adjust. For too long our players have had it easy so I didn't find anything wrong in what he said about the mistakes. I just hope the looks in the mirror once in a while in doing so. There's a lot he has done well and right since coming to the club and he needs to mature enough to maintain and build on that. It's well and good being gutted after a defeat. He needs to realise quickly that he isn't a fan, he doesn't need to feel like us when we lose. He needs to have a far more rational and considered approach before, during and after games to ensure we don't see the volatility of our play that we have seen of late.