It's not Sherwood!

[OzVilla]

"The last few weeks have been boring, I've felt bored watching it. People going square, sideways, I'm not telling them to do that. I'm telling them to express themselves."

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11677/10034714/tim-sherwood-admits-he-is-bored-by-his-struggling-aston-villa-side

Christ almighty that is a shocking thing for a manager to say. He's completely hung the players out to dry and essentially said it's got nothing to do with him.

I think he lost them after Leicester where he basically blamed them for his fuck up. This is the closer for me, unbelievable comments. I think he'll be gone by Wednesday.

[Tony Erdington]

time to get your coat tim, and take festa with you.
unforgivable, you pick the team, you say they aint playing to your instructions, BUT YOU PICK THE TEAM.

[paul_e]

The squad we have is good enough to be a 'comfortable' mid-table, the manager is failing to get anything like the best out of them. For me, it's that simple.

These sort of comments are a bit lazy. 

We leak goals at the back - mistake after mistake - from experienced pros and rookies alike - that's not good enough for mid-table.

The midfield of any combo of Westwood, Sanchez, Vertout and Gana is so sterile - not good enough for mid-table.

Up front/atatcking options of  Ayew, Gestede, Gill - mid-table? dont  think so. Gill promises but doesn't score enough and based on opta type stats doesnt create enough for a mid-table side either.

No what's lazy is seeing a team play poorly and assuming it's because the players aren't good enough.

That midfield, for example, if they're not working on attacking 'shape' and ways to pull defenders out of position then it'as not going to be natural for them to do on match day.  I've always liked the Clive Woodward example when he was talking about penalties (here), basically everything should be so 'normal' that it just happens naturally.  It's a common thing for rugby fly-halves (which is why they all have the odd quirks before they kick, it's creating that 'zone' for themselves), you can extent the concept out a lot further though, 95% of a game can be fully trained, get that right and you give your players the platform to bring the 5% of brilliance that creates success.

The first thing to do in training is getting players fully fit, that should've happened during the summer and regardless of what Tim says I don't think this is a massive issue with the squad.

The next job is to get all the players confident in their basic skills in a variety of situations, some people will say that training professionals on basic first touch, pass and move and tackling technique shouldn't be needed, those people are idiots who have no idea how to coach sport, constant familiarity with the basics is absolutely essential to give players the self-confidence to do more.

Once you've got those 2 things the game becomes split into 2 open play and set-pieces, for the former you train your attack to drag defenders out of postion and make space and you train your defenders to not let them.  For set-pieces you just practice them and focus on, again, making putting the ball into dangerous areas something that just comes naturally for 3-4 players and everyone else becomes familiar with how and where the ball will be coming in so they can predict where to run to.

[paul_e]

"The last few weeks have been boring, I've felt bored watching it. People going square, sideways, I'm not telling them to do that. I'm telling them to express themselves."

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11677/10034714/tim-sherwood-admits-he-is-bored-by-his-struggling-aston-villa-side

For me that's got to be the final nail in the coffin, that's him not only blaming the players but also admitting that he can't get them to do what he wants on the pitch, either of those are worrying, to do both in a single sentence is a sackable offence for me, given what his job is.

Imagine in any other job a manager being asked why his team are failing and his answer being that his staff aren't doing their jobs properly and he is incapable of making them better at it, despite the fact that he interviewed and employed half of them a few months earlier.

[Chris Jameson]

I was actually looking forward to this season for the first time in ages, the new signings and a fresh start were what sort of excited me, knew it would take a while to get a settled team and obviously not every signing would come off. Sherwood has obliterated that optimism and enthusiasm, he's the biggest chancer in the game, his natural home is 'bantering' with Paul Merson on a Saturday afternoon whilst a proper manager manages Aston Villa.

It's not benefit of hindsight in saying I've never wanted him at our club, we all know how and why he got the job, he was out of work and available to start straight away. I'm going to revise my opinion of him as Stuart Pearce in a gilet to pound shop 'Arry Redknapp and on a par with Joe Kinnear.

[PaulWinch again]

I was actually looking forward to this season for the first time in ages, the new signings and a fresh start were what sort of excited me, knew it would take a while to get a settled team and obviously not every signing would come off. Sherwood has obliterated that optimism and enthusiasm, he's the biggest chancer in the game, his natural home is 'bantering' with Paul Merson on a Saturday afternoon whilst a proper manager manages Aston Villa.

It's not benefit of hindsight in saying I've never wanted him at our club, we all know how and why he got the job, he was out of work and available to start straight away. I'm going to revise my opinion of him as Stuart Pearce in a gilet to pound shop 'Arry Redknapp and on a par with Joe Kinnear.

I agree. I didn't want him to start, but he did start to change my opinion. However this season has been an utter catastrophe.

[luke95]

He knows he can't turn it around & is now asking to be sacked , him quitting will cost him too much £££s.
pretty much the same as Lambert 12months ago

[Tony Erdington]

He knows he can't turn it around & is now asking to be sacked , him quitting will cost him too much £££s.
pretty much the same as Lambert 12months ago

Agreed, which makes him a c - - -

[Vegas]

He knows he can't turn it around & is now asking to be sacked , him quitting will cost him too much £££s.
pretty much the same as Lambert 12months ago

Agreed, which makes him a c - - -

No it doesn't, it makes him entirely normal in football or other walks of life. The ones who don't do it this way, and honourably walk rather than taking a pay off, are few and far between.

[oldhill_avfc]

The squad we have is good enough to be a 'comfortable' mid-table, the manager is failing to get anything like the best out of them. For me, it's that simple.

These sort of comments are a bit lazy. 

We leak goals at the back - mistake after mistake - from experienced pros and rookies alike - that's not good enough for mid-table.

The midfield of any combo of Westwood, Sanchez, Vertout and Gana is so sterile - not good enough for mid-table.

Up front/atatcking options of  Ayew, Gestede, Gill - mid-table? dont  think so. Gill promises but doesn't score enough and based on opta type stats doesnt create enough for a mid-table side either.

No what's lazy is seeing a team play poorly and assuming it's because the players aren't good enough.

That midfield, for example, if they're not working on attacking 'shape' and ways to pull defenders out of position then it'as not going to be natural for them to do on match day.  I've always liked the Clive Woodward example when he was talking about penalties (here), basically everything should be so 'normal' that it just happens naturally.  It's a common thing for rugby fly-halves (which is why they all have the odd quirks before they kick, it's creating that 'zone' for themselves), you can extent the concept out a lot further though, 95% of a game can be fully trained, get that right and you give your players the platform to bring the 5% of brilliance that creates success.

The first thing to do in training is getting players fully fit, that should've happened during the summer and regardless of what Tim says I don't think this is a massive issue with the squad.

The next job is to get all the players confident in their basic skills in a variety of situations, some people will say that training professionals on basic first touch, pass and move and tackling technique shouldn't be needed, those people are idiots who have no idea how to coach sport, constant familiarity with the basics is absolutely essential to give players the self-confidence to do more.

Once you've got those 2 things the game becomes split into 2 open play and set-pieces, for the former you train your attack to drag defenders out of postion and make space and you train your defenders to not let them.  For set-pieces you just practice them and focus on, again, making putting the ball into dangerous areas something that just comes naturally for 3-4 players and everyone else becomes familiar with how and where the ball will be coming in so they can predict where to run to.

I agree with a lot of what you're saying.  Yes, focussed coaching should address key issues - and some improvement is possible - but I wonder if certain players have the potential to improve to the necessary standard.  As the old saying goes, you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. 

My point was that repeating the mantra of we've got a mid-table squad is a bit lazy.  This board is used by all sorts of people - many may have coaching badges - I'd be interested in hearing specifics on which players they think are underperforming and why.

[Walmley_Villa]

He just keeps shitting on the players and talking as if he is looking in from the outside, bizarre - take some responsibility you fecking chancer. I reckon he lost the dressing room a while ago but the Leicester disaster is the one that probably convinced the players he has been winging it.

I'm sick to death of the amateur way we are run on and off the pitch. Make a change today Fox/Lerner and give us a fighting chance of survival.

[NeilH]

He knows he can't turn it around & is now asking to be sacked , him quitting will cost him too much £££s.
pretty much the same as Lambert 12months ago

Agreed, which makes him a c - - -

If you were struggling with your work and realized that you weren't up to it, would you quit or simply wait for the redundancy payment? Yes he is in the spotlight, but he’s still a bloke in a job and sure as hell like the rest of us would, he wants to wait until he’s fired. Honour is football is as rare as rocking horse shit, so we are stuck with him until the trigger is pulled

[aj2k77]

The coaching being highlighter is a very valid point. I've heard him say that the forwards will score goals, keep doing what we are doing and it will come, almost a Paul Lambert ''we just will'' statement. Well it won't just happen, throwing on more attacking players won't just lead to us scoring goals. Where is the plan? I see 11 players on the pitch and I have no idea what style of play we will implement that will lead to us creating chances and scoring goals. The one plan I've seen us that only looks remotely successful is the wide ball in to the bag of cement Gestede and that it's, coming from one side of the pitch, from a full back, so easily shutdown. It's pathetic that we are a quarter of the games in to a season and we look about as organised as the first couple of pre season games.

[Jockey Randall]

Sherwood has obviously made errors of judgement in a lot of what he's said recently and maybe I'm missing something but I honestly don't see what he's said that's so out of order here? I'd certainly prefer him to come out and say it as he sees it rather than being told we were 'excellent' every week by Lambert. Maybe it's because although I'm not in anyway happy with the job Sherwood has done this season I'm probably in the minority that thinks players have a far bigger effect on things than managers. Obviously a lot of them try their best and simply aren't good enough but the lack of blame sent their way when things go south at a club is ridiculous imo.

[oldhill_avfc]

He knows he can't turn it around & is now asking to be sacked , him quitting will cost him too much £££s.
pretty much the same as Lambert 12months ago

Agreed, which makes him a c - - -

If you were struggling with your work and realized that you weren't up to it, would you quit or simply wait for the redundancy payment? Yes he is in the spotlight, but he’s still a bloke in a job and sure as hell like the rest of us would, he wants to wait until he’s fired. Honour is football is as rare as rocking horse shit, so we are stuck with him until the trigger is pulled

Most people dont struggle along and wait until they're fired.  More often they're told to find themselves another job and exit with a nice reference.  Not sure there's a footballing equivalent.