On Valentine’s Day it was announced that Aston Villa have
appointed Tim Sherwood to be their new manager, signing a contract until the
end of the 2017/18 season. This appointment has received a mixed response from
pundits and Villa fans alike, with the general consensus being that it is at
best a massive gamble by the club.
In many ways, however, Sherwood’s appointment as Villa
manager makes a lot of sense. Although he has limited experience, he has shown
some evidence that he is the right man to address The Villan’s deficiencies
and build on what strengths the club already possess.
The first and most obvious problem that the new Villa
manager must address is their lack of goals. Twelve goals in twenty-five league
games is asking for relegation, especially when you consider that it means that
in an average league game an opponent only needs to score once to defeat the
Midlands club, and a team at the foot of the table can never really be relied
on to keep clean sheets.
Given his record as manager of Tottenham Hotspur, it would
not be too farfetched to suggest that Sherwood has the ability to improve Aston
Villa’s goal output. During his (admittedly short) stint as Spurs boss during
the latter half of last season his side to scored an average of 1.9 goals per
game in the league. This was a vast improvement from Andre Villas Boas’s record
during the first half of the same season where Spurs only managed to average
1.0 goals a game.
When one delves deeper into Spurs’ attacking statistics
under Sherwood, one finds more cause for optimism for his Villa reign. A
massive part of Aston Villa’s goal shortage is their utterly shocking chance
conversion ratio, which is the second worst in all the major leagues in Europe.
Under Sherwood, Spurs had the best chance conversion ratio in the Premier
League, indicating that if anyone can get Villa’s attackers firing, it is he.
A large factor as to why Tottenham Hotspur’s scoring rate
almost doubled between the reigns of Villas Boas and that of Sherwood last
season was the rejuvenation of Emmanuel Adebayor under the latter manager.
Having been frozen out during the first half of the season, the Togolese
striker returned to score 10 goals in 20 league appearances. Adebayor himself
acknowledged that his return to form owed much to Sherwood’s influence, as can
be shown through both his famous salute of the manager after a goal against
Sunderland, and his public vocal support of the manager to keep his position
beyond the end of the 2013/14 season.
Aston Villa fans will certainly be hoping that Sherwood can
have a similar effect on their out of form striker Christian Benteke as he had
on Adebayor at Spurs. The Belgian striker has only scored two league goals all
season but, like Adebayor, can be unplayable when confident and on form.
Villa’s potential to ascend from danger will surely rest heavily on whether
Benteke can get back amongst the goals, and, as has been stated, there is good
evidence to suggest that Sherwood can be the man to bring him back to his best.
It is Sherwood’s ability to instil confidence in players,
particularly attacking players, which may well ensure that his appointment is a
gamble that will pay off. Villa’s lack of goals can be attributed to their
midfielders and attackers always choosing the safe option rather than attempting
a run or killer pass. This lack of creativity has been further highlighted with
the recent introduction to the team of exciting playmaker Carles Gil. Gil’s
adventurous and creative play bears a stark contrast to all of his new
teammates, quite possibly because he has not been a part of the Villa camp for
long enough for the negative atmosphere to drain away his confidence.
Sherwood’s first task as Villa manager will therefore be to
give his players the belief and freedom to express themselves on the field.
Given the upsurge in form of attacking players such as Adebayor, Gylfi
Sigurdsson, Christian Eriksen and Harry Kane during Sherwood’s time as Spurs
manager it would seem that he has the capabilities to achieve this.
Although it must be admitted that Sherwood came nowhere near
to alleviating Spurs’ mental block against the bigger sides, his former team’s
ability to bounce back from humiliations at the hands of Liverpool, Chelsea and
Manchester City suggest that he has the motivational skills to overcome the
setbacks that will surely occur during a relegation scrap.
Sherwood’s ability to give attacking players more creative
freedom may see Villa reaping instant benefits. Though their recent form has
been woeful, having not won a league game since early December, they have just
finished a very difficult run of fixtures and are entering into a period of
winnable games. An injection of confidence, particularly into their attacking
players, could therefore see them picking up some momentum into the business end
of the season.
Perhaps the biggest reason, however why Sherwood seems a
good fit for Aston Villa is his excellent record of working with young players.
Sherwood was in charge of the Tottenham Hotspur Under-21 side that reached the
final of the first ever Barclays Under-21 Premier League. He should be heavily
credited for the large number of young players making an impact at White Hart
Lane at the moment, in particular Harry Kane and Nabil Bentaleb, who he
personally blooded into the first team during the latter half of last season.
Such ability to bring through younger players is an
essential trait for any Aston Villa manager, particularly given owner Randy
Lerner’s refusal to inject money into the club’s transfer kitty. The Villan’s
have a tradition of youth products making an impact in the first team, and
Sherwood could definitely continue this tradition, particularly given Villa’s
clear need for fresh legs and minds within the first team.
Sherwood’s ability to work with young talent will also be
incredibly important for Villa’s long-term future. With Lerner seemingly
looking to offload the club, a young, talented and inexpensively assembled team
will attract investors. As well as this, should Villa fan’s nightmares come
true and they are relegated, Sherwood has the skills to assemble a new team
cheaply, meaning that he is a sensible option as Villa manager as opposed to
the gamble that many are making him out to be.
Despite this, many Villa supporters are still dissatisfied
with the appointment of Sherwood, with their main gripe being his lack of
managerial experience and, more specifically, his lack of experience in guiding
teams through relegation battles. Indeed, he does have absolutely no experience
in this situation, and that is not ideal, however there is a strong case to be
made that such experience is not as important as it seems, particularly given
how this particular campaign is panning out at the bottom of the table.
First of all, one must look at the managers of the teams
around them, and compare what experience they have to that of Sherwood. Indeed,
Tony Ferndandes’s ‘dream manager’ at QPR has no head management experience in
football, Sean Dyche is in first season of Premier League management and, given
his recent indiscretions, the more experienced Nigel Pearson appears to be
losing the plot at Leicester. In addition to this, relegation “specialist”
Harry “Houdini” Redknapp’s recent work at QPR must beg the question of whether
experience is really as valuable as people it make out to be.
An interesting contrast can also be made between the
managerial appointments of Villa and their Midland rivals West Bromwich Albion,
who recently appointed Tony Pulis as the man to lead them to safety. Such an
appointment could not be in a more different vein to that of Sherwood’s at
Villa. Pulis is certainly a relegation specialist, as can be shown through his
miracle work last season at Crystal Palace. To see West Brom getting relegated
under his leadership would be unpredictable to say the least.
However there are also some major drawbacks of West Brom’s
new managerial appointment. It is unlikely that Pulis will stay at the club in
the long term, particularly given their “continental” management structure
which sees Pulis having no real control over transfers, this being the reason
why he left Crystal Palace at the start of the season. Sherwood, on the other
hand, seems to have been appointed for his ability to develop a team gradually,
and the Aston Villa board’s hopes will surely be that they already possess the
personnel to achieve their short term goal of safety, so long as they have the
required confidence.
This type of long termism in the face of adversity is all
too rare in football and should be respected, even if it is not necessarily
rewarded.
A second problem that Villa fans may have with Sherwood
revolves around his media handling style, which can be very aggressive at
times. During his spell in charge of Spurs he publicly criticised his players
and at times resembled a stroppy teenager at press conferences. A worry for
Villa fans could be that if he continues this eccentric media style and results
do not improve then the Birmingham club could become the laughing stock of
English football.
However Sherwood’s displays in front of the media may
actually prove to be an advantage in a relegation battle. It could divert
pressure away from underperforming players, and give Villa a “wildcard” club
persona that could unnerve sides around them. At the very least, Sherwood’s
antics will at least provide Villa fans with some entertainment, something
which has been painfully lacking at Villa Park this season.
Given all this, it would seem that Sherwood’s strengths
greatly outweigh his weaknesses in being the new Aston Villa management, and
considering the dearth of other options available, Sherwood’s appointment
should surely be seen as much more than just a big gamble.
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