Rudyard Kipling did not need his Uefa Pro Licence to know that a manager cannot afford to get too up or down after meeting with triumph and disaster so it was disarming to hear Tim Sherwood agree that losing at home to Stoke City was as low as he had felt in football.
While the new Aston Villa manager’s honesty is endearing, it is unconventional. A most upbeat first week in the job had led to a conviction that three points from his first game would be a formality but, as the 19th-century poet forewarned, Sherwood needs to “start again at your beginnings” in training on Monday after this setback.
Asked if, in the context of his pride in taking charge of Villa, this was one of the lowest moments of his football career, the former Tottenham Hotspur manager said: “Yeah, it’s low. I’m low tonight.”
As well as realigning his emotions over the weekend, it is to be hoped that Sherwood brings a gameplan to Bodymoor Heath this week in preparation for the forthcoming games with Newcastle United and West Bromwich Albion that could shape his managerial future and Villa’s Premier League fate.
No one should be judged on one game, of course, but as Stoke recovered from going behind to Scott Sinclair’s fine header to win with goals in stoppage time at the end of each half from Mame Biram Diouf and, from the penalty that brought Ron Vlaar his second yellow card, Victor Moses, there were disturbing signs that Villa may be throwing the baby out with the bathwater in replacing Paul Lambert’s stodgy approach with Sherwood’s free-wheeling.
Villa have changed from a mediocre long-ball team to a mediocre short-passing team over the past two years. On Saturday, they looked neither. Dispensing with the third central midfielder left Fabian Delph and Carlos Sánchez exposed by third-man runs and neat passing triangles. In trying to liberate his players from the shackles of cautious ball retention, some took that as an excuse to kick the ball back in the vague direction of Christian Benteke even when under no pressure.
In the midst of this mess lies a reasonable group of players quite capable of staying up. But confidence after four years of struggle and six successive league defeats is shot. Sherwood needs to implement his own messages quickly and clearly or the mixing of styles will lead to relegation.
Reverting to 4-4-2 all felt a bit 1980s; it’s not as if Sherwood has Christian Eriksen drifting in from the left side to impose international-class guile to proceedings. “I want them to play a bit more relaxed in the final third and go and get on the ball and go and express themselves a little bit more,” the manager said. Villa played with higher tempo and enthusiasm, epitomised by Sinclair’s contribution, but this needs coupling with football intelligence. If only.
Man of the match Steven N’Zonzi (Stoke City)
