Tim Sherwood walked calmly over and shook hands with Brendan Rodgers and the Liverpool manager’s backroom staff at the final whistle, embraced a couple of his own coaches with no hint of what was to come and then the euphoria took over. Running down the touchline, pumping his fists, the Villa manager could not contain his delight as he celebrated, with a grin from ear to ear, in front of 32,000 delirious supporters. Who could blame him?
This was a day for Sherwood, his players and those long-suffering Villa fans to cherish. Rank outsiders beforehand – the bookmakers had Villa as long as 5-1 – Sherwood’s side produced a performance full of self-belief and bristling with attacking intent to vanquish Liverpool and reach their first FA Cup final in 15 years. They were unrecognisable from the team that laboured so painfully under Paul Lambert two months ago.
Sherwood inherited a side that had won only two of their previous 21 league games and sat 18th in the table when he took over in the middle of February. By his own admission the 46-year-old was putting his neck on the line by taking the job. Confidence was brittle, Villa had the worst goalscoring record in all four divisions and the Championship beckoned.
One school of thought among Lambert’s sympathisers at the time of the Scot’s dismissal was that nobody could do any better with the resources at his disposal. That theory has been blown out of the water. Working with the same group of players – albeit brave enough to throw Jack Grealish in at the deep end – Sherwood has transformed Villa from a prosaic, one-dimensional team that aimlessly passed the ball sideways and backwards into a vibrant, dynamic, attacking side that plays on the front foot and carries a legitimate goal threat.
Villa were a joy to watch against Liverpool, in particular that lovely trident of Christian Benteke, Fabian Delph and Grealish, whose power, energy and guile was too much for Liverpool to handle on an afternoon when Rodgers was forced to change his system twice during the game. The trio linked up for Benteke’s equaliser and repeated the trick for Delph’s winner, after Philippe Coutinho had given Liverpool the lead against the run of play.
Credit to Sherwood. He may not be everyone’s cup of tea with his touchline behaviour and outspoken comments but there is no escaping the fact Villa are re-energised under his watch and he got his tactics spot on here. “We looked at Liverpool and thought it might cause them a few problems if we played two No10s, with Jack Grealish and [Charles] N’Zogbia, and it turned out that way,” he said. “They played in the pockets, they were hard to pick up and they got them on the back foot. Our width came from our full-backs and we knew our midfield three would have the energy to cope, which they did.”
Grealish, in particular, caught the eye. Aged 19 and making only his fifth start in a Villa shirt, he shimmered with menace. With his hair greased back and socks down by his ankles – it has become a superstition for a player who has yet to commit his international future to England or the Republic of Ireland to wear children’s shinpads – Grealish looks as if he could be running around in the playground. He plays that way, too, effortlessly drifting past defenders, unfazed by the occasion and deserving the standing ovation when substituted six minutes from time. “The bigger the stage, the better he plays, the more he relishes it,” Sherwood said.
Delph showed again why he is the driving force in this Villa team. Industrious, combative and not too shabby with the ball at his feet – it was a superb interchange with Grealish that led to the England international breaking clear to set up Benteke’s goal and there was much to be admired about the way he stepped inside Dejan Lovren before scoring the second – the Villa captain upstaged Steven Gerrard, his opposite number, and showed why it was regarded as such a coup for his club when he signed a new contract in January.
Then there is Benteke, whose fortunes have turned around more than anyone’s under Sherwood. Dropped from the starting XI for Lambert’s final two games in charge after scoring only twice in the league since his return from injury in October, the Belgium international has plundered nine goals in his last seven club matches. Formidable in the air, strong with his back to goal and capable of producing some dexterous touches, as he showed with the adroit backheel in the lead-up to Delph’s winner, Benteke made life uncomfortable for Liverpool throughout.
There is a bigger picture for Villa. With Premier League survival still to be secured – Villa are 15th, three places and four points clear of the relegation zone – Sherwood knows that all FA Cup final talk will need to be put on the backburner over the next five weeks.
That dogfight, though, was a long way from his mind at the final whistle. “I watched the other semi-final yesterday and I saw how calm Arsène was after the game,” he said. “I’m sorry I can’t be Arsène Wenger. I was just delighted and I had to spill out them emotions.”
