It would be understandable if Tim Sherwood still held a grudge towards Tottenham Hotspur. They sacked him at the end of last season and replaced him with Mauricio Pochettino. Sherwood has faced Pochettino three times and he has emerged triumphant on each occasion. Sometimes life can be unfair.
Sherwood could be forgiven for wondering why Pochettino has his old job. Pochettino was feted for his work at Southampton last season and the Argentinian is admired at Spurs, yet he has come up short against Sherwood. A statistical anomaly, or something more pertinent?
Whatever the answer, Sherwood seems happy to let bygones be bygones. He joked about not even having a picture in the Tottenham programme and steered away from criticising his former chairman, Daniel Levy. He just wanted to focus on a fine performance from Aston Villa, his new side’s 1-0 victory at White Hart Lane lifting them six points clear of the bottom three.
“This club’s been very, very good to me down the years and they make a decision based on what they think is right for the football club,” Sherwood said. “I think Pochettino’s doing a great job here and I’m just grateful for them. Without them I wouldn’t be Aston Villa manager now.
“Listen, these fans have been good to me and the club’s been very good to me. It wasn’t the welcome I was looking for, it was the three points, and I’m happy.”
Villa are delighted with the way everything has turned out. The Sherwood effect has been felt most keenly by Christian Benteke, whose header in the 34th minute proved enough to beat Tottenham.
It was the Belgian’s eighth goal since Sherwood replaced Paul Lambert at Villa Park two months ago.
“I’ve had chats with him, told him what I think of him, and how everyone in Europe seemed to want him a year ago, and that doesn’t just vanish,” Sherwood said. “So let’s get him back to firing, let’s get him back to training properly and scoring goals. He’s worked hard on the training pitch, everyone else has worked hard behind him. They get on really well, the group.
“Perhaps too well at times, I want to see them be a bit nastier with each other, but that’s just me and they’re all happy being happy, but he has a good group behind him willing to give him the chances because they know what a threat he can be.”
It was a similar story for Sherwood with Emmanuel Adebayor last season. “It’s also about them applying themselves,” Sherwood said. “Like Ade, when I gave Ade an opportunity to come back into the group, he had to earn the right, and he did that by the way he trained, and Christian’s no different.”
Man of the match Ron Vlaar (Aston Villa)
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