Aston Villa Close in on Tim Sherwood as Next Manager
It’s no secret that Tim Sherwood was the favorite for the Aston Villa job as soon as Paul Lambert received the phone call that he had been sacked on Wednesday. According to the Telegraph, Villa are in advanced talks with Sherwood, and it is expected that he will be named the new manager within the next 48 hours.
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Randy Lerner is eager to hire a new manager quickly in order to get the Villans back on track and out of relegation, in what would be devastating to such a historically rich club. While Lerner will have the final stamp of approval, he has Aston Villa chief executive Tom Fox pulling the strings on the negotiations. Whether Sherwood is in the stands for Villa’s FA Cup match against Leicester on Sunday will go a long way in confirming how well the discussions have gone.
While Tim Sherwood’s managerial resume only includes a six-month stint with Tottenham, he did serve as an assistant for the North London side for 5 years, under the tutelage of Harry Redknapp. His firing from the Spurs was controversial as it was felt he didn’t get a fair crack. After dominating rumors as a favorite each time a manager is sacked, it looks like Sherwood is finally getting a second chance. His mission: avoid relegation. How viable is this with the current Villa squad?
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Staving the club from relegation is a very real possibility. Sherwood is inheriting quite a side, despite the poor run of form. The Claret and Blue have a class striker in Christian Benteke who seems “checked out”. Much of this can be attributed to the lack of service he receives and the mundane system Villa continued to run under Paul Lambert.
Though in a different stage of his career, this story sound eerily familiar to a striker that Sherwood got back on track at Tottenham. Emmanuel Adebayor had only scored 8 goals in 35 appearances for Andre Villas-Boas. Sherwood came in and rejuvenated the Togolese talisman, who smashed 14 goals in 24 appearances for his new manager. Perhaps he can pull the same magic with Benteke, who will require better service from the midfield.
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Carles Gil is the man for this job as he has been nothing short of extraordinary since coming over from Valencia in January. There is no reason Gil and Fabian Delph cannot find the spaces for Benteke and Weimann to operate in a system that Sherwood can flexibly fit for them.
It’s important to remember that Sherwood racked up 39 points in 21 Premier League matches for Tottenham; nearly two points a match. While the talent is not quite the same in Birmingham as it was with Spurs a season ago, the gap is not as large as the results in play have suggested. Sherwood’s new ideas and attack style should be refreshing for the lads. Paul Lambert was slowly losing his squad’s attention, leading to a lower goal output and point output each season under his reign. There is no doubt in my mind Aston Villa will be ready for a fight with Tim Sherwood manning the ship.
Will Tim Sherwood steer Aston Villa out of relegation? Let us know what you think in the poll below.