Every manager has his honeymoon period, the first few months of his contract when fans generally give him a break and try to be positive, but it looks like Tim Sherwood’s is coming to a close.
Paul Lambert was given much more time before fans became frustrated enough to be angry so why aren’t fans extending the same courtesy to Tim Sherwood? Well, in spite of his promises, Sherwood’s side has gotten off to a pretty terrible start, even by the low standards of recent years, and fans are more than likely going to turn on the manager if this awful run of relegation form continues. Indeed, fans are already discussing who is available to take over from the current manager, which is a clear indication that they are losing faith in the man at the helm.
After the terrible experience we ended up having with Lambert and years of scrapping to simply survive, the patience of Villa fans will run out a lot more quickly with the current manager. As positive as Sherwood seems, often saying the right things and apparently rallying the players, perhaps his lack of experience is showing. After all, he is relatively new to football management and the Premier League, as he is learning the hard way, is a tough place to earn his stripes.
As I wrote last week, Sherwood doesn’t even know what his best team yet. That was evident once again in yesterday’s match against Stoke City, as he changed the formation at half time. However, not all Villa fans are considerate and patient in the way that they direct their support. I don’t think fans are showing too much aggression at this point but that aggression is going to be evident eventually unless Sherwood’s side starts picking up points. There were boos, not for the first time this season, when the whistle blew for half time yesterday so Sherwood appears to be on a slippery slope.
The problem is that Sherwood has signed many new players and they are not exactly ready to be quality Premier League players. Most of them are foreign youngsters, adapting to life in a new country as well as a new league. It would be easier to be optimistic and to trust in Sherwood if the performances were there. If we were playing well but just missing out on the three points here and there then fans would understand and would probably wait more patiently for the results to come. However, the team is not playing well and, while there has been much talk about losing by fine margins, the reality is that the Villans have not been deserving of wins even against less than potent opponents, which is rather worrying.
I’m not saying that it is time to organise a protest or to brandish signs saying ‘Sherwood Out’ but the heat is undeniably on a manager who has now lost as many Premier League matches as he has won. While I don’t claim to be psychic, it appears to me that the inevitable and unfortunate future for Aston Villa Football Club will involve yet another manager failing.
