The Tim Sherwood Thread

[Tom13]

I still like Sherwood. I like his attitude in general and he deserves time to try and get it right. He gave us joy last season for the first time in a long time!

With Westwood, he's steady enough, but he's just too limited. He's never going to be able to move the ball quick enough in a dangerous area to create something out of nothing. He's not aggressive enough in the middle of the park and he's very slow. Gana and Sanchez (plus Veretout if we're going 4-3-3) is the way forward.

[Stevo985]

Westwood > Veretout

Not for me he isn't. I like Veretout a lot.

I like him too. I have hopes that he'll kick on and become better than midfielders we currently have.

But at this moment in time he's not better than Westwood. He's shown nothing in the prem. His two good performances have come against Notts County and SHA.

 

He'll get there. But he's not there yet.

[useless]

Westwood is a holding midfielder, Veretout is not. Not sure why people keep pitting them against each other. I'd have Westwood holding wth Veretout and Gana just in front, either side of him.

[sexbelowsound]

Westwood is a holding midfielder, Veretout is not. Not sure why people keep pitting them against each other. I'd have Westwood holding wth Veretout and Gana just in front, either side of him.

Who is the defensive minded player there?

People are comparing Veretout and Westwood based on our system and where they are likely to slot in.

[bobzy]

Westwood is a holding midfielder, Veretout is not. Not sure why people keep pitting them against each other. I'd have Westwood holding wth Veretout and Gana just in front, either side of him.

Westwood and Veretout can sit alongside each other and I think they'd need to (neither are destructive players) but that's absolutely fine.  Gueye is the main midfield "force" now and he looks a good player (despite crap performance against Liverpool - but that was understandable).

Agreed they are the 3 we should be playing but Westwood and Veretout need to protect the back 4.  Let Gueye break and give the ball to Grealish/Gil/Traore/Gabby/Sinclair/Gestede (I'm sure I've missed someone here) or whichever combination of those lot that we play as "attacking".

[Stevo985]

Westwood is a holding midfielder, Veretout is not. Not sure why people keep pitting them against each other. 

Because so far, Veretout has been played as a holding midfielder for us.

[useless]

Westwood is a holding midfielder, Veretout is not. Not sure why people keep pitting them against each other. I'd have Westwood holding wth Veretout and Gana just in front, either side of him.

Who is the defensive minded player there?

People are comparing Veretout and Westwood based on our system and where they are likely to slot in.

Well Veretout certainly isn't a defensive midfielder, last year he was playing behind the striker at Nantes. All I'm saying with Westwood and Veretout it doesn't have to one or the other in team.

[bobzy]

Do you think we could agree on our strongest first team, by the way?

I feel like no-one (included Sherwood really) knows what it is.

[Tom13]

Well, I'd love to see a 4-2-3-1 but it depends whether the likes of Gil/Grealish/Traore have the defensive work rate for it to work. Still worth a go though!

[sexbelowsound]

Do you think we could agree on our strongest first team, by the way?

I feel like no-one (included Sherwood really) knows what it is.

For me personally its........... But only if we are going to be using Gestede to create space for Gil and Grealish and getting plenty of crosses into him. If not then I would play Ayew or Gabby through the middle. We're incredibly unbalanced IMO.

                               Guzan

Bacuna        Richards       Okore       Amavi

          Gana        Sanchez    Westwood

                          Gil     Grealish

                            Gestede

Edited September 29, 2015 by sexbelowsound

[useless]

Westwood is a holding midfielder, Veretout is not. Not sure why people keep pitting them against each other. 

Because so far, Veretout has been played as a holding midfielder for us.

Well then I'd suggest that that's another argument against Sherwood then, as I say Veretout had been playing more as an attacking midfieder at Nantes and was getting rave reviews by all accounts, and I presume his performances in that position are what earned him a move to Villa in the first place.

[GeordieVillan]

I'm still behind Tim and I would give him until Xmas to see if he can gel the squad together. The points return has been poor so far, but in every game we have at demonstrated that we have something about us, and we've been "in" pretty much every game until the final whistle. I would also say that in pockets of nearly every game, we have played some very good football. He's definitely a step up from Lambert, and I have a feeling that the points will come soon.

He still hasn't figured out his best team, but he is getting there. I think he's now resolved that Gestede is going to have to play every game, as he gives us a genuine goal threat when we give him the right service - this is a massive thing for us.

He still hasn't worked out how to set us up in central midfield, and who to select, and quite honestly I think the only thing that all the fans agree on is that Gana has to play. I would currently be playing Gana and Sanchez as a two in most games, and bring Westwood or Veretout if we need to keep it tight. If you play Gana and Sanchez as a two, I think it gives you the ability to play both Gil and Grealish. If Westwood is part of the 2, we are just too lightweight with him, Gil and Grealish.

Grealish also seems to be a cert to start, so then we are looking at any 2 from Gil, Adama, Sinclair, Gabby and Ayew. I have a feeling that Gil has done enough to start when fit.

We've got some tough games now, but if we can get through his batch of fixtures and not be cut adrift, then I think we will be ok.

It is disappointing as I was really hoping for a big improvement this year, but it seems we will happy if we are safe come April, rather than a May survival drama!

[bobzy]

Well, I'd love to see a 4-2-3-1 but it depends whether the likes of Gil/Grealish/Traore have the defensive work rate for it to work. Still worth a go though!

Would love to see us play 5 at the back with Amavi and Hutton/Bacuna as genuine wing backs (basically how Liverpool set up against us).  I think it would take some of the burden off our poor-defensively-defensive-midfielders and we'd only need to play 1 player in there (Sanchez/Westwood?).  We could then play Gil and Grealish in a more inside forward type role as the width would come from overlapping wing backs.

But it doesn't look like this will ever happen

[GeordieVillan]

Westwood is a holding midfielder, Veretout is not. Not sure why people keep pitting them against each other. I'd have Westwood holding wth Veretout and Gana just in front, either side of him.

Westwood and Veretout can sit alongside each other and I think they'd need to (neither are destructive players) but that's absolutely fine.  Gueye is the main midfield "force" now and he looks a good player (despite crap performance against Liverpool - but that was understandable).

Agreed they are the 3 we should be playing but Westwood and Veretout need to protect the back 4.  Let Gueye break and give the ball to Grealish/Gil/Traore/Gabby/Sinclair/Gestede (I'm sure I've missed someone here) or whichever combination of those lot that we play as "attacking".

I think a midfield 3 of any combination of Gana/Westwood/Veretout/Sanchez is just too negative against most teams in the league - there is no goals in any of those midfieders - certainly not in Westwood and Sanchez, but hopefully Gana and Veretout might start chipping in moving forward.

If Tim wants to play 3 tight across midfield, then he somehow needs to give Gil/Grealish/Sinclair/Adama that role with more responsibility, and get them to be the main attacking player of the 3. I personally would have Grealish playing just in front of Gana and Sanchez, with license to roam. A bit of no.10 but with more defensive responsibility.

[GeordieVillan]

Well, I'd love to see a 4-2-3-1 but it depends whether the likes of Gil/Grealish/Traore have the defensive work rate for it to work. Still worth a go though!

Would love to see us play 5 at the back with Amavi and Hutton/Bacuna as genuine wing backs (basically how Liverpool set up against us).  I think it would take some of the burden off our poor-defensively-defensive-midfielders and we'd only need to play 1 player in there (Sanchez/Westwood?).  We could then play Gil and Grealish in a more inside forward type role as the width would come from overlapping wing backs.

But it doesn't look like this will ever happen

I would play 3 at the back, but only if we use Adama as the right wing back - I don't think we rely on Hutton or Bacuna to provide all of our width down the right.

I think you would still need both Gana and Sanchez in the middle, but then you could have 2 from Gil / Grealish / Sinclair / Ayew / Gabby playing with Gestede.

[Guest av1]

Westwood > Veretout

Not for me he isn't. I like Veretout a lot.

I like him too. I have hopes that he'll kick on and become better than midfielders we currently have.

But at this moment in time he's not better than Westwood. He's shown nothing in the prem. His two good performances have come against Notts County and SHA.

 

He'll get there. But he's not there yet.

Thats the exact reason I think he and the other new boys should play. They need to get up to speed as quickly as possible, and the only way to do that is to play them. I'd understand the slowly slowly approach if we currently looked anything like a football team but we don't. 

If we believe the likes of Veretout, Ayew, Troare etc are going to be big players for us let's try to speed up the process by giving them a lot of game time. After all, the players they have been brought in to replace are hardly pulling up any trees. 

[villan501]

Do you think we could agree on our strongest first team, by the way?

I feel like no-one (included Sherwood really) knows what it is.

For me personally its........... But only if we are going to be using Gestede to create space for Gil and Grealish and getting plenty of crosses into him. If not then I would play Ayew or Gabby through the middle. We're incredibly unbalanced IMO.

                               Guzan

Bacuna        Richards       Okore       Amavi

          Gana        Sanchez    Westwood

                          Gil     Grealish

                            Gestede

bacuna is just useless at rb and we cant have sanchez and westwood in same team. I prefer vertout and gana infront of sanchez. Id tell sanchez all your job is win the ball and spread play imo westwood cant tackle for toffee.

[Robbie09]

If there's no real improvement in the points tally in the next 4-5 games then i hope Fox pulls the trigger. Waiting until Xmas may be too late

[villa89]

Just one quick question, does anybody trust him to be able to sort out our defensive issues? I don't because I don't think he knows how and I don't think he has the right assistants to help him.

[sexbelowsound]

Do you think we could agree on our strongest first team, by the way?

I feel like no-one (included Sherwood really) knows what it is.

For me personally its........... But only if we are going to be using Gestede to create space for Gil and Grealish and getting plenty of crosses into him. If not then I would play Ayew or Gabby through the middle. We're incredibly unbalanced IMO.

                               Guzan

Bacuna        Richards       Okore       Amavi

          Gana        Sanchez    Westwood

                          Gil     Grealish

                            Gestede

bacuna is just useless at rb and we cant have sanchez and westwood in same team. I prefer vertout and gana infront of sanchez. Id tell sanchez all your job is win the ball and spread play imo westwood cant tackle for toffee.

Bacuna isn't useless IMO and I don't agree that Sanchez and Westwood can't be in the same team. I'm not a massive Westwood fan but I think in a 3 with Sanchez holding and Gana playing box to box he would provide that important link between midfield and attack.