Aston Villa Defeat to Swansea Demonstrates Tim Sherwood's Limitations

As heartening as Aston Villa’s 4-0 victory over Sunderland was, their 1-0 home defeat at the hands of Swansea City was equally chastening.

For a manager like Tim Sherwood, whose success hinges so much on enthusiasm and momentum, it was a devastating blow, and not just because it represented a missed opportunity to distance the club from the lurking spectre of relegation.

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Villa’s problem all season has been a lack of goals, particularly at home, where they’ve managed just 11 in 15 games. The glut against Sunderland was largely a result of the recent switch to 4-4-2, rather than the considerably more conservative 4-2-3-1 often employed by Paul Lambert.

While this looked like a masterstroke against a beleaguered Sunderland side, it was exposed against a well-drilled Swansea team. Sherwood’s time in charge of Spurs was demonstrative of his intention to outscore teams rather than attempt to grind out results. This reductive policy betrays a lack of tactical acumen—and perhaps Sherwood's lack of self belief in his ability to set a team up defensively—that could cost Villa dearly.

Sunderland lined up in an unfamiliar 4-4-2 formation, effectively going man to man with Villa. Swansea utilised a midfield diamond, with Ki Sung-Yeung in between Villa’s midfield and defensive lines, while Jack Cork was able to effectively stunt attacks by sitting in front of the midfield.

The game was lost in Sherwood’s failure to account for opposite number Gary Monk’s tactical setup. Had he mirrored the diamond formation, he could have better utilised Fabian Delph—who in the event was wasted on the left wing—in a deep-lying role and offered Gabby Agbonlahor and Christian Benteke a more consistent supply line.

Scott Heppell/Associated Press

Sherwood’s appointment was always a calculated risk taken by Randy Lerner and the Villa board. Sherwood, while admittedly still learning his trade, is very much an old school manager. He prefers to trust intuition over cold hard data, gusto rather than intricately thought-out systems.

When it works, it demonstrates that the perfect tactical setup can only get you so far. When it doesn’t, it’s immensely frustrating that such basic mistakes are made.

Sherwood and Aston Villa will be hoping that enough of their remaining games fall into the former category to keep them up. Long term, Villa already have just cause for concern about how far Sherwood can realistically take them.