Next Season Is the True Test for Aston Villa's Tim Sherwood

With the feel-good aura that he seems to bring to the clubs he coaches, Tim Sherwood is a difficult character to criticise. After leading Aston Villa to safety last year, as well as the final of the FA Cup, the former Tottenham Hotspur boss is presiding over a bright, optimistic Villa Park this summer.

However, the Villa fans would do well to be cautious. Sherwood did oversee an upturn in their fortunes, but the club is still in a highly precarious position.

Sherwood took over in mid-February with the club in 18th and having scored just 12 times in 25 games. Despite this, they were just five points away from Everton in 12th thanks to a remarkably congested bottom half of the table.

Under Sherwood's command, Villa eventually scraped to safety. Throughout his reign, they have displayed decidedly hot and cold form—with highlights including beating fellow strugglers Sunderland 4-0 away—as they eventually finished a lowly 17th.

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What will be of concern for the Villa faithful will be the team's drop off, particularly after they'd secured safety. A 6-1 thumping by Southampton was followed by a home defeat to relegated Burnley and a sorry showing in the FA Cup against Arsenal.

The poor end to the league campaign would have been forgivable had Villa given a good account of themselves at Wembley, but a combination of tactical naivety on Sherwood’s part and a lack of drive on the pitch left the Midlands club with little to show for the penance they paid at St Mary’s.

Whether this late slump was a result of the team simply being safe in the knowledge that they had achieved their primary aim and taking their foot off the pedal or something more toxic remains to be seen.

However, with Sherwood's management style leaning so heavily on motivation and momentum, it's hard to shake the sense that the upturn in fortunes they experienced when he took charge was little more than a temporary boon—the players responding to the tonic that he offered from the pragmatic approach of Paul Lambert.

Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated Press/Associated Press

Villa scored 19 times in 13 games under Sherwood in the league, 11 of which came from a rejuvenated Christian Benteke, but Villa’s gain from the Belgian striker last season could be their loss in the next. Transfer talk around Benteke had cooled significantly since he burst on the scene during the 2012/13 season, but his resurgence under Sherwood has reignited interest. Liverpool and Manchester United have both been heavily linked with the striker, per TalkSport.

If Benteke does depart—Sky Sports reports he will not sign a new contract—it will make Sherwood’s task exponentially more difficult, with few attacking options to turn to. Darren Bent and Andreas Weimann have already left the club, and Gabby Agbonlahor’s limitations are becoming increasingly apparent as his once prodigious pace beings to desert him—the Villa academy product hasn’t hit double figures in the league since 2009/10.

Even if Benteke does stay, Sherwood must show more than he has so far in his time at Aston Villa if he’s to avoid another relegation battle next season.