Tim Sherwood insisted last night that he would rather “die on his sword” than adopt more defensive tactics in the hope of safeguarding his future at Villa Park. The Aston Villa manager, who admitted that even he has been bored watching his side in recent weeks, is under pressure after his side’s winless run extended to eight matches after Saturday’s 2-0 defeat by Chelsea, particularly with sources close to David Moyes letting it be known that he would be willing to replace him.
Moyes, under pressure at Real Sociedad with the Spanish club in the thick of a relegation battle, is therefore eyeing potential escape routes. The former Manchester United manager rejected the opportunity to speak to Sunderland last summer but it is believed he would consider a vacancy at Villa, in contrast to Brendan Rodgers who has resolved to take some time out of the game after leaving Liverpool a fortnight ago.
Villa’s struggles continued with some poor defending leading to defeat at Stamford Bridge, but Sherwood is refusing to abandon his attacking philosophy in pursuit of short-term results. If anything the former Tottenham Hotspur manager has become more cavalier and encouraged his players to press the ball higher up the pitch against Chelsea, which they did from the outset in an open game.
In an extraordinarily frank admission afterwards, Sherwood even admitted that he has been bored watching Villa play and is promoting a greater sense of adventure, which may alarm fans who have twice seen their side beaten 3-2 in the last month.
“Why do we need to be more pragmatic?” Sherwood said. “I would never be pragmatic. I’ve done it a few times, but I don’t like myself for it. A lot of teams come to Chelsea and sit back, try to absorb the pressure and nick something. We didn’t. We took it to them from the first minute and were unlucky not to go ahead.
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“The last few weeks have been boring, I’ve felt bored watching it to be honest. People going square, sideways, I’m not telling them to do that. I’m telling them to express themselves.
“I’m trying to instil in them not to be scared to lose. If anyone should be scared to lose then it should be me. But I’m not. I want to go out on the front foot and if I die, I die on my sword.”
Sherwood was also typically frank on the subject of the strength of his squad and questioned whether some of Villa’s summer recruits from France such as Idrissa Gueye, Jordan Amavi and Jordan Ayew are ready for the pressure of the Premier League.
“If you want to play for a big club like Villa then you’ve got to take pressure otherwise play for a smaller club in a lesser league,” he said. “When you play for a big club like this it’s a big step up because it’s very different from Ligue 1. It’s very different from the Premier League. I realise that comes with pressures for the manager. I won’t shirk away.”
Sherwood insisted that he is relaxed about the prospect of losing his job and claimed to be taking inspiration from the recent renaissance of Alan Pardew, who left Newcastle United last December to join Crystal Palace, where he has enjoyed considerable success.
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“I can’t control my future, I can only control what I can do and I remain confident in that,” Sherwood said. “I need the boys to respond and I think they did and did what I asked them to do. I can take a lot of inspiration from people like Alan Pardew, who was screamed out of town in Newcastle, but look at him now. He’s the favourite for the England job and rightly so.”