Aston Villa: Time is ticking, Tim

Tim Sherwood promised at the start of the season that during his tenure, Aston Villa wouldn’t be involved in another relegation scrap. 8 games in, 4 points on the board and a leaky defence to top it all off, and Sherwood is feeling the pressure. The honeymoon period is over. Losing four games on the bounce (and our worst premier league start ever) including two against Midland rivals has seen the goodwill towards Sherwood evaporate. Winning against Birmingham City in the Capital One Cup gave him a small rest bite, but Villa fans care most about being in the right half of the Premier League Table. Can Sherwood get Villa out of a huge mess?

At the moment, its an all too familiar sight for Villa, who are getting used to keeping an eye on the bottom half teams rather than the top. This is now the sixth season on the trot where question marks are being raised early in the season about the club, manager and players. Its’s a far cry from just six weeks ago where Sherwood signed 13 players and there was finally optimism around the club. The likes of Adama Traore, Idrissa ‘Gana’ Gueye, Micah Richards and Jordan Amavi being added to the squad along with a favourable set of opening fixtures provided light at the end of a very dark and long tunnel.

Sherwood (and now Ray Wilkins) are pleading for fans to be patient but 8 games in and Villa are already looking like they will be in a relegation battle. Again. Patience and time isn’t something that Villa have on their side. Sherwood has a squad full of potential, young and from the continent. It’s an exciting mix but the Premier League doesn’t wait around for anyone and the bedding in period needs to be wrapped up right now. The Villa CEO Tom Fox has said that he wants to replicate Southampton, pointing to their huge overhaul least season and the European football it brought in. Currently, its a strange imitation act.

From looking at how Villa have played so far this season, the team lack bottle, tactical nous or any kind of cohesion. Sherwood clearly doesn’t know his best 11 or formation and his admission after the Stoke defeat on Saturday that ‘there wasn’t enough creativity on the pitch’ whilst having Carles Gil and Jack Grealish starting on the bench was nothing short of baffling. Another worry is the amount of excuses Sherwood has started to roll out, he has said several times that the blame lies with him, but then he goes on to say that ‘there aren’t enough men in the team’ and ‘players aren’t fit enough’. It’s a man that’s on the run and is starting to sound more like Harry Redknapp by the day.This is all currently a lethal concoction with the end result being The Championship.

After a relatively easy opening set of fixtures that included home ties against Sunderland, Stoke and West Brom (only picking up 1 point), Villa now face a difficult set of fixtures that includes Chelsea, Swansea, Southampton, Man City and Tottenham. Football is a fickle game, its a results business and managers are judged quickly - the stakes are now too high to give managers time.

With Villa fans getting a very raw deal over the past 5 years, they have a right to be concerned at the moment, especially when over 50m was spent in the summer. With two managerial casualties happening in the past few days, the light is now firmly being shone on Sherwood.

Lose a couple more games, and the calls for patience will fall on deaf ears. Time is running out.