Aston Villa manager Tim Sherwood has told Jack Grealish to increase his work-rate if he is to fulfil his potential. Login using you Facebook, Twitter, Google or LinkedIn accounts and have your say!
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Whilst the match result will be disappointing for the Blues, Rowett will be hoping that his side can take their good performance forward into their next game against Rotherham in the Championship.
It was back-to-back home league and cup wins over Albion that gave Sherwood’s reign lift-off in March, but Villa Park felt a very different place on Saturday as the hosts followed that late collapse at Leicester with an anaemic display. The got desperate for me and, fair play to them, they changed it in the second half.
Gestede arrived at Villa this summer from Blackburn Rovers, and so far most of his appearances have come as a substitute. A third straight derby defeat would deepen concerns but, in fairness to Sherwood, there are mitigating factors.
The £100million duo tore the Black Cats apart on a night when the Barclays Premier League leaders demonstrated a brutal efficiency in front of a largely horrified crowd of 21,644 at the Stadium of Light.
The striker’s second-half header sealed a 1-0 win to lift some of the building pressure on boss Tim Sherwood.
The big bonus in Villa lining up this way is that their regular full-backs are among the more attacking in the league and it won’t be so imperative that they return to their defensive positions quickly. We can do that because of the way we’ve performed over recent weeks and months.
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Even if opting for a three-man backline, Sherwood would still face the decision of whether to plump for a 3-4-3 tactic, where he could go man-for-man against Liverpool’s defenders, making it tougher for them to build from deep.
