Tim Sherwood has breathed life into Aston Villa Football Club since his arrival as manager, veteran goalkeeper Shay Given has told talkSPORT
Sherwood claimed his first three points as Villans boss in Tuesday's Premier League derby victory over West Brom, and made it back-to-back wins over their local rivals in their FA Cup quarter-final clash at Villa Park on Saturday.
Fans were made to sit through a turgid opening half, but Villa looked a different team after the break, with goals from Fabian Delph and on-loan winger Scott Sinclair booking a sem-final trip to Wembley Stadium.
And glovesman Given credited his former Blackburn captain with the team’s transformation, revealing that the Villa squad are responding to his passion in the dressing room.
“He wasn’t too happy at half-time,” he told Stan on Call Collymore.
“The flip-chart went flying in the dressing room and I think you saw our reaction in the second-half, we were much better and caused West Brom a lot of problems.
“But that’s what he’s there to do. He’s given us a rollicking when we’ve needed it and that’s probably the first time he’s really let go. I think a few of the lads were a bit shocked, but it got the reaction we needed.
“I know Tim from our Blackburn days. We were players together and he was a leader then as the captain, he captained Blackburn to the Premier League title, and he’s very much the same.
“He’s so positive on the training ground, so positive in the stadium and the players are responding to that.
“Bobby Robson is one of the best man-managers I’ve ever worked with, he knew how to get the best out of players, and that’s one of Tim’s biggest traits too.
“He speaks to people on a man-to-man level as well, he takes players aside, he puts his arm around them and he knows if players need a rollicking or a pick-me-up.
“Tim has spotted that from day one, and today at half-time you could see the fire in his belly, and you could see a few of the lads thinking, ‘he’s up for this’."
Tuesday’s victory, the club’s first in 14 league games, lifted Aston Villa out of the drop zone, but their battle for safety has only just started.
The Villans face a trip to fellow strugglers Sunderland in their next Premier League outing, but Given believes the prospect of fighting for a squad place at Wembley will only help the side in their relegation dogfight.
The Irishman added: “It’s a massive scrap at the bottom and we’ve got a huge game coming up against Sunderland, but I think something that will help is that we’ve all got a trip to Wembley in the back of our minds.
“Tim has said how he will pick players on how they train and their work during the week, and everyone is going to want to be a part of that team, so I think that can only help us in the Premier League as well.
“Victories like that breed confidence. The lads are all singing and dancing in there and we’ve got to keep that feeling in the camp for the rest of the season.”
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