Aston Villa: The winners and losers of Tim Sherwood's appointment

Tom Cleverley has fallen so far since his run of starts for England

Michael Lintorn assesses which Aston Villa players have most to gain and lose from Tim Sherwood's appointment, based on his Tottenham stint...

WINNERS

Christian Benteke

Benteke started Paul Lambert's final two games on the bench despite the six-match Premier League goal drought that preceded those, with the manager evidently unimpressed with the Belgian's tally of two goals in 16 top-flight outings this term.

When Sherwood arrived at Tottenham, their most high-profile striker - Emmanuel Adebayor - was also out of favour, being granted 45 minutes of league action in four months. The new boss picked him for every league fixture he was available for and was rewarded with 11 goals in 20 appearances. Benteke is capable of similar, netting 29 times in 56 Premier League starts over his first two seasons.

Jack Grealish

Though his eagerness to take credit for anything that he got right at White Hart Lane has left Spurs fans reluctant to afford him much praise, Sherwood kicked off the youth movement in north London by regularly selecting Nabil Bentaleb and Harry Kane.

Grealish is the current gem of the Aston Villa academy and has made nine substitute league appearances already in 2014/15. Don't be shocked if those cameos turn into starts under Sherwood.

Scott Sinclair

Unsurprisingly for a coach who likes playing two up front and a bit of height in that duo, Sherwood is fond of natural wide men, as best illustrated by Aaron Lennon starting 22 of his 28 matches in charge of Spurs, compared to eight in 39 under Mauricio Pochettino before being loaned to Everton.

The 46-year-old might be the man to revive the career of recent loan recruit Sinclair, who scored the decisive goal off the bench against Leicester in the FA Cup fifth round - his first strike since August 2012.

LOSERS

Tom Cleverley

The demise of Cleverley has been brutally rapid: from England's most-picked player in 2012/13 to the on-field punch-bag of David Moyes' Man United last season to now being resented by Aston Villa supporters, who initially felt lucky to have him, for his apparent immovability. Lambert's last game against Hull was the first one all campaign that he was eligible for yet didn't start.

If Sherwood retains the 4-4-2 that he used for the majority of his Tottenham reign then his spot is at risk though, both because of the increased competition for places and the fact that it is impossible to accommodate a passenger in a two-man midfield, which is what he is frequently accused of being.

Carlos Sanchez

During Les Ferdinand's time as a coach at Tottenham, he said: "I don't like holding midfield players... the worst thing that happened in this league was Claude Makelele... what we've done is produce a crop of players who don't want to go over the halfway line, who don't want to pass over the halfway line and are happy to just sit in front of the back four," stating that his manager Sherwood agreed.

Sherwood's selections at Spurs certainly supported that claim, meaning that Villa's specialist spoiler could be an endangered species. The Colombian's impact hasn't been as vast as expected anyway - Villa's loss rate is almost three times higher when he starts, they leaked five goals on his previous disastrous outing at Arsenal and he hasn't played a minute of the three fixtures since.

Andreas Weimann

It isn't the most novel approach, but Sherwood seemed to assess forwards primarily on goalscoring at Tottenham. Adebayor was his top guy because he delivered most often, and he eventually tired of Roberto Soldado's poor strike rate and integrated Harry Kane, who responded with three goals in his first three league starts.

Weimann must therefore prove quickly that underperforming teammates and an ineffective system held him back under his chief advocate Lambert, who started him in 76 Premier League games yet saw just 15 goals in return.

Even if playing two attackers, Sherwood has the option of starting Benteke and Gabriel Agbonlahor - who also doesn't score enough - while long-term injury absentee Libor Kozak will hopefully be back before May.

Will Sherwood prove an upgrade on Lambert? Villa remain as short as 2.942/1 to be relegated, though optimists can back them at 19.5n/a to win the FA Cup.