When Tom Cleverley joined Aston Villa, the relentless British media slated the signing. Cleverley has been a running joke for many since his days at Man United where he simply wasn’t good enough for the first team. His move to Villa wasn’t met with too much excitement either and his first few months at the club did nothing to shake these feelings from the heads of the loyal Villa supporters. However, since Tim Sherwood has taken over Cleverley has been reborn. His career which looked to be fading away has been revived due to the positivity that Tim Sherwood has brought to Villa Park. Players like Benteke get all the plaudits, but Cleverley has been just as important under Sherwood.
One reason for this is definitely the change in playstyle from Aston Villa. Under Paul Lambert the system was usually a 4-3-3, the main issue however was that there was no drive from the central midfielders. Whatever the combination was, whether it was Delph-Sanchez-Westwood or Westwood-Cleverley-Delph, there was simply nowhere near enough penetration. This meant that a lot of Villa’s play was cautious, unadventurous and often hideously direct. The Villa midfielders barely had an assist between them in the first half of the season and Villa fans simply put were not happy with the dross that was being served up. Passing was often sideways and the blame was placed on the players by some, but the revival of Cleverley is proof that Lambert was probably the problem.
Sherwood hasn’t made radical changes in formation, 4-4-2 is sometimes used but even when they play 4-3-3 like in the impressive 2-1 win over Liverpool in mid-April the play is simply just more positive. The issue before was that there were no driving runs coming from the Villa midfield, Sherwood however has given almost a free roam role to the former United man. This essentially means that he is making direct runs to support Benteke, Grealish and Agbonlahor in the Villa attack. Below is a screenshot of a fantastic goal that Villa scored in a 3-2 win against Everton, Cleverley sees the forwards have split and he makes a direct run in between the center backs, this is a big part of his game as he is a box to box midfielder. Lambert simply didn’t give him this license to go forward and he was often just passing the ball a couple of yards before someone eventually pumped it forward to Benteke or Weimann. He scored a similar goal against West Ham where he arrived in the box after some good intricate play from Jack Grealish.
Cleverley is somewhat salvaging his reputation under Tim Sherwood, he isn’t a laughing stock anymore to those who actually watch Aston Villa, he is a big part of their team and a key man in their revival. Tim Sherwood recently joked that he would only play Cleverley in the FA Cup Final if he signed a contract with them. All jokes aside this just shows how important he has become. He is thriving in a positive atmosphere and under a manager that has confidence in him. Direct running is perhaps what he is best at, and he is being given that license as Sanchez holds the midfield well and the space is created by simple split forward play from Villa.
