Alex McLeish: Ridiculous if Aston Villa press panic button on Tim Sherwood

Alex McLeish says pressing the panic button and firing Villa manager Tim Sherwood now would be 'ridiculous'.

Sherwood's future at Villa is in doubt after his fifth league defeat in a row but McLeish says the current manager needs more time to allow his new signings to settle into the team.

"Tim should definitely get a chance, it's ridiculous if they press the button again," said McLeish, who managed Villa during the 2011/12 season and ended his spell as statistically the worst manager the club had ever had.

[comments_cta header="What do you think?" text="Should Sherwood stay or go?" button="Log in and leave your thoughts below"]

"When you lose Benteke and you lose Delph, lose guys like that, then the quality doesn't go up. It's a real tough job for Tim."

Unimpressed with the players Villa have brought in to replace their two stars, McLeish did say they needed months to settle rather than weeks.

[related_posts title="More Villa news"]

"I said at the beginning of the season — all these guys who Aston Villa have recruited — that I'm not sure the recruitment has been the best," he said. "It takes time for a lot of foreign guys to get into the Premier League

"If a foreign guy comes and he's a household name you see him flourish — guys like Suarez, no problem — but someone lesser known takes time."

The 56-year-old, who managed Blues for four years before moving over to rivals Villa, also questioned whether Sherwood was responsible for all of the signings.

"It's just panic," he said. ""It's going to be tough for these guys to settle, but is the fact some of the signings have not been right entirely his fault? That's the question."

After Saturday's 2-0 loss away at Chelsea, Sherwood urged his players to express themselves more, calling his own team 'boring'.

"In the last few weeks it's been boring," he said. "I've been bored of watching it to be perfectly honest, going square and sideways. I'm not telling them to do that.

"I'm telling them to express themselves and if they get beat, they get beat having a go — passing the ball forward."