West Ham United manager Sam Allardyce has praised opposite number Tim Sherwood for the work that he has carried out at Aston Villa since taking over the club earlier this year.
The Villans were staring down the face of relegation before the 46-year-old took over in February, but since replacing Paul Lambert the West Midlands outfit have won half of their 12 Premier League games to stay afloat.
Sherwood's outspoken style is said to have cost him the managerial job on a permanent basis at former club Tottenham Hotspur, although ahead of their meeting today Allardyce has backed his compatriot to succeed at Villa Park in the long term.
"Sometimes you may make a mistake in your early days and you have to accept that and learn from that," he is quoted as saying by ESPN. "Overall the job he has done at Spurs and the job he's doing at Villa, he seems to have rekindled a great energy and a great belief in the football club.
"That's not so much about tactics or your coaching methods, it's about how you handle players as a manager. Your coaching techniques are tactical yes, but coaching is only a small part of being a manager of a football club at this level.
"It's about motivating and rekindling confidence in your players in a difficult situation. At this moment in time, though they are not out of trouble, he seems to have done a good job in that way."
West Ham travel to Villa this afternoon sitting 12 points above their opponents in the league table.
Daniel Lewis
