Sherwood eager to change ´losing mentality´

Tim Sherwood wants to change a “losing mentality” at Aston Villa after they suffered a 4-0 defeat to Arsenal in the FA Cup final.

Sherwood guided Villa to Premier League survival after taking over in February but saw his side well beaten by a clinical Arsenal side at Saturday’s Wembley showpiece.

Goals from Theo Walcott, Alexis Sanchez, Per Mertesacker and Olivier Giroud gave Arsenal a comfortable triumph as they retained their crown.

The former Tottenham boss will now turn his attentions to reversing the fortunes of a side that has finished in the bottom six in each of the last three seasons.

“I can’t make any excuses for that today, Arsenal were too good for us,” Sherwood told BBC Sport.

“We couldn’t impose ourselves on them or nullify what they had. They’ve got some outstanding footballers and too much quality for us.

“It’s a learning curve for us, you have to learn and we need to build a new team. They need to learn how to be winners. Of course we believed we could win this but you have to say we came up short today.

“Alexis Sanchez scores an outstanding goal, there’s not much you can do about that one, but we were lucky not go behind earlier, we were holding on a bit.

“But to concede again from a set-piece is gruelling. You almost don’t mind if they open you up but to be honest you have to take your medicine at 3-0 and then to concede one at the death was a kick in the privates.

“It’s been a gradual process since I’ve come in here. We’ve stayed in the division, but we came up short today because Arsenal were better.

“We have a losing mentality at this football club. They’ve been scrapping relegation for the past four years, that can’t be right.

“We need to try and change that, either by bringing in new personnel or making these players winners. It’s not just new additions to the squad also getting some of the players we do have to play in a different way, to change the mentality of a few of them.

“We gave the fans nothing to cheer about today but I can promise them it will get better. We don’t want to be scrapping relegation next season.”