text: Tim Sherwood said his Aston Villa team ‘bamboozled’ Liverpool and paid particular tribute to Christian Benteke, Fabian Delph and Jack Grealish, the teenager who shone on his Wembley debut. Villa earned a comeback win to book their place in the FA Cup final against Arsenal and end Steven Gerrard’s dream of lifting the famous old trophy on his birthday before bidding farewell to the club. Sherwood was dealt a blow by Gabby Agbonlahor’s failure to overcome a hamstring injury, but adapted his plans to brilliant effect as Liverpool struggled to cope with Villa’s fluid attack. Christian Benteke is congratulated by Aston Villa team-mate Fabian Delph after scoring at Wembley . The Villa manager said: ‘We changed the way we played. We normally go very direct, and use our pace down the sides, I think Liverpool would have expected us to do that. ‘But we played it short through the thirds and caused some problems in the little pockets of areas. They were a little bit bamboozled to be honest. ‘We needed to create a threat. I’m not sure Liverpool tried to second-guess what we were going to do but I don’t think they would have expected that.’ ‘We looked Liverpool and thought it might cause them a few problems if we played two No.10s with Jack Grealish and Charles N’Zogbia and it turned out that way. They got them on the back foot. ‘We needed to get players in support of Christian Benteke. I thought our game plan worked perfectly. We weren’t worried about what Liverpool were going to do. We just knew if we played like we can we were going to cause them a lot of problems.’ Brendan Rodgers conceded his side had been second best, but praised captain Gerrard, who had a late header cleared off the line. Aston Villa players chase Delph after the England midfielder made it 2-1 with 36 minutes left on the clock . ‘He was doing everything, everything he possibly could to help the team,’ said the Liverpool boss. ‘I thought he was excellent. But collectively we didn't perform well enough to get a victory.’ Sherwood kept faith with Grealish, the 19-year-old academy graduate, after handing him his first Premier League start against Queens Park Rangers a fortnight ago. He did not disappoint, playing a part in Benteke’s equaliser, then setting up Delph’s winner. ‘The bigger the stage the better he plays, the more he relishes it,’ said Sherwood. ‘That’s the sign of a good talent. Jack’s someone I looked at before I was at the club and when I’ve seen him in training, if you give him an instruction he sticks to the plan. He’s got a big future at the football club.’ Delph and team-mate Ashley Westwood celebrate their FA Cup win over Liverpool at Wembley . Grealish, who wears children’s shinpads and socks rolled down, won two free-kicks for his team through dribbling with the ball. ‘He’s very durable,’ added Sherwood. ‘You should see the size of his legs, he’s still a kid, he’s still learning. He takes more kicks in training than he does on the pitch so he’ s getting a lot of practice fending off those kicks – he probably needs bigger pads!’ Benteke scored his ninth goal in seven games to level Philippe Countinho’s opening goal, before Delph found the net for the second time under Sherwood, following his quarter-final goal against West Bromwich Albion. He failed to score under Paul Lambert this season. ‘When I came to the club Fabian Delph had just signed a new contract, he had an opportunity to go to some of the teams in the top four. He showed a lot of loyalty to Aston Villa. I need characters like that, who put themselves on the line, show that spirit. Liverpool playmaker Philippe Coutinho is mobbed by his team-mates after opening the scoring . ‘I’ve never seen him have a bad game here at Wembley for England and he’s not had a bad one today, so hopefully he plays well in the final. ‘He can add goals to his game, he has so much energy he can get into the final third and score. He’s nicked a couple of goals for me already. I just want to encourage him to do that and then he’ll be too expensive for anyone to buy!’ On Benteke, Sherwood added: ‘He’s done that consistently for me. When I first come in I couldn’t believe they’d only scored 12 goals with that strike force. I saw something wrong and viewed the tapes and saw they weren’t getting the service.’ Coutinho spreads his arms out wide after scoring during his side's surprise FA Cup defeat . Sherwood praised Villa’s 32,000 fans and turned his attention to Arsenal. ‘They were fantastic. It’s easy to support your team when they’re winning but even at 1-0 down I thought they were great and dragged the boys back. ‘I watched the other semi-final yesterday and I saw how calm Arsene Wenger was after the game. But he probably realises there’s nothing won. ‘I’m sorry I can’t be Arsene Wenger after that final whistle, I was just delighted and I had to spill out them emotions. ‘We’ll be the underdogs, the pressure is on Arsenal, they’re the holders and they’ll want to win it again. We realise we’ve got a lot of hard work between now and then to secure our Premier League safety and then come back here and take the game to Arsenal.’ Benteke leaps in the air after levelling the scoreline  by hitting the back of the net in the 36th minute .
target: Tim Sherwood paid tribute to his bamboozling side after Wembley win .
  Aston Villa came from behind to beat Brendan Rodgers' Liverpool side .
  Sherwood feels Liverpool did not expect how his side approached game .
  Christian Benteke and Fabian Delph starred as Villains booked final place .