Sherwood not the answer

Article by Mike Davis

Another false dawn came crashing down on Saturday at the Emirates. After a reasonable start under Sherwood, culminating in the superb display at Old Trafford, we were brought back to reality with a bang against Arsenal.

I fully expected us to come out firing on all cylinders, adopting the high tempo display that reaped rewards against Man Utd. Sadly it never materialised, in fact I felt that we actually made it quite easy for Arsenal and they won at a stroll. The formation surprised me a little, although I acknowledge that we have a crippling injury list at the moment.

When the team was announced, my immediate reaction was that it didn’t have a proper holding midfield player, a Sandro or Capoue, to give the back four some protection. Dembele flatters to deceive in this role and it is also something of a waste to use him that deep. As the game wore on and it became obvious that the formation was not working, I waited for Sherwood to change things, sadly I think I could have waited all day.

I know that people will point to fine margins, Eriksen missing when clean through early on, Adebayor turning in the box to shoot and slipping over, but these examples are just papering over the cracks. Our team has several issues at present that I feel need addressing, namely;

Rose is just not good enough. He is an average left midfielder/winger at best, definitely not a left back.

Dawson is too slow and still persists in hitting those cross field passes every now and again. Stick to what you know, you are not Hoddle!

Dembele is far too inconsistent. For every good game he gives you he then goes missing for a couple. It is not acceptable from a guy who has as much talent as he does.

Soldado cannot buy a goal at the moment. He is lacking in confidence and is snatching at his shots and as a result is pulling them wide of the target. He had a couple of half decent chances against Arsenal and yet didn’t test the goalie at all.

Bentaleb may well prove to be a top player in time but I question Sherwood’s wisdom in pitching him in from the start against Arsenal at the Emirates in what was always likely to be a highly charged atmosphere. I trust someone will also have a word with him about his ‘stamping’ incident as this is not acceptable.

We need a new left back. We have now tried several options including Vertonghen who is far and away the best CB we have at the club. Rose, Naughton and Freyers are simply not good enough.

I am not for one moment suggesting that we don’t have a good squad, we most certainly do. As I have already mentioned, we have a crippling injury list at the moment and how much stronger for instance would our team be if Vertonghen, Sandro, Paulinho and Townsend were fit and available. You cannot lose so many players in one go and it not have a negative effect on the team.

I have gone on record as saying that I was not one of those who were clamouring for AVB to be sacked but he was and so we need to move on. I personally believe that Sherwood is a stop gap despite the supposed 18 month contract he has been given. It is a huge gamble to give the guy control of the first team when he has no experience whatsoever. Whether it is brave or foolhardy remains to be seen.

I still genuinely fear that we will fail to qualify for the Champions League and that has potential repercussions that would be even more far reaching than Bale’s departure. Would guys like Lloris, Vertonghen, Paulinho and perhaps even the likes of Walker, Chiriches and Sandro be prepared to play yet another season in the Europa League? Even if we managed to keep these guys we would be very unlikely to be able to attract any additional top players to the Lane next season if we cannot offer them CL football.

My own belief is that we will see a new manager at Spurs next season and I’m sure it will come as no surprise to anybody if that guy is Louis Van Gaal. He comes to the end of his contract with the Dutch national team after the World Cup and if the papers are to be believed, Levy has already had at least one meeting with him to discuss the possibility of coming to Tottenham.

I have absolutely no issue with Sherwood and would love to see him transform the team over the next few weeks, win the Europa League and qualify for the CL. Unfortunately I am very dubious as to whether he can do it.

Spurs supporters are a long suffering bunch and if there were a cup for false dawns we would win it pretty much every season. I fear we are already the hot favourites to win it again this season.

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