Tim Sherwood Can’t Win
Article by Jon Lewis
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Tim Sherwood doesn’t want any new players … good thing, because he’s not going to get any. From Levy’s POV, why bring in players to suit Sherwood’s style when he won’t be our manager next year? Why give him players that might help him get 4th place when the big picture calls for a name manager who better sells and suits the Spurs brand? And that name manager will only be available after the WC … after this season’s over and done. What about the fans? Well we’ll still be here, supporting the team, even if Levy could give a rat’s ass about us. Sure I’m cynical … I’m a Spurs fan.
I think firing AVB was a dumb move, so we can start there. But you can’t change what you can’t change. I have started to like Sherwood, if only because I have a weakness for lost causes. (I’m a Spurs fan.) But now that the window has closed with no new left back and no reinforcements in central defense, the cause is for sure lost. I wrote in an earlier blog that sometime soon all we’ll have to talk about is who we want to manage us next year. Well, after watching Liverpool dispatch Everton, and City absolutely kill us, then watching and waiting for some surprise transfer-in all day today and coming away with nothing, that time is right about now.
Doing so means giving up on Sherwood, who never had a chance anyway -- this EPL season was over when Levy sold Bale. Firing AVB was a PR move to shift the blame – and I for one am not buying it. And when we finish 6th (if Lukaku doesn’t come back quickly) or 7th (if he does) this slip in form will be put on Sherwood. And that’s really too bad.
Management was always looking ahead to next year. Levy fired AVB with no Plan B because he didn’t need one. He hired the guy managing the youth team who apparently didn’t get to see the senior team play much, doesn’t own a DVR and doesn’t have access to game tapes to see what the heck all these midfielders can do. He was “surprised” that Paulinho is so skillful; was he absent the day they showed the Confederations Cup? And he apparently still doesn’t know much about Etienne Capoue (who was terrific until he got hurt against Arsenal), except that he doesn’t much like him. Capoue has gone to the press to say that he feels cheated. Well, Etienne, join the club…
You can’t blame Sherwood for taking the gig (it was an unreal chance) and for insisting on a real contract with guarantees (a man’s gotta get paid). And you can’t blame him – wow, you’ve got to give him credit for – rolling the dice on the 4-4-2 in those first few games, on banking on Adebayor (who no doubt killed it practising with his youth team), on promoting Bentaleb (whose luck ran out in dramatic fashion on Wednesday; he’s 19! And he’s not a top 4 centre-mid … yet), and on instituting an attacking style even when a sane manager might have hedged that bet to prevent a massacre – which is what we got on Wednesday.
Assuming we can believe the injury reports, I want to add that Sherwood showed real class in not playing (and risking) Vertongen and Paulinho on Wednesday – these guys have careers ahead of them (I hope with Spurs) even if he (that is, Sherwood) doesn’t (that is, as the manager of Spurs past this summer).
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Tim Sherwood doesn’t want any new players … good thing, because he’s not going to get any. From Levy’s POV, why bring in players to suit Sherwood’s style when he won’t be our manager next year? Why give him players that might help him get 4th place when the big picture calls for a name manager who better sells and suits the Spurs brand? And that name manager will only be available after the WC … after this season’s over and done. What about the fans? Well we’ll still be here, supporting the team, even if Levy could give a rat’s ass about us. Sure I’m cynical … I’m a Spurs fan.
I think firing AVB was a dumb move, so we can start there. But you can’t change what you can’t change. I have started to like Sherwood, if only because I have a weakness for lost causes. (I’m a Spurs fan.) But now that the window has closed with no new left back and no reinforcements in central defense, the cause is for sure lost. I wrote in an earlier blog that sometime soon all we’ll have to talk about is who we want to manage us next year. Well, after watching Liverpool dispatch Everton, and City absolutely kill us, then watching and waiting for some surprise transfer-in all day today and coming away with nothing, that time is right about now.
Doing so means giving up on Sherwood, who never had a chance anyway -- this EPL season was over when Levy sold Bale. Firing AVB was a PR move to shift the blame – and I for one am not buying it. And when we finish 6th (if Lukaku doesn’t come back quickly) or 7th (if he does) this slip in form will be put on Sherwood. And that’s really too bad.
Management was always looking ahead to next year. Levy fired AVB with no Plan B because he didn’t need one. He hired the guy managing the youth team who apparently didn’t get to see the senior team play much, doesn’t own a DVR and doesn’t have access to game tapes to see what the heck all these midfielders can do. He was “surprised” that Paulinho is so skillful; was he absent the day they showed the Confederations Cup? And he apparently still doesn’t know much about Etienne Capoue (who was terrific until he got hurt against Arsenal), except that he doesn’t much like him. Capoue has gone to the press to say that he feels cheated. Well, Etienne, join the club…
You can’t blame Sherwood for taking the gig (it was an unreal chance) and for insisting on a real contract with guarantees (a man’s gotta get paid). And you can’t blame him – wow, you’ve got to give him credit for – rolling the dice on the 4-4-2 in those first few games, on banking on Adebayor (who no doubt killed it practising with his youth team), on promoting Bentaleb (whose luck ran out in dramatic fashion on Wednesday; he’s 19! And he’s not a top 4 centre-mid … yet), and on instituting an attacking style even when a sane manager might have hedged that bet to prevent a massacre – which is what we got on Wednesday.
Assuming we can believe the injury reports, I want to add that Sherwood showed real class in not playing (and risking) Vertongen and Paulinho on Wednesday – these guys have careers ahead of them (I hope with Spurs) even if he (that is, Sherwood) doesn’t (that is, as the manager of Spurs past this summer).
© e-Football 2013 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Football
I stopped reading your negative crap when you said firing AVB was dumb. All that tells me is you are dumb. AVB was shit, hopeless and no one liked him in the club. He was a joke. Sherwood is a real football man, exactly what we need.
ReplyDeleteNot signing players is a good move by Spurs but even better was not selling anyone and only loaning out Holtby. Forget Defoe, he's been a good servant but past his best. The players we have are nearly all hopeful of playing in the WC, players like Capoe, Paulinho, Sandro, Chadli etc need to have a great few months for SPURS if they want to make their WC squads so I fully expect them to play their asses off in the coming months. Sherwood knows that too, he also knows who's coming through the ranks.
I'm sick of reading bloggers who've never kicked a ball in their lives and no nothing of motivation tactics, knobs like the bloke who wrote this article and theboyhotspur care nothing and know nothing about spurs and football. You just want hits on your lame sites. Kindly piss off and go support another team. COYS
great article just about right
ReplyDeleteSherwood does have his problems. His ignorance in not believing the use of a 'CDM', is understandable, but against City and other free-flowing footballing teams are self-destructive.
ReplyDeleteLook at today against Hull, we were so open. Yaya Toure maybe a CDM, that does what Bentalib suppose to do but he defend and help out. Sure, Bentalib is excellent in control of the ball but he needs to help protect if he wants to be the CM Sherwood wants.
Capoue is a better choice, IMO. Putting Eriksen on the left is ineffective. I understand Soldado needs game time, but he needs to stick with 1 upfront and Eriksen behind - that's where he's best at.
Sherwood inexperience is costing us. Although he's adapting greatly by game, but he needs to realise you can't go gung-ho every game.