I can't stand it when Sherwood mouths off. If he's got a problem with certain players' attitudes then he should take it up with them, not publicise it to the world. Nobody wants to be publicly humiliated and repeatedly telling someone that they're not good enough will result in them believing you. He knew the personnel available to him when he took the job, so it was his responsibility to get the best out of what he had. He managed it with Adebayor by just putting him back into the side, so why he felt the need to alienate a bunch of the other players is beyond me. The team often seems bewildered by his unusual choices and pretty directionless, after a simple, basic start which got them playing reasonably well.
but he never mentioned names. That would be the private conversation. We don't know who he was talking about?
That's worse. He's cast a shadow over the character of the whole squad, rather than blame the individuals who deserve it.
No, digging out specific players in public is far worse. He was saying that some didn't have the character or guts. It was then down to the players to prove him wrong. If he names names, then he has humiliated them and probably lost them completely.
He started with a basic 4-4-2 with fairly predictable personnel choices (except for Bentaleb), and was successful. Then he dropped the 4-4-2, went with a high pressing approach and a lone striker, and picked teams no one would ever have guessed beforehand--and started losing every game. Is there a lesson here?
Yes. I hate the idea of giving up, and I suppose I haven't. But any realistic chance we had, other than a total meltdown by someone in the top four read Arsenal, relied on beating Arsenal last week. Even had we done that the odds wouldn't have been good. But having failed to do that, or even draw, the odds are so astronomical they aren't even worth thinking about except in the very unlikely event we close the gap very significantly, and fast.
There could be a lesson but we have to remember much of Sherwoods early success was during that classic honeymoon period where Sherwood allowed players like Adebayor and Eriksen to play their game, rather then before where AVB installed a more rigid mindset, more organised and players had no freedom so really all Sherwood had to do was offer the players a chance to play without fear, thats why we won games even when getting outplayed. Now Sherwood has changed his approach and to be fair to Sherwood the team have looked more organised so he isn't as clueless as some suggest, as he does have some tactical knowledge but we suffer from a lack of players with end product or we play a system which is missing a creative player, so as we have seen in recent games we have played fairly well, passed the ball, controlled play but we can't do much with the ball. Townsend was meant to be someone to offer us something Lennon can't, yet does he offer? he had his purple patch. Eriksen has the ability but doesn't do enough with the ball and Paulinho often plays far too deep and we're suffering because our summer signings (attackers) such as Soldado, Lamela and Chadli have all been flops, injured or can't produce in the league. If Sherwood went back to 4-4-2 then he would stand the risk of being outplayed and not having the luck he had before, then we would really be in a hopeless situation, so I don't blame him for making a change but hes made a change to the system, just IMO he would have been better off going back to counter attacking football as we don't have the players to play a high pressing game and open teams up.
Good points. I'm still a little steamed over the Arsenal game, where I thought we had to have a win to have any chance at fourth, and the approach Sherwood took, while more fan-friendly, didn't give us as much chance as a 4-4-2, sit back, try to counter and hope for the best approach. He should have risked the fans being displeased in that game to try to get a result. On the other hand, I'd agree the evolving approach has looked good, and has even looked like positive progress, at times. (I was also being unfair in not pointing out the losing streak coincided with a run of games against top teams). I was particularly impressed with the last game against Benfica. Having three players in Townsend, Chadli and Lennon who all want to dribble and pass down the field fast, and have the skills to do it, did start to recall the Modric/VDV era--and Bentaleb had one of his best games. He didn't get the break going downfield nearly as fast as Modric did (who does?) but he took good care of the ball and consistently got it to the right player. Ideally we'd have upgrades, especially for Bentaleb and Chadli, but even if not, it's a team that plays both reasonably well and attractively. But I still think the high pressing game was a mistake in just about every game except Newcastle when Remy was hurt and they had so little attacking threat it was worth trying to get an open game going. One of the reasons we looked better against Benfica the second time was that our team wasn't so far forward as to leave huge spaces for them to run into. When we don't give the other team a big advantage by doing that, our players are good enough to do reasonably well.
Yeah I personally don't like us playing this high pressing game but it's more popular then ever now due to the foreign coaches and while you're right about it not being effective in terms of results, if we look at the performance we have played well just not taking chances. It's such a fine line as if Chadli scored against the goons and made it 1-1 then everyone would be saying we dominated and the goons where lucky to escape. If we never gifted Benfica or Chelsea goals then again it would be different. I know it's 'if' , if this, if that but we're not far off being a more productive team with a few tweaks and inform attackers so Sherwood has at least attempted to change the team setup. I love watching counter attacking football and am surprised Sherwood hasn't embraced it more but maybe he was influenced by the fact when we played 442 we started slowly and teams would bully us so he decided to try and take more control of the game from the outset.
I hope we are returning to playing more attractively and successfully. The second Benfica game gave me some hope. We sat back far enough not to leave gaps for them to exploit, Bentaleb distributed the ball well, and Townsend, Chadli and Lennon ran at the defenders aggressively, while Eiriksen created problems. I can only hope it's not a false dawn. We definitely looked indifferent before we changed to pressing high--but we were still getting results, for the most part. It seemed to me that Sherwood put playing in a more fan-friendly style above keeping our (admittedly small) hopes alive for fourth and in the EL.
I agree with the above points. The Spurs seem to have lacked up front in terms of production. However, as we know football, things change... And I think today could be a turning point where we actually might see a couple of goals. Anyway, most people probably expect a very diffifult game today for Tottenham and I would have to agree. But I do believe you still have more quality and should be favorites. If we see an early game for the Spurs then, I am backing the Spurs all day. In regards to Eriksen. I hope he plays. He's an outstanding player and I think a team like Soutampton will suit him well where he can be really frightening to heir defense.
Lloris; Naughton, Kaboul, Vertonghen, Rose; Lennon, Bentaleb, Chadli, Dembele, Eriksen; Soldado Subs: Friedel, Dawson, Fryers, Paulinho, Sigurdsson, Townsend, Kane
If the MF is not going to give Soldado any half-decent service, we might as well give them at least 1 pt.
AVB is 4 months gone, and still the high line is being played. Just one of several reasons Sherwood will be learning his trade elsewhere next season.
Even by Spurs standards, how complete and utter ****e we have become in the space of a couple of seasons is remarkable. I have completely fallen out of love with football at the moment I really couldn't care less. A bit like our players really.
