Simple football

The concept of any sport, whether it’s golf, athletics or football is really basic. Get the ball in the hole, run faster than everybody else or put the ball between the sticks. Don’t get me wrong there are of course many ways you can win and a load of factors that can go for, or against you. But sometimes losing sight of the goal, literally, is the issue and that’s what happened to Spurs.

Since the departure of AVB a lot of things have changed. In retrospect he had me fooled. A young, charming, intelligent manager, unfairly treated and determined to prove himself. What’s not to like?

“Tiki-taka” football, inverted wingers and 4-2-3-1 however, were too avant garde for a Spurs team with a large squad and seven new expensive faces.

Like a kid in a sweet shop, sometimes you can have too much choice. But crucially, experimenting with anything in life involves trial and error, and of course time.

But which premier league manager can afford these? No wonder Andre had to go.

[linequote]What has happened since AVB left is simplicity itself. 4-4-2 for starters and a steady squad[/linequote]

What has happened since AVB left is simplicity itself. 4-4-2 for starters and a steady squad. Injuries often make selection easier and this has what has simplified this for Tim Sherwood in his ‘back to basics’ approach. After-all it’s not rocket science.

• Roberto Soldado was stranded up front – give him a strike partner
• Get players back to their preferred positions – Lennon comes alive
• Take the tactical shackles off the team – more goals

In days gone by I felt it was AVB who took it on his shoulders to tactically unlock the opponents’ defence. I get the impression now that Sherwood has taken the laissez-faire approach to this problem and told Christian Eriksen “You’re the number 10. You unlock the defence!”

But it would be a mistake to demean Sherwood as I think he is an astute manager. He has acted on the crippling lacklustre nature of the team and injected some much needed passion. Cue the arrival of Messrs Nabil Bentaleb and Emmanuel Adebayor.

Bentaleb is a young footballer oozing talent and itching to make his name in the Premiership and Adebayor; a long frustrated talent brought in from the cold with a point to prove. Sherwood said it himself after the Palace game “I will take desire over ability all day long.” Long may this continue.

[linequote]Bentaleb is a young footballer oozing talent and itching to make his name in the Premiership[/linequote]

In the next coming days with City and Everton on the horizon it will be this new found desire coupled with the natural quality of our players that will push Spurs ever further. It’s on exactly this type of run where teams evolve what I call winning intangibles.

By that I mean things like confidence, spirit, belief and the one thing that all successful teams need, luck! As all good teams make their own.

Hopefully we will see some of these qualities come through in the next few games as we watch with quiet optimism how far we can push forwards in the second half of the season under this simpler style of football.

Who knows, we may even finish above that team from Woolwich – that would simply be great!

[author name=”Andrew Purdie” avatar=”https://www.thefightingcock.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/tfc-login.png” avatar=”” twitter=”[/linequote]