With the Champions League now seemingly out of Tottenham’s reach, the rumours about Tim Sherwood’s job will intensify. James Highsted looks at why that is all too predictable, why Sherwood should stay and who is really to blame.
Goodbye Charlie, thanks for the memories
After another embarrassing display and defeat, the faint hopes of Champions League football have finally dissipated for another season.
This will of course see the end of the reign of current boss Tim Sherwood- or “Goodbye Charlie” as he put it- and will see the seventh manager lose his job in the last ten years.
However, the irony should not be lost on anyone that Sherwood will probably- we will say probably for now, but it is almost a certainty- lose his job because of the mistakes, and lack of vision of others; and that Sherwood should be the last person to get the sack.There are a number of individuals who should be held to account for the poor season that the club has had and be shown the door instead.
Firstly, Daniel Levy, who has ostensibly dismantled the side by allowing a number of high-profiled, top-performing players to leave. The most obvious one player, of course, is Gareth Bale. With his goals, assists, drive and natural talent, practically any team in the world could be built around Bale.
[linequote]the Bale sale just symbolises why Spurs are not a massive club in the Premier League[/linequote]
The Bale sale just symbolises why Spurs are not a massive club in the Premier League. Last summer saw three high-profiled transfer stories: Suarez to Arsenal; Rooney to Chelsea; Bale to Real Madrid. Suarez stayed, Rooney stayed, Bale left.
Now we have seen, to our cost, the difference Suarez has made to Liverpool. And while Manchester United are having a poor season, there is no doubt that it was important to keep a player of Rooney’s talent, and how he can get them back to the top.
The fact that Bale was sold just shows the glaring lack of vision, and ambition, at the top of spurs, especially when you compare it to the examples above. Had spurs kept Bale and others then they could have been where are Liverpool are now.
Another example of this is the sale of Bale’s Real Madrid team-mate, Luka Modric. When Chelsea came calling for Modric’s services in the summer of 2011, it looked like the same old story. Chelsea were throwing millions at Spurs, and it appeared to be a matter of time before Levy got the figure he wanted.
But, bucking the trend, Levy remained firm and resolute, and refused Chelsea’s offers. AT LAST, Spurs had turned the corner.
Unfortunately, this turned out to be the exception rather than the rule, as Modric was sold to Real Madrid the following year.
What made the sale even more infuriating was that Modric went to Madrid for £33 million, £7 million less than the £40 million Chelsea had offered a year earlier. After a difficult first season, Modric has gone on to blossom under Carlo Ancelotti and has become one of Madrid’s best players.
Other talented players have headed out of White Heart Lane during Levy’s tenure such as Dimitar Berbatov, Michael Carrick and Rafael Van Der Vaart. Spurs may have made a lot of profit on all these transfers, but little else to show for it.
[linequote]Another person Levy has got rid of, much to the detriment of the club is Harry Redknapp[/linequote]
Another person Levy has got rid of, much to the detriment of the club is Harry Redknapp. With two top-four finishes in his three and half years at the club, Redknapp has been the best performing manager at Spurs over the last two decades.
After taking over, with Spurs rock-bottom of the league with two points from the first eight games, Redknapp took them from there to a Champions League quarter-final at the Bernabeu in eighteen months; a miraculous turnaround.
In that time he helped to mature the aforementioned Gareth Bale and Luka Modric into world-class players; as well as developing Kyle Walker into a player for the future.
All this was not enough however, as Redknapp was let go in June 2012 for reportedly falling to agree terms on a new contract.
Whether it is the players or the managers, Levy has simply let the wrong people go at the wrong time and, consequently, Spurs have been unable to build on the progress they have made in recent seasons.
The finger of blame must also be pointed at Franco Baldini, Tottenham’s technical director. Baldini was given the task of bringing new players in the summer, after the departures of Bale, Tom Huddlestone and Scott Parker.
Seven players were bought, under Baldini’s recommendation, in the summer transfer window. This included Paulinho, Roberto Soldado and Erik Lamela. Spurs broke their transfer record three times when buying these three players.
All seven of these players, with the possible exception of Christian Eriksen, have failed to make any real impact consistently throughout the season. All were untried and untested in what is generally perceived to be one the toughest, most competitive leagues in the world.
The problem is not just inexperience, there are also tactical issues. Roberto Soldado, for example, scored the majority of his goals for Valencia in the eighteen-yard box, thus needing regular service or a target man to assist him. Soldado has rarely received either during his time at Spurs so far, as both Sherwood and AVB have mostly used one striker this season.
Tottenham should part with Baldini, and let the manager bring in the players who they want. As we have seen in the past, with Damien Comolli, a director of football, technical director- or whatever title you want to give them- simply do not work at Spurs, and often chose the wrong type of players and cause friction with the manager and the fans.
The final group who should be seen as culpable are some of Spurs’ current, experienced players. A key example is defender Jan Vertonghen; a talented player-which makes it all the more frustrating- who quite often this season has looked uninspired and lackadaisical.
[linequote]Tottenham should part with Baldini, and let the manager bring in the players who they want[/linequote]
His mistake against Chelsea, which lead to their first goal, enforces the image that there are some players who do not want to fight for champions league football, or trophies, but just want it handed to them on a plate. No doubt Mr Vertonghen will be looking for a move in the summer.
Those are the people who should be let go, before Tim Sherwood. Sherwood is a figure head who the club can get behind and rally round. The way he brought Emmanuel Adebayor back from the brink was inspiring. His brand of football has been positive and direct.
His honesty in front of the camera during interviews and press conferences have been refreshing, as well as entertaining.
So there are many issues and many people who should be addressed before Mr Sherwood is shown the exit door.
He symbolises everything that is good about the club: hard work, honesty, a never say die attitude, wearing your heart on your sleeve, and the will to win.
All views and opinions expressed in this article are the views and opinions of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of The Fighting Cock. We offer a platform for fans to commit their views to text and voice their thoughts. Football is a passionate game and as long as the views stay within the parameters of what is acceptable, we encourage people to write, get involved and share their thoughts on the mighty Tottenham Hotspur.
45 Comments
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01/04/2014 @ 8:45 pm
Sorry James – what a load of cobblers!!! Seiously where did you get all this from – Gooners dream for TS to stay!!!
01/04/2014 @ 8:51 pm
what absolute bollox sherwood is a donkey
01/04/2014 @ 9:10 pm
Really…. What utter nonsense. Dim is out of his league has been from day 1. The one thing he did was bring back Adebayor. That my friend is his sole contribution. That was and still is a gamble. bet he doesnt know whcih Adebayor willturn up for a game.
Stop calling the 7 new players flops too. Anyone with an ounce of knowledge would know that it takes at least a season if not longer to get used to life in the Premier league. Something you eluded to in your piece about Modric.
Levy is a puppet to the owner and ENIC he’s the fall guy. ENIC need to decide whehter they are in it for the football or the profits. We all know it profits so just be honest. then we all know where we stand.
01/04/2014 @ 9:10 pm
Whether Sherwood should stay or go I don’t know but the point the author is trying to make is a valid one. There are people at the club more culpable than Sherwood for the mess the club is in yet again. Whilst we have people in charge of our club who are more interested in a healthy balance sheet than the success of the team on the pitch then we will never go anywhere fast. It’s ok to dislike Sherwood but don’t let that cloud your judgement on who’s to blame for this god awful mess!!
01/04/2014 @ 9:10 pm
Yep, bollocks. Sherwood is a joke.
02/04/2014 @ 6:39 pm
Have you a better joke?
02/04/2014 @ 6:41 pm
I would like a better one from that, , COYS
01/04/2014 @ 9:12 pm
Are u serious sherwood is a clown who went to scout Suarez and said he wasn’t good enuff ur deluded,his football is far from direct and positive,you are a clown
01/04/2014 @ 9:17 pm
I am so sick of people who still compare the sale of bale to Liverpool keeping suarez. Only arsenal bid for him for more then half of the fee we got for Bale. There is no comparison. Your view on Sherwood is deluded.
01/04/2014 @ 9:23 pm
short memories it seems here! Many of our best players which were sold unfortunately put the club in a position which was unattainable,I’m happy the chairman runs our club this way,until we have the stadium underway we cannot compete with the sky 4.
And as for arry he was whoring himself constantly in the media for the England job when the contract was on the table!
Levys mistake was sacking AVB mid season with no decent replacement and we’ve ended up with that Gillet wearing muppet telling the media footballs a simple game when it’s clear he doesn’t know our best team or have much a gameplan!
01/04/2014 @ 9:28 pm
I have to Disagree. Sherwood has already become a problem and is losing the plot. We need a manager who can cope with touch line pressures and someone who can pick our best team. Sandro must play in front of Bentalab, Eriksen must play central and if we play Chadli then pop him on the left.
We have made some shocking signings but in the summer I was excited by each of them. We have good enough players to beat 12 teams on our ability but against the top teams we have no tactical awareness to compete.
I don’t often advocate masses of changes but feel they are needed again but hopefully we can sign some players with premier league experience who may settle quicker.
I hate to say this but a large amount of the players who are not good enough are the English lads. Rose, Naughton, Lennon, Soldado, Townsend, Dawson, I can accept keeping Daws and Townsend who are ok as squad players but wouldn’t want them near the starting 11 against a top 6 club.
Easier said than done but I would like to see us go for Shaw and Lallana to start with and maybe even Ashley Young if he is surplus at Man Utd to keep some English talent and bulk up the squad with some Championship nippers like, Hughes, Darlow, Lascelles, Paterson, Byram,
Striker wise Remy or one of the Belgiums Lukaku or Benteke and add a world class Centre Back.
May seem a big outlay but clearly with the players leaving in this scenario we would be fine.
I do agree with your assessment on Adebayor who has been great since his return but to Dump Vertonghen would create a massive hole.
07/04/2014 @ 5:33 pm
Er…
01/04/2014 @ 9:28 pm
So somebody says Sherwood did this or didnt,do that and you clowns take it as read,dont you realise there are people out there,trying to destabilise Spurs as much as possible.Why don t you whingers ever come up with a decent suggestion,because you cant because you dont know anything.The clowns at Spurs are you deluded twits who think we should win every game 5 nil and sweep everything before us before us Will you ever be satisfied ?highly unlikely.We are present 6th which given our history aint to bad.So shut up support the shirt or go and support Fulham where you will really have something to moan about.
01/04/2014 @ 9:34 pm
Well said think we have the 6th or 7th highest wage bill in the league,we’ve been punching above our weight for a while now compared to others that can throw silly money at players to make them stay or join up!
02/04/2014 @ 9:00 pm
We’ll said spurgatso couldn’t agree more
01/04/2014 @ 9:43 pm
Jesus Christ. Nobody would have been able to keep bale from Madrid.
Keeping Rooney and Suarez is a lot easier when neither of them wanted to go to the teams that actually bid for them. Not to mention the sums involved were as equally incomparable.
If Madrid were in for either they would have been off quicker than you could make up more nonsense.
I stopped reading after that.
01/04/2014 @ 9:43 pm
Ha
We tapped up Bale and Modric for years, which we did not do for Rooney and Suarez. Because we love Man U, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Man C. All other English clubs can shut down.
01/04/2014 @ 9:45 pm
As has been said, utter nonesense! Although, I do not fault Tim for being so clueless, it’s just a function of his lack of experience managing a club, never mind a club with top 4 aspirations. Yes there are others to blame but no matter what, TS should be replaced in the summer with a proper manager who can instill organization, tactics, a sense of purpose and professional pride, and who can handle big egos/personalities and demand respect. TS has none of those qualities. Whether its LVG, FdB, Pochetino, Mancini, or even Ancellotti possibly, there are any number of possible candidates who can take our current squad (plus a proper LB, a backup RB, and another forward) and can mold us into a credible top 4 team over the coming 2 seasons. If TS is willing to be a #2 to an LVG who will only likely stay for 2-3 years and get his tactical, organizational and man management training that way, then fine, but he has already said he is not willing to do that, so he needs to bugger off to a Championship team, get his coachiing certifications and manage in the lower leagues for a few years before attempting to manage a PL team, nebermind Spurs. There are no short cuts mate!
And wearing your heart on your sleeve and being honest in front of camera while commendable in some respects is downright naive and embarassing in most other respects. Being a manager is as much about managing perceptions and expectations and playing a game of chess with the opposition and the media. It’s called the modern age of football management.
Enough said but your man Timmee is way in too deep. The sad thing is he’s too dim to know it.
01/04/2014 @ 9:48 pm
Just wondering…
the 7 players bought played well for their previous clubs.
Soldado keep scoring goals at Valencia,Lamela,Chadli,Paulinho,Capoue,Eriksen
Chiriches,and even Holtby were doing well at their previous club.
And those who left THFC plays better with their respecting new clubs.
Is this a case of giving them wrong system or playing them wrong position?.
01/04/2014 @ 9:48 pm
“there are some players who do not want to fight for champions league football, or trophies, but just want it handed to them on a plate.”
Yes that would be us
01/04/2014 @ 9:52 pm
When will people writing these blogs start doing some proper groundwork before they write. Baldini’s was responsible for five players, not seven. Two were brought before his appointment and were chosen by AVB, Paulinho being the first.
01/04/2014 @ 10:01 pm
Just get deadwood out ASAP he has lost the plot. The team don’t trust him and looking at his tactics or lack of them I can see why.
01/04/2014 @ 10:10 pm
I agree with the general sentiment of the article but much of the content seems a bit slanted to fit with our current mood of depression.
I think Baldini has a lot to answer for but we simply don’t know what his mandate was from the board. If it was to improve the team and help push us forward immediately then he’s performed miserably. However, if he was told by Levy and co to simply invest the Bale dosh in as many future profitable assets then maybe his judgement is still to come.
Regarding Sherwood, he’s simply out of his depth. Perhaps in a few years with some management experience he may be a good manager but for Levy to allow a rookie to take on and underperforming team full of prima donnas halfway through a season was suicide.
There is clearly a bad atmosphere amongst the squad which is demonstrated by the lack of character, guts and pride on the field. These players, as a group, need to show more respect for our fans as it costs a fortune to go to games, especially away from home. They should take the same action as Norwich’s players did today and refund their fans for their tickets to Swansea at the weekend. To be paid for Sundays performance disgusts me. Still, as evident as their attitudes are, the board still put a novice manager in to solve it. Unbelievable.
Ultimately, the blame lies with the board, plain and simple. Just my oppinion….
COYS
01/04/2014 @ 11:39 pm
Loooool who wrote this article? Harry and Tim? Quite simply, and this is saying something, the worst and most out of tune article I have ever read on tottenham. This is what happens when a 15 year old boy that doesn’t support Spurs but thinks he knows about football tries to write an article about them!
02/04/2014 @ 12:44 am
We could not stop Berbatov, Modric or Bale from leaving because bigger, more successful clubs came after them. Rooney and Suarez stayed for money. I cant say that Rooney would leave but if R. Madrid or Barca or a club of that importance came in for Suarez even the immense rise in money that he has managed to get would not hold him at Liverpool.
This article is utter drivel, tripe of the highest order, my God what rubbish is allowed to put up nowadays.
02/04/2014 @ 12:51 am
The board are responsible for the clubs failings.. certainly in the management dept.
I said previously though. The 7 new players shouldn’t be judged in their first season. They all came to the club with good reputations and if we’re honest we were all looking forward to watching them play and do their thing. Our expectation got away with us. Not many come into the Premiership and hit the ground running. Yes there are exceptions. there always are. Had we brought in one maybe two, then perhaps they would have performed better. But, to introduce all 7 at the same time was never going to work. there’s not a manager in the world that could have got that to succeed.
My hope is when the new man comes in, hopefully someone with Premisership experience. My choice would be Benitez. He can calm the stormy waters and get the best out these players and build a team with passion, fight, commitment and the want to win attitude we see from the teams above, and for that matter below us.
Finaly… Spursgatso.. I’ve seen your comment in other threads. I’m not sure there is quite the conspirisory you talk of. I’m also not aware that Spurs fans expect to win games in the way you suggest either. Our history is one of a club that has firsts. We have set records in the history books. When a club does that it leads to a certain expectation. Spurs fans want to see good football, they want to see a player who wants to play for the club. A player who loves the club as much as we do. From the owners we expect them to be custodians and build on the history created by those whom founded the club and those that wrote the name of Tottenham Hotspur into the history books.
No club/fan has a divine right to expect success but with the investment made in players they are entiltled to expect the management team to have a plan A and Plan B and even a plan C. The manager we have at present may one day turn into a great manager. Tottenahm Hotspur is the club for any manager to come to start to learn his trade. I go back to that expectation I mentioned earlier….We expect and deserve more than we are getting this season.
02/04/2014 @ 7:51 am
Surely, you are trying to extract some reaction.
02/04/2014 @ 8:32 am
Lots of assumptions in this, based on things we cannot know. Also some inaccuracies.
For example, it is very unlikely that one person (Baldini) decided to buy the 7 new players.
Secondly and contrary to virtually every post on the FC forum, Levy did not sack AVB. His contract was terminated by mutual consent.
On the core premise of this piece – that TS should remain the first team coach, I think that most observers would disagree.
Again, we don’t know everything that’s been happening behind the scenes but what we can see is regression in form, direction and in the overall vibe from the team.
Players are out of position, problems are not addressed before, after or during matches and we make an exceptionally high number of errors.
These errors are not just the defensive lapses that cost goals but upfront , where decision making on passes, runs and when to shoot is really poor.
An effective first team coach would address this. Whilst accepting that solving some problems will take time, TS has shown no appetite or ability to diagnose the problems. For example, not reviewing the video of the 0-5 home defeat to Liverpool.
Remember when AVB set about sorting our tendency to ship late goals? That was a great example of effective problem solving, coaching and communicating with supporters about what was happening. Maybe AVB’s time was up but we miss that technical expertise. I don’t see TS providing it next season.
02/04/2014 @ 11:04 am
Let’s take a step back from the anger and try to think clearly. Sherwood is in an invidious position. He inherited a dysfunctional, unbalanced squad with low morale from the AVB / Baldini regime. That was not his fault. Yes, we should have kept Bale for another season and gotten a toe-hold in the Champions League before selling and rebuilding but at the time the vast majority of Spurs supporters seemed extremely happy for Bale to go for what was undoubtedly a good price. I think many will now look at Suarez and Liverpool’s success and rue that decision. It’s not often Spurs produce a world class player and we shouldn’t have been so hasty to do business. Whether he wanted to go or not, he was on a long contract at Tottenham and I’m sure another season tearing up defences at WHL wouldn’t have killed him.
The transfer situation has been regretful but also understandable. It takes most foreign players at least a season to adapt to the Premier League. Mertesacker and indeed Suarez are good examples of imports who struggled to adjust at first. The problem is having seven new faces in the same squad who are all trying to adjust at the same time. It may have appeared to be an exciting transfer strategy of ‘selling Elvis and buying the Beatles’ but it has proven to be chaotic and ill-judged. It has also highlighted the lack of leaders from within our group of experienced senior players. Only Dawson and Ade seem that bothered on the pitch. Where are Lennon, Vertonghen and Lloris when our backs are against the wall? If these players cared more, there would be less pressure on the new players. Don’t get me started on the players’ languid body-language in the tunnel at Anfield. Here were professional, elite athletes being paid £50-100k per week arrayed like a hungover pub team. You could see we’d lost the game before it had even kicked off. Our fans sang ‘we want our money back’ and they have a strong case.
So let’s go back to the summer when Bale seemed on his way and we Spurs fans were clamouring for exciting replacements which Levy duly delivered in numbers beyond our wildest dreams. All our Christmases had come at once, or so we thought. The new signings were arguably the best of those players who wanted to join us at that time. A post-Bale Tottenham would lack goals and getting a new world class Striker was the main priority. If you recall, Levy had originally tried to secure Negredo then Benteke and then Lokaku but all had said no and we ended up with Soldado, who had done well in La Liga but wasn’t the back-to-goal, target man we were looking for. Perhaps, at £26m for a 28 year old, this will be regarded as a ‘panic buy’ but I remain hopeful, given the correct service, he will come good next season. Nobody can accuse Soldado of being a ‘prospect’ or one for the future. Here was a proven Spanish international striker who played for Spain, current World and European Champions.
Other signings we were getting foamy-mouthed about included Christian Eriksen. The Dane is clearly a talent but is a bit lightweight and doesn’t seem too keen to fight for the ball. That’s not a problem if he’s played as a no.10. It is if he plays Left Midfield. His reluctance to track runners properly has cost us at least two goals this season. I think he’s a defensive liability so needs to be played further forwards where he doesn’t need to worry about it. Then there’s Chiriches whom I saw in the U21 v Arsenal on Friday (btw1882 is highly recommended) and it reminded me of his tremendous ability on the ball. Undoubtedly he will be an important player for us. Chadli has recently shown his goal threat. He holds the ball up well and retains possession. Lamela remains an unknown quantity but it would seem it’s his injury which has held him back. I’m confident he will come good. Capoue started well, reminding me of Vieira but he got injured, put some weight on and has struggled since. Paulinho has been disappointing. Maybe I’m being harsh but doesn’t seem to do anything that well. Perhaps he’s not being played in the right position or he’s saving himself for the World Cup. Either way, for £17m, I’m not impressed thus far.
Any manager would have struggled this season. The loss of Bale had a greater impact than anyone anticipated. Bale’s performances had papered over a lot of cracks and AVB for all his coaching badges and Power-Points, did not have the answers. Sherwood made a promising start but has faded away although to be fair we all knew March was going to be hell with City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Benfica x2 and Liverpool. In fairness, we were playing well against Chelsea until the sending off. We outplayed Arsenal and deserved at least a point and were very good in the 2nd half at Benfica. It will be interesting to see how Sherwood fairs in the final six games. All are against teams we should beat. Win them all and Spurs end up with 74 points, our highest ever tally in Premier League history.
It probably isn’t fair to judge Sherwood on half a season with an inherited, misfit squad. Whether he’ll get another season to show what he can really do remains to be seen. There’s a vocal anti-Sherwood contingent who, criticise everything from his accent to his clothes. Is this down to the results, his Arsenal links or a bit of both? One thing is for sure, it’s paradoxical for fans to bemoan the high frequency of Spurs managers whilst calling for a manager to be sacked. Personally, I like the idea of recruiting from within the club, like they do at Barcelona, developing a proud, distinctive footballing identity and culture. Those who criticise Sherwood’s lack of experience must also acknowledge Guardiola had no experience prior to taking over at the Nou Camp. I also think Hoddle still has a lot to offer. There’s no better football mind in England and it’s harsh when fans judge him on his previous tenure when Spurs had significantly less to spend on players. Whatever happens, I’d much rather be in our situation than the soul-less, plastic clubs like CFC or Man City. Up the Spurs.
02/04/2014 @ 12:06 pm
Spot on, especially the stuff about selling Elvis and buying The Beatles. The back-slapping over the summer how clever we had been looks a bit embarrassing now. The real lesson to be learned is how selling your best player invariably comes back to bite you. It’s happened to us more than once in recent years.
Having said that, I don’t actually think not selling Bale was a realistic option given the money involved, the fact that he more or less went on strike etc. The forces of football economics at work there.
Which leads me to the conclusion that the situation we are now in is not really anyone’s fault, not Levy’s, not AvB’s, not Sherwoods, not the fans’, not even the players’. Although we could blame John Terry for his bigotry which ultimately lost him the England captaincy, which meant Capello resigning, which meant Redknapp taking his eye of the ball, which meant us finishing 4th, which meant us ultimately missing out thanks to some fairly improbable invents involving Chelsea, Arjen Robben missing penalties, Didier Drogba etc. Stretching it a bit but anything which involves John Terry getting the blame for anything is fine by me.
03/04/2014 @ 3:27 am
How can you not blame Sherwood? He has persisted with the high defensive line and a midfield that doesn’t press the opposition. He has continued with Dawson when better options were available, namely Chiriches, and pushed Vertonghen to left-back. Opted to go with Rose when Assou-Ekotto should’ve been recalled.
Changes his midfield with every match, just as AvB did. His substitutions have no impact, or are too late to do anything. Plays Eriksen out wide, a player who is not known for his defensive abilities, and is just wasted when he’s not in his preferred #10 role. No idea how to use Dembélé, Paulinho or Sigurdsson. Persists with Bentaleb over Sandro.
Plain and simple, he has no idea how to set the team up to play. He has not done anything deter me away from thinking otherwise.
02/04/2014 @ 2:06 pm
I will blame Levy for one thing, which has had a massive impact, his misguided approach to hiring managers. When the club screamed for experience, from top to bottom (technical directors too) he has gone for inexperience. Spurs had George Graham, Martin Jol and Redknapp which have been the only experienced manager’s Spurs have had under his tenure, and other than Redknapp, he was allowed to be influenced into sacking them when support was needed.
Spurs need Louis van Gaal, they need Sherwood and others to leave, to go back into the shadows. It is their only option to improve.
03/04/2014 @ 1:44 pm
Small point but it was David Buchler who sacked the Goonersaurus. If we are playing the blame game it has to be shared among quite a lot of people, over quite a long period of time, IMO. Although perhaps paradoxically, we have done far better under ENIC than we did with Sugar in charge.
02/04/2014 @ 2:42 pm
Anyone who persists with Lennon NEEDS TO BE SACKED! The writer needs the fighting cock shoved up his arse.
02/04/2014 @ 3:08 pm
No one wants 2 see us win 5-0 every week, the tactics is what’s wrong we don’t score goals,1 up front does not work 2 easy 2 defend against,it doesn’t matter who the opposition is we should go all out attack like Brendan rodgers does like he did at Swansea with a low budget it’s about excitement entertainment and fast attacking football, we are boring and predictable,2 up front is the way forward all the best teams play that way,palace beat Chelsea cos they attacked them,we give 2 much respect to teams,we can’t go to Chelsea and play 2 up cos wel get murdered were his words, bring in van gaal or Martinez and wel be challenging next year COYS
02/04/2014 @ 4:17 pm
There are times when i would look at spurs at position 8 in the league. There has been improvement, as well as financial gains, under Levy. There are mistakes, and this year, were exposed. These mistakes can be corrected. We haven’t been lucky on the managerial side. I like Tim Sherwood, and I had hope he’s the chosen one. But, with the Liverpool game, I was convinced we need a new manager.. Since he started, I don’t know his starting eleven, except for the promising Bentalip. Those players which were brought in, needed game time. They needed a game plan going forward rather than back and sideways. That’s the same AVB did. All I could think of, we going to loose or play a draw. Even then, because we had a good goalkeeper.
I’m not buying the argument of a coach having his own players. He first have to work with what his got, then bring changes there. About players wanting to leave, you can’t blame Levy. Liverpool are lucky their Suarez case worked. It could have failed also. Sometimes you can’t stop a player if he’s convinced of a change to greener pastures.
Spurs players are fustrated at the moment. I’m thinking it’s to do with the system they are asked to play. I’m worried we going to loose the good players like Vertongen, Walker, Paulihno and Lloris. How can you decide to start a season without a leftback. You had one, but you decide to loan. I’m not saying Ekotto is perfect, but when Liverpool gave us the first drubbing, the problem started when Naoghton got the yellow card. After that, we couldn’t move forward, except for Walker. With Ekotto, we would have had the trust forward..
Anyway, I’m not an expert, but I seriously believe we not lucky with managers. I had hope with TS, but sometimes this things don’t just work. I’m hoping they are going to get a reputable manager,
02/04/2014 @ 7:52 pm
Complete drivel.
Sherwood out of his depth. Team changes repeatedly, love for Bentaleb; not bothering to watch tapes of Liverpool; inflamatory egotistical comments. Never has a manager caused so much damage in such a short space of time.
03/04/2014 @ 2:58 am
Preach!
Look at the squad Spurs have, and Sherwood has them playing as they are. Persists with Bentaleb when you have Sandro. Continually plays Eriksen wide left in favour Chadli, Lennon, even Kane. He has proved time and time again that he has zero plan. He can fcuk off with guts and character nonsense. Spurs need a coach, not a glorified fan.
02/04/2014 @ 9:08 pm
Tim is probably out of his depth but having to play jokers like rose naughton and sulky vertongen and I can’t be bothered Lennon he don’t have much chance to succeed please get back holtby and Carroll next season
03/04/2014 @ 2:59 am
Yet Vertonghen, Lennon and Naughton played well under AvB.
03/04/2014 @ 4:10 am
Yes, point fingers at everything and everyone! Just what we need for a fractious fanbase during a divisive season. As the old saying goes, hindsight’s 20/20–yet you seem to have missed the Redknapp-responsible huge slump that cost us CL in 2011-12!
03/04/2014 @ 9:53 am
The man doesn’t even have the requisite training and qualifications to hold this role.
And on that point, he’s been in coaching for over 6 years and still hasn’t obtained this training? That speaks of a fundamental laziness and arrogance that cannot be allowed at our club.
All this talk of Bill Nic is great, but another true club legend is Arthur Rowe. The man invented one-two football at Spurs that was then taken to Ajax and thus Barcelona. Rowe did this with well planned and executed training and tactics. Sherwood spits in the very face of one of our greatest figures in club history and some people defend him and say its not his fault?!!!
Did Tim’s wife write this article?
03/04/2014 @ 6:36 pm
Players taking time to settle….bollox, they are top players paid extremely well and can kick a all some even with two feet. My son joined army at 16 leaving mummies apron, he gelled and got on with it.
It’s down to tactics, Soldado if played in the right system would be leading scorer, the nearest thing to Lineker for ages, if he had been around in Harry’s team he would have hit 30’plus no danger, our pace and final ball on a plate for him.
Oh I forgot, selling Caulker criminal.
Oh and no more about he knows the club……he knows where the toilet is and the tea ladies name, we need a sound tactician and man manager…..Brendan Rodgers….oh we did try to sign doh!
05/04/2014 @ 3:55 pm
Had Sherwood played the right players, used tactics, recalled BAE, and either done away with the high-defensive line/no pressing from the midfield up, or implemented it correctly, then Spurs would be in far better shape. Plainly stated, if Sherwood knew what to do, or was capable of knowing how to improve the team. Spurs would more than likely still be in Europe, progressed further in the domestic knock out completions, and this article would be a positive.
Something like this, with players easily interchangeable…
Lloris
Walker, Kaboul, Vertonghen, Assou-Ekotto
Paulinho, Sandro
Lennon, Chadli
Eriksen
Adebayor
Subs: Friedel, Dembélé, Capoue, Chiriches, Townsend, Lamella, Soldado
16/06/2014 @ 11:08 am
I was wondering if you eger considered changing the layout of your website?
Its vefy well written; I love what youve got too say. But maybe you could a little more
in the way of content so people could connect with iit better.
Youve got an awful lot of text for only having oone or 2 images.
Maybe you couild space it out better?