Tim Sherwood

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Tottenham boss Tim Sherwood admits he needs top-four finish
Last Updated: 20/01/14 12:49pm

Tim Sherwood has admitted that Tottenham Hotspur have to qualify for the UEFA Champions League, otherwise his efforts might not be good enough to satisfy the chairman.

Spurs have a fine record since Sherwood replaced Andre Villas-Boas at the helm in December, winning five games out of six under their new boss to stay in contention for a top-four spot.

However, they remain fifth after Sunday's 3-1 victory away to Swansea City and Sherwood is adamant that they still need to improve.

He believes it is essential to book a place in Europe's premier competition for next season, suggesting that he may struggle to keep his job if they miss out.

"If the season was to end tomorrow the chairman wouldn't be too happy because we're fifth," said Sherwood, who was handed an 18-month deal by Daniel Levy after Villas-Boas' departure.

"The final league position has to meet the expectations of the club otherwise it's 'Goodbye Charlie'.

"The club need to finish in fourth place. Anything other than that is going to be a disappointment.

"Realistically we should be in and amongst it. But it ain't easy, is it?"

Sherwood has challenged his Tottenham players to keep their good run going until the end of the season, although he would ideally like some of their rivals to start slipping up as well.

He added: "No one seems to be giving any leeway. I keep looking at results thinking 'Surely they're going to drop points here today'. And they don't.

"They were probably looking at us today thinking 'They might slip up at Swansea.' So we're not giving anything away either.

"It's going to go right down to the wire, it's just about keeping that consistency and belief.

"It probably boils down to how you're going to get on against each other."

Emmanuel Adebayor scored twice in the win at Swansea, and Sherwood was full of praise for the striker after another impressive performance.

"It's great," he told Sky Sports. "It's obviously great for the football club and it's great for Ade himself.

"He's flying at the moment and he's enjoying his football. He's playing with a smile on his face and he's finding the back of the net.

"I thought we played well. Even though Swansea were having some chances from distance in the first period and they knocked it around, I thought we ironed it out in the end and got to grips with it."

http://www1.skysports.com/football/...-tim-sherwood-admits-he-needs-top-four-finish
 
Millbanks said:
I just don't think you can hire a manager and then sack him when he meets his targets just because you think there is a better candidate.
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NorseYid said:
Why did we sack AVB then? 7 pts off the league leaders, in both cups, 22 league games to play.

Now we are 3pts closer to CL however further off league leaders with 5 less game to play - AND dumped out of both cups.

Every manager can get the sack, in particular one on a caretakers 18 month contract like TS.

If Van Gaal, Hiddink, Garcia or Pottechini gets available, I would not hesitate a monent. Neither will Levy or any chairman with a quarter of a brain.
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We sacked AVB because of the style of play and the lack of improvement over the season. I, for one, didn't agree with his sacking, and nor with Sherwood's appointment, but fuck me Levy has (so far) proved me wrong - and most others (I believe the 'Next Manager thread' he received minimal votes - less than 5%?).

"Further off the league leaders" - I believe both us and Woolwich have won 5, drawn 1 in our last 6 games, so not further off. And even if Woolwich had won all 6, that wouldn't make our 16 from possible 18 points any less of an achievement.

He's not on a caretakers contract. Giving an unproven coach any longer would be daft. He has 6 months to show that he can take us further, and if so he will probably get a year extension. I'm sure Levy was keen to avoid a large payout should it not work out.

Rudi Garcia would be a gamble. He hasn't managed in any of the big three leagues. And Pochettino is even less unproven, and has fallen hard after a bright start, now trailing us by 12 points (and Soton were behind us when AVB was sacked). Not sure either of those would be obviously better than Sherwood.

I do think that Sherwood will struggle to win over some fans, no matter what he does. I'm not sure why. Every manager has their faults, but he's brave enough to take us on and give it a go, we are playing some excellent football, he's learning and has massive potential, knows the club inside out, and we're getting results. Why we're all so keen on hunting for the next man I do not know.[/quote]
 
Millbanks said:
Why we're all so keen on hunting for the next man I do not know.
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I just saw a quote from Van Gaal, which I'll paraphrase, that suggested that there's always openings when you're working and never any openings when you need a job. That door swings both ways it seems. AVB wasn't working out so we dumped him, hindsight now shows that this was arguably the correct call. One of the big concerns though was how rash of a decision this was with no long term replacement readily available we could go after.

Full credit to Sherwood and what he's been able to accomplish, but do we really want to not look for another option until he demonstrates that he's not right for the job? He's made some good decisions so far (Ade, Bentaleb, opened up play, etc.), but how much of the success is the fact that Sherwood is in charge or that AVB is now gone? It's too early to tell, and I don't want us to sit back and do nothing during this time to just see how it pans out.
 
Millbanks said:
We sacked AVB because of the style of play and the lack of improvement over the season. I, for one, didn't agree with his sacking, and nor with Sherwood's appointment, but fuck me Levy has (so far) proved me wrong - and most others (I believe the 'Next Manager thread' he received minimal votes - less than 5%?).

"Further off the league leaders" - I believe both us and Woolwich have won 5, drawn 1 in our last 6 games, so not further off. And even if Woolwich had won all 6, that wouldn't make our 16 from possible 18 points any less of an achievement.

He's not on a caretakers contract. Giving an unproven coach any longer would be daft. He has 6 months to show that he can take us further, and if so he will probably get a year extension. I'm sure Levy was keen to avoid a large payout should it not work out.

Rudi Garcia would be a gamble. He hasn't managed in any of the big three leagues. And Pochettino is even less unproven, and has fallen hard after a bright start, now trailing us by 12 points (and Soton were behind us when AVB was sacked). Not sure either of those would be obviously better than Sherwood.

I do think that Sherwood will struggle to win over some fans, no matter what he does. I'm not sure why. Every manager has their faults, but he's brave enough to take us on and give it a go, we are playing some excellent football, he's learning and has massive potential, knows the club inside out, and we're getting results. Why we're all so keen on hunting for the next man I do not know.
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My post was a response to another post, which you should perhaps quote too to get the context.

Not a caretaker contrack? What you write there exactly what I referred to - he has half a season to show what he can do, if not then a more steady hand will come in.

No matter what you say both those managers have more experience than Sherwood - and as younger, trending managers I am sure Levy is tracking them closely.
 
I am still not convinced by sherwood, i have seen this same reaction by fans year after year. We go on an unbeaten run and then get a reality check . Reminds me of the 3-2 loss to liverpool last season. Defining moment in our season. The loss to Manchester city away the season before that.

Fans are desperate to paper over blatant cracks in our team whether it is defensive or attacking. Year after year levy leaves Spurs short. We will see in the next two months whether sherwood is simply riding his luck with an in form adebayor or that he can really take on the big boys.
 
trifficTotnum said:
I am still not convinced by sherwood
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Did anyone really expect anything else from you?

Sherwood wont beat West Ham - tick
Sherwood wont beat Southampton
Sherwood wont beat West Brom - tick
Sherwood wont beat Stoke
Sherwood wont beat Utd
Sherwood wont beat arse - tick
Sherwood wont beat Palace
Sherwood wont beat Swansea
Sherwood can only play 442
Errr....Sherwood wont wear a suit - tick
Hmmmm....Sherwood...err
Sherwood is not an improvement

desperate times
 
Got to love this place
An opinion isn't worth expressing unless its polarised for full effect.

Is there no middle ground with some of you guys? How can you believe with such utter certainty that your vision of how things will go, is so unquestionably right?
 
Since Sherwood was appointed I have had my reservations (still have) but listening to a few of his media pre/post match interviews/conferences's, I like his simplicity! In as much, that football is not a particularly complicated game!

TS seems to me to have the approach of put the effort in and do the simple things right and more often than not it will produce results!

Apologies to those that would like to think, that football is more of a science. But it ain't!! Application! First touch! Vision! Communication! Pass and move! Athleticism! If only you and I had at least 2- 3 more of these attributes , we too would be sleeping with the likes of Abbey Clancey!!
 

From F365

It might suit him to play the part of the 'young 'Arry' with his emphasis of players over tactics but Tim Sherwood has found formations that suit his attacking players...



The appointment of Tim Sherwood as permanent manager of Tottenham was a giant stride for young English managers in the game. He is now only the sixth Englishman in charge of a Premier League side, but that fact alone will not have pacified fans who wanted a bigger name to take the reigns after André Villas-Boas' sacking.

Five league wins from six games later and there is growing optimism around White Hart Lane that the man who guided the Under-21 side to within one win of the Development League title last season could be the man for the job.

Much has been made of Sherwood's tactical inadequacies, exposed brutally in the 2-0 FA Cup loss at the Emirates in early January, but given that Spurs have improved remarkably since he took over, is there really any reason to question his methods?

The obvious and most widely discussed change at Tottenham has seen Sherwood abandon Villas-Boas' commitment to 4-2-3-1, open up to the idea of playing 4-4-2 and allow his players more freedom to express themselves.

Under his predecessor the team often looked devoid of creative ideas, but that has not been the case under Sherwood, even if the team have sacrificed some of the defensive soundness that the Portuguese had tried to instil.

The team is playing more exciting football and Sherwood deserves credit for that.

He is widely thought of as tactically inept for playing two in central midfield and two up front, but that is hardly reason for criticism given the success Spurs are currently enjoying, as well as the fact that Manuel Pellegrini plays 4-4-2 at Manchester City and Brendan Rodgers has too at Liverpool this season.

Key to those teams are the personnel the managers prefer to pick, and that is also the case at White Hart Lane.

Emmanuel Adebayor has been vital to Sherwood's revolution, scoring five goals in six games since he took over. He links play between midfield and attack in a way that Roberto Soldado, who often looked isolated, simply wasn't earlier in the campaign.

The Spaniard was averaging the fewest touches per appearance of regular starters under Villas-Boas (29.7), while Adebayor is averaging 58.8 since Sherwood took over.

adeceleb_3060161.jpg


The Togolese forward has technically been partnering Soldado in attack but he drops deep, and spends much of his time between the lines. That has benefited others around him no end, with the attack-minded midfield Sherwood has fielded brought into play all the more often.

There is an imbalance in Spurs' midfield at present, but not necessarily a negative one with winger Aaron Lennon playing on the right and the centrally inclined attacking midfielder Christian Eriksen cutting in from the left.

The club have thus seen more of their play go down the right, but the return to fitness of Danny Rose, who is significantly more adept overlapping from deep than Jan Vertonghen or Kyle Naughton, has helped Sherwood's Spurs achieve success where Villas-Boas' failed.

The return to form and fitness of Aaron Lennon has also helped, with the midfielder the best-performing Spurs player according to WhoScored.com's rating system (7.71) since Sherwood took charge.

That Eriksen (7.67) and Adebayor (7.59) make up the top three in that timeframe speaks volumes about the individual performances of three of the team's most attacking players under the Englishman's guidance.

That trio, along with Soldado have all scored and assisted at least one goal each in the past six games; only Soldado and Paulinho did so in 16 matches under Villas-Boas.

In central midfield, Nabil Bentaleb has been a revelation alongside Mousa Dembélé. The 19-year-old was thrown in at the deep end at Southampton for his debut and did more than hold his own, joining the game with the scores tied and helping his side go on to record a vital victory.

The two look rather similar on the pitch: very left-footed, gangly in running style, yet deceptively strong, seeming to be on the brink of losing possession all too often but rarely surrendering it.

They are, though, very different in playing style and compliment each other greatly. Both are happy to do defensive work but generally do different things with it.

Dembélé prefers to carry the ball forward, completing an average of 2.5 successful dribbles per game, while Bentaleb moves it quickly around midfield, making a pass on average every one minute 20 seconds, the eighth most often in the Premier League and more frequently than the likes of Michael Carrick, Aaron Ramsey or Steven Gerrard, to name but three.

With both players accomplished in possession but also strong in the tackle and positionally aware, they are more than capable of playing as a two in midfield, though perhaps not against midfields quite as narrow and talented as Woolwich's.

Sherwood's views that 'players are more important than tactics' have been described as outdated and do on first glance seem somewhat naive.

However, what he has done is not quite as simple as merely picking his best players. He has, in changing formation, made a tactical sacrifice that Villas-Boas would not, which ultimately proved his downfall.

With individual attacking players' performances at a higher standard, Sherwood has successfully given the players a base from which to go out and enjoy their football and, for now at least, it is working.

How long before he is 'found out' remains to be seen, but if Spurs' form continues, he could yet earn the club their desired fourth-placed finish, thereby doing a great deal to boost the reputation of young English managers across the country.

Alistair Tweedale
 
Extract from the book I'm reading at the moment about how Dalglish built the title winning Blackburn side,

"...Mike Newell was his first million-pound signing from Everton and Tim Sherwood's arrival from Norwich cheered the chairman up no end. How Walker admired Sherwood's industry. So much so that when Dalglish sought permission to chase the renowned French pair of Zinedine Zidane and Christophe Dugarry, legend has it Walker said to him: 'why do we need them when we've got Tim Sherwood?'"
:ap:
 
Mick Cooper said:
Got to love this place
An opinion isn't worth expressing unless its polarised for full effect.

Is there no middle ground with some of you guys? How can you believe with such utter certainty that your vision of how things will go, is so unquestionably right?
Click to expand...
Those who take the middle ground are uncommitted unabashed liberals who even have a hard time rationalising about how much is enough for them each week!!
 
Mick Cooper said:
Got to love this place
An opinion isn't worth expressing unless its polarised for full effect.

Is there no middle ground with some of you guys? How can you believe with such utter certainty that your vision of how things will go, is so unquestionably right?
Click to expand...

You're totally right....

...whilst at the same time being totally wrong!

Melt/Knee-jerk/Fan-Boy!! :bmj::harrysmile::avbshock::vdvhmm::saha::gio:
 
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