Guys despite this season being a total a clusterf*ck we can still smile knowing...
Just a small point that's consistently bothered me about the support that Tim gets from pundits is this 'He know's the club inside out' stuff. Danny Murphy was at it this time on MoTD
Sherwood himself has admitted that he hasn't selected players because he doesn't know them. He hasn't settled on a formation or a style of play at all either. So, with the exception of the young players he's blooded in, what exactly is Sherwood's previous experience with the club offering us? To me it's an easy, throwaway comment from journalists which massively overlooks evidence to the contrary.
Anyone hear Sherwood on TalkSport being interviewed by the Moose?
Went along the lines of "there was no lack of passion out there. You've never played the game, you don't know what's it's like"...
Adrian Durham tore strips into Sherwood, saying "oh so all those Spurs fans seeing how poorly the team are playing don't know what their talking about because they've never played the game?? We supported Sherwood on his appointment but that is unbelievable"
Beautiful!
In one fell swoop it has been exposed that:
- Sherwood did indeed get a relatively easy ride from the media (backed him)
- Sherwood shows himself to be easy for the media to get a controversial quote out of (I'm sure the Moose asked the question to purposely lead to TS blowing his top a little, though no doubt not that obviously/easily) and;
- Sherwood shows himself openly to being an ungrateful jumped-up cnut (in the TalkSport/red-top media's eyes).
Levy's "let Sherwood hang himself with his own ego-rope" plan is coming to fruition :lol:
The sooner we lose the tactical pygmy the better, the guy is clueless and I I do not get why people were defending him this week.
We were playing against a team that had already beaten us twice this season and it did not occur to him to have someone in central midfield to protect our porously cumbersome back 4. And playing with a high line, what was he thinking?
I heard Ossie at a forum here in New York explain that his brief was to play the Spurs way and when he did, he was fired. Sherwood's recent comments have suggested that his instructions were to attack more and score more goals. Neither man seems to have approached the task with the thought that we can be an effective attacking and defensive force. Instead, the position seems to be that by removing any defensive capability in the midfield, they can proclaim that they did what they were told to do. Absolutely crazy. On the plus side, when Francis took over from Ossie and added some defensive discipline, we had championship form for the rest of the year. Oh for such a transformation now!*
* I do recognise that Francis' tenure did not continue in the same vein.
I suspect he said a bit more than that. I am positive he mentioned that when he was sacked, we had 6 less points due to the deduction, and that by the time the Mullet was getting going, we had them back due to Sugar's only decent move as chairman (fighting the league). I need not tell you the difference was that when Ossie was sacked we were 17th, yet suddenly, 6 points later, we're 11th. I believe had Ossie had those points, and had he been given a season, he might well have worked out the exact issue you're discussing…don't in any way believe that Francis made 'great' switches mate. In fact, the truth is that he was given some brilliant players who carried us a fair way before we totally ****ed up the semi-final and a chance to win the cup.
In fact, one place where I do agree with your comparison is that if we were to have been foolish enough to have stuck with Sherwood, a descent into mid-table Francian mediocrity would've been guaranteed.
the stats don't lie and show how good a bunch of players we have.
we got those points in spite of the manager and formation.
come on levy - you know we need a better manager!
don't really get the hate - let him prove his worth if he's given the job and get behind him ffs
Another thing, and correct me if I'm wrong here, but wasn't Sherwood also part of the 'Transfer Committee' with Levy and Baldini?
Guys despite this season being a total clusterf*ck we can still smile knowing...
I believe so, he is only taking credit for Christian however.
My point remains that Ardiles was committed to an over aggressive attacking style that was doomed from the start and Sherwood appears to have followed that template. Shoring up the midfield is way down the list of priorities in this approach. Moreover, I in no way suggested that Francis was a tactical genius, just that he abandoned gung-ho football for a more pragmatic approach where the brilliant players (Klinnsman) would be backed up by the "water carriers'(Howells). The difference in points that you mention does not tell the whole story. After all, Ardiles was sacked after we lost 3-0 to Notts County in the League Cup. And Francis' first 12 games yielded 7 wins, 4 draws and 1 loss with a plus 14 goal difference, which I would certainly take over Sherwood's performance, whatever Francis' hairstyle!