Re: Tim Sherwood - Head Coach
So many good tactical switches from him today. I was horrified when I saw the starting line-up - no Eriksen, no Townsend, playing four central midfielders, throwing Kaboul back in the deep end, playing a right-footed left-back instead of a natural left footer in Vertonghen...these were some big gambles but every single one paid off massively. The substitutions were made at the correct times and they were all hugely effective. Full marks to him. 10/10. It's true that we had a bit of luck with Krul's mistake and Saudi Sportswashing Machine missing some chances, but unlike the luck we had in games under Sherwood's predecessor where we'd fail to have a single shot at home to an awful team but then win a dodgy penalty to win 1-0, this felt like luck we'd created ourselves through applying good pressure on Saudi Sportswashing Machine, playing good football and eventually the breaks came.
It seemed like it was gospel after the Everton game that Sherwood has had good results but was leaving something to be desired tactically. I actually think that he's shown more tactical flair and cunning in these 10 games than most of his predecessors that I've watched since 1993 have shown in their entire miserable Spurs careers. Let's look at it bit by bit:
Southampton - He knew they had first choice defenders missing so he went back to 4-4-2 in an attacking line-up and overwhelmed them, they weren't expecting to see Adebayor at all and were blown to pieces
West Brom - Ok this was ****. Too aggressive a team, no real cohesion. Let's write this one off to teething problems.
Stoke - Moved Eriksen into the wider position with Paulinho paired with Dembele in the 4-4-2 for the first time, gave the team far more balance, pace and dynamism than the previous games and had them playing intricate one touch passing football with tricks and flicks to delight the crowd as we thrashed a team who sat back and defended their way to a 0-0 the previous season.
Man Utd - Away to a big team he brought back Capoue as we needed a holding player. Through sitting back and playing on the counter-attack, we waiting for our moments when they were vulnerable and hit them hard to claim the win. Substitutions were poor in this game but he got away with it.
Crystal Palace - At home to a relegation struggler the need for a passer like Bentaleb is more important than a blocker like Capoue. The first half was **** but because of the motivation not the tactics. He gave them a gonading at half time and we scored two goals, including one from one of his substitutes.
Swansea - Despite 4-4-2 getting him 13 points from 15, he made the brave decision to change it for this game as he knew Swansea's passing game in the centre would hurt us unless we packed the middle of the pitch. The extra man in midfield helped us as we scored 3 goals and won the game comfortably after some early scares.
Emirates Marketing Project - The decision to not play a DM was poor. I really had a go at him for this one. But...we have started slowly in a lot of games under him and we were coming back into the game before the penalty and the red card were wrongfully given. If we'd got an equaliser instead of going 2-0 down and down to 10 men, perhaps I'd now be writing about how ballsy he was to use the pumped White Hart Lane crowd on an evening game by playing an attacking line-up designed to have bodies in the centre of the pitch that can pass and move the ball and frustrate City by keeping possession after we scored.
Hull - This was very poor. I cannot forgive a manager taking 90 minutes to make his first substitution, especially if we're not winning. Performance was ok, but the result and the methodology weren't.
Everton - Paulinho back in, we'd have done far better early on if we'd pressed Everton more. Which is what he said he'd asked the players to do but it took a half-time gonading to get the message across. After they did, we were the better team and on balance of the second half deserved to win the game.
Saudi Sportswashing Machine - See above. Knew they'd play a 4-4-2, so he packed the midfield to ensure we dominated the game. Saudi Sportswashing Machine had probably been studying Eriksen in training and planning for him, so by bringing in Capoue and pushing Bentaleb into a more advanced role, they had no idea how to deal with him and got punished for it. Big call to drop his captain in favour of Kaboul instead of moving Vertonghen out wide when Naughton was injured and it paid off with a clean sheet.
Yeah, three of the games were poor tactically. But 70% of them have shown real innovation, real intuition. Proactive tactical switches, based on who the opposition are and what will work best for the team. We've waited for years to see a manager do that, hiring fancy foreign coaches like Christian Gross, Juande Ramos and AVB who act like they are intelligent, learned men that have come from a place where they understand football better than us Brits do, yet in spite of all of their waffle, they've proven tactically clueless. Sherwood is getting results because the tactical switches he's made have been, on the whole, excellent.
Here's the other thing to consider. He's a young manager without much experience. There will be elements of trial and error. You can't expect him to get everything right. But, looking at the things he has got right so far, I've been positively encouraged. Long may it continue.
