Re: Tim Sherwood - Head Coach
Do you really hold the viewpoint that it's all down to players now having been here for 6 months? If you do then which particular players do you feel have suddenly had that '6 month light bulb on' moment that coincided with the new manager taking over?
It's not about an individual player making the change, it's about the team getting used to each other and gelling. With the number of changes we were forced to make over the summer it's no surprise this didn't happen instantly.
Also qualifying for the Champions League once makes it MUCH easier to then achieve regular qualification. If we qualify for the Champions League this season then we stand a better chance of the likes of Lloris, Vertonghen, Paulinho, Sandro, etc wanting to stay at the club. We should also be able to attract a better class of player, our revenue also increases so that we have the opportunity to spend more money on transfer fees.
In the three years since Redknapp qualified us for our single Champions league season we have finished:
5th - 6 points off qualification place.
4th - 1 point off 3rd place & qualification taken away through means beynod our control.
5th - 1 point off qualification place.
The one off qualification sets you up to be able to have an attempt at a sustained run, otherwise you constantly have the cycle of losing your best players.
The only teams to have qualified from the PL outside of those who were always expected to were Spurs, Everton and Leeds. None of those teams did it again and they've all sold off their best players. A one-off qualification (especially when gifted by a better team screwing up) does nothing but add fixtures and make qualification the next year more difficult.
I would say that players who like/respect their manager continue to work hard for the whole game even if they are losing comphrensively.... I was appalled at our players demeanor on the pitch against Emirates Marketing Project at the Etihad and in our spanking at WHL by Liverpool. Getting a proper tonking will always put the manager under pressure and it appeared to me as though the players didn't care about this.
Funny, I've heard a few Woolwich fans say exactly the same about the demeanour of their players - I sincerely doubt any of them don't respect Wenger though.
The way I see it there will always be a number of players that like the manager and a few players that don't , this will be the same with pretty much any manager at any club (unless they come in and do a Cloughie at Leeds of course). Typically the players who like the manager are the ones who are in his plans and those that dislike the manager tend to be ones that aren't. The key is for the manager to be able to ensure that he can still get a good performance out of the players who don't like him.
That depends - there are some players who simply can't/won't deal with discipline. That's nothing to do with who the manager is, that's just wanting an easy life. Shipping them out is the best way to do it, but it requires the support of the chairman (and it gets really complicated if another club is subsidising the wages of one of them).
Or perhaps Kaboul genuinely holds those thoughts about Sherwood? From what I have heard around the place many people at the club had been impressed with Sherwood and thought he was likely to be a future manager. I find it interesting that you feel Kaboul must be sucking up to the manager simply because his thoughts differ from yours.
My assumption would be that any player (especially one coming back into the team) praising the new manager is doing so to kiss ass. I doubt that any player loves their manager enough that they just can't hold it in any longer and simply must call their PR man and ask him to call a tabloid and arrange an interview.
This is an interesting take on things.... I think Sherwood has learnt lessons very quickly. He has regularly changed our formation, personell and shape for games to good effect. The Southampton match early on in his tenure was a good example of this. I don't think he has a real set way of playing - he talks about attacking football and no need for defensive midfielders because they are good 'Spurs' type soundbites I think, however it seems to me as though he is quite adaptable in terms of his football philosophy with one simple ethos which is that he won't be a 'safety first' type manager.
I think that making the same mistakes for 10 matches in a row and finally learning is a problem - especially when the world and his dog is pointing out those problems. And when they didn't exist before he took over. I think we were an on-form striker and a good bit of understanding in the final third away from a really good system. Since Timmeh took over we've gone a long way out from that and then back in again.
There were some scary moments where it seemed as if Timmeh saw the scoreline and thought "Ah, must have got it right then". I got the impression from what he was saying that he thought we were doing the right thing, just not doing it well enough.
I trust that you haver never had a conversation with Jamie Redknapp? He is actually a thoroughly nice guy, polite, engaging and intelligent. I wouldn't mind get stuck in a broken down lift with Jamie Redknapp and talking football for a few hours.... My wife said that she would be even more keen to get stuck in a lift with him.... although I can't think why - because she hates football!
I've had the misfortune on more than one occasion. Should a physicist be looking for a perfect vacuum in which to experiment, I suggest the space between Redknapp Jr's ears would make a very good test bed.