Long time lurker but need a rant!
Sherwood absolutely has to go.
Whilst I've never warmed to him but I was prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt. It's just painfully obvious he not up to the task.
AVB left with a squad still struggling to settle and to adjust to the league, it wasn't pretty to watch but pretty much expected when you consider the complete overhaul of the squad. At least with AVB there was some resemblance of a plan in place the players were attempting to adjust to. Sadly that led to some pretty ****e football and the odd mauling. Still though I would have liked to have seen him given more patience.
It's clear the biggest problems we have now is a complete lack of identity and our squad is completely devoid of confidence. Barring Eriksen and Chadli in spurts I can't think of a single player that isn't out of form. Tim created this, he's absolutely and completely responsible. We got battered, badly, and his response to that was to throw the players to the wolves.
My perception is that he did this completely out of his own self interest. If the players perform better, then he's a genius, if they don't, well it's because their not 'passionate' enough. Also giving the players a load of stick is simply less effort than trying to solve the abundant tactical problems we have on the pitch. Whether it's right or wrong, players respond best to a manager that defends them, even if the media and the fans know what they're saying is a crock of ****.
Lack of confidence is what's causing the countless errors in games. How often is it that so many crucial defensive errors occur in such a short space of time? The two are clearly linked. It's not that the players have all collectively as a unit turned to ****. I'm not saying Tim is responsible for the errors but he's clearly done nothing to attempt to prevent them. In fact they're getting worse week on week which indicates to me he's continued killing their confidence from the Chelsea game.
For me our midfield has the biggest problems because, bar Sandro, no player in our midfield has a designated role. It's impossible to expect the players to work in a cohesive unit when they haven't got a clue where they, or their teammates should be. What are the best positions for the following players; Eriksen, Dembele, Chadli, Siggi, Paulinho, Bentaleb, Townsend and Holtby could be included as well. How can a midfield unit provide protection for the defence and support Soldado if they don't have a clue when their position and role in the team changes every single week. It's probably not worth even talking about because I have absolutely no faith that Sherwood is going to be here long enough to even begin to fix it.
I'm still positive about our squad. We have absolutely outstanding quality but no direction at all. Get a manager in there with a clear vision and the time and patience to mould it all together. I'm just praying that we don't lose key players this summer from this soul sucking ****piece season.
Rant over
