I find it really strange that people can be completely back and white when discussing our managers this season. In the real world there are not goodies and baddies but that is the way a lot of the board seems to view things. We have had a car crash of a season and both managers and everyone behind the scenes is to blame. AVB had his strong points but also some serious flaws, I cannot see how anyone cannot see that. Sherwood is the same, he has done some good work since taking over and making us more of a goal threat was an achievement considering how blunt we looked at the end of last year but his inexperience has shown through and we look very weak at the back.
I think this is very fair...I will say that Sherwood's behavior has not endeared me!
I find his interviews a bit cringe worthy and if it was him who leaked to Sky, I hope Levy tore strips off him. But on the other hand it is not easy being an interim manager and he has kept the points coming in when it would have been easy for everything to fall apart. I am sure that the players no that he is not staying around beyond the end of the season and that makes his job more difficult. I also think that it speaks well of him that in a unstable period we have not heard any voices speaking out from the dressing room.
Hmm not sure about some of that;
a) It was him that asked to be given a longer contract;
b) being an interim in itself is no easier/harder than an actual full-time role; it didn't do Rafa and his reputation much harm last season at Chelski and he was announced to the home crowd as such and to mass booing. In fact it enhanced his reputation: even I liked him after his stint (and I often had lots of looooooong discussions with 'Pool fans about how overrated and boring he was). If Sherwood approached the job with less media bs and perhaps more diligence (eg "oh it worked at home against Soton; let's try it against Liverpool"; constant poor starts) he could have enhanced his reputation even making himself unsackable in Levy's eyes
c) players want to challenge for top 4 AND earn a world cup place; things that made the timing of Sherwood being given the role good for him
d) I suspect Paulinho and Capoue have been quiet dissenting voices (I'm sure there were articles) but perhaps because they know/feel that he is an interim they have not been louder
e) we have often beaten the relegation fodder unconvincingly but been embarrassed almost every time we've played the top 5 under him; St Totteringham day will surely come way before the final day unlike many previous seasons
So what we're saying is that Sherwood is one of the worst people we could have put in charge, yet he's still better than AVB?
Most managers are as good as their players, and we have some very good players, so Tim has done ok. But not done great, and if we are to get back in the top 4, we need a manager who really really does "great".
Hmm not sure about some of that;
a) It was him that asked to be given a longer contract;
b) being an interim in itself is no easier/harder than an actual full-time role; it didn't do Rafa and his reputation much harm last season at Chelski and he was announced to the home crowd as such and to mass booing. In fact it enhanced his reputation: even I liked him after his stint (and I often had lots of looooooong discussions with 'Pool fans about how overrated and boring he was). If Sherwood approached the job with less media bs and perhaps more diligence (eg "oh it worked at home against Soton; let's try it against Liverpool"; constant poor starts) he could have enhanced his reputation even making himself unsackable in Levy's eyes
c) players want to challenge for top 4 AND earn a world cup place; things that made the timing of Sherwood being given the role good for him
d) I suspect Paulinho and Capoue have been quiet dissenting voices (I'm sure there were articles) but perhaps because they know/feel that he is an interim they have not been louder
e) we have often beaten the relegation fodder unconvincingly but been embarrassed almost every time we've played the top 5 under him; St Totteringham day will surely come way before the final day unlike many previous seasons
[FONT=lucida console]Mini-league P W D L F A GD Pt
---------------------------------------
Chelsea 7 5 2 0 16 3 13 17
Emirates Marketing Project 8 4 1 3 23 12 11 13
Liverpool 7 4 0 3 19 9 10 12
Arsenal 8 3 2 3 9 18 -9 11
Tottenham 8 0 1 7 2 27 -25 1[/FONT]
Code:[FONT=lucida console]Mini-league P W D L F A GD Pt --------------------------------------- Chelsea 7 5 2 0 16 3 13 17 Emirates Marketing Project 8 4 1 3 23 12 11 13 Liverpool 7 4 0 3 19 9 10 12 Arsenal 8 3 2 3 9 18 -9 11 Tottenham 8 0 1 7 2 27 -25 1[/FONT]
Fairly damning in terms of our credibility as genuine CL contenders
It's depressing to consider him going to the background at Spurs again. Every time a manager inevitably gets sacked by Levy we would have the same apathetic end to a season when he'd take the reigns
Code:[FONT=lucida console]Mini-league P W D L F A GD Pt --------------------------------------- Chelsea 7 5 2 0 16 3 13 17 Emirates Marketing Project 8 4 1 3 23 12 11 13 Liverpool 7 4 0 3 19 9 10 12 Arsenal 8 3 2 3 9 18 -9 11 Tottenham 8 0 1 7 2 27 -25 1[/FONT]
Fairly damning in terms of our credibility as genuine CL contenders
Well obviously is good to beat your rivals, but the only table that really matters is the actual one. Historically we have never been that great against 'the big 4' (albeit beat at least one of them at home) yet managed to come 4th. Its just as much of a challenge to beat all the teams you're expected to beat who just come and park the bus, and more teams fall into that category. 'Credibilty to be CL contenders' is more about consistency than just beating Chelsea, Emirates Marketing Project et al.....
Well obviously is good to beat your rivals, but the only table that really matters is the actual one.
We're even lower in that one, in case you hadn't noticed
Mini-league P W D L F A GD Pt
---------------------------------------
Chelsea 9 6 2 1 17 4 13 20
Liverpool 9 5 1 3 26 12 14 16
Emirates Marketing Project 9 5 1 3 26 13 13 16
Arsenal 10 3 3 4 10 22 -12 12
Everton 9 2 3 4 9 13 -4 9
Tottenham 10 1 2 7 3 27 -24 5
^^
Code:Mini-league P W D L F A GD Pt --------------------------------------- Chelsea 9 6 2 1 17 4 13 20 Liverpool 9 5 1 3 26 12 14 16 Emirates Marketing Project 9 5 1 3 26 13 13 16 Arsenal 10 3 3 4 10 22 -12 12 Everton 9 2 3 4 9 13 -4 9 Tottenham 10 1 2 7 3 27 -24 5
Mini-league P W D L F A GD Pt
---------------------------------------
Tottenham 26 18 5 3 46 21 25 59
Everton 27 17 7 3 46 22 24 58
Man United 25 16 4 5 53 24 29 52
Southampton 26 12 7 7 44 27 17 43
Saudi Sportswashing Machine 28 13 3 12 34 40 -6 42
Crystal Palace 28 11 4 13 24 31 -7 37
West Ham 27 10 6 11 33 29 4 36
Stoke 26 9 9 8 30 33 -3 36
Hull 26 9 6 11 31 27 4 33
Swansea 26 8 7 11 35 32 3 31
Norwich 29 8 7 14 23 34 -11 31
Fulham 26 9 3 14 28 48 -20 30
West Brom 27 6 11 10 32 39 -7 29
Cardiff 27 6 8 13 20 40 -20 26
Aston Villa 26 6 6 14 24 39 -15 24
Sunderland 26 5 7 14 21 38 -17 22
Mini-league P W D L F A GD Pt
---------------------------------------
Arsenal 10 8 1 1 17 9 8 25
Chelsea 10 6 3 1 21 4 17 21
Tottenham 8 3 1 4 6 11 -5 10
West Ham 8 2 1 5 9 12 -3 7
Fulham 8 2 0 6 9 17 -8 6
Crystal Palace 8 2 0 6 4 13 -9 6