Re: Tim Sherwood -Your Manager! 18 month contract confirmed!
It's a fickle game football. Many are already heralding Sherwood as a better manager than AVB for getting the best out of Adebayor in just 2 games.
In my view a better side than Southampton or even Southampton with all their players available may have massacred that lineup on Sunday such was the imbalance defensively.
AVB was on course to potentially better our best ever points total in the PL. I stil believe he had a much bigger vision for this team. I'm gutted he never got the chance to prove it
Agree with the last part especially, but your comment about the Southampton game does not mean that Sherwood cannot potentially better AVB. He could achieve what you suggest with the 'Audere Est Facere' philosophy that so many bemoaned AVB for lacking.
We have the power in midfield to dominate games and make things difficult at the right times. Against an out-of-form and injury-weakened Southampton outfit in an away game, where we have shown our best form all season, this wasn't necessary as was proven by the result and performances of each team.
AVB would have undoubtedly approached the match with characteristic caution, and although we may have got a similar result, the method of achieving that result would have been far less 'Spurs'.
When Sherwood comes to face bigger challenges, where control of midfield will be more important, he may well opt for 5 in midfield, or a more defensive duo than Eriksen and Dembele/Bentaleb. The reality is we cannot tell yet. If we get tonked in games such as United away then clearly we will not have progressed from AVB, but I highly doubt that Sherwood would select such an attacking XI for our visit to Old Trafford, nor instruct them to play so openly.
Considering it was the first time we had genuinely played this 4-2-2-2 system, I thought we coped very well defensively on the whole. Both strikers did an excellent job of hassling or simply standing still and blocking the easy passes to the fullbacks/CMs, which allowed the wide players to come very narrow, sitting directly alongside the CMs when out of possession, leaving us exposed to the switch but very difficult to break down with a central midfield 3. A fair enough trade-off considering the lack of damage Southampton could inflict in the time it took for us to shuffle across. Furthermore, both when in possession and in transition from attack to defense after losing the ball, both CMs were willing to move out to the wing to provide passing outlets and stretch the Southampton central three, making use of our numerical advantage in the centre of the park, and to cover the holes left by the marauding full-backs.
With another week's practice and 2 home league games under our belts it would not surprise/worry me too much to see a similar system used at Old Trafford. We already looked fairly adept at the lateral movement demanded by such a system (which separates it from the old school 4-4-2, where movement is/was far more vertical). Hopefully it will not be long before we are fluent at it, not forgetting we also have Townsend (when fit) on the left and Lennon/Chadli on the right who can be used as more 'old school' wingers if we need some width higher up the pitch. Provided Vertonghen and maybe by some miracle Kaboul are fit and ready, we could field a very decent team at Old Trafford capable of controlling possession even with 2 up front:
------Soldado------Adebayor-------
--Eriksen------Lamela/Lennon/Chadli
-------Sandro---Paulinho/Dembele--
Rose-Vertonghen-Kaboul/Chiri-Walker
--------------Lloris----------------
Lamela obviously offers more techincal/passing ability while Lennon and Chadli offer a bit more on the outside, Walker also has a good understanding with Lennon and all three have shown defensive willingness/ability, be it against Southampton or in the past.
Sandro on the left would be excellent cover for Rose, who for all the balance he brings to the team with his willing running and wing play higher up the pitch, has shown he still has a some way to go before he is as reliable as Walker (who is going to be a hell of a player in a few years time).
That team has goals and creativity, and provided we can show a bit more discipline and be a little less gung-ho, should not be overrun. Let's not kid ourselves - Sherwood has been handed an embarrassment of riches to work with. Obviously he is not going to magically cohese in a week the players that AVB could not over the course of 5/6 months, but I think the system we played at Southampton, for its apparent defensive frailties, could eventually be used in a lot of games without us being overly-exposed. Perhaps Old Trafford will be too soon though.
I'm not saying this will happen, that Sherwood is a genius or anything of the like. It is impossible to know at this stage. As BoL says, it could be a masterstroke, but GB's Serious Relegation Fears (TM) could also be realised. It is folly to make predictions with any certainty.
At least if we can't have entertainment on the pitch, we get it off the pitch eh!
