Tim Sherwood CANNOT be managing Tottenham Hotspur next season. He really has no idea of what he is doing! The 44-year-old took charge in December 2013 after now Zenit St Petersburg coach Andre Villas-Boas was sacked. The Portuguese coach was sacked after a disappointing start to the season, and after the £100 million spending spree and after two heavy defeats with Manchester City winning 6-0 at the Eithad and Liverpool thumping the North London club 5-0 at White Hart Lane.
There was much speculation on who would take the job mid-season with Southampton boss Mauricio Pochettino and then Swansea boss Michael Laudrup being touted for the role. However, caretaker manager Tim Sherwood was given an 18-month contract by Daniel Levy. That now looks like a gigantic mistake.
Sherwood’s first game in charge was a Capital One Cup home quarter-final tie to West Ham United. It seemed to be an easy enough start for the new manager, but not for Tim Sherwood. In his first game in charge, Tottenham suffered a 1-2 home defeat to West Ham where Spurs were 1-0 up and conceded two goals in the last 20 minutes. This was a game which should have been won, where the club could have entered the semi-final of a competition which they were more than capable of winning.
Sherwood’s first Premier League game, however, was a success as Spurs beat Southampton 3-2 at St Mary’s Stadium. While he impressed some, he did not completely impress me. His decision to bring in Emmanuel Adebayor who was frozen out by Villas-Boas looked good though. Roberto Soldado was and still is out of touch in England and Jermain Defoe at the time was not in his plans to start, and rumors were already swirling that he was to leave the club in January. Adebayor seized the opportunity and scored two of the three Spurs goals which would start his great run of form.
However, another questionable choice he made, and one which I was not pleased about, was to bring in youngster Nabil Bentaleb. He came onto the pitch without a first team appearance to his name and with most fans having never heard his name before. He did impress me to be honest and looked a good talent. But it was the start of something extremely bad. He would then not miss ANY game for the club getting picked ahead of internationals such as Brazilian Paulinho and Frenchman Etienne Capoue. He would play games against Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal twice, Chelsea and Liverpool where he was truly ruined. The choice of starting him was all on Tim Sherwood who should have recognized that the youngster would eventually be found out and the team would get picked off. Instead Bentaleb should have been eased into the lineup at the start of his career and should have been playing cup games and the simpler games like those against Crystal Palace and Fulham at home.
Sherwood’s philosophy was also on show from the Southampton game. If you could quote it his game plan would be ‘You score 3, we’ll score 4’ as he introduced an all out attacking style to Tottenham. The lack of attention on the defensive side of the pitch has proved disastrous as Spurs, who started the season in great defensive form under AVB, have now begun to leak goals left and right. This might work in a match with Southampton, but clubs like Manchester City and Liverpool have taken full advantage and trounced Spurs in later matches.
Quite simply, Tim Sherwood does not have the ability to manage a club that fancies a chance to advance to Champions League football, not at this point in his managerial career. Spurs will fail to qualify for a top four spot this season, and could even fail to take fifth position. To avoid a similar season next year, Sherwood must not be the club’s manager come August.
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