The Sherwood Era

After realising my last blog post ended with the words 'In AVB we trust' I figured I was long overdue a return to the world of online bullshitting*. And here it is.

*opinion formulating.

The André Villas-Boas era was brought to an abrupt halt after Liverpool single-handedly tore apart every tactical fiber of the Portugeezer's being live on Sky Sports. Most depressing of all was that yours truly was sat in the stands watching AVB's 'intensity' and the like fail to impact the game. The general consensus around the ground was that Villas-Boas' time was at an end; Levy concurred, and the proverbial boot was given. Spurs fans dreamt of a man to save their season. Up step... Timothy Sherwood!



Yeah, see you lot later...

That's right, former title winner Sherwood was plucked from the depths of the U21 coaching staff and given a shot at the big time. You'd have been forgiven for thinking that this would be a temporary move as Levy planned a masterstroke managerial move. Alas, no. Sherwood is pretty much it for the next six months at least with a rolling eighteen month contract. However, this move may be more inspired than first realised. The straight-talking Englishman is certainly different to his calculative predecessor, which is in no way a bad thing. Sometimes it's nice to hear a manager tell it as it is, and as long as he doesn't become as self-obsessed as our last English manager then it's plain sailing, even if he is supposedly an Arsenal fan. Hey, we all make mistakes, right?



"I like my midfield how I like my booties... compact, and shaped like this"

Sherwood's innovations are, on paper, fairly simple. He revived a formation on the brink of extinction in the modern game and uncovered a real gem in Nabil Bentaleb, a player he worked closely with at under 21 level. But his real pièce de résistance was bringing back The Forgotten Man; Emmanuel Adebayor. After just a handful of appearances up front it was clear that Adebayor was to make a massive difference to our fortunes. It begs the question how Sherwood's predecessor could be so stubborn in terms of freezing out a player with such obvious talent. It is no coincidence that Adebayor's last real run of form came under Harry Redknapp, a manager similar to Sherwood in many respects. I don't suppose either of the two Englishmen told Adebayor to do anything other than "go out there and play", indulging him as a player and a person foremost rather than hanging him out to dry. The decision to reemploy the Togolese is paying dividends every time 'Ade' finds the back of the net (which, coincidentally, is when a part of AVB's soul dissipates).




Let's be honest, we've all missed this sight. And no, I don't just mean Manchester United losing.

The aforementioned inclusion of Nabil Bentaleb appears to be paying off too. The boy is obviously talented, multiple observers have suggested that he looks like he has been playing in the Premier League for years. However, this is a bit of a double-edged sword. His inclusion has forced Ettiene Capoue, a highly rated French international into the wilderness and potentially the loving arms of Rafael Benitez at Napoli. This decision could go either way in all honesty. You cannot definitively state that selling Capoue is a massive mistake when Dembele, Paulinho, Sandro and Bentaleb are all competing for two places. Although I feel Capoue could make great strides and become a great at Tottenham, I feel Bentaleb has a lot of potential too and needs game time. I'm willing to wait and see what happens. I guess you could say, 'In Sherwood We Trust'. Ha.



Bentaleb: Passion personified.



I am more than interested to see how the rest of the season pans out. A month ago I would have had us at an optimistic sixth place but now we are level on points with supposed title contenders Liverpool. I still believe that fourth will be a tough ask considering Sherwood's lack of experience; if we're currently in the honeymoon phase, how will he cope after a potential loss to Manchester City? Who knows.

Tune in later this week for multiple blog posts including the generic 'Who Should Tottenham Sign' to in depth player analysis. Fuck it, I might even review the match against Man City.



I'd also like to point you in the direction of my newest blog 'The Weekend Matters', a joint feature with columns from the infamous Bradley Kurt. While there are no posts at the moment, as soon as he gets off his lazy backside and collaborates it'll take off quicker than Sherwood memes. Link below:

http://theweekendmatters.blogspot.co.uk/

And why not drop @OneHotspurWay a follow if you haven't already? It's not like it will cost you anything. Fuck it, I'll pay you!