Four-midable Liverpool put Spurs in their place

Yesterday was officially the start of the British summer season and as the clocks went forward by one hour, Spurs looked a few light years away from remotely challenging for the Champions league positions as Liverpool inflicted yet another pasting. The most depressing aspect of the drubbing was the air of inevitability about it. Such has been the gulf in performance between the two teams this season that few Spurs fans travelled to Liverpool seriously believing that a victory was possible.

Even allowing for the loss of some key players, there is still a look of trial and error about some of coach Tim Sherwood’s team selections, such as the failure to start with Andros Townsend, selection of Gylfi Sigurdsson and persistence with Nabil Bentaleb ahead of Mousa Dembele and Sandro respectively, given the momentum and danger posed by Liverpool’s midfield. In truth though, it is difficult to say with any certainty these players would have made any difference to the outcome, given that no one has really shown a consistent ability to lift Spurs play beyond the mediocre.

Liverpool, the top scorers in the league this season did not really need a helping hand from Spurs. However, Younes Kaboul who had a wretched game at the back for Spurs did just that, clumsily getting caught out of position before scoring in his own net after just ninety seconds as Spurs continued their miserable habit of starting games poorly. With their tails up, Liverpool sought to finish the game inside the first half. In the circumstances, Spurs did well to survive the next twenty minutes and ease their way into the match. However, just when it was looking like Spurs might make a game of it, some kami-kaze defending gifted Luis Suarez a chance to extend Liverpool’s lead which he took with typical relish. From then on, it was case of how many Liverpool wanted to score. Goal keeper Hugo Lloris was the only difference between Spurs a truly humiliating score line, restricting Liverpool to two more goals. The intensity and energy that Liverpool players showed seemed beyond Spurs which is surprising, given that Liverpool played in midweek while Spurs did not.

Up in the stands, Spurs chairman Daniel Levy sat stony faced as the carnage unfolded below him, no doubt reflecting that for the past four seasons, he has headed to Anfield, confident of finishing ahead of Liverpool regardless of the result on the day and wondering at how the fortunes of both clubs have suddenly changed to such an extent that in two league matches this season, Liverpool have put nine goals past Spurs without reply.

The truth is that the trajectory of both clubs changed last August, Spurs sold their best player, Gareth Bale for a king’s ransom and spent (recklessly in retrospect)without deciding what the identity of the team will look like post Bale. Not for a very long time has the loss of one figure robbed a team so decisively of it’s confidence and identity (Manchester United fans may beg to differ given their own struggles) Liverpool on the other hand, steadfastly refused to sell their star player, Luis Suarez for less than a king’s ransom and instead, built the team around him. That decision has effectively put Liverpool back in the Champion’s league, with all the financial rewards and may yet bring them the biggest prize in English football. At the start of this season, your knowledge of football would have been questioned had you suggested that Liverpool would finish above Spurs in the league, much less challenge for the title. That, the informed thinking went was Spurs destiny after the sugar rush spending frenzy in the transfer market.  However, as with any sugar rush, the high wears off quickly and leaves you with a quite severe low. Low is exactly what Spurs fans feel right now as a season high on promise has imploded before their very eyes.

The good news is Spurs are unlikely to lose heavily again for the rest of the season. They might even win all of their remaining games to put a rosy gloss on what has been an attritional season and strengthen Sherwood’s case for being long term manager. The bad news is such a run risks creating the illusion of being close to the top four, of only needing the odd tweak here and there to be genuine contenders, again creating a new bubble of false expectation. The Spurs hierarchy really need to reflect on their vision for Spurs, which coach out there is best suited to deliver the footballing vision and on what basis. Then back him to the hilt for the next three years at least regardless of whether Champions league qualification is achieved or not. Sugar rush fixes have not worked. It is time for a new approach to taking Spurs back to the big time.  

Comeback kid Sherwood still staring down the barrel despite win

Spurs salvaged more points from losing positions than any other team in the premiership, last season. Admittedly, a lot of those points were down to a player now the most expensive in the world. It made for exciting matches as you knew you could not leave the stadium before the end of the match while Spurs were playing. Spurs have delivered precious little of that excitement during this sometimes attritional season. So it was great to experience the thrill of fighting back from two goals behind to win the game in the last minute. Spurs fans could have done without the despair of going two goals down, however, this is Tottenham Hotspur and we don’t do straightforward.

Roberto Soldado would have been pleased to get a rare ninety minutes under his belt. He once again showed clever touches and a good footballing brain and linked especially well with Christian Eriksson. Despite his obvious lack of confidence in front of goal, there is enough in Soldado’s game to suggest the promise of a much better second season. Nacer Chadli also played well and just in the last few games is beginning to show glimpses of the pedigree he developed in the Dutch league while Eriksson has had a creditable first season in English football and influenced more matches for Spurs than any of the other summer arrivals. Once again, he was influential in this match, darting into box twice to score the type of bread and butter goals Gary Lineker would have been proud of before playing a decisive role in setting up the late winner for Gylfi Sigurdsson. Despite the last minute heroics, it has been a disappointing season for Sigurdsson. Perhaps his confidence was affected by so many summer arrivals reducing his starting chances. He just hasn’t raised his game this season.

At the back, Younes Kaboul and Jan Vertonghen were their usual mix of good play and questionable positioning as the often got exposed for holding such a high defensive line, especially in the first half and better teams than Southampton could have scored three or four goals. The full backs were average. Kyle Naughton in particular had a poor first half with his hesitancy causing both of Southampton’s goals. He however remains a useful back up for Kyle Walker. Overall though, there is still a lack of an distinct style in Spurs play despite the character shown to fight back to win the game. Following on from Thursday’s battling performance in Lisbon where they almost took Benfica to extra time and a chance to retrieve a seemingly improbable situation. Coach Tim Sherwood can certainly not accuse the players of lacking guts or character.

Sherwood’s touchline antics rather than the football being played have provided much media fodder. One minute he is in the stands, and then he is back on the touchline animated as ever, then back in the directors’ box, then back again on the touchline. Despite his claim that he was considered and measured during his halftime team talk, it is doubtful if his touchline histrionics add any value to the performance. While no one doubts that he cares and his commitment to Spurs, it is clear that Sherwood is a manager uncertain in himself still discovering his own managerial identity, in style of play, preferred formation, touchline demeanour, all the challenges that a top level manager has. Whatever your opinions about Chairman Daniel Levy, it is beyond dispute that given his ambitions for Spurs, his preference is not a manager that will be learning on the job.

And so it is that despite this win and the creditable fight back in Portugal, there will continue to be speculation about Sherwood’s future at Spurs. In contrast, despite losing six nil at Chelsea and the understandable frustration of some fans with their manager Arsene Wenger, there is still much less speculation about Wenger’s Arsenal future. That in itself shows how much expectation has risen not just at Tottenham, but across the media. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

For all that, Sherwood would have enjoyed this victory immensely. His midweek quip about it being, ‘good to see Benfica coach Jorge Jesus flustered’ betrayed a sense of being compared to each continental coach, given Levy’s taste for the continental style of coaching. This writer has compared Sherwood unfavourably with Southampton coach Mauricio Pochetino and even suggested him as potentially the next Spurs manager. So Sherwood would have delighted in defeating him home and away.

It was a good weekend for Spurs fans as well with the other lot down the road getting a more humiliating stuffing at Chelsea than Spurs did a couple of weeks ago. However, in a weekend when the top three went goal crazy and Wayne Rooney scored a contender for goal of the season, it represents only a small crumb of comfort. The big parties; goals galore, swashbuckling football, special European nights, goal of the season contenders are all happening elsewhere.

　

Gone in 72 Seconds as Spurs Champions league hopes finally bit the dust

Seventy two seconds was all it took to put out the flickering flames of any top four ambitions and with their third victory over Spurs this season without a goal conceded, ensure that the balance of footballing superiority in North London remains largely untroubled.  It is humbling to reflect that this time last year, Spurs won the corresponding fixture 2-1 to go seven points ahead and former coach Andre Villas Boas remarked in an almost self-congratulatory manner how, ‘Arsenal were in a negative spiral that is difficult to get out of’.  After being stuffed by Chelsea, outclassed in European competition by Benfica and now mugged by Arsenal in the space of eight miserable days, Spurs know rather too painfully what a negative spiral feels like.

Coach Tim Sherwood cannot accuse his players of lacking guts and character in this match as he did after the Chelsea match. Neither were they outclassed as they had been against Benfica. However, while they had more possession than Arsenal, there was mostly huffing and puffing without any real goal threats. No one seemed confident enough to run at or commit Arsenal’s players. The most threatening players on the field were Arsenal’s Thomas Rosicky and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.  In fact if Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had his shooting boots on and was better with his final ball, the margin of victory could have been greater as Arsenal, despite their defensive set up throughout this match looked far more threatening on the counter attack than Spurs did with possession.  Spurs most potent threat was an increasingly combustible Tim Sherwood on the touchline with antics that did little to dispel a sense that the pressure is getting to him. Spurs, to their credit kept trying gamely but sadly, they never looked like they could open up what has become an unusually resilient Arsenal defence. That is what lack of confidence feels like. This in sharp contrast to fellow top four contenders Liverpool, a team not many would expected to finish above Spurs at the start of the season, but whose players are so high on confidence,(aided no doubt by great results) that their sights have been set considerably higher. Whether Liverpool win the league this season or not, a feature of their play is that almost every player in their ranks has raised their game significantly.

Not many Spurs players have consistently risen above mediocre this season. Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris has been consistent and Emmanuel Adebayor can perhaps be excused as his season only started when Tim Sherwood replaced Andre Villas Boas and by and large he has fought for the cause since. Christian Eriksson is the only player to have offered any creative spark, but in this match as in most of his matches, he has been unable to lift the team beyond average on his own. Reflecting on Sherwood’s selection, it is curious that given how well Spurs were playing when Sherwood first took over and he paired Roberto Soldado with Adebayor, he has not found a way to play them both. Needing to win matches and with both strikers having contrasting styles of play, an effective partnership could have been developed while also giving opposing defenders more than one goal threat to think about. I am also increasingly convinced Sherwood was wrong to send Lewis Holby out on loan. He is one of the most energetic midfielders Spurs have and offers more going forward than young Nabil Bentaleb who while clearly talented, has a tendency for the a sideways pass too often.

So this season is now effectively over. The last rites of Spurs European season will be performed in Lisbon on Thursday and while a therapeutic win against Southampton is possible, Liverpool at the end of the month is a fixture that will under stably cause trepidation among supporters. Thoughts inevitably turn to next season and the case for or against Tim Sherwood staying as manager. Sherwood has polarised opinion among supporters. Some think he deserves the chance and others feel he is too inexperienced for where Spurs want to go. Even Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger has given his tupence worth, imploring the Spurs board to stick with him. When you start getting the sympathy vote from Arsenal, you know it’s bad. Sherwood has also had plenty to say for himself as befits someone who always ‘shoots from the hip’. The facts are that he has lost four league matches and will probably lose at least a couple more before the season is out. In addition, he lost four knock-out cup games. AVB only lost five matches in total before he was sacked. By that measure, Sherwood’s chances of survival must be slim. For this writer though, the issue is more the lack of an identity in Spurs play and his performance under pressure with relatively mild media scrutiny, compared to that of his predecessor AVB. This writer has cast envious glances at the work that Mauricio Pochetino has done at Southampton and how he measures on the important criteria of playing style and performance under pressure. Unless Chairman Daniel Levy brings in a marquee manager like Louis Van Gaal, my money is on Pochetino to be the thirteenth manager to attempt to beat Arsenal. Unlucky thirteenth for Arsene? God I hope so.

Finally, in this most miserable of weeks for a Spurs supporter, the last thing I needed was to see Sol Campbell bleating in the media about his sense of injustice at not being made England captain during his career because of his race. Sol Campbell was a very good defender for club and country but few in the game thought he was an outstanding captain material. Whatever racial prejudices may be in the game, England simply had better captains than Sol Campbell during his career and the cause of the anti-racism brigade will be helped far more without the attention seeking antics of a traitor (sorry ex-footballer) with a book to sell.

Jesus denies Spurs European salvation

You know you are having a seriously miserable time when even Jesus gives up on you and starts mocking. As Benfica’s third goal went in, which all but confirm Spurs’ impending exit from European competition, their coach, Jorge Jesus, showing a distinct lack of class that would have made the original Jesus weep held up three fingers in the direction of the Spurs bench and waved. The message was clear. Three away goals. Game over. Bye bye Spurs. Spurs coach, Tim Sherwood, following the Alan Pardew manual of self-control, predictably took the bait and went over to confront him. This of course guarantees that a section of the post-match media coverage will be about the conduct of both managers.

Of greater concern is what unfolded over ninety sobering minutes on the football pitch. I mentioned in a previous post that despite this match not being a Champions league tie, this match had the feel of a proper European tie and Spurs players, to be fair tried their level best to rise to the occasion. However this was a classy Portuguese side that pitched up at White Hart Lane. Last season’s beaten finalists; they had finished third in their Champions’ league group with ten points and were unlucky to drop into the Europa league. Their class and pedigree meant this was a step up in the class of opposition that Spurs have faced in Europe so far this season. Boy did it show.

Sherwood’s decision to start with Harry Kane against this class of opposition rather than Soldado or an extra midfielder is questionable. Also as English teams have shown in European competition this month, one can easily lose a tie in the first leg by conceding an away goal, or two. Spurs have shipped three. One of the nuances of European knockout football is the value of an away goal.  A nil – nil home draw can sometimes be more valuable than a two – one win. This reality places a premium on organisation and keeping your shape, especially when the opposition are in possession of the ball. Formations and tactics count for little without this foundation and the Portuguese league leaders gave a master class in organisation, keeping an effective shape and choosing your moment to strike.  

Spurs lack of organisation and any discernable shape was laid bare in this match. Responsibility for this lies with the coach. I believe that every one of Spurs players could play for the opposition and they would be more effective.  After eighteen matches in charge of Spurs, Tim Sherwood’s ability to set up a team should really be more apparent. When Mauricio Pochetino took charge of Southampton, the way his team was set up became clear very quickly. Even Sherwood’s mentor, Harry Redknapp had his Spurs team set up in specific way very quickly and for better or worse, this became his hallmark. With confidence clearly in short supply, Spurs laboured through the match without looking like matching much less dominating Benfica.   

  

So where do Spurs go from here? Former manager Harry Redknapp treated this competition with barely concealed disdain, another former manager, Andre Villas Boas prioritised it and received little credit for it. For the foreseeable future, six clubs, will battle each season to get into four Champions league places therefore qualification cannot be guaranteed without spending many millions on A – list players (which Spurs do not currently have) and an A-list manager (which Sherwood is not. Yet) Spurs managers, rather than be obsessed with champions league qualification should therefore be encouraged to take the Europa league very seriously and master the nuances of playing and winning this competition. Stay in it long enough to compete with Champions league teams like, Benfica, Juventus and Napoli. It will be good preparation for the seasons when Spurs do qualify for the Champions league. Thinking about it, and given that better teams than Spurs have struggled in the Champions league this season, if Spurs had played in this season’s Champions league, it is likely that they would have been severely humiliated. As it is, we have gone as far as Arsenal, Manchester City and in all probability Manchester United have gone in Europe. So we are in good company when it comes to wallowing in Euro misery.

Club chairman Daniel Levy has review his expectations on managers and how Spurs is taken to the next level. However, for all that, it is increasingly likely that Tim Sherwood will not be Spurs manager next season. By the end of the season, he would have taken charge of almost thirty matches. By this time Juande Ramos had knocked out Arsenal and Chelsea to win Spurs only trophy of the last 14 years. Tim is a thoroughly decent, honest and open football man, but I would not be confident in the season ahead if he was starting next season as manager. Football being what it is, he can surprise us all but I won’t bet the house on it. I lost confidence the day Jesus made Spurs weep. 

Cockerels given a good stuffing at Chelsea as Champions league hopes fade

Cook books usually suggest cooking marinated chicken in the oven for 25 – 30 minutes to be well done. Chelsea followed the Jose Mourinho cook book to the letter as they stuffed and deep fried Spurs cockerels in 35 minutes of hell at the Bridge. Tim Sherwood’s bitter outburst during his press conference was as much an expression of disappointment at the result and second half collapse as the pained realisation that this bad defeat intensifies the pressure on him and lessens the likelihood of him being Spurs manager next season.   

Ironically, after surviving their customary sloppy start, Spurs had settled into the game and held their own against Chelsea for the rest of the first half with Sandro snarling around the field with barely concealed aggression which unsettled and irritated Chelsea. Nabil Bentaleb who made his debut for Algeria in midweek used the ball intelligently and Kyle Walker, playing in an advanced position in front of Kyle Naughton threatened with his pace but was often let down by his final ball. At half time, Spurs looked good value for a point. However with players of the calibre of Oscar, Willian and Demba Ba on the bench and Mourinho’s record of changing games tactically, one always sensed that Chelsea had an extra gear to find.

Unsurprisingly, Mourinho introduced Oscar for the second half to give Chelsea’s attack more impetus. Ten minutes in, Vertonghen was pressured into a mistake that led to Samuel Eto’s goal. Barely a couple of minutes later, perhaps with heads still scrambled, Spurs players switched off momentarily and allowed Eto to be played in on goal. Younes Kaboul was definitely the wrong side of Eto and once contact was made, a penalty was always likely. The sending off was extremely harsh though. Two goals down and a man down, Spurs faced an uphill struggle to salvage the game. Nonetheless, there is no legislation for the kamikaze defending that gifted Demba Ba two late goals and turned what would have been a heroic but respectable defeat into a humiliating rout and had Tim Sherwood openly questioning the character of his players.

Tottenham had started this season defining month, just about in contention for Champions league qualification, thanks to a scrappy win over Cardiff last week, but had little margin for error.  They all but signed their exit from the qualification race with this defeat leaving them four points behind Manchester City, having played three games more and six points behind Arsenal and Liverpool, having played a game more. Liverpool or Arsenal will have to gift Champions league qualification to Spurs. Speculation over Tim Sherwood’s future and the identity of the next Spurs manager will now inevitably intensify.  

It is an occupational hazard of being a Spurs manager these days that unless you are on a championship winning run, there is always speculation about the next Spurs manager. Tim Sherwood could have been under no illusions about what he signed up for.  Good results like the away wins at Manchester United, Southampton and Newcastle strengthen his hand. Bad defeats like the one against Manchester City and Saturday’s slaughter at the Bridge weaken his hand considerably.  Heavy defeats have been a feature of Spurs season. Andre Villas Boas was sacked after heavy defeats against West ham, Manchester City and Liverpool. Tim Sherwood has now lost heavily against Manchester City and Chelsea. The early self-assuredness has been replaced by tactical indecision as formation and line-up has been tinkered with almost every week. This is what pressure feels like. It is when games have not gone your way, when you have been outplayed and suffered a bad defeat that great managers show their worth.

For all that, there is still plenty to play for. Spurs must seek to win as many games as possible until May and be ready to take advantage if any of the teams above them implode. Also, Spurs reward for slugging it through the uninspiring early rounds of the Europa league is a glamour tie against Portuguese league leaders and last year’s beaten Europa league finalists, Benfica. With the likes of Porto, Napoli and Juventus in the competition, the Europa league now has the feel of serious European competition, if not the profile and financial reward of the Champions league.  Spurs have some pedigree in this competition and for all the obsession with champions league qualification, the Europa league is worth winning. Andre Villas Boas, Rafa Benitez and even Jose Mourinho used the Europa league to raise their profiles. Closer to home, England managers Roy Hodgson and Steve McLaren used success in the Europa league to enhance their reputations and ultimately benefit their careers. Whatever Spurs premiership fate, the Europa league offers Tim Sherwood a great chance to build his reputation. He and Spurs need the Europa league right now as the Champions league invitation is not forthcoming.