Spurs at Liberty with another Welsh Takeaway

While I was away, not much appeared to have changed. Spurs went out of another cup competition, tactically outclassed by Arsenal, albeit with a helping hand from Danny Rose and then laboured to a crucial win against palace. Now an impressive away win at Swansea. While Sherwood is clearly still crap at knockout football, he seems to have got the knack of picking up league points. Although it is of course very early in his managerial career to make solid assessments on Tim Sherwood, he has made one heck of a start. The best start of any Spurs manager in the premier league era and the first Manager since the great Bill Nicholson to lead Spurs to five consecutive away victories. That'll look good on the UEFA coaching qualification assessment when he finally gets round to it.

He made a couple of bold calls for this game. The first was to drop £26 million striker Roberto Soldado in favour of the rejuvenated Emmanuel Adebayor as the lone striker and the second was to change from his instinctive preferred four, four, two formation to counter Swansea’s possession based football. Although the inclusion of Nacer Chadli in the reshaped midfield was questionable, given his underwhelming performances so far for Spurs, his line up reflected a tactical flexibility not associated with his mentor, Harry Redknapp and bodes well for his managerial future.

Swansea, despite patchy form of late, made the more confident start, settling into their usual passing rhythm quickly as Jonjo Shelvy tested keeper Hugo Lloris with a few shots and the impressive Wilfred Bony struck the bar with a powerful shot. Spurs took time to find their rhythm and as early as the 10^th minute, Tim Sherwood could be seen yelling instructions from the touchline as his side struggled to impose themselves on the game.  It would be another fifteen minutes or so before Spurs had an attempt on the Swansea goal.

Almost against the run of play, Spurs struck clinically to devastating effect in the 34^th minute. Christian Eriksson, having one of his more impressive games in a Spurs shirt whipped in a super cross, reminiscent of David Beckham in his pomp, which took out the entire Swansea defence and was gobbled up gleefully by Adebayor. Clearly rattled by the goal, Swansea stumbled, almost drunkenly through the rest of the first half, the Liberty stadium now subdued. Spurs, clearly lifted by the goal could have put the game almost out sight. Chadli wasted a glorious chance after Swansea gave away the ball carelessly and Danny Rose, having done the hard work was shaping up to score a belter before becoming a rugby player and belting a shot skywards, almost out of the Liberty stadium. His annoyance with himself was amusingly clear as he pounded the turf in frustration, clearly berating himself.

The second half saw Spurs continue in similarly dominant fashion and their composure was both typified and rewarded by the build up to the second goal as a wicked cross by the impressive Kyle Walker was turned in by Swansea defender Chico Flores in the 53^rd minute. Spurs continued to dominate, although the physically imposing Bony kept Lloris and his back four honest. Spurs domination of the second half was reflected when Adebayor, having vented his spleen at Moussa Dembele moments earlier for not passing to him when he was clear was presented with a glorious chance following good work by Danny Rose in the 70^th minute. He promptly swept hope his sixth goal in his last five games, followed by his now customary “salute” goal celebration. Although Bony added some respectability to the score by scoring a consolation goal, Spurs were largely untroubled as they saw the game out.

There is clearly a more confident feel around Spurs recently. The handbrakes seem to have come off and Tim Sherwood deserves credit for that. He also appears to be learning fast in this most unforgiving of leagues. With this recent good run, Spurs are right back in the mix for Champions league qualification, level on points with Liverpool, albeit with a vastly inferior goal difference that is realistically worth a point and still only seven points off top spot. No, Spurs are not realistic premier league contenders as there are two teams definitely better equipped in Manchester city and Chelsea. However, two more Champions league places are up for grabs with slight favourites Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs, Everton and Manchester United still in play. In this tightest of seasons, consistency, confidence and energy or a lack thereof will be the deciding factor as we head towards the business end of the season.  Are spurs in contention because of the new coach bounce or has chairman Daniel Levy stumbled on the real deal. We are about to find out just how good a manager Tim Sherwood can be. Next up? Manchester City, scorer of over 100 goals in all competitions already who put six past Spurs in November. No pressure.

I am sure all Spurs followers will join me in wishing Spurs legends Ossie Ardiles and Ricky Villa speedy recoveries after they were recently involved in a car accident in the Falklands. We hope to see you both back at the Lane soon.