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First I should give the obvious caveat: this is just the opinion of one fan. Some Spurs fans like Tim Sherwood a lot. I think those fans tend to be less intelligent but of course I think that. This is just my opinion and a lot of it is based on conclusions and rumor. I wasnt in the dressing room and I have no sources. Im just a guy who watched every game of the Sherwood era and followed the team closely on the internet by way of articles, message boards and twitter.
With all of those caveats in place, Tim Sherwood will get you relegated.
The first place you start with Tim Sherwood is he is a tactical dunce. Its not that he has bad tactics its that he generally seemed to lack any tactics at all. First off he took a Spurs team that had been built to play a 4231 possession based game and switched them to a 442. This wasnt that big a deal since the previous system had grown beyond stale. The problem was that his teams nearly always went on the pitch with seemingly no plan at all. This is difficult to quantify but as someone who watched every game all season, under Sherwood Spurs would go out on the pitch with no idea of what the plan was and sputter around for a while. The team scored one goal in the first 15 minutes of a game in Sherwoods era and that was the last game of the season.
The pattern of basically every game was this: Spurs went out there with no plan and if they were playing a good side went down early and never came back. If they were playing a poor side, they treaded water for 20 or 25 minutes until the players figured it out themselves and won the game through sheer talent. Every game was a just go run around a bit which worked when the opponent was bad. The best example was when Spurs went down 3-0 to West Brom in the first 20 minutes and ended up getting a 3-3 draw that they would have won if Adebayor had converted a penalty. The home game vs Arsenal was the only game I recall where the team came onto the pitch with some semblance of a plan. They played well in that game and lost despite being the better side that day.
Beyond the team looking disorganized on a weekly basis the team selection was routinely bizarre. The selection followed a very consistent pattern:if the team had won the previous match Sherwood put out an identical team, if the team had lost the previous match Sherwood put out a completely new configuration and changed things around until it stuck. At one point this led to Spurs best player Eriksen being dropped because he had missed a game that Spurs won and therefore couldnt get back in until the team lost. Sherwood's team selections gave the impression that he had no idea why the things that worked were effective, so he just stuck with it until it stopped working. He seemed to lack the ability to analyze what individual players could offer. Sherwood also played a high line with no pressing, the most suicidal way to organize a defense imaginable.
More than that Sherwood's selections featured frankly bizarre choices. The nadir was when Sherwood chose the most difficult fixture on the schedule (away to Chelsea) to start fullback Kyle Walker as an attacking midfielder a position he had never played in his life. Sherwood started winger/striker Nacer Chadli in the pivot as a deep lying playmaker. He consistently pushed Eriksen out to the wing for no discernible reason. At one point he played Aaron Lennon in the center of the park, when Lennon is a player whose only positive attributes are pace and width. He refused to play a healthy Sandro and played Ettiene Capoue at centerback because he said he didnt believe in the concept of a holding midfielder. He once started a four man midfield with eriksen on the wing. His choices were like a game every week where you looked at the team sheet and tried to discern what possible formation this gaggle of players could be arranged in. It was like madlibs.
Now a manager doesnt have to be a tactical genius to win games. Lord know Redknapp wasnt and he won quite a bit at Spurs. Sherwood seemed to lack any sort of man management skills though. Now we do enter into conjecture here but as someone who followed the team closely I think my conclusions are fair. Suffice to say the team hated him. An interview with Christian Eriksen and Harry Kane is on youtube where they were asked what they liked about Sherwood and Eriksen stared at the interviewer seemingly dumbfounded at the question and offered absolutely nothing about him he liked. Sandro who was the absolute rock of the dressing room clashed publicly with him. Jan Vertonghen couldnt be bothered to hide his disdain for the man. There were rumors about multiple players telling Daniel Levy they would demand transfers if Sherwood was brought back. Capoue publicly complained about how Sherwood was another example of how tactically clueless English managers are.
More than anything the players seemed to simply not respect the man. The impression you got was whenever Sherwood talked the players were making ####ing motions behind his back. Its hard to blame them. He had no plan, he was a man prone to screaming fits of rage but without the gravitas or credentials to make that count for something. He frequently threw his players under the bus in public, took credit when things went well, and passed blame when they went poorly. He engaged in bizarre behavior such as kicking a ball at an opposing manager and taking a phone call in the middle of the team being shitkicked by Liverpool (while comically trying to hide the phone as if people wouldnt be able to tell what he was doing).
Overall, Sherwood was a disaster of a manager who actually had a solid record. How did he do this? By throwing a very talented squad on the pitch and letting them run around. Spurs beat the teams they had more talent then and got destroyed by the teams they didnt. Under Sherwood Spurs scored a single goal vs chelsea, City, arsenal, and Liverpool while allowing 13. He also had a solid record by making three actually astute moves while in charge.
First Sherwood restored Adebayor to the team who immediately went on a tear and was a world beater for two months. Adebayor had been completely ostracized by AVB (who sucked at man management) and Sherwood restored him to the team. Motivated and grateful to Sherwood Adebayor went on a tremendous run of form. The other positives were Sherwood gave first team minutes to Harry Kane and Nabil Bentaleb. Both of these moves worked out splendidly with the two talented youngsters breaking into the squad and making a positive impact. This is by far the most positive part of Sherwood's legacy at Spurs. Adebayor, Kane, and Bentaleb seemed to be the only players who liked Sherwood for obvious reasons.
Overall, Sherwood was an excellent youth team manager whose best contribution to the club was integrating young players into the side. Forgive me if I am just ignorant of QPR but I dont think you guys have any highly thought of youth players ready to contribute who Redknapp has been refusing to give a chance to?
Too long, didnt read, Sherwood at QPR would #### off your veterans who wont respect him, offer nothing tactically, and not be saved by a talented squad or promising youth players. Sherwood has nothing to offer QPR. He will get you relegated.
With all of those caveats in place, Tim Sherwood will get you relegated.
The first place you start with Tim Sherwood is he is a tactical dunce. Its not that he has bad tactics its that he generally seemed to lack any tactics at all. First off he took a Spurs team that had been built to play a 4231 possession based game and switched them to a 442. This wasnt that big a deal since the previous system had grown beyond stale. The problem was that his teams nearly always went on the pitch with seemingly no plan at all. This is difficult to quantify but as someone who watched every game all season, under Sherwood Spurs would go out on the pitch with no idea of what the plan was and sputter around for a while. The team scored one goal in the first 15 minutes of a game in Sherwoods era and that was the last game of the season.
The pattern of basically every game was this: Spurs went out there with no plan and if they were playing a good side went down early and never came back. If they were playing a poor side, they treaded water for 20 or 25 minutes until the players figured it out themselves and won the game through sheer talent. Every game was a just go run around a bit which worked when the opponent was bad. The best example was when Spurs went down 3-0 to West Brom in the first 20 minutes and ended up getting a 3-3 draw that they would have won if Adebayor had converted a penalty. The home game vs Arsenal was the only game I recall where the team came onto the pitch with some semblance of a plan. They played well in that game and lost despite being the better side that day.
Beyond the team looking disorganized on a weekly basis the team selection was routinely bizarre. The selection followed a very consistent pattern:if the team had won the previous match Sherwood put out an identical team, if the team had lost the previous match Sherwood put out a completely new configuration and changed things around until it stuck. At one point this led to Spurs best player Eriksen being dropped because he had missed a game that Spurs won and therefore couldnt get back in until the team lost. Sherwood's team selections gave the impression that he had no idea why the things that worked were effective, so he just stuck with it until it stopped working. He seemed to lack the ability to analyze what individual players could offer. Sherwood also played a high line with no pressing, the most suicidal way to organize a defense imaginable.
More than that Sherwood's selections featured frankly bizarre choices. The nadir was when Sherwood chose the most difficult fixture on the schedule (away to Chelsea) to start fullback Kyle Walker as an attacking midfielder a position he had never played in his life. Sherwood started winger/striker Nacer Chadli in the pivot as a deep lying playmaker. He consistently pushed Eriksen out to the wing for no discernible reason. At one point he played Aaron Lennon in the center of the park, when Lennon is a player whose only positive attributes are pace and width. He refused to play a healthy Sandro and played Ettiene Capoue at centerback because he said he didnt believe in the concept of a holding midfielder. He once started a four man midfield with eriksen on the wing. His choices were like a game every week where you looked at the team sheet and tried to discern what possible formation this gaggle of players could be arranged in. It was like madlibs.
Now a manager doesnt have to be a tactical genius to win games. Lord know Redknapp wasnt and he won quite a bit at Spurs. Sherwood seemed to lack any sort of man management skills though. Now we do enter into conjecture here but as someone who followed the team closely I think my conclusions are fair. Suffice to say the team hated him. An interview with Christian Eriksen and Harry Kane is on youtube where they were asked what they liked about Sherwood and Eriksen stared at the interviewer seemingly dumbfounded at the question and offered absolutely nothing about him he liked. Sandro who was the absolute rock of the dressing room clashed publicly with him. Jan Vertonghen couldnt be bothered to hide his disdain for the man. There were rumors about multiple players telling Daniel Levy they would demand transfers if Sherwood was brought back. Capoue publicly complained about how Sherwood was another example of how tactically clueless English managers are.
More than anything the players seemed to simply not respect the man. The impression you got was whenever Sherwood talked the players were making ####ing motions behind his back. Its hard to blame them. He had no plan, he was a man prone to screaming fits of rage but without the gravitas or credentials to make that count for something. He frequently threw his players under the bus in public, took credit when things went well, and passed blame when they went poorly. He engaged in bizarre behavior such as kicking a ball at an opposing manager and taking a phone call in the middle of the team being shitkicked by Liverpool (while comically trying to hide the phone as if people wouldnt be able to tell what he was doing).
Overall, Sherwood was a disaster of a manager who actually had a solid record. How did he do this? By throwing a very talented squad on the pitch and letting them run around. Spurs beat the teams they had more talent then and got destroyed by the teams they didnt. Under Sherwood Spurs scored a single goal vs chelsea, City, arsenal, and Liverpool while allowing 13. He also had a solid record by making three actually astute moves while in charge.
First Sherwood restored Adebayor to the team who immediately went on a tear and was a world beater for two months. Adebayor had been completely ostracized by AVB (who sucked at man management) and Sherwood restored him to the team. Motivated and grateful to Sherwood Adebayor went on a tremendous run of form. The other positives were Sherwood gave first team minutes to Harry Kane and Nabil Bentaleb. Both of these moves worked out splendidly with the two talented youngsters breaking into the squad and making a positive impact. This is by far the most positive part of Sherwood's legacy at Spurs. Adebayor, Kane, and Bentaleb seemed to be the only players who liked Sherwood for obvious reasons.
Overall, Sherwood was an excellent youth team manager whose best contribution to the club was integrating young players into the side. Forgive me if I am just ignorant of QPR but I dont think you guys have any highly thought of youth players ready to contribute who Redknapp has been refusing to give a chance to?
Too long, didnt read, Sherwood at QPR would #### off your veterans who wont respect him, offer nothing tactically, and not be saved by a talented squad or promising youth players. Sherwood has nothing to offer QPR. He will get you relegated.
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