Tim Sherwood: his tactics under the microscope

The former youth team coach has displayed early promise

The similarities are striking. Tottenham Hotspur being managed by a fancy foreign manager who had previously won a European trophy, his former team's play displaying panache and coveted across the continent. 

With results not deemed adequate though, and despite moderate success the season before, a change is made, and in comes a straight talking Englishman with London roots, able to seemingly motivate the players and turn around the club's league performances.

For Juande Ramos read Andre Villas-Boas, and for Harry Redknapp substitute Tim Sherwood. Most Spurs supporters realise we've been down this road before. 

Enic supremo Daniel Levy lurches from one managerial appointment to the next head coach recruitment, while any long-term planning at the club seems to fly out the window with each successive coaching change. Is this the best way for a multimillion pound business to run its business, to put it in terms that Levy might countenance?

Now, however, it is time for Spurs supporters to rally behind Sherwood (with the position of head coach secure), see how he gets on this season, and should he continue the good work shown in the league so far, then he must be trusted with stability, backing and a decent reign at the helm.

Remember that old Henry Redknapp was dismissed despite finishing fourth, fifth and fourth in the league, with a wage and overall transfer budget far below the north London side's close rivals in the league.

Likewise AVB was ushered to the exit door despite achieving a record points haul last season and with the team in seventh position, only a few points away from fourth place in the league. Levy has developed a worrying tendency to get rid of coaches based not on how their team is performing in the league. That must surely change if the club is to find success.

Sherwood has begun reasonably well. Good results in the league have been tempered by disappointing cup exits however, with Arsenal being the hardest draw the club could have been given in the FA Cup, such is their rival's form this campaign. With myriad injuries Spurs exited the competition last weekend, despite having good possession and chances to win the game, and not helped by an individual error by a young player gifting a goal to the Gunners.

Thankfully victory at Old Trafford the match before has placed Spurs nicely in the league for the second half of the season. It also demonstrated that Sherwood is not as tactically naive as others would make out.

Contrast the formation and strategy that Villas-Boas used when Tottenham went to the Emirates in September and you can see quite clearly that the Portuguese used a 4-3-3 (shown by the average position maps used by Whoscored.com) that ultimately resulted in a 1-0 loss, some three per cent more possession but roughly equal chances.

The Lilywhites' average positions against Arsenal under AVB (from Whoscored.com).

The stats when Tottenham visited the Emirates back in September under AVB (from BBC).

Sherwood opted for a 4-4-1-1 formation with Christian Eriksen playing more narrowly than he had done against Manchester United, and with Roberto Soldado funnelling back into midfield to make up the numbers, something the Spurs head coach alluded to himself in his post-match press conference.

Average positions against Arsenal last Saturday (from Whoscored).

The stats from last Saturday's game in the FA Cup (from BBC).

“I didn’t see us playing 4-4-2,” the former Blackburn Rovers captain said. “We just had 11 numbers on the field and tried to rotate and fill up every area of the field. I don’t know what you are saying about 4-4-2 [responding to a question about his tactics].

“We played with two recognised strikers, but [Emmanuel] Adebayor dropped deep into that area and picked up the ball.

“Our wide players funnelled in. I don’t think we were ever two players in midfield. When the ball was on the right, Christian Eriksen tucked across into the middle.”

The average position map from the Saturday game backs this up. Unfortunately some commentators just see two recognised strikers in the line-up and assume that it means two players ahead of the ball, offering up a scapegoat in defeat.

Whereas the Lilywhites' front four of Eriksen, Soldado, Adebayor and Aaron Lennon looks more balanced than any of the team's attacking line-ups chosen so far this season, with width, players in the box, creativity, hard work, the ability to retain possession, clever movement and link-up play, all evidenced at times in Tottenham's last three league games.

Spurs are beginning to finally look consistently dangerous again following the loss of Gareth Bale.

Eriksen continually moves infield in a manner reminiscent of Freddie Ljungberg in the Arsenal invincible team, while his vacating of the left flank leaves space for Danny Rose to charge forward into. 

Though there was too much space in front of the back four at times on Saturday, the problem was that the team didn't play as a unit enough, with the midfield not dropping deep with the defence, or the defence pushing up without the midfield doing so. The use of Sandro or Capoue may have helped this, yet Spurs would still have needed to find a way to score to win at the Emirates.

And so Sherwood blamed the fixture pile-up and injuries resulting in a lack of match sharpness: quite plausible following the energy-draining trip to Old Trafford only three days earlier, with ten of the same starting players.

The new coach's willingness to throw youngsters into the fray, play an attacking game and be able to motivate his players deserves credit and has already been overlooked by many. It felt that AVB was never sure about what his strongest 11 on the pitch was, something that seems to be slowly solidifying under the current stewardship.

Perhaps with a few more victories Sherwood can turn public opinion round. 

Bill Nicholson, Spurs' most successful ever manager, also came from Tottenham's backroom staff. He knew the club inside out. Spurs supporters now need to back another promising talent plucked from the depths of the club's coaching fraternity.