The natives aren’t happy and who can blame them. I was in the Give Sherwood A Chance School until recently but it’s now very very clear that he’s out of his depth. Harry Lite and not Harry Like after all. When Redknapp was appointed it felt like falling into a cab that you knew was going to take you home, our current journey is more akin to being on a night bus whose driver doesn’t know the way but is happy to give you a mouthful whilst he gets you lost. I’ve been an advocate of Kane this season and believes he deserves a chance, but in place of Soldado in a 442 with Townsend and Bentaleb on the bench and Eriksen pissing about on the left? No. Especially not against a well organised team full of whippets.
The injuries mean that Sherwood has never been given the option of playing his strongest side but they are no excuse here, this was just naivety. “Keep a clean sheet” is standard advice if you’re at home in the first leg of a European tie. Flood the midfield and see where it goes, not take a punt against an experienced side running away with their domestic league. Benfica’s high and energetic pressing and our overrun midfield meant that our tactics were more akin to championship football at the Boleyn rather than the a European final in Turin. We’d be better off with Allardyce in charge if we’re going to play that game.
The fans are restless as I said. Sherwood is taking plenty of flack as is Naughton and Paulinho and there’s a bloke near me who still thinks that Adebayor is a waste of space. Makes you wonder but this bloke’s got such a downer on him that he’d criticise the big man’s test tube skills even if he discovered a cure for cancer.
Caught square for goal one I’ve no idea what happened at the corner and freekick for goals two and three but there was nothing ingenious about the Portuguese play for either. Eriksen’s lovely free kick to pull one back will get lost in the general shiteyness but it was lovely.
Spurs themselves didn’t help by allowing so many Benfica fans into Spurs seats with colours and flags. It’s difficult enough for home fans to get tickets without adding this particular insult to injury. Ah well, easy game at the weekend….
Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
