Who is to succeed Sherwood?

Well, it didn’t take long. The expected sacking of Tim was done yesterday morning and I’m quite sure a lot of you (including myself) were pleased with it. He was a bit too overtaken with the fact of managing us and has himself to blame for the sacking really. Although he had the highest win percentage 59%, he also leads in terms of defeats with 37%, which is not impressive for over just 6 months. Yet, we should thank him for giving chance to some great youth talents like Harry Kane and Nabil Bentaleb who are sure to shine with us in the coming seasons.

What we need now is stability and experience. Looking at the three main candidates for the join as of now, Rafa Benitez, Mauricio Pochettino and Frank De Boer, we’d be lucky enough to have any one of them. I believe each one of them has something unique to offer.

My first preference would be Rafa Benitez. The most experienced out of all three and is of course well reputed in England. He has the experience of Premier League football from Liverpool and is also the most experienced in terms of European football. For English teams alone, he has won the FA Cup, The Community Shield, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and the UEFA Europa League. During his six year period in Liverpool, he had an overall win percentage of 56% and for his interim time at Chelsea, it was 58%. Given the right players and time, he is bound to bring success. I believe he is the strongest candidate if we were to push to top four place anytime soon. His biggest drawback could be not agreeing certain transfer targets with Levy and Baldini, which may cause a problem.

Second, would be Mauricio Pochettino. Boy, has he had a brilliant season with Southampton. Not as successful as Benitez, but he has proved himself by bringing Saints to 8th this season. He has a win percentage of 35% over his two years time in the Premier League. His preferred style is 4-2-3-1 which I believe is the strongest formation with the set of players we have. His adaptation and player development skills have been impressive and may even work well with Levy. The biggest advantage of bringing him would be the development of Erik Lamela since his Argentine background could help him settle easier as well as provide him support.Also, he could help bring the best out of our players who have under performed throughout the season.His biggest flaw maybe that there is a risk of him failing. He hasn’t managed a top flight club in his career and the pressure might get to him. He also has no European experience.

Last but not the least, Frank De Boer. The most talked about (after LVG) who is to take in charge of us this summer. The only reason I consider him as the least preferred is due to lack of Premier League experience and failure in Europe. He has won the league with Ajax for four consecutive seasons but in European competitions, he has only had a win percentage of 31.25% which is a terrifying number even though Ajax are not considered to be a powerhouse in Europe. I believe he is still to learn much more from different parts of the world before coming into the Premier League since it may be a bit too tough for him to adapt to. Once given the exposure, he can turn out to be as good as LVG has around the world. It just won’t be the right move at the moment. The advantage of having him on board is that he will do his best to keep Jan Vertonghen and will also significantly help in building a team around Christian Eriksen, which is one key factor for us to succeed next season.

These are my views on the top three candidates and I would be satisfied with anyone of them since they can help bring out the best from our players. I hope Levy lands up the right man this time and sticks with him for a long period. It’s about time we start performing up to the expectations and break into the top four once again.