Levy saw it.
Does he still believe in Tim Sherwood? Can anyone really after that gutless 4-0 capitulation to Liverpool at Anfield?
Daniel Levy was sat a few rows in front of the man he handed the head coach job to, just three short months ago. I imagine he was praying that Liverpool didn’t get that fifth goal, praying the scoreline didn’t tick over to the one that saw him make that hasty, fateful decision in December.
Maybe with Sherwood behind him it was a case of out of sight out of mind. Except of course that would also necessitate Levy sticking his fingers in his ears and repeating la-la-la-la I can’t hear you
. As the, as per usual, excellent away fans let it be known their disgust at Sherwood sat on his arse.
One thing Tim has done for Spurs supporters is dispel all hope. Under AVB, even under ‘Arry, this game would have been approached with some confidence of being able to get something out of it. This time round it was met with mainly talk of how many will they concede. My first thought was Gerald Sinstadt describing each one of the 7 (seven) – vidiprinter joke – Bob Paisley’s side put past Spurs in 1978.
Tim’s other feat before the match kicked-off was distracting the attention away from the two Spurs’ fullbacks. By playing two non defensive midfielders centrally. Bentaleb and Sigurdsson.
Now Tim said he wanted to control things, keep them tight, and then pounce later. Well surely that means playing a holding midfielder to begin with, Sandro was on the bench, bringing on a more attacking option later. Tim seemed to have got this arse about.
The fans maybe had forgotten about Naughton and Rose. Liverpool didn’t. From the start, when Spurs immediately gave the ball away with an aimless hump, the hosts attacked Rose, who was found wanting, Eriksen is not one for defending, from Johnson’s resulting cross Kaboul stumbled to back heel in the opener.
Less than two minutes on the clock. So far so Spurs. Yes it was just going to be a case of how many.
Things then got better for Spurs. They went over 20 minutes without conceding, they didn’t see much of the ball during that time but hey small mercies here folks.
Then Vertonghen went off, to be replaced by Dawson. Now this is a strange one. usually it would be a negative but Vertonghen’s contribution to the cause lately hasn’t exactly seen him bust a gut for the badge. But Dawson, against Suarez, yes that filled us all with hope.
Dawson’s first touch was an aimless hump down the wing, the ball came back to him and his second touch was a blind lay-off to where he thought Kaboul was. He was but so was Suarez. Kaboul stumble, Suarez doubles the lead.
Spurs had settled into their usual pattern of play. Meaningless pass, meaningless pass, meaningless pass, hump up the park to give away the ball. I’ve laid off Bentaleb but bar one shot he had in the game he did nothing but meaningless sideways, backwards passes. At times it was a Jenasesque getting rid of the ball and therefore responsibility. Dawson passes forward to Bentaleb, in plenty of space he passes straight back where it came from. Or he put a Parker pirouette in and got rid. I read, hear people saying he chased this and that down. I saw him being run past and not trying. Both Parkeresque and Jenasesque.
If the club introduced the Felix Magath style fine for needless back passes, Bentaleb could end up owing them millions. Surely that sounds good to Levy.
But for the brilliance of Lloris it could have been three by half-time. Why Barca are going for the Borussia Moenchengladbach goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen when Hugo surely would want out of this shambles.
No change at half-time. In either personnel or the play that followed. Though it did take Liverpool 8 minutes more to score this half. Plenty of space for the left-back to run into, offload to Coutinho who had a gaping hole of a Spurs midfield to wander through before, unchallenged, he netted the third.
It was all just too easy.
They rolled over Spurs at The Lane, that led to AVB’s sacking. That day Spurs were inept, though also down to 10 men for half an hour when the score was just 2-0. Liverpool were flying that day, in this game they didn’t have to be. You’ll hear, read about how great Liverpool were but in reality they barely broke out of first gear. It was cruise control.
Gifted the ball, space and goals by a weak opponent.
This was a spineless, pathetic performance. From a back four who either don’t care (Vertonghen) or are just too out of their depth (Rose, Naughton & Dawson). A midfield played out of position (Sigurdsson & Eriksen) or out of their depth and forward players who saw nothing of the ball (Soldado), or didn’t even try to get involved (Lennon).
Chadli and Eriksen tried but it was as if the hosts had more men on the park. When those two had the ball they had three, four red shirts around them. When those red shirts had the ball there wasn’t a white one to be seen.
The fourth looked the same as the above paragraph. How many red shirts were in front of Dawson when the ball went, untouched, into the net? Henderson. Henderson, he’s scored four league goals this season. 50% against Spurs.
Maybe one team wanted it. And just think of that team. Johnson, Agger, Skrtel, Flanagan in defence. Henderson in midfield. Would you want any of that lot in your side. If they win the league it’ll be down to others blowing it – like ManUre last season.
Remember when Brendan Rodgers was the laughing stock? They stuck with him, Spurs got Tim. Sat in the directors box, making sure it’s all about him again but not in the way Jose does to deflect from his team’s performance. No Tim just likes being the centre of attention.
No I didn’t believe the rumours that Sherwood hit one of the players, post-match. If someone said he stood behind Les Ferdinand and Chris Ramsey shouting hold me back, hold me back
I would believe that. That is Sherwood.
And even after Daniel Levy saw it, he still seems to believe that Tim should be in charge. Did that fifth goal, or lack thereof, save him?