After Tottenham's 1-0 win over Everton at White Hart Lane on Sunday, Daniel Storey looks to their manager... It's easy to be snobbish about Tim Sherwood and his tactical simplicity but, whilst doubts will undoubtedly remain, you can't complain at his current record...
Sunday 9 February 2014 19:03, UK
It's easy to be snobbish about Tim Sherwood but you can't argue with his record, writes Daniel Storey.
So Tim Sherwood and Spurs walk (if not march) on. Three points taking them to within three of the top four, the club's pre-season aim. There may have been very little vintage about the 1-0 victory over Everton on Sunday lunchtime, but the facts are undeniable - six victories from nine Premier League matches under Sherwood, and the only league defeat coming against a Manchester City side that were title favourites at the time. Sherwood is a self-professed simple manager. His initial success at Spurs owed much to the huge gap between his ethos and that of his predecessor Andre Villas-Boas. This was football management chalk and cheese, and the club's players seemingly reacted positively to the fresh air Sherwood afforded to them after the perceived strangulation of the Portuguese's micro-management. Sherwood's much-repeated mantra is 'players over systems', a belief stated once again in the build-up to Sunday's match against Everton. "I still maintain it's about individual players, not systems, and if there is a technical mismatch between teams, you should adjust accordingly." For an hour against Everton, Spurs fans would have been forgiven for cursing such simplicity. There was little attacking coherence during a first half in which their side failed to have a single shot on target. Emmanuel Adebayor looked continuously isolated, having to drift out to the wings just to pick up the ball, and because Spurs operated with Nabil Bentaleb, Mousa Dembele and Paulinho in central midfield, there was no replacement for Adebayor when he came deep. Aaron Lennon, a potential focal point for attacking creativeness, touched the ball just 10 times during the first half and completed only two passes in the opposition half. This was almost complete bluntness. Everton, meanwhile, were the polar opposite. Where Spurs had lassitude, their opponents were busy, Steven Naysmith, Leon Osman and Kevin Mirallas interchanging positions and buzzing round the final third with obvious intent. Gareth Barry and James McCarthy dominated the midfield battle and were able to constantly act as the initiators of attacks. The injured Romelu Lukaku was missed, possibly the final piece of a particularly attractive jigsaw, but this was overwhelming evidence for Sherwood's prosecution - Roberto Martinez had paid attention to both players and systems. What was this witchcraft?