Tim Sherwood this week stated that Tottenham Hotspur were part of his life. His passion was genuine and if he can transmit any of that to his squad then all power to him. Cut him and he bleeds navy blue and white. Problem is, on yesterday’s showing against West Brom, his mission is to return in time to the Spurs team he played in.

Plenty of effort, decent players, busy-busy. It’s only after a while that you begin to realise, this isn’t going anywhere. Misplaced passes, opportunities lost as that ball doesn’t quite make it…you think the next one will, then it sinks in, the passing simply isn’t good enough. Players and crowd frustrated, the anxiety building as time passes and the half-chances are missed, the defensive cock-ups punished. Younger fans need to know, this is how it used to be! Narrow your eyes and you can almost see Sherwood himself in midfield, static and pointing in all directions. Ah, the good old days of midtable mediocrity, when you were spared the worry of CL qualification or winning trophies….

It’s not Sherwood’s fault that he has to learn on the job. My problem with his appointment isn’t personal, not to him at least. A club of our stature and ambitions should never be in the position of appointing a manager with no experience in that role, halfway through a season that opened with an investment of £100m on new players. A fine coach he may be, ambitious certainly and we need someone who is single-minded, but we should not be in this position, Mr Levy.

Levy of course has made the appointment in a characteristically equivocal manner. 18 months gives Tiger Tim a measure of security and means the compensation will be less in the summer if it doesn’t work and Levy brings in an experienced manager who is not available right now. Meanwhile, we mark time on the pitch when we should be pushing ahead.

It’s also not Tim’s fault that his appointment has coincided with an injury and suspension crisis. The lack of a DM has caused problems but to see his real intentions, we will have to wait until Sandro and Paulinho are available. The set-up will suit them both. Paulinho will benefit from the rest. Capoue meanwhile will be left to wonder what on earth is going on. He thought he was joining an upwardly mobile team challenging for Europe. now the under 21s get the nod ahead of him. What’s French for ‘call my agent’?

Sherwood is by no means the first Spurs coach in recent times to find his attacking efforts stifled by a rigorously organised defence. It was not until near the end when West Brom tired and Danny Rose was released down the wing that we found a way round their set-up. They played a flexible formation with three centre backs and two wide men, both full-backs by trade, who dropped back to make five at the back or pushed into midfield to easily outnumber our four. With one up front, this allowed them to insert one or two midfielders between our midfield and back four. They used this space well and Lloris was at his best, blocking and diving to keep them out. It helped that one great opportunity slid past the post.

This from a below-strength side managed by a coach promoted from within. I admire Sherwood’s mission to attack more – it is noticeable that we have numbers in the box these days as well as the obvious of playing two up front. However, yesterday he came out second best in the tactical battle of the new boys.

After a bright start when our players enjoyed the freedom of movement and worked off each other, the game settled down into a familiar, unwelcome pattern. We were pressed into making mistakes, had no space to work the angled passes and were constantly being caught with the ball. Chiriches was dreadfully profligate, giving away the ball in dangerous positions at least three times in the first half. Dawson too – we could not get it forward.

The breakthrough did come through a set-piece, a stunning free-kick from Eriksen, curled round the top of the wall and in off the bar. A real beauty – such a shame therefore that its memory will be tarnished by what happened next. Instead of consolidating, Eriksen gave away the ball and West Brom scored from the resultant free-kick. The cross was not cleared, suddenly a gap as wide as the parting of the Red Sea opened up in what should have been a packed defence and the loose ball was banged home. Ridiculous to concede so soon after scoring, and from a set-piece that was completely avoidable.

After the break, Spurs began slowly but were livened up by the crowd’s agitation at the news that Ars***l were one down. That’s how it was yesterday – score-flashes got us going. That soon faded. Tiger Tim brought on Bentaleb to lie a little deeper and keep the ball moving, which he does well and which allowed Eriksen to work further up the field. It’s good to see Eriksen more involved in the play – this was a criticism I had of the way AVB used him – and he certainly has an appetite for work. He finished the game exhausted, hands on knees and bent double. He and Spurs may benefit from a defensive midfielder, allowing him more freedom.

The forwards pushed up. Again, a familiar tale of waiting for passes that never came rather than working to move the defenders out of position. It was too easy for them to sit in their five. Adebayor had one his static days, seldom causing a problem, his control letting him down on the two half-chances that came his way. Also, despite our numbers in the box, we provided few decent crosses until Rose late on rifled several low balls across the box but just out of reach of forwards who were as frustrated as the crowd.

Another reminder of the old days was the barracking Chadli received, at least from where I sitting. An imposing, muscular figure yet he possesses the ability to disappear for extended periods of the match. This was good old-fashioned abuse, individuals leaping to their feet in pure frustration. Not seen that for a long while now.

In praise of Kyle Walker: he’ll never sort out his positioning or day dreaming but he’s got his strength and pace back to get him and us out of trouble. Every game, if we need a goal he’s driving forward. Not everything comes off but he gives all he’s got. Another bloke in front of me roared a volley of abuse in his direction as he was absent as West Brom countered. In fact, look up and there he was, filling in at centre half having hammered back 50 yards after we lost the ball.

If I may offer a suggestion – we do well away because we can counter effectively. Maybe set up the team in the same way home or away, draw out opponents, press and then counter. Just a thought. Sincere best wishes to Tim and his team as they try to sort it out. Hard work ahead.

Ego is a powerful driver for top professional sportspeople. Not merely the desire to do your best to win but to prove to others that you are better than they are. It is the most overwhelming motivational force, better than income or power, where even victory becomes a means to an end rather than an end in itself.

The clash of egos at Tottenham is palpable right now, so much so it can be measured on the Richter scale. As we stagger from the aftershocks of Villas-Boas’ departure, Sherwood and Adebayor have come out on top. For how long we don’t know, but in the short-term at least it’s doing Spurs a lot of good.

I don’t have a problem with egotistical sportspeople. Some are unbalanced by their hubris and are lost to me but if they deliver on their promises, it can only make them better. I like the way Brits love to take down the arrogant but any sportsperson has got to have a level of confidence in their own ability that mere mortals like myself cannot comprehend. It’s like Andy Murray being criticised for not turning up for the Sports Personality of the Year presentation. Top marks to him for putting his focus on winning top of his list of priorities.

I don’t want people like me running Spurs. Too bloody reasonable, happy to toddle along, no guiding light or masterplan. Recipe for disaster, that is, but sometimes those egos put the personal before the team, and there is no excuse for that. None whatsoever.

Adebayor’s disappearance this season was puzzling but had the ring of truth because of the striker’s reputation as moody and inconsistent. Spurs gave him some time to come to terms with the death of his brother. It seemed the right thing to do and he wasn’t repaying us by getting fit. Same old same old, one season then he’s had enough. Given our goalscoring problem, that we had only two fit strikers, that he could provide a different option, that he had a strop on could be the only reason why he was seldom in consideration, surely.

Turns out Villas-Boas hadn’t learned as much about man-management from his time at Che***a as we had hoped. AVB wasn’t having him back, because AVB had a vision of the way the team was supposed to play. That’s scandalous, and that’s from someone like me who has broadly supported him. Imposing his rampant ego on the fortunes of the side may have been an attempt to look strong and decisive. In fact, it leaves behind a tarnished image of a weak man denying to himself that he fears challenge. Good managers harness challenge. Manu and Benny were just rejected. Out of sight but not out of mind because their reputations grew in their absence, just as AVB’s is diminishing by the day.

Manu’s back with a vengeance. W Ham was his warm-up. Against Southampton he was the rangy, roving leader of the line we always knew he could be and have needed so desperately this season. His movement and options would have received my gratitude but taking chances too, there’s honestly nothing I would have liked better for Christmas. His first was a delightful volley from an incisive Soldado cross, close in and shoulder high, then tucking in the winner after the ball was momentarily loose in the Saints’ box. In between he held the ball and linked surprisingly well with Soldado, given that they have never played together. In the first half, Manu stayed more central, in the second the defenders followed him out wide allowing Bobby three great chances. Our weekend would have been perfect if he had put even one of them away. A goal could change his season and ours.

Manu is no shrinking violet. Brought back into the side by Sherwood, his goal celebration versus the hammers showed he was intent on revenge, to right wrongs and injustices, and this carried on yesterday. Probably not a deliberate, extended motivational ploy, designed to release his force on an unsuspecting league for the second half of the season. Sherwood shrewdly played to his vanity, telling him he knew Adebayor was good enough, there’s nothing he could tell him, now go and play. An up-market version of Harry’s legendary, ‘go and f**king run about a bit’ speech to Pav, it did the trick and brought Manu onside as far as the new manager’s methods are concerned. If you are after the job permanently, it helps to have a centre-forward grateful to play for you.

This wasn’t the only sign that Sherwood is determined to make an impression. Going 4-4-2 brings out the creativity of a group of players who like to play as well as directly addressing the goal shortage. Soldado and Eriksen were more involved in the 90 minutes of play, which indicates that Bobby had been told by AVB to lurk moodily around the edge of the box and in the middle rather than his natural instincts.

We made width without playing a winger and the all-round abilities of that four made up for the lack of blistering pace. They got up and back, for the most part at least, and worked hard for ninety minutes. Sherwood stamped his authority on the manager’s position if not the game itself by bringing on Benteleb for his debut rather than Capoue or any other of the benchwarmers. The young Frenchman displayed that poise and confidence that we are breeding into our young midfielders at the moment.

Like the change in formation, it gave the players the message that Sherwood is loyal and will give everyone a chance, that he is able to make decisions, that he is his own man. However, it was a risk. A below strength Southampton found it too easy to operate freely between our back four and the midfield. With strikers peeling off the centrebacks, we left too much space in front of and behind our often stranded back line. Both their goals came from moves that exploited this, the second coming from yet another error by Lloris.

Still, those errors are not so significant if we are scoring, and scoring one more than you seems to be the plan at the moment. It’s refreshing but the dangers are there. A win to enjoy but before 2014 is well under way, make the same mistakes at the back and we will be punished.

 

The banner unfurled on the Park Lane before and after yesterday’s Spurs game read: ‘Enough is Enough’. One side red, the other blue, it symbolised the unity of the two sets of supporters campaigning against extortionate seat prices for away fans. After this diabolical performance, it could just as easily be Andre Villas-Boas’s epitaph.

This was a benchmark match. Liverpool and Spurs have much in common: youngish managers making their way in the game,  teams with an illustrious past but uncertain future as they build new sides, contenders for a possible top four place. Now Spurs know where we stand: we weren’t beaten, we were totally outclassed. One of our main rivals is not just a few places above us in the league, they exist in a different dimension.

If there is any consolation to be had from this wretched, dismal afternoon, as bleak and foreboding as the chilly drizzle that seeped into the marrow, Liverpool’s performance makes the perfect training video. AVB should take a long look before he shows it to his players. Where they were quick and agile, we were dull and ponderous. They continually burst forward at pace and in numbers. We drifted around aimlessly. They pounced on our players on and around the halfway line like young panthers eager for the kill. We played with all the menace of charity-shop soft toys with half the stuffing hanging out. Liverpool were everything Spurs should be.

Rodgers and Villas-Boas have both faced criticism as clipboard bosses who have been given their demanding, prestigious jobs too early in their careers. At the end of last season, the Guardian ridiculed the Liverpool manager in a quiz listing ten absurd management-speak comments and inviting readers to say which was said by Rodgers and which by David Brent, the boss in the Office.

Now, the only guy who looks absurd is AVB. Never mind a parlour game, judge him from the way he put this team out. We were simply swept aside, utterly inadequate. We is Us, collective responsibility. Players and manager  were poor but the manager must take the blame for this one. Time and again we were caught in possession, no one to pass to, players ambling forward so they could be easily marked by the Liverpool defence, separate from each other, Soldado isolated, strangers not a team.

Last season in late November we beat them 2-1 at the Lane. it was my favourite game from 2012-13, two teams who went at it from first to last in a thrilling match. Then, Rodgers was under pressure. He’s moved his team forward, we are lost. They made runs from deep, three or four at a time, early pass to feet or into space, simple but devastatingly effective. Simple but beyond us.

Villas-Boas has been criticised for not changing. As I’ve said in this blog many times, that’s not quite accurate because he has tried different things. Lately I’ve been asking a different question: not why doesn’t he make changes but can he? Is he able to find the right formation? Soldado is the example. I assumed we paid that money for top class striker knowing that we also had a plan, players and tactics that is, to play to his strengths. I’ve asked that question a lot recently – I am a patient, generous man but the answer is ‘no’. AVB does not know what to do. Bobby is flotsam up front, drifting on the tide, far from safety. Suarez starts deeper, leaving space to run into and in touch with his team-mates.

Liverpool got stuck in from the first whistle. We ambled on the ball and never imposed ourselves. After sustained pressure where we failed on several occasions to cleanly clear the ball, they finally scored when Dawson dallied and Suarez pounced.

We were hanging on, mistakes everywhere, unable to hold on to the ball, as if we were puzzled at Liverpool’s temerity at not allowing us to play. Ironically, we then had our best period. Chadli gave a rare glimpse of why we bought him, an imposing figure on the ball who crossed three or four times from the byline. Soldado and Holtby put the ball wide.

Then further calamities in our box. Lloris all arms and legs like an agile version of Kasey Keller, saved twice. In that moment, and this sounds crazy but I will share, in that moment I thought, the luck is with us, a turning point, we’ll muddle through to half-time, undeserved but only one down. Funny how the mind plays tricks. A split second later Henderson rammed home the fifth rebound and we were sunk even before Paulinho, who was awful yesterday, was sent off for a high tackle.

A feature of the first half was Sterling’s performance. Like an old-fashioned winger, an old-school phrase should sum up his day – he took Naughton to the cleaners. His control, style and speed were dazzling and in stark contrast to Lennon’s haphazard, stumbling afternoon. Naughton was hauled off at half-time, hopefully for the sake of his sanity to spend the rest of the afternoon in a darkened room with soothing music in the background.

If so, he won’t have heard the cheers that greeted Fryer’s arrival. That’s hardly going to help him. Naughton was poor, no excuses, but he was no worse than the others and he was hung out to dry. He’s a right-back played out of position because his manager saw fit to have no cover at left-back, to the point where he sends our first-team regular out on loan. Chadli gave him no protection whatsoever – imposing going forward he may be but he can’t be bothered to come back and double up on the winger, which is basic tactics. Basic. Other chickens are coming home to roost. Why sell Caulker knowing Kaboul is not fit, so we have a midfielder at centre-half. The manager’s responsibility. And Sterling would have given any player in the league a mare on that showing, make no mistake.

It ended up as five, should have been eight (they hit the woodwork twice), could have been double figures, but I would have said exactly the same if it had stayed at two.

At the finish, Holtby slumped to his knees and repeatedly pounded the turf with his fists. The others slunk away into the dressing room. If we are to recover from this, Holtby’s spirit and willingness to face up to the crowd is the place to begin.

The debate about AVB has been rendered irrelevant by this game. Levy will not tolerate it. Villas-Boas’s sacking is inevitable, only a matter of time. So here we are again. New manager, new ideas, players brought in to support the old ways. Good players will leave without European football. One step up and two steps back. Change when only continuity will bring results.

But there is continuity – Levy is still here. A financial wizard, he has no idea how to choose a decent manager. He’s still here and we’re down the toilet, stuck in the u-bend. A decade or more of opportunities flushed down the pan.

The effort to stay behind for the post-match protest against ticket prices was superhuman, let me tell you. I doubt if anyone noticed. We were the last on the Shelf before shambling home in the rain. Off to find a darkened room of my own.

Postscript: this was written before I heard the news of Villas-Boas’s dismissal. Good luck to him elsewhere but sadly elswhere is where he should be. Epitaph it was then.