Chelsea vs Tottenham Hotspur: A game of two halves

Tim Sherwood was left speechless by Tottenham’s performance against Chelsea

In England, managing Chelsea, or rather, staying at the club as manager, is considered to be the toughest job in the trade. But looking at recent history, the Tottenham job across London is not an easy one either. People say it is down to the nature of modern day football. I say it is mere folly. And this comes from a Chelsea fan mind you. Sacking managers who are into four months of their four year contracts just doesn’t seem logical. Tim Sherwood might be the latest to face the wrath of his merciless chairman. Or maybe not. We’ll see.

Andre Villas Boas’ sacking, following a heavy 5-0 defeat to Liverpool, and a lack of candidates to take up the hot-seat in the middle of the season, meant that coach Tim Sherwoood took the job. He signed a contract for 18 months. And the start he made to his managerial career was not the worst. He did lose the Capital one Cup game against West Ham but he got good results in the Premier League and kept  Spurs within touching distance of the 4th spot.

He seemed confident in press conferences even before taking charge on a permanent basis. He trusted a certain group of players and they mostly did the job for him. His all-out-attack mentality served him well. He got Adebayor firing again, who was not in favor with the former manager. All that, and Jose’s home record added up to promise a great encounter at the Bridge.

A Game Of Two Halves…

But Sherwood seemed to have different plans. The team sheet had 5 defenders. Walker played further up the field ahead of Kyle Naughton on the right side and Lennon played behind Adebayor in the free role. Sigurdsson played on the left. It was a big risk the young manager took.

Jose went for a solid 4-3-3.  Hazard, Eto’o who came in for Torres who couldn’t survive the warm up and Schurrle were the three advanced players. Willain and Oscar were benched for some reason. But at half time Jose changed it by withdrawing Lampard and putting on Oscar.

The first half started with Tottenham kicking off. And a minute into the game, they gave a glimpse of what was to come in the later part of the game. Eto’o was played through by Hazard who was gifted the ball in the middle of the park and the striker was brought down as he tried to go past Lloris. He was incorrectly flagged offside. Or Lloris might have been off. A couple of minutes later Hazard was through, but he missed the target as he went past Lloris. The rest of the half did not contain many highlights. Sandro hit a volley that worked Cech. But that was all for the first half.

Both teams started the second half pretty well. But then the balance swung. Vertonghen, under minor pressure from Schurrle, slipped and passed it back to his own keeper blindly. It was a wrapped gift for Eto’o which he accepted gleefully. Minutes later he was brought down by Kaboul in the box. The penalty was awarded, and rightly so in my opinion. But he was unfairly sent off. Spurs lost the match then and there. Hazard converted the spot kick. Jose kept the pressure on. He sent on Willian for Schurrle. The home team played through ball after through ball in behind the Spurs defense but did not make any chance count.

On came Ba for a ten minute cameo. 88 minutes on the clock and Oscar crossed in. Sandro couldn’t deal with it and it fell to Ba who put it through the legs of the keeper. And not more than 50 odd seconds after this disaster, Walker tried to head a cleared ball back to his keeper from 40 yards out. It fell to none other than Ba who put the ball into an empty net. The scoreline at the end of 90 minutes read Chelsea 4-0 Tottenham.

Shell Shocked Sherwood…

Jose took another premature exit from the match. Before doing so, he shook the hands of the Tottenham staff. Tim stood on the touchline with hands in his pocket and in no mood of formalities. Jose crept behind him and forcefully shook his left hand with an expression of sympathy on his face. Sherwood did not react. He probably did not know how to.

But unfortunately for him, he was yet to appear for an interview. On the touchline itself, he looked speechless. The catastrophic nature of his team’s defending was the reason he was staring at an appalling 4-0 scoreline. And he was the one who had to go and face the media, give an answer to the question on everyone’s lips – “Why?”.

In front of the camera, I have never seen a manager so short of words. So emotional. So moved. As Don Hutchinson said “He had probably let rip and he wanted to let rip even more”. His eyes showed that he was working very hard to keep himself in control. He paused too many times while answering. He couldn’t tell in front of the camera what he really felt. But he managed to get the message across to the club. Those that think that top four is a possibility indeed need to wake up.

It was an example of how football can be merciless at times. It was the darker side of the game that only a few can bear. That is why it is said that the game is not for the faint of heart.  He didn’t feel responsible for the result and he probably wasn’t. But it is just the way it is sometimes. It is the bravest and the strongest that survive. And I wish Sherwood luck for his career in management. But at Tottenham, he probably won’t have much of a future. Unless his team produces a miracle. Because that is as unlikely to happen as was last night’s disaster.