SPURS SUFFER

A few weeks ago Tottenham travelled to Anfield to face off against Liverpool and the side of Tim Sherwood suffered a devastating 4-0 loss. This negative result arrived at a time when the manager of Tottenham, Sherwood already was under immense pressure as speculation arose concerning the future of the tactician.

Sherwood replaced Andre Villas-Boas and he enjoyed a fairly successful start of his career in charge of the team in the White Hart Lane but a series of disappointing results now sees Tottenham not being able to get into a top 5 spot in the Premier League.

At this point in time everybody knows the disastrous campaign that David Moyes is sustaining with Manchester United as they are not even close on protecting the Premier League title but Tottenham are just a few points above the mediocre Manchester United which is evidence of how much Tottenham has been slipping in the past few months.

Following the 4-0 defeat against Liverpool, rumors began spreading claiming that Tim Sherwood had punched a player in the dressing room and the rumor gained so much momentum that even the family of the tactician started to believe it.

“I was getting family and friends texting me saying: ‘Why did you do it?’,” Sherwood said with a smile. “They didn’t say: ‘Did you?’ It was all ‘Who did you hit, who did you hit?’ The players know I want the best for the club and that helps them out because it means I want the best for them. I am not going to suffer fools though. That is the way I manage.”

 

The rumors had escalated to a point where his own players had to stand up and defend Sherwood as Roberto Soldado and Aaron Lennon denied that anything of that nature had happened at all.

NO SURPRISES

Manchester United continue their downhill season by suffering yet another loss and this time it was when playing in their home turf of Old Trafford against Liverpool and goals from Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez saw the team of Brendan Rodgers coming out on top and securing all 3 points.

There is no surprise that David Moyes has already announced his future plans with the club which includes him releasing a number of players and making a slew of new arrivals for the upcoming season but this will only happen if the Scottish coach is not sacked from Manchester United before the start of the upcoming season.

Moyes was already placed with an ultimatum of 12 matches for him to get positive results or else he would be sacked.

Let’s say that Moyes somehow does remain being the head coach of Manchester United for the upcoming season, the successor of Sir. Alex Ferguson is believed to be interested in signing Tottenham’s Aaron Lennon as he could be an alternative to Antonio Valencia on the right wing.

A few months ago, when Moyes managed to sign Juan Mata from Chelsea, he revealed that he has plans of signing many other big name players such as the Spanish midfielder and Aaron Lennon keeps on bouncing around as a possible new arrival of Manchester United in the summer.

Ever since Moyes was in charge of Everton some year ago, he was an admirer of Aaron Lennon with his pace and trickery on the wings; it can help create some much needed creative spark in the midfielder of Manchester United.

Moyes will first have to find a way to finish the season on a high note and then he can concentrate on the upcoming season for Manchester United as he has a list of things that needs to be done before starting the next campaign but Aaron Lennon is on top of his list.

FIGHTING

Along with Swansea City, the side of Tim Sherwood is the only Premier League teams which are fighting to get into the next stages of the Europa League. Tottenham has to go against the Ukrainian team Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk on February 20 at the Dnipro-Arena.

The holy grail of European competitions is without doubt the Champions League as all the major clubs are going head to head with each other, from Barcelona to Bayern Munich it’s a royal rumble of world class players from almost anywhere you look at it but even though the Europa League does not receive the same amount of praise, it still is a tournament where it is highly rated by many players and coaches including Tim Sherwood as he expressed his feelings about the tournament.

Tim Sherwood said, “I love the Europa League. There are a lot of games coming up but we haven’t got to worry about that. We’re out of the rest of the competitions and we’ve got a big enough squad here to cope’’.

“There will be opportunities for other people to play because the games will come thick and fast and you’re playing on Thursday and Sunday. You’re going to have to rest a few or maybe just change the selection.”

Tottenham is behind Liverpool in the Premier League having 3 points disadvantage but they are hoping to secure a higher spot in the tables that can allow them to finish the current campaign on a positive note and hopefully even take hold of a Champions League position for the upcoming season. Sherwood has a fairly busy schedule ahead of him but he is confident about the strength and width that his team is capable of demonstrating in the next few weeks and month as they have to go against Chelsea and Arsenal on consecutive matches.

LENNON RULED OUT

Aaron Lennon is expected to be ruled out of the match against West Brom, which will be new manager Tim Sherwood’s first match incharge of the club. He was appointed as the replacement for Andre Villas-Boas, who was sacked after a run of poor results. The team are just a few places below the top four, but they need to recover their form quickly in order to retain their hopes of qualifying for the Champions league. A number of players are struggling to be fit for this encounter and Lennon is one of them.

He was one of the influential players for the club last season, but it has been so far an injury prone season for the England international. Jan Vertonghen and Andros Townsend are some of the other players expected to be sidelined for this encounter. Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris has said that the squad is feeling confident ahead of the two matches during Christmas. Due to the packed schedule, poor form during this period can leave the team adrift of their ambitions.

Unlike other teams, Tottenham will not be travelling away from home during this time. After the home match against West Brom, Stoke City will be the visitors to White Hart Lane. Lloris is targeting to back-to-back victories from these matches.

“We showed a lot of positive things for the future. It was important to win because now we have two games at home to try to make the difference and try come back into the top four. We have to continue (this form) and work together because the Christmas period is very important,” said the goalkeeper.

The 26-year-old Aaron Lennon has featured in 12 matches this campaign. He has scored one goal in the process. The absence of Gareth Bale makes his presence an important one for Sherwood.