Lambert's replacement

[lovejoy]

No to Lennon thanks, don't like his attitude or his football. If I had a choice I'd be looking at De Boer.

So who is your better suggestion?

[Toronto Villa]

Surely if we sacked Lambert weeks ago we'd just be getting Tim Sherwood a few weeks earlier?

[citizenDJ]

Eh? He took over a team in sixth or seventh place for just over half a season and kept it in sixth or seventh place.

I'm not looking for evidence of his ability to that. I'm talking about evidence that he can come to a club which is in 18th place and, in the space of 13 games, get them out of the relegation zone and keep them there.

Evidence he can be assistant manager at Spurs and keep them in the Europa League places for a few months isn't really going to be of much relevance to us.

But that's all the evidence there is. And it shows he did OK.

Which managers can you think of do have a bank of work that does provide the specific evidence you are after?

But, as I said, it is totally irrelevant to where we are. And even then, let's not forget, he did so alright that Spurs sacked him at the first available opportunity.

I could draw up a list of possibilities none of which are particularly appealing, but most of them would be better than sherwood. Look at oddscheckers' list of odds for the job. Half of the names listed there would be better.

And, what's more, I'm just a fan venting on a message board. Fox and Lerner have managed to get this club into an absolute disastrous mess.

They now have to do two things. Keep us in the top flight, and make an appointment which will suggest that, finally, we're being dragged into the modern world. We thought we were getting that with Lambert, but it didn't work out.

Not because the idea was bad, but because the man they chose wasn't up to it.

I just don't see the point in sacking Lambert and then appointing someone with a fraction of his experience and expecting him to do better in the space of 13 games.

What about Michael Laudrup? What about Prandelli? What about Chris Hughton (yes, him)? What about Nigel Adkins? What about Jol? What about Nigel Clough? What about Ranieri? What about Slaven Bilic? What about leaving the Marshalls in charge till the summer, then making a long term appointment?
 
I'm not saying that I'd want all, or any, of the above, but at least half of those are better options than Sherwood.

The one thing they got right was sacking Lambert the day after Hull. That gave us almost two weeks till our next league game. To then rush out and sign up Sherwood within a few days strikes me as insanity.

I'm talking about evidence that he can come to a club which is in 18th place and, in the space of 13 games, get them out of the relegation zone and keep them there.

Sorry, that's a bit arsey. But Prandelli or Laudrup or BIilic seems like nothing more than wishful thinking. The rest….well, they might be alright. But then, so might Sherwood.

Again, he's a long way from my first choice. But in a field of crap, which I believe is where we're looking, he's about as decent as any of the others.

[Steve67]

We need a new management team, not just a new Manager.

[lovejoy]

I've never given a fuck what a Spurs fan thinks and I don't intend to start now.

Two of my best mates are spurs fans. They live in Goulders Green. Two of the nicest blokes you could meet. They hated Sherwood when they had him. Now they are worried on our behalf.

That's gracious of them. Don't get me wrong, I don't think Tim Sherwood is the answer to anything except a particularly strange question, but you are never going to get an objective opinion about any manager from his former supporters, particularly when the club involved see themselves as somewhere between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in the natural order.   

So who is your preferred choice from who is realistically available?

[dave.woodhall]

I've never given a fuck what a Spurs fan thinks and I don't intend to start now.

Two of my best mates are spurs fans. They live in Goulders Green. Two of the nicest blokes you could meet. They hated Sherwood when they had him. Now they are worried on our behalf.

That's gracious of them. Don't get me wrong, I don't think Tim Sherwood is the answer to anything except a particularly strange question, but you are never going to get an objective opinion about any manager from his former supporters, particularly when the club involved see themselves as somewhere between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in the natural order.   

So who is your preferred choice from who is realistically available?

I'd keep the M&Ms on for Sunday, then take it from there. It's been said before, but the big problem is that there are two jobs to do and a manager who would be good at one might not be any good at the other. For example, Gregory was good short-term but in hindsight should have been thanked at the end of that season, handsomely rewarded and given a glowing reference. Sir Graham was a long-termer who wouldn't have been the right man this minute. It's a difficult balancing act to which I don't have a conclusive answer.

[PaulWinch again]

I stick with my view that if Sherwood was going to be hired he would be in charge by now.

[brontebilly]

Tim Sherwood is a depressing choice as our new manager.

If he go down with him, I dont expect him to be our manager in the Championship.

We are gambling on an immediate impact as many of us feared.

This truly is rolling the dice.

[PaulMc]

Tim is that you?

Joking aside. The employment of Sherwood is about as big a gamble of keeping Lambert imo: vastly inexperienced, suspect temperament and in all honesty a complete nobhead.

[villan from luton]

Of course we are gambling, what choice do we have now?

[lovejoy]

I agree it's a tough one. Who is available in February?

[Villa in Denmark]

All of the (realistic) options being suggested are less than ideal which, I assume, is why they were loathe to ditch Lambert until they felt they had no choice. Therefore we are starting from a poor position both in terms of available candidates and time. I think circumstances dictate that it has to be somebody who knows this league and what is required immediately, they have absolutely no prospect of a 'honeymoon period'.

Can anyone come up with a name that fits the above and that most of us would be happy with?

I'm not sure that has to be the case, although right now it would be an advantage.

The squad is plenty good enough to get out this, what it's lacking is some leadership and a viable gameplan that plays to the squad's strengths plus a large dose of self belief.

The first and last almost come together if you get someone who can show a bit "been there, done that" and can sell something along the lines of "this is what we're going to do, you're good enough to do it, and if we do it we'll be alright."

Right now the second bit doesn't need to be anything much more than a bit "meat & 2 veg" to borrow a phrase from Monty.

Play to our strengths, where have we got the most ability, where can we the biggest improvements with the fewest tweaks.

Personally I'd say letting the players be free to try and move into space and expect the pass to be there, rather than worrying more about not being out of position if doesn't.

I'm sure that's why our new "possession based style" has been so sterile and stilted.  No one dares make an advanced run into space because they're trying to cover for when the move breaks down (fat lot if good it did us at Arsenal).

[KevinGage]

I hate myself for it, but I was thinking similar re Pulis.

Sherwood could go one of two ways. His cheeky chappy persona could lift a playing staff low on confidence as per Gregory.

Or he might hurt the feelings of our delicate wallflowers and have a mutiny on his hands.  He doesn't have a transfer window to weed them out either, it's this lot until May.

Pulis as shown with two limited teams he can get a reaction. It's only when he has money to spend that things go wrong. And hopefully, he wouldn't be at the club long enough to illustrate that.

His playing style is vomit, but his sides do possess organisation and work ethic.  I don't ever want the throw-in to be an 'event,' but I'd settle for us looking vaguely competent at them -and set-plays in general. In the short-term.

There are far worse scenarios than a run-containing Stoke, Olbiyun, Swansea, QPR and Burnley at home. 

I'd prefer a Prandelli, Tuchel, Karanka or even Clement if we're looking medium to long-term. But in these particular set of circumstances, someone like Pulis might be more suited to grind (and it would be a grind) out those precious points from the above fixtures, with perhaps a surprise result here and there.

As others have mentioned, there will be no honeymoon period with this job.  Lose the next 2/3 home games and we're gone.


 

[PaulWinch again]

Obviously if he takes charge everyone will give him a chance, but it'd be nice to have a better option.

[PaulMc]

Am I missing something or is Sherwood not just some bloke who did alright with a massively expensive Spurs side for half a season. The fact he is such (horrifyingly) short odds to be our next manager is making me question my sanity.