Thursday night was a somewhat humbling evening at White Hart Lane, where an organised, compact, counter-attacking, talented team made mincemeat of our disorganised, open and insipid set of players. The tie does, sadly, seem to be over at the halfway point, with Spurs needing to score three against a team that had conceded one goal in their last fourteen matches prior to the first leg.

Benfica, managed by Jorge Jesus since June 2009, tend to rotate players frequently and were missing key men, but still looked like one of the most slick, cohesive units to visit White Hart Lane this season. In contrast, Spurs struggled to string more than a few passes together at a time, illustrated by the fact that not a single player finished the game with a pass completion of 90% or more – pretty unusual for Spurs this season. Indeed, our most important creative element, Christian Eriksen, ended with a 69% completion, which reflected his poor decision-making throughout the game.

Sherwood brought Harry Kane into the line-up as a number 10 to add strength and another player with the ability to play with his back to goal; it was unfortunate for Harry that his most eye-catching moment was a poor loss of possession in a dangerous area, from which Benfica won a corner and, eventually, scored a goal. He made up for it to an extent a few minutes later by winning the free-kick from which Eriksen scored, and was actually one of the only players to show a creative spark in the match – getting his head up and using the ball intelligently at times.

For me, the most frustrating element of the defeat was that all of the goals that we conceded were preventable. From the first – where Eriksen gave the ball away with a poor pass selection, and Naughton made the wrong decision too in not following his man – to the two set pieces, where our man-to-man making went to pot. Kaboul, a big favourite of mine, will be disappointed with his part in both of the set piece goals; he was blocked off for the first, and not tight enough for the second.

Adebayor missed a wonderful chance to level the game on 48 minutes but, aside from that, Spurs barely created a thing in response.

With Jan Vertonghen suspended for the return leg, Tim Sherwood has to decide whether to go with Zeki Fryers and Younes Kaboul at centre-back, or whether he will go for broke and play a midfielder alongside Kaboul in the hope that we can play out from the back.

Before the first tie I wrote a preview for the excellent PortuGOAL website and the website owner and Portuguese football expert Tom Kundert (@Portu_Goal on Twitter) was kind enough to answer my questions about Benfica in response.

Benfica performed impressively at White Hart Lane – was that match typical of how Benfica have played this season?
Very much so, especially the last four months. From the moment coach Jorge Jesus took over in 2009/10, Benfica’s approach was non-stop frenetic attacking, leaving them vulnerable at the back. It was terrific to watch, but led to costly draws and defeats. This season there has been a noticeable shift to a more controlled, counter-attacking style. For the first time in years the defence has been the team’s strong point.

What did you make of Spurs’ showing?
They struck me as a team lacking a clear idea of what they should be doing. Player for player the two sides are probably quite well matched. Players like Eriksen, Paulinho, Lennon and Adebayor are exactly the type of players Jorge Jesus likes to work with, but there was no discernable pattern to Tottenham’s play, and when that happens a player can only shine through an individual moment of inspiration – like Eriksen’s beautiful goal. Jorge Jesus almost always gets the very best out of his players, but overall you got the feeling Tottenham’s lack of cohesion was preventing their most talented players from showing their best. The individuals were working for the team but the team wasn’t working for the individuals.

Do you have any fear at all that Benfica won’t progress in the competition?
It’s a funny old game and all that, but to be honest, no.

With the tie looking dead and buried, will Jorge Jesus take the opportunity to rotate the squad?
Yes. Benfica pretty much threw away the last two championships after leading Porto until near the end of the season and a big reason was because of poor (or complete lack) of rotation. Jorge Jesus has learned from his mistakes and has rotated heavily this season. Given that Benfica played on Monday night, I wouldn’t be surprised if he makes 5 or 6 changes to the side. But as he’s done that for most of the season none of the players are coming in completely cold so I wouldn’t expect Benfica’s performance level to drop significantly.

Jorge Jesus’ touchline antics – what did you make of the incident?
It wasn’t pretty and he’s been slated in the Portuguese media for his antics. Several commentators even said he managed to ruin what should have been a memorable night for Benfica. He’s got previous in this regard. He once waved four fingers at Nacional coach Manuel Machado after Benfica scored a 4th goal against them, then made a lame excuse saying he was telling his team to play four at the back!

In Portugal what really shocked people was the way he treated his assistant and two Benfica legends who are part of the staff – Rui Costa and Shéu. It would obviously be preferable that he carried himself better, although if I’m perfectly honest, it makes for terrific entertainment. He seems to fall into a different zone during games. A flawed genius, you could say.

Finally, some more general questions: what do you make of the current state of English football, and how does it compare to football in Portugal?
I don’t follow English football very closely nowadays, although I’ve caught a few games this season as for the first time in a long time it seems quite an unpredictable battle for the title. As for comparing the two, the quality of the EPL is much deeper all the way down the league, but Portugal’s best one or two teams are often almost as good or as good as the best in England, which is quite amazing given the discrepancy in revenue, i.e. a top Portuguese side will have to sell its best one or two players every summer, while an EPL side would think little of splashing many millions on reinforcements.

I can only conclude that Portugal have better coaches, better scouting set-ups and are better at developing their players. I suppose in England there is so much money that most of the time when things go wrong the solution is to spend, spend, spend rather than building something with more solid foundations.

Having said all that, there are many aspects of the English game which Portuguese football should try to emulate. Full stadiums and passionate crowds, more respect for fair play (less diving), not blaming every refereeing mistake on corruption.

You have a pretty tough World Cup group (Germany, USA, Ghana) – where do you see the national team finishing in the group?
Portugal always thrive when they’re given a tough mission. At Euro 2000, the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012 they landed in the “Group of Death”, but in all three tournaments they progressed and were only narrowly beaten by the eventual winners and at both Euros they made it to the semis. I’m confident they’ll get through the group in second, beat Belgium in the last 16 and set up a Ronaldo-Messi shoot-out in the quarter-finals. You heard it here first.

Many thanks to Tom for taking the time!

I keep thinking of writing something about our current situation but wonder which angle to take; to write an article that is adding something new to the debate or unique in some way is difficult. For insightful and intelligent comment on our plight, I have to recommend the following:

Greg Stobart on The e-Spurs Podcast – Goal.com’s Greg Stobart talks much sense on where we go from here.
Spurs Lose It, Tim Loses It, I’m Next – Alan Fisher points the finger at Levy (as eloquently as ever).
Enic out!? No – just do their job. The state of Spurs we’re in – Adam Powley also talks about ENIC, and does so beautifully.

Though I do not agree with every word written or spoken, I am unable to come close to the detail and sentiment contained in the above so, instead, I have decided to scribble down a summary on some of the key issues in the hope that I feel better afterwards. And – through me – you might also find some relief to your Spurs-related suffering!

Sherwood’s tactics

There is no denying that we have looked fragmented and disorganised in some of our recent outings, but Sherwood and his coaching team are not as tactically inept as many will have you believe. The first half of the Chelsea match was going very much to plan (albeit with a little bit of luck inside the first five minutes) and, until Jan fell over and had a brain-fart, the second half was going reasonably well too.

With Chris Ramsey – viewed by those in the know as one of the better coaches around – working with our players on the training ground, I think it is unfair to assume our players are just told to ‘run about a bit’. The problem might be that Sherwood’s ethos is too different from AVB’s and – in trying to change too much, too soon – we are falling somewhere between, meaning that we are often open and unbalanced.

Sherwood’s preference seems to be for us to move the ball quickly into wide areas, using Adebayor to create triangles and find the wingers/full-backs. He has chopped and changed from inverted wingers (Lennon on the left) to using one wide player and one player to drift in (Eriksen from the left) to two old-fashioned wingers on their “right” sides. He does not seem to particularly favour any of these strategies, instead making selections based on player availability and the opposition on the day (i.e. Walker on the right of midfield to combat Hazard).

Bentaleb

The jokes about Bentaleb being Tim Sherwood’s lovechild or that Sherwood gets a bonus for Bentaleb’s appearances are somewhat insulting. Since he came into the side, Bentaleb has been consistently good – especially for a 19-year old who had previously not played any league football.  He has not been anything more than good (except for the Newcastle game, where he showed attacking thrust from central midfield that we have not seen since Luka Modric left) but he has not had any matches where he has stood out as being particularly bad either. The Arsenal and City games are cited as having been shockers for Nabil, where he was “out of his depth”; I mostly disagree. Overrun, perhaps, but that was more down to overall team tactics than his individual performances.

In Bentaleb we have a real talent who I hope and believe will go on to be a first team regular at the club for years to come. We have yet to see him at his attacking best in the first team and, once we do, he will hopefully surprise a few people.

Sherwood’s interview

Tim Sherwood’s post-match interview has divided opinion. For me, the home truths needed saying, and his honesty and obvious passion were raw and endearing. It remains to be see whether it will help the team (or himself), but I am hopeful that those players that do care will want to prove a point.

It felt fairly obvious to me that Sherwood was referring to Vertonghen and Paulinho, and possibly Dembele. Vertonghen’s attitude has been poor for a long-time, with the player visibly sulking about having to play at left-back as well as being outspoken of his preference for playing in the centre. Paulinho seems to want to preserve his health for the World Cup in his home country – understandable, perhaps, but his lack of commitment in challenges has not impressed fans. And Dembele was rumoured to have pulled out of the game with little more than a minor knock, which – if true – will no doubt have irked Sherwood.

Identity

The buzz-word of the moment is ‘identity’; apparently we lack one. Many seem to have tied this into André Villas-Boas leaving and Sherwood coming in, whilst others suggest that it dates back further.

The identity that AVB installed – whether he meant to or not – was that of a team that kept things tight and hoped to win by the odd goal. Personally, I was happy for the club to give him time to move beyond this, but that’s where his team was when we parted company.

Sherwood’s ideal identity is a team that plays fluent, attacking football. He talks about having players that can pass the ball, about not wanting players who are solely defensive-minded in the middle of his midfield. Clearly he has not achieved anything like a fluent attacking unit just yet, but it is still early days. Identity is a big word, and is not something that can be found overnight.

The new signings

At the start of the season I was wildly praising the work that Franco Baldini had done in bringing in our seven new signings (and getting shot of a fair amount of deadwood). In hindsight we have overspent on players who are either unsuited, no better than what we had, and/or failing to settle.

Christian Eriksen and Vlad Chiriches have been the pick of the signings, but neither has been consistently good. In both, we have seen glimpses that offer encouragement for next year, and we have to remain hopeful on Erik Lamela too (although seeing Adel Taarabt tear up Serie A does make one wonder…). I would suggest that there is a strong possibility that the we will cut our losses on Capoue, Chadli, Paulinho and perhaps even Soldado, none of whom have played well enough to maintain a first team place.

Ian Broomfield

The re-appointment of Ian Broomfield as a scout suggests that Daniel Levy is far from impressed by the players identified by Franco Baldini and his network.

Broomfield followed Harry Redknapp to QPR, but has been tempted back to the club despite strong interest from Arsenal, who he seemed about to join. He was supposedly responsible for identifying Sandro, and instrumental in the captures of Vertonghen, Dembele, and Lloris, as well as recommending Suarez (who Redknapp turned down).

This move could mean that Baldini will be on his way out or, at the very least, that his areas of responsibility will change.

Louis van Gaal

Rumours suggest that Louis van Gaal will be our next manager, with Levy having put in plenty of groundwork, and LvG even touting himself for the job.

Greg Stobart put it brilliant; Van Gaal is the one type of manager that Levy has yet to take a chance on – “the legendary manager, the guy who has won everything, whose done it, who can go into a club and ave the personality and aura to just take over”. But yet there are no guarantees; LvG might not be a silver bullet for our club.

With the World Cup final on 13th July, Van Gaal – should he be appointed – would have approximately a month to assess the squad, recommend players to be sold (in order to trim the wage bill), and identify key positions to strengthen. It is not impossible to do that effectively, but the timeframe is not ideal.

Then there is Van Gaal’s management style – he does not suffer fools, and is not worried about speaking his mind to fans and the media. He is keen on squad rotation – something that Premier League football fans seem uncomfortable with – and has had a number of fallings out with players. He’s an abrasive character that will undoubtedly rub some up the wrong way. But he’s also a born winner who has a track history for improving players when he joins a club. The signs are good, but there are always doubts – there are no guarantees that Levy and LvG will be a match made in heaven.

The Summer

Complete overhaul, partial overhaul, or continuity? Sherwood and Baldini out and Van Gaal in? Just Baldini out? Just Sherwood out? High player turnover? Or stick for another year?

Part of me is keen to see Sherwood given the opportunity to sign his own players and to see what happens. I have been open to him having an opportunity because we have consistently been too quick to judge managers and make changes in the past. Many of those who wanted AVB to have more time have already turned on Sherwood, failing to see the irony in doing so.

Sherwood may never amount to much as our Head Coach – or as a manager elsewhere – but he holds the position so he deserves our patience, especially having inherited a dysfunctional team mid-season.

On the other hand, a substantial section of the fan-base seems pretty set on him being a failure, and an unwelcome one at that. With that in mind, it might be best for him to either fade into the background – back into a Technical Co-Ordinator/Director role – or to leave the club entirely.

Personally, I struggle to see how Baldini – as nice a man and strong a negotiator as he is meant to be – can be kept on after the absolute failure of his signings.

Perspective

We have the 6th highest wage bill in the Premier League, and yet we sit in 5th place. We are, at least, punching our weight.

We can still win a trophy and the good news for next season is that we have a *lot* of players with unfulfilled potential.

Jake Livermore’s loan at Hull City (Tigers) has to be seen as a huge success. Not only has he made 28 appearances in all competitions (scoring three goals and getting four assists), but Hull want to make the deal permanent.

Livermore implied that the January rumours suggesting that he might return to Spurs were the club playing hardball in an attempt to force Hull’s hand over a permanent deal.

“I spoke to people at both clubs and just stressed that I wanted to stay here and play football.

I think within that, Tottenham allowed me to stay until the end of the season.

I think it was just something to do with Tottenham wanting to push Hull’s arm. With what I said to Tottenham it became apparent it was the best for all three parties for me to stay.

Long term, I love the squad here. I love everything around here.

The gaffer’s great. I like the way we try to play football. It’s a big statement, the players he’s signed. To go and spend that money to bring in that sort of quality, it proves which way he wants the club to go.

For any young player signing, that’s a massive boost.

Personally I still feel like I’ve got a point to prove. I was in and out at Tottenham and it’s not a nice feeling when managers don’t come and talk to you and tell you what you’re doing wrong or why you don’t get the chance you feel you should be given.”

Source: Daily Mail

It did, of course, make sense for Hull to wait to see where they finish before finalising any deal, and I would expect the deal to be concluded in the summer.

Lewis Holtby joined Fulham at the end of the transfer window, after Tim Sherwood allowed him to leave in search of first team football.

“The last thing I want to do is to stop players who I don’t see featuring on a regular basis, and I think he’s a good lad who warrants a start. He’s certainly one that I sanctioned to be able to leave the club.

Has he got a future here? I think he has, yes. It will be great for him now at Fulham to play regular football.”

Source: Tottenham Journal

Holtby’s made four starts, three as a traditional ten, and once on the right in a 4-3-3, grabbing an assist against Manchester United.

Benoit Assou-Ekotto has made 25 appearances under Harry Redknapp at QPR, recently at right-back. He has generally impressed the Rs fans but, as their form dips, some are starting to lose patience – especially judging by this thread. On-pitch arguments with both Charlie Austin and Richard Dunne will have done him no favours, and this comment seems to sum up the sentiment of the QPR fans:

“I thought he was one of our best and most consistent performers earlier in the season, but his performances over the past 4 games have gone from bad to worse.”

Likewise, Tom Carroll’s star seems to be waning somewhat after a positive start. 15 starts in the Championship will certainly have helped build strength, but one wonders how much they will have helped his overall development. One poster on QPR forum Loft For Words seemed to describe his recent performance against Charlton more succinctly than others:

“I think he’s a tidy player and can keep things ticking over nicely in the centre circle, but he’s never going to win you a match.

This is the Championship and your midfielders need to either be able to break up play or drive it forward, I’m just not sure Carroll offers enough of that.

At one point in the second half he picked up the ball and had space in front of him to drive forward, however he ran a little bit and then looked for the sideways pass. It’s not a lack of effort from him that frustrates me, but a lack of ambition to really take a game by the scruff of the neck.

Michael Carrick, who is a somewhat similar player, would have driven at that point, run forward and created. Carroll is happy to show for the ball in areas where he can’t hurt the other team.

With someone like Jenas alongside him he has the ability and option to get forward more but he just doesn’t seem to want to.”

Bongani Khumalo has made an impressive 32 starts in all competitions for Championship side Doncaster Rovers. Now 27 (believe it or not!), Khumalo will surely move on permanently in the summer but, with Doncaster hovering around the relegation zone, perhaps it will not be to them.

Jon Obika joined Brighton & Hove Albion in the January transfer window, and has made one start and seven substitute appearances so far. He scored on his only start – against Port Vale in the FA Cup – but has not impressed the Brighton fans on the whole, with one fan tweeting:

“And is Obika the worst loan signing ever? Total waste of a blue & white shirt.”

Ryan Fredericks has had a strong start to his spell at Millwall, starting seven times and, indeed, scoring on his debut. Fredericks’ goal was a cross which was overhit and went in at the far post, but it has done him no harm, and his performances have led to Millwall extending his loan until the end of the season. Fredericks has spoken of his concerns that reserve football wasn’t offering him enough of a challenge:

“It’s a tough, tough league, but I couldn’t get the experience I’m gaining by playing reserve football at Spurs, even though I was playing with good players.

You never learn until you go out and play competitive football. At Millwall, we set out to win games, take three points and that’s all that matters.

That pressure isn’t quite there in reserve football. I am loving the pressure and I think it’s bringing out the best in me.

I was at the stage where I felt I had learned enough from the coaches at Spurs to put what they’d taught me into practice.

I am picking things up from more experienced players all the time, it is a constant learning process for me. I’ll make mistakes but the key is to learn from them.”

Source: News At Den

Cristian Ceballos had a fantastic weekend last week for Arouca in the Portuguese Premier League, where he got a goal and an assist in a 2-1 win at Braga. The assist was a raking pass from deep, which fell perfectly into the path of his teammate, and the goal was a lovely half volley over the goalkeeper after a neat piece of chest control. He’s made 10 starts and four substitute appearances in all competitions, equating to 869 minutes of football.

Centre-back, Grant Hall, has made 33 appearances for Swindon in all competitions, but has been absent since mid-January after being stretchered off with a calf injury. Hall has mostly played as a traditional centre-back, but was also used as an emergency left-back on occasions. I’m told that he can be a little slow, and would benefit from playing alongside a quicker partner who can compensate for this. He hasn’t excelled, and I would expect for him to be released or sold to a League One club in the summer.

Alex Pritchard has come to the fore for Swindon over the past three months. He has shown a good work ethic, and scored some important goals, including some fairly spectacular strikes – this free kick included. He has now made 36 appearances in total, managing to score seven goals and get eight assists. There were lots of rumours in January that he would be sold if Spurs got an offer in the region of £1m, and Swindon’s manager, Mark Cooper, revealed that “there was quite a bit of interest from Championship clubs earlier in January and fees spoken about with Tottenham.” I would suggest that were we to receive offers in that region in the summer, Pritchard might move on.

Ryan Mason has had yet another injury hit season. He has amassed 22 appearances across the season – approaching his career best (29) – but it most be so frustrating for the player. Mark Cooper recently spoke of Mason’s talents, suggesting that he could be in the Spurs first team were it not for injuries:

“The kid deserves a period of injury-free time so he can show how good he is on a football pitch instead of worrying about where his next one is coming from.

He’s been really unlucky. He’s had his injuries and they’ve stopped him. I think if he hadn’t been injured he’d be playing in Tottenham’s first team now. He’s that good technically.

I know Tim [Sherwood] rates him really highly and if he hadn’t have had these injuries he could be in their first team. If we can get him ready and right for 15 games we’ve got a hell of a player on our hands.

He’s still a young lad, he’s got plenty of time and seasons and I’m sure that somewhere along the line he’ll have an injury-free spell where he can really show his amazing talent.”

Tomislav Gomelt has managed just three appearances totalling 95 minutes for Royal Antwerp in the Belgian Second Division. This has been partly due to injury, and partly due to not being able to force his way into the side.

Iago Falque has made 15 appearances (13 starts) for Rayo Vallecano in La Liga, scoring twice. In early February he had an extraordinary performance against Malaga, where he scored two goal of the season contenders in a 4-1 win. You can watch the goals on Inside Spanish Football.

Simon Dawkins joined Derby County permanently for an undisclosed fee in the January transfer window. I’m pleased that his rather unusual career path has finally landed him a permanent contract at a club where he will get regular games – although he’s recently found himself on the bench.

Adam Smith returned from Derby County after his loan was cancelled by mutual consent. It wasn’t an easy time for Smith – he was signed by Nigel Clough, who was later replaced by Steve McLaren. McLaren brought in Andre Wisdom from Liverpool who became first choice. However, Smith got a permanent move to Bournemouth in the January transfer window – a good move for him, although as yet he’s yet to come off the bench.

Shaquile Coulthirst’s loan at Leyton Orient in League One lasted for just one month, but he did make a couple of substitute appearances, scoring once. Orient signed the experienced Chris Dagnall, who was always going to get more games so it made sense for Coulthirst to return.

Lawrence Vigouroux made 11 starts for Hyde in the Conference National – a move which will have done him no harm at all. If he’s kept on for next season, he will be looking to progress to League Two football.

Laste Dombaxe briefly joined Bolton Wanderers on a work-experience loan, where he was able to play for their Under-21 team. This was thought to be with a view to a full loan move, but that move never materialised, so we’ll have to assume that he didn’t do enough to impress.

Grant Ward has been on trial with Chicago Fire in the MLS. His 2-week trial was a success and their manager, Frank Yallop, who was previously at San Jose Earthquakes, where Simon Dawkins was on loan, seems very positive about securing a deal for Ward:

“He had a wonderful two weeks with us. We’d love to be able to keep him, but it’s obviously up to Tottenham. We have a great relationship with them. I feel like we can get that done, but at the same time, you never know.

Grant’s very committed to coming back and working this out. He’s done well enough that we’re in that spot. We’ll see how it goes. I won’t put a percentage on it, but I’m hoping that it works out and we have Grant available for us because he’s a good young player.

We’re hoping to get it done now. I’ve seen enough of Grant. I saw him when I was in England, watching him in training and playing games. I saw enough of him to prove that he can come over here and really excel.

For us, hopefully we can get a deal done with Tottenham. Again, I don’t know what we’re thinking over there, but I have a good relationship, and in the end, I hope we can get it done.”

Source: MLSsoccer.com

Roman Michael-Percil and Darren McQueen have both played on trial for Ipswich Under-21s. There is no confirmation as yet whether these trials are with a view to loan moves, or whether both players have been told that they will not be kept on at Spurs.

There are a number of young players who are out of contract at the end of the season: Jonathan Miles, Kevin Stewart, Milos Veljkovic, Alex McQueen, Cristian Ceballos, Giancarlo Gallifuoco, Grant Ward, Jon Obika, and Cameron Lancaster.

The contract situations of the following other young players are unclear: Lawrence Vigouroux, Roman Michael-Percil, Laste Dombaxe, Kenneth McEvoy, Tomislav Gomelt, Darren McQueen, Dominic Ball, Ruben Lameiras, Shaquile Coulthirst, and Souleymane Coulibaly (source: Spurs Player Contracts).

My gut instinct is that at least half of these players will be released – along with some of the second year Academy players – but that the likes of Veljkovic, Ceballos and McEvoy will get contract extensions.

Zozulya’s goal – Zozulya runs across our defensive line to get on the end of a whipped free-kick.

Dnipro have a free-kick midway into the Spurs half, which is sent in relatively low and flat.

This angle shows how Spurs are holding the line on the edge of the box – Adebayor is a bit deeper than everyone else, though, so when Zozulya makes a run across the defence, he is played onside.

Zozulya meets the delivery and directs his header into the far corner.

This image shows how Vertonghen ended up “marking” (I use the term loosely!) two players.

I’d previously been pretty impressed by our defending of set pieces under Sherwood, so it was disappointing to see us concede in this fashion. However, our subsequent comeback was very encouraging – the spirit and desire in that second half spell was very pleasing, and we’ll need plenty more of that to progress in this competition.