Make or Break

Article by e-Spurs Correspondent Michael Halepas

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Despite what most Spurs fans fear – our season is not over and done with, yet.

Humbling defeats of recent weeks have done little to inspire confidence going into Sunday’s clash against the old foe at WHL. Confidence is the one thing that Tim Sherwood must find a way of pumping into his squad in the short space of time between the Europa League defeat to Benfica and Sunday afternoon. His task won’t be an easy one.

Tim may disagree with this assessment and may suggest that his more immediate priority is to put together training sessions that don’t leave his players too exhausted for the match against the Gooners.

His mission is not an enviable one either way – Arsenal will have had twice the preparation time that Spurs will have had by the time kick off comes round and confidence is far from high having lost the last two matches 7-1 on aggregate.

For all the years Spurs have been competing in the Europa League we have struggled to compete with our Premier League opponents the Sunday after the Thursday. This much is well documented and Arsene Wenger will not be losing too much sleep over his next trip to WHL.

Aside from the problem around fitness levels and injuries there is the more pressing issue regarding the tactics to be deployed. Why do I say this? I raise the point fundamentally for two reasons – 1) Tim Sherwood has already had one failed attempt in recent times at trying to outwit Wenger and; 2) Tim’s tactical selections in 2014 have not done much to inspire confidence among the Spurs faithful let alone the players.

Spurs have the players to beat Arsenal. This must be true because lesser teams have done the job on the Gooners already. The concern with the tactics is this – Sherwood has a penchant for putting out a 4-4-2 at WHL especially. He deployed that formation at the Emirates in January and Spurs were dominated in the middle and blunt upfront.

Should he try his luck with the same formation at WHL this weekend he’ll probably be rewarded with the same outcome.

He also appears to have hung his hat on the hope that the pariah (Adebayor) will decide he wants to score goals and help his team out. When Adebayor hasn’t been scoring goals – Tim’s attackers don’t offer much else.

Tim also likes to mix the passing style up and is happy for his defenders to send long, searching balls to the strikers. If he tries that against the 6’6’’ BFG odds are it won’t reap the rewards he’s seeking. He tried that exact tactic at the Emirates in the second half of the game and Arsenal dealt with it comfortably.

If he starts Kyle Naughton anywhere on the pitch – our odds of winning the game get slashed automatically. If he plays 2 central midfielders rather than 3 – we’re up against it.

If he plays Eriksen on the left wing rather than in the No.10 role or in a free role – Bacary Sagna doesn’t have to worry so much about being beaten and having left footed crosses to cut out. Sagna has more licence to press higher up the field.

Despite having played on the Thursday, a number of players won’t have the problem with fatigue. Soldado, Townsend and Chadli did not feature. At least two of those guys should start against Arsenal and will be fresh. Danny Rose played 15 minutes on Thursday and is a better option at left back than Naughton. He has pace, is naturally left footed and can deliver dangerous crosses into the box from attacking positions.

As we’ve seen in recent seasons, there really isn’t much between the two teams nowadays. Neither side boasts a world class outfield player although the Gooners do have the far better manager. The two clubs are regularly finishing a league campaign with minimal points separating them.

The trend that has been evident unfortunately is for Arsenal to command a far superior goal difference. Those in positions to influence this at WHL have thus far failed miserably. With only 9 league games left of Spurs’ season and 10 left to go for Arsenal – the Gooners have a +24 goal difference over us. That is plainly insurmountable between now and the 11 May.

Rather than Arsenal being 6 points ahead of us in the league they are as good as 7 points ahead of us. According to the numbers at least, they are more proficient at converting goal scoring opportunities and have a meaner defence.

Most worrying perhaps is the fact that this season in games (NB without Gareth Bale) we have failed to even match the sides presently in the top 4 places. That doesn’t bode well for the next NLD but then again, form goes by the wayside when these two sides meet.

Claiming one of the top 4 berths this season is hugely important. If it were otherwise, Spurs would not have spent £100m on players over the summer. With each passing week it is appearing as though the money spent won’t do any more than achieve a top 6 finish. That can’t be dressed up as money well spent.

That is why Sunday’s fixture is ‘make or break’ for our season. If we lose the game, our season is as good as over. If we find a way of winning the tie, we go within touching distance of the Gooners who would be the only team we’d realistically have a chance of pipping to 4th. Should we beat them, our season is back on. We’d have 8 games left of which 7 are against teams currently 9th in the league or lower.

Tiredness should not be an excuse Tim clings to on Sunday evening. While the head says score draw at best on Sunday, the heart longs more than ever for a home win. Here’s hoping.

COYS!

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