My hands are straight up in the air.
I didn’t see or even hear a minute’s commentary of the game, so can’t comment about it.
But I did see the line-up and have to admit I was totally confused.
I mean, why play Sanchez as a centre half, when we at least have options amongst the kids, for a start?
But then it became obvious to me.
Just as Sherwood said there was no chance of Traore getting on the pitch on Saturday, so he played up how important the Capital cup is.
And proved that he doesn’t always mean what he says.
Sherwood can’t have been taking today’s game 100% seriously can he?
If he was, he’d have played a much stronger side, surely?
But I think he actually was being serious.
Tonight was more about giving the peripheral players a run out, to see what they’re about when playing at a level that’s better than the reserves or playing your team-mates at BMH.
And even though it seems we made hard work of it, there’s no denying that the team got the result.
Okay, it could have gone wrong and we might have lost.
But we didn’t.
What Sherwood is doing is pretty much on a par with gambling and I suspect it’s this attitude that leads some to dislike him.
I always wondered why so many Spurs fans detested him even though he was getting results and no doubt this is the sort of reason. It’s his arrogance and his seeming insistence in doing things his own way.
And it’s probably why he’ll stick with Gabby for a while yet; even when we all know it’s wrong.
It just goes against the grain, doesn’t it?
We’re not comfortable with it and we ought to be playing our best side, with form players playing in their best position. Even in Capital cup games.
But dare I suggest that we’ve done just that for far too long and it’s got us nowhere?
Just as most of us thought when Sherwood first came in, we knew it wouldn’t be boring.
And Sherwood still reminds me of a manager of old.
A manager also known for his arrogance, but who proved to be right in his approach. And very, very successful.
I don’t profess to know how Sherwood thinks, but one thing I can pretty much guarantee:
When he and the club part, we’ll either love him or totally detest him.
There won’t be any inbetweens.
In the meantime, he gets a very decent chance from me.
One that doesn’t involve just a handful of games.
Happy we got through last night, but its a bit worrying that every Villa fan with half a brain looked at our team sheet last night and knew that we would get into trouble.
The same goes for the selection of Agbonlahor…why is Sherwood not seeing the obvious things??
Benno, it seems you’ve missed the point.
Which is that Sherwood obviously doesn’t care about if we go further in this cup or not.
The whole game was about giving the backup players some playing time. imo.
Gabby, FOR NOW, remains the biggest enigma.
And it wouldn’t surprise me if his continually being played is an angle for Sherwood to replace him.
I think it stems from Lerner loving the player-club relationship.
He believes it still exists, like a Gerrard- Pool thing.
Which is a nice thought.
But for me, a striker has to score or at least assist plenty; it’s as simple as that.
And if he doesn’t, he has to go.
I dont think so. I think he just thought that even with Gil and Veretout in the middle of midfield and Sanchez at the back, we would still cruise past Notts County. He was wrong.
Also, I see his point of ‘playing time’, but how much good is that if players are out of position? What is the point of Sanchez having 90 mins (or 120!) at centre back or Gil as a defensive midfielder?
I guess he meant match fitness which only ones playing games. Position is irrelevant in some ways it may help players fitness playing outside their comfort zone which makes them think more and appreciate the other players job.
Sad to see one of our brightest prospects in a long time Can Crowley scoring for Barnsley on loan from Arsenal. He looks quite a player.
Dan
Cracking goal from Burke too!
Insomnia has to go down as one of our worst signings of all time,PISS POOR.
What about Ireland
Ivor Linton????
Bosko Balaban, Mathieu Berson, Erik Djemba-Djemba…