· November 2013 figures
· Last Year's figures
December 2012
Early statistical comparison of AVB and Sherwood
I wrote last month of "No goals, no progress, and what hope", and referred to the lowest point in the club's history since the days when Harry Redknapp was appointed to take over from Juande Ramos. AVB's job was on the line and the horrible 5-0 home defeat by Liverpool proved to be the watershed, with the club and head coach parting "by mutual consent".
That Liverpool game proved to be a disaster, with the lowest "Spursometer" score on record of just 22.4%, and a low point for AVB too of just 3 out of 10 overall for his team selection, tactics and substitutions. Yet in the preceding games this month, Spurs had played with plenty of endeavour and achievement against Manchester United, although they did gift them their two goals. Then there were two excellent away wins on the trot at Fulham and Sunderland, before we maintained out 100% win record in Europe this season with a convincing 4-1 win over Anzhi.
There were plenty of Spurs fans who wanted AVB given a chance, despite the Liverpool and Man City defeats. However it would seem that his departure really was a two-way process, with the man himself not 100% happy with the Tottenham "project". We'll have to wait a long time to hear any story behind the story, I think.
Tim Sherwood dealt with the next two games as caretaker head coach, and plenty of Spurs fans weren't happy, and remain unconvinced that he is the way forward. He got off to a horrible start with the Capital One Cup defeat at home to West Ham, but he is unbeaten in the Premier League after three games, and so far has stuck rigidly to his policy of open, attacking 4-4-2 football.
One big change that Sherwood has made has been the re-instatement of Emmanuel Adebayor for all the games since his appointment (now on contract till the end of next season). Adebayor has been a revelation, playing in the form he showed when he first came here on loan from Manchester City. He was the Spurs man of the match against West Ham and at Southampton and scored three goals in those two games - all of high quality. As a result, and partly because he missed out on the preceding disaster against Liverpool, Adebayor is your player of the month!
It's early days yet to draw any true comparision between Sherwood and Villas-Boas, but in the charts above, I have shown AVB's personal grades for last season ; for this season overall; and for his five matches in charge in December. So far, Sherwood is marginally ahead, but we'll monitor the situation as the season progresses.
One thing is for certain, you can't take away AVB's achievement last season of a record points tally; a record number of away wins in the Premier League for this club, and an excellent away win record this season too. What Tim Sherwood has gven us so far is two league games in which we have scored three goals, and that is something that AVB didn't manager. The last game of the month against Stoke certainly entertained and satisfied the home crowd, and that must have been a big objective in the club's decision to change head coach.
Let's hope for a Happy 2014 for all of us!
Don't forget to check out the players' current figures re. appearances, cards, goals scored and accumulated ratings to date below.
...if you want to read reports of the matches played during this season, then links are on the Spurs Odyssey Fixtures/Reports page here. By working your way back through the previous month's figures, you can review the performances over 13 years!
