Premier League: Sherwood set for a summer of big change at Tottenham
AT WHITE HART LANE
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 0 ARSENAL 1
TOTTENHAM boss Tim Sherwood conceded yesterday’s defeat all but ended their chances of a top-four finish and revealed he plans a radical overhaul of his squad in the summer in order to achieve that goal next season.
A sublime second-minute strike from midfielder Tomas Rosicky was enough to condemn Spurs to their third defeat in four league matches.
Sherwood was proud of the effort shown by his players, though revealed some of them may not be at White Hart Lane next term.
“It was difficult anyway [to finish in the top four], we’re just going to try and accumulate as many points as we can,” he said. “I know how I want to play the game and it’s not entirely what you see out there but I’m working with what I’ve got. Some of these players play for national teams and are world class players but they might not be my cup of tea.
“The building process has to come in pre-season and getting your own players in, looking at the ones you need to keep and move a few on. I’m not crying about it, I knew what I was coming in to and that it would be very difficult. I’ve been dealt a hand and I’m playing the players accordingly.”
Rosicky fired in an angled drive with the outside of his right foot to open the scoring following a swift counter attack. And Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain should have doubled the lead, but floated a shot wide after racing away from the Spurs defence.
Despite Arsenal’s perfect start they spent much of the second half on the back foot, registering just one shot at goal and, over the 90 minutes, completed fewer passes than they had done in any other Premier League game for more than five years.
Nacer Chadli should have levelled for Spurs shortly after half-time after goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny flapped at a corner, but Laurent Koscielny blocked on the line.
Chadli missed twice more before Emmanuel Adebayor glanced a header wide and saw a placed shot from the edge of the box well held by Szczesny.
“We didn’t deserve to lose the game, we deserved to win it,” added Sherwood. “We should have scored and if we had done we would have gone on to win it.”