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We can all have disagreements about Tim Sherwood the tactician, but there's no doubting the adeptness of Tim Sherwood, the talker. His post-match interview was nothing short of exceptional, especially given that his team had just suffered a very heavy home defeat that featured some controversial refereeing decisions.
I don't want to lift all of the quotes from a piece written by someone who took the time to go to the game, cover it as press and transcribe, so I recommend you go to the Haringey Independent piece and read the whole thing. Below, a few short lines.
On the penalty and red card to Danny Rose, in which he does an excellent job of not directly criticizing the official while criticizing the call.
"I felt Andre got it right initially when he called it as a corner. Unfortunately for us the linesman decided Andre got it wrong and he's given a penalty there."
Again, on the officials, saying he agreed with the disallowed goal.
"I think it was a great decision, I think Michael was offside once Ade touches it, but you've seen those given and unfortunately it didn't quite go for us today."
And on the way he sets up his teams.
"I've seen other teams put everyone behind the ball and still get hammered. It's not the way I want to go and do it, especially with the players we've got. A club like Tottenham should not ever go with that mentality in my opinion."
There's plenty of other great stuff in there about how highly he rates City, how he felt about the support and how the team are going to pick themselves up after this result, so once again, go read all of them.
I can't help but be impressed at how good Sherwood is at working the press and saying the right things, given that this is his first managerial job and the first time since he was a player that he's had to deal with the press extensively, especially in emotional situations. Even if the jury's still out on whether or not he's a good long term fit for Spurs, he's going to have a job in management for a long time if he's this composed in pressers.
