Exposing a number of the frailties many had begun to suspect within Argentina's squad, Croatia booked their place in the last-16 of the World Cup with a convincing 3-0 win tonight. With a final destination of who is at fault yet to be decided, Tim Sherwood has gone all in on one man; the Argentina manager, Jorge Sampaoli.
Marching furious up and down the touchline throughout the first-half, as Argentina began to flounder, Sampaoli's resilience faded also. Roundly criticised for his apparent mis-management of the players at his disposal, Argentina's inability to get the best out of Lionel Messi will also go down as a black mark against his name.
Sherwood, however, was preoccupied with his own aesthetic qualms. Namely, Sampaoli's clothes and tattoos:
If they'd won the game we'd say his appearance on the touchline doesn't matter ... [but] he is a manger of a national team, standing there with his t-shirt and tattoos all over him ... I mean, listen, I might be old-fashioned, but I don't think a manager should look like that.
Sampaoli's tattoos did become a topic of great interest when the Argentina boss whipped off his blazer during the second-half.
Jorge Sampaoli has tattoo sleeves. Of course he does. #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/yYxxu0nUeU
— Kev Blundell (@kevin_blundell) June 21, 2018
Tattoo coach. #Sampaoli #argentina #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/ZPUTfFIaqb
— Veronica Commey (@VeronicaCommey) June 21, 2018
Speaking on the South African broadcaster, Super Sport, Sherwood proceeded to say that Sampaoli "looked like he was going to fight in a pub with them tattoos. ... His team mirrored their manager - scruffy."
The reaction to Sherwood - and his co-pundit, Andy Townsend - has largely been a negative one, however.
Tim Sherwood on Jorge Sampaoli's dress sense: 'It looked like he was just going to have a fight in a pub. I'm not being funny, if the association are looking at that they can't be proud.'
If only Sampaoli had worn a gilet...#ARG #CRO #WorldCup— Duncan Castles (@DuncanCastles) June 21, 2018
Tim Sherwood 😂😂😂
— Chad Kelly-Klate (@CKlatey) June 21, 2018
Who put Tim Sherwood on TV?
— Sawyerr (@MrSawyerr) June 21, 2018
Can Tim Sherwood fuck off. What does having tats have to do with good man management. 😂
— Segun Agbaje (@slick_shegs) June 21, 2018
So, according to to Tim Sherwood, coaches should have a certain look? WTF?
— Leutloela Thabo Lechesa (@ltlechesa) June 21, 2018
Never seen a person chat as much shit as Tim Sherwood
— Tanzania state-affiliated media (@KundaKintee) June 21, 2018
