Andre Villas-Boas - Head Coach

[NaijaSpurs]

What positive input to our performance today did Dempsey provide that Defoe would not have been able to?

442 would have been the way to go with the manpower we have right now as long as the 2 upfront are Defoe and Ade. Set pieces aside Defoe is more likely to score for us than any other player on our books right now

 

[AdamB]

Baffled me that when walker got injured, he brought on Dawson and moved a 35 year old CB to RB, when he had a right footed full back on the bench
Similarly when Naughton came on RW
Even worse was that when Man C went 3-5-2 and had 3 CMs vs Sandro and Thudd, that he failed to bring on another CM in place of Dempsey

It doesnt help AVB that he's missing people like Dembele and Parker and that others (Dempsey, Siggy) are playing brick. Also I dont think the squad naturally suits his preferred 4-3-3 formation. THink he'll come good over time and once the he has a couple more transfer windows but some of his subs or lack or subs are really confusing

 

[rosenthal]

We were a few minutes away from a draw, which would have been a strong result.
442, with two wingers and two pure strikers would likely have meant we had no chance whatsoever. They'd rip us apart.
At a minimum, having both Defoe and Adebayor in the team, would have to be compensated by removing one of the wingers (Lennon/Bale) and have another central midfieler to tuck in.
A familiar formation for Spurs (Martin Jol days), but not something we've seen from AVB before.

 

[NaijaSpurs]

We were a few minutes away from a draw, which would have been a strong result.
442, with two wingers and two pure strikers would likely have meant we had no chance whatsoever. They'd rip us apart.
At a minimum, having both Defoe and Adebayor in the team, would have to be compensated by removing one of the wingers (Lennon/Bale) and

With Defoe and Ade we would have had a chance of scorong a goal. So instead of playing 442 we continued with 3 in midfield. Remind me again what Dempsey contributed to that 3 man midfield? Exactly fudge all, so I would rather have had Defoe.

The last time we played 442 away to City we beat them. No guarantee it would have happened today but at least it would have given them something to worry about.

 

[indianspur]

We were a few minutes away from a draw, which would have been a strong result.
442, with two wingers and two pure strikers would likely have meant we had no chance whatsoever. They'd rip us apart.
At a minimum, having both Defoe and Adebayor in the team, would have to be compensated by removing one of the wingers (Lennon/Bale) and have another central midfieler to tuck in.
A familiar formation for Spurs (Martin Jol days), but not something we've seen from AVB before.

they were getting in behind us anyway !! an out of form City side were all over us and we were pathetic going forward

 

[indianspur]

Baffled me that when walker got injured, he brought on Dawson and moved a 35 year old CB to RB, when he had a right footed full back on the bench
Similarly when Naughton came on RW
Even worse was that when Man C went 3-5-2 and had 3 CMs vs Sandro and Thudd, that he failed to bring on another CM in place of Dempsey

It doesnt help AVB that he's missing people like Dembele and Parker and that others (Dempsey, Siggy) are playing brick. Also I dont think the squad naturally suits his preferred 4-3-3 formation. THink he'll come good over time and once the he has a couple more transfer windows but some of his subs or lack or subs are really confusing

good post...confusing and baffling indeed

 

[NaijaSpurs]

I do not get why people think playing 2 strikers is a bad thing. I see Ade as the target man and also the link man while I see Defoe as a predator

 

[billyiddo]

I do not get why people think playing 2 strikers is a bad thing. I see Ade as the target man and also the link man while I see Defoe as a predator

away from home against a top side, it is a bad thing - you can't really cherry pick one game where we played poorly in the 4XX1 () formation away from home and say oh well we might as well have gone for it with 2 up top if we were going to play badly/lose anyway. (not that that is what you re saying/but some seem to be)

after the Maribor home game and our poor form at home I wouldn't be surprised to see us go 442 for a while, until we bring in another central midfielder and/or Dembele returns

 

[indianspur]

I do not get why people think playing 2 strikers is a bad thing. I see Ade as the target man and also the link man while I see Defoe as a predator

Ade worked very hard today, he was everywhere and gave the City players a hard time, especially Zabaletta that passage of play when he got booked =D> well played Ade

so absolutely yes, Ade could have played in the Dempsey role and Defoe ahead of him.

 

[braineclipse]

Actually I think it would have been a far better option than the rubbish we played today. I would play Defoe up front alongside Ade ahead of having to play Dempsey against City. Dempsey gave us nothing offensively and nothing defensively.

Disagree with this. Thought he worked very hard all game.

If this was true would AVB have left him on the pitch for 90 minutes? Do you think AVB is an idiot?

I do not get why people think playing 2 strikers is a bad thing. I see Ade as the target man and also the link man while I see Defoe as a predator

In this specific game because Defoe and Ade are poor defensively and it would mean playing 2 against 3 in the centre. This is not just speculation, this has been tested in the past. Even Harry said last season that he thought playing 4-4-2 in one of the games was a mistake in hindsight.

Going forward Ade and Defoe do look good and I think against a lot of teams that are worse than City they will do well.

 

[braineclipse]

An interesting stat being presented on Norwegian telly before the game.

We have used 25 players so far this season, more than any other team in the league. Says something about the injuries we've had.

 

[Hully]

I do not get why people think playing 2 strikers is a bad thing. I see Ade as the target man and also the link man while I see Defoe as a predator

Me neither, playing one up allowed them to go three at the back and outnumber us in midfield.
At 1-1 the game was there for the taking, AVB failed to take the initiative and paid the price. When asked a question tactically he doesn't have the answer.

 

[DHSF]

they were getting in behind us anyway !! an out of form City side were all over us and we were pathetic going forward

Thats precisely it. I dont get why people want to have that extra midfielder 'to give us a chance' when in reality its serving us no benefit whatsoever. We are getting hammered by teams maybe not in terms of results but in terms of performances, we are not creating enough and conceding a number of goals. Nothing about the existing tactics, formation or application seems right and more pertinently seems natural or suitable to our current players.

A number of these players look like theyre playing to a rigid game plan when in reality they need the shackles loosened. I may well be overreacting here but it doesnt seem right.

By having that extra striker or forward (Dempsey no Sig no) then it would give the opposition something to think about giving Ade more space to work his magic and spreading play a bit to the likes of Bale and Lennon which means the opposition would have more defending to do and less attacking.

Its a small change admittedly but in the grand scheme of things the knock on effect by making that small change is massive to the 'dimensions' (no pun) of the team

 

[indianspur]

Disagree with this. Thought he worked very hard all game.

If this was true would AVB have left him on the pitch for 90 minutes? Do you think AVB is an idiot?



In this specific game because Defoe and Ade are poor defensively and it would mean playing 2 against 3 in the centre. This is not just speculation, this has been tested in the past. Even Harry said last season that he thought playing 4-4-2 in one of the games was a mistake in hindsight.

Going forward Ade and Defoe do look good and I think against a lot of teams that are worse than City they will do well.

Ade was very deep today on many occasions, he really gave City a hard time because of this. And in this particular game it was well worth playing him and Defoe because of Ade's motivation to prove something against Mancini and City

Dempsey is not that sh!t hot defensively that this is a reason he deserves to be ahead of Ade and Defoe

 

[billyiddo]

it would be interesting to see if Adebayor could play a proper AM/support forward type role from the start - but tbf away at City is not the game to be trying these things

 

[braineclipse]

Ade was very deep today on many occasions, he really gave City a hard time because of this. And in this particular game it was well worth playing him and Defoe because of Ade's motivation to prove something against Mancini and City

Dempsey is not that sh!t hot defensively that this is a reason he deserves to be ahead of Ade and Defoe

He made several solid runs tracking back, there is a big difference between that and consistently getting back right side of the ball and doing a job the other players and the manager can trust defensively. I have never seen Ade do the kind of defensive job you want from the attacking midfielder/deeper forward in a game like this.

We saw Ade alongside Saha last season away to Arsenal and we got overrun.

 

[braineclipse]

Thats precisely it. I dont get why people want to have that extra midfielder 'to give us a chance' when in reality its serving us no benefit whatsoever. We are getting hammered by teams maybe not in terms of results but in terms of performances, we are not creating enough and conceding a number of goals. Nothing about the existing tactics, formation or application seems right and more pertinently seems natural or suitable to our current players.

A number of these players look like theyre playing to a rigid game plan when in reality they need the shackles loosened. I may well be overreacting here but it doesnt seem right.

By having that extra striker or forward (Dempsey no Sig no) then it would give the opposition something to think about giving Ade more space to work his magic and spreading play a bit to the likes of Bale and Lennon which means the opposition would have more defending to do and less attacking.

Its a small change admittedly but in the grand scheme of things the knock on effect by making that small change is massive to the 'dimensions' (no pun) of the team

Yeah. We got completely outplayed in that first half today.... City were just creating chance after chance...

</sarcasm>

 

[NaijaSpurs]

Disagree with this. Thought he worked very hard all game.

If this was true would AVB have left him on the pitch for 90 minutes? Do you think AVB is an idiot?

No, I do not think he is an idiot but I do think he is prone to occasionally making the wrong decision. He so on occasion when he was at Chelsea. I also think he made a mistake taking off Defoe instead of Dempsey Wigan. I also think he is making a mistake Gallas captain and starting with him in the league every week.

On the whole I am well behind AVB but that will not stop me from pointing out things I think he has got wrong.

In this specific game because Defoe and Ade are poor defensively and it would mean playing 2 against 3 in the centre. This is not just speculation, this has been tested in the past. Even Harry said last season that he thought playing 4-4-2 in one of the games was a mistake in hindsight.

This is the same Harry that against Villa when we needed a win to guarantee 3rd place second to last game of the season took of VDV and brought on Parker ahead of Defoe. Sorry mate, I do not care what Harry said last season after that horrendous management decision.

 

[Leeds Spur]

Can't wait for this mug to be sacked. And levy to resign. Bunch of muppets both of them

I hope you die.

 

[indianspur]

it would be interesting to see if Adebayor could play a proper AM/support forward type role from the start - but tbf away at City is not the game to be trying these things

got to disagree, it was the perfect game to go in with Defoe and Ade behind him. Ade tends to drift around anyway so it really is no big deal. City are not playing well and a team that dared go toe to toe with them might have profited. We will never know now and that is uber frustrating