Totally agree we have gone backwards, I cant spot any improvements!
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Andre Villas-Boas - Head Coach
- Thread starter Bale
- Start date
Totally agree we have gone backwards, I cant spot any improvements!
For me it's hard to say until I've seen us play with Dembele, Sandro, Adebayor for a few games. The spine of the team is where we've been hit hardest with injuries (Kaboul, Parker, Dembele, Ade and Sandro now struggling a bit) and BAE being out has meant playing Verts as LB (given valuable game time to Caulker though). The luck we have had is Lennon and Bale not having any major problems.
Mumorn
Vic Buckingham
We press better. But it doesn't mean much if the players aren't fitter.
Villas-Boas no Mike Bassett
I'm currently at war with hundreds of Stoke fans on Twitter and various forums who believe our goalscoring problems would be instantly solved by a switch to 4-4-2, with Peter Crouch given a proper strike partner.
I have seen Sunderland fans calling for Martin O'Neill to make the same change as they continue to struggle, and Andre Villas-Boas is once again coming in for criticism from fans after Tottenham were beaten at Emirates Marketing Project on Sunday with only one striker in the starting line-up.
The Spurs Your Say page is full of calls for Villas-Boas to play Jermain Defoe and Emmanuel Adebayor together, but football is not as simple as these people would like to think.
Saudi Sportswashing Machine are the only team in the Premier League to play with two strikers in a 4-4-2 system, and it speaks volumes that Alan Pardew has been unable to get Demba Ba and Patinkle Cisse firing at the same time.
The reason being that only one of them is playing as an out-and-out striker. Saudi Sportswashing Machine may have two centre forwards on the team sheet, but they are most definitely not playing with two up front.
Because every other team is now playing with three central midfielders, the Magpies cannot afford to have both of their strikers constantly occupying the defenders - one of them is required to drop deep to even up the numbers in the centre of the park.
The problem is that nether Ba nor Cisse are suited to the role. Both are traditional number nines, who want to play off the shoulder of the defender, but Cisse is receiving the ball with his back to goal a long way out. It's a role no genuine striker wants to play, and it is hardly surprising the goals have not flowed for Cisse from that position.
Conversely, Saudi Sportswashing Machine's opponents on Sunday, West Ham, play with a 4-4-1-1, but their man linking midfield and attack is not a striker but an advanced central midfielder in Kevin Nolan.
Unlike Cisse, his natural instinct is to be behind the ball rather than ahead of it, meaning he is running on to it rather than holding it up as Cisse is being asked to to. He now has five Premier League goals to Cisse's one.
What many Tottenham fans seem to have forgotten is that Harry Redknapp rarely played with Defoe and Adebayor together either. He played with Rafael van der Vaart behind Adebayor in the role that Nolan is playing so well for West Ham but Cisse is struggling in for Saudi Sportswashing Machine.
As out-and-out strikers, I doubt either Defoe or Adebayor would prove a great success in the role for Spurs.
Against weaker teams which Spurs will dominate Villas-Boas could possibly afford to partner his two strikers, but Emirates Marketing Project certainly do not fall into that category. I'd love to hear these critics of Villas-Boas explain how Sandro and Tom Huddlestone could have coped with Gareth Barry, Yaya Toure, David Silva, Sergio Aguero, all of whom spent plenty of time in the middle, if they did not have Clint Dempsey dropping off to help them out.
Dempsey is taking the brunt of the criticism from Spurs fans and it is not completely unjustified as, while he is working hard for the team, he has not shown too much in the way of quality going forward.
The differences between Redknapp's 4-4-1-1 and Villas-Boas' 4-2-3-1 are minimal. There are still two central midfield players, Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon are still playing wide, and there is still only one out-and-out striker in the team.
The only real difference is that Dempsey has struggled to fill the boots of Rafael van der Vaart as the man linking midfield and attack. Unfortunately for Villas-Boas, so has Gylfi Sigurdsson in his appearances.
Throw in the injury to Mousa Dembele - Tom Huddlestone was very poor against City - and also the absences of Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Scott Parker, and you may begin to realise that Spurs' problem is not necessarily a tactical one.
They lost a number of big players over the summer, and not all of their replacements have hit the ground running. One that did, Dembele, is one of a number of injuries they have had to deal with - and all this while the team tries to get used to a slightly different way of playing under a new manager.
Villas-Boas is not a 4-4-2 advocate, and that's because he's an extremely good manager who has suffered some bad luck and needs time to get things right at White Hart Lane.
http://www.teamtalk.com/news/24685/8244450/Monday-Moan-AVB-too-clever-to-use-4-4-2
I'm currently at war with hundreds of Stoke fans on Twitter and various forums who believe our goalscoring problems would be instantly solved by a switch to 4-4-2, with Peter Crouch given a proper strike partner.
I have seen Sunderland fans calling for Martin O'Neill to make the same change as they continue to struggle, and Andre Villas-Boas is once again coming in for criticism from fans after Tottenham were beaten at Emirates Marketing Project on Sunday with only one striker in the starting line-up.
The Spurs Your Say page is full of calls for Villas-Boas to play Jermain Defoe and Emmanuel Adebayor together, but football is not as simple as these people would like to think.
Saudi Sportswashing Machine are the only team in the Premier League to play with two strikers in a 4-4-2 system, and it speaks volumes that Alan Pardew has been unable to get Demba Ba and Patinkle Cisse firing at the same time.
The reason being that only one of them is playing as an out-and-out striker. Saudi Sportswashing Machine may have two centre forwards on the team sheet, but they are most definitely not playing with two up front.
Because every other team is now playing with three central midfielders, the Magpies cannot afford to have both of their strikers constantly occupying the defenders - one of them is required to drop deep to even up the numbers in the centre of the park.
The problem is that nether Ba nor Cisse are suited to the role. Both are traditional number nines, who want to play off the shoulder of the defender, but Cisse is receiving the ball with his back to goal a long way out. It's a role no genuine striker wants to play, and it is hardly surprising the goals have not flowed for Cisse from that position.
Conversely, Saudi Sportswashing Machine's opponents on Sunday, West Ham, play with a 4-4-1-1, but their man linking midfield and attack is not a striker but an advanced central midfielder in Kevin Nolan.
Unlike Cisse, his natural instinct is to be behind the ball rather than ahead of it, meaning he is running on to it rather than holding it up as Cisse is being asked to to. He now has five Premier League goals to Cisse's one.
What many Tottenham fans seem to have forgotten is that Harry Redknapp rarely played with Defoe and Adebayor together either. He played with Rafael van der Vaart behind Adebayor in the role that Nolan is playing so well for West Ham but Cisse is struggling in for Saudi Sportswashing Machine.
As out-and-out strikers, I doubt either Defoe or Adebayor would prove a great success in the role for Spurs.
Against weaker teams which Spurs will dominate Villas-Boas could possibly afford to partner his two strikers, but Emirates Marketing Project certainly do not fall into that category. I'd love to hear these critics of Villas-Boas explain how Sandro and Tom Huddlestone could have coped with Gareth Barry, Yaya Toure, David Silva, Sergio Aguero, all of whom spent plenty of time in the middle, if they did not have Clint Dempsey dropping off to help them out.
Dempsey is taking the brunt of the criticism from Spurs fans and it is not completely unjustified as, while he is working hard for the team, he has not shown too much in the way of quality going forward.
The differences between Redknapp's 4-4-1-1 and Villas-Boas' 4-2-3-1 are minimal. There are still two central midfield players, Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon are still playing wide, and there is still only one out-and-out striker in the team.
The only real difference is that Dempsey has struggled to fill the boots of Rafael van der Vaart as the man linking midfield and attack. Unfortunately for Villas-Boas, so has Gylfi Sigurdsson in his appearances.
Throw in the injury to Mousa Dembele - Tom Huddlestone was very poor against City - and also the absences of Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Scott Parker, and you may begin to realise that Spurs' problem is not necessarily a tactical one.
They lost a number of big players over the summer, and not all of their replacements have hit the ground running. One that did, Dembele, is one of a number of injuries they have had to deal with - and all this while the team tries to get used to a slightly different way of playing under a new manager.
Villas-Boas is not a 4-4-2 advocate, and that's because he's an extremely good manager who has suffered some bad luck and needs time to get things right at White Hart Lane.
http://www.teamtalk.com/news/24685/8244450/Monday-Moan-AVB-too-clever-to-use-4-4-2
Harry_Perkins
Ben Thatcher
Great answer.
Jurgen the German
Erik Thorstvedt
Yep. I was under the impression that Harry was a dunce when it came to tactics and AVB was very good in this area. Apart from the United game, he looks a bit lacking also in this area so far.
Perhaps he's issuing the right tactics but inferior players and similar passengers are unable to carry those out on the field of play.
Similar to teaching a dumb dog a trick it can't comprehend
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thfcsteff
George Hunt
The analogy works because I am talking about AVB as manager of Tottenham Hotspur, not Chelsea. Look at what he has to work with, specifically in the next week. Look at who's hurt. Look at who was sold. Look at who was not bought. Like it or not, Clint Dempsey and Gylfi Sigurdsson are not Rafael Van Der Vaart, yet both are expected to step in effortlessly and fill the shoes. We did not buy Moutinho, which would at least have given AVB a player who likes possession (NOT like Luka in style perhaps, but a similar authority on the ball as Luka carried). Thus we lose one of the finest possession midfield maestros in world football and don't replace him with the ONE player the manager asked for.
Thus if we consider that Luka is the finest proscuitto, then AVB is being asked to prepare the same dishes using Tesco's 'everyday value ham'...and if Rafa was a fine Chianti Classico Riserva, then AVB has now been asked to pour Harvey's Bristol Cream...
Context is everything. I don't know if he will prove to be the answer. I believe he will if he is backed, but I don't have a crystal ball and I could end up with egg on my face. However, there seems to be some belief with some supporters that there was not a question to be answered. There was. It might not have been easy to see beneath the silver tongues, but it was there alright. Like the Chelsea situation, he appears to be in a job where the question required some big answers, and let's hope that his relative youth does not hamstring him.
ALtottenham_hotspur
Jamie Redknapp
i can't stand ppl who say wait until he has a full squad to choose from, judge him then. please tell me of one club who has gone a season with a full squad it doesn't happen. AVB should be judged from the second he accepts the job, so far its been very up and down which happens to any club that hires a new manager. the next 10 games in the league are crucial for AVB if we are not within touching distance of 4th the pressure will build and he will be out by new year
Too right, brother - let's fire him right away after 10 games. The prick!
What the fudge is this brick - losing to Chelsea and bricky - teams turning over quardruple our wages. Useless knob.
We want to win the Barkliyz today! TODAY!! NOW!!!
Spursalot
Jimmy McCormick
ringo
Tim Sherwood
So after a quick Google I notice AVB said this, among other things:
“To have a player so strong of character like Dzeko to come on again in the final minutes when the team needs him and to respond like that is something that, for me, deserves credit. He continues to surprise me.”
“He continues to be left on the bench and then comes on and destroys teams.”
“Dzeko in the end made the difference with his ambition to prove that he always deserves to be in City’s starting 11.”
So who is that aimed at? Ade? Defoe?
“To have a player so strong of character like Dzeko to come on again in the final minutes when the team needs him and to respond like that is something that, for me, deserves credit. He continues to surprise me.”
“He continues to be left on the bench and then comes on and destroys teams.”
“Dzeko in the end made the difference with his ambition to prove that he always deserves to be in City’s starting 11.”
So who is that aimed at? Ade? Defoe?
Jurgen the German
Erik Thorstvedt
I'm not even that annoyed that we lost to Emirates Marketing Project as many others have pointed out, it was expected, even though we conceded yet another late goal. It's the performances that concern me.
I understand people wanting to give him time, I include myself in this, he deserves a season at least. But can people explain to me what they've seen in our performances to indicate that AVB has learnt from his mistakes at Chelsea and that he isn't too stubborn to change the system every now and then? You should pick the formation to suit the players for the most part, not the other way round. Am I missing something? Bar the United game, results have been ok, not great, but the performances have been dire in all but 2 or 3 games. We spent the entire first half against Wigan passing the ball along the back four.
Like I said earlier, I hope he learns from his mistakes and realises that Spurs are at their best when we attack. Stop playing 1 striker at home to teams like Wigan, West Brom etc.
I will say in his defence that he's had bad luck with injuries and we desperately need a striker in the next window, but we've been saying this since Berbatov left! Levy has got to stop fudging around when it comes to buying players and just get deals done earlier because we always leave it till the last minute and we pay the price EVERY SEASON and get off to a slow start. When your going for the top 4, you simply can't be giving your rivals a head start every year, remember we finished 1 point behind the scum, every point counts.
I understand people wanting to give him time, I include myself in this, he deserves a season at least. But can people explain to me what they've seen in our performances to indicate that AVB has learnt from his mistakes at Chelsea and that he isn't too stubborn to change the system every now and then? You should pick the formation to suit the players for the most part, not the other way round. Am I missing something? Bar the United game, results have been ok, not great, but the performances have been dire in all but 2 or 3 games. We spent the entire first half against Wigan passing the ball along the back four.
Like I said earlier, I hope he learns from his mistakes and realises that Spurs are at their best when we attack. Stop playing 1 striker at home to teams like Wigan, West Brom etc.
I will say in his defence that he's had bad luck with injuries and we desperately need a striker in the next window, but we've been saying this since Berbatov left! Levy has got to stop fudging around when it comes to buying players and just get deals done earlier because we always leave it till the last minute and we pay the price EVERY SEASON and get off to a slow start. When your going for the top 4, you simply can't be giving your rivals a head start every year, remember we finished 1 point behind the scum, every point counts.
thfcsteff
George Hunt
Exactly!!!!!!
Ramos then encountered personal problems which rendered his ability to focus on the job at hand increasingly difficult!!!!!! A manager who masterminded our last trophy in an excellent match over a top side on the biggest stage, and frankly he got absolutely c**ted by EVERYONE despite losing 44 goals in the summer and not seeing more than a whisper of the 53 million which came in!!!!! He had the decency to take his departure on the chin and went quickly and quietly knowing that what was going on in his world which forced him to need to be home was not going to allow him to do the job properly. But the fact remains he was robbed of one absolute footballing genius and then lost the then heartbeat of the club/skipper/mouth, etc, etc...
AVB asked specifically for Moutinho within a week of joining. Moutinho asked to be reunited with AVB. It didn't happen. I love Levy but he fudged that up good and proper, not AVB's fault. Ditto Damiao, a player we could've sealed before the Olympics (personal terms were agreed)...and he asked for Willian, Levy went to Russia to do the deal but somehow didn't conclude it. Look, I'm not saying AVB is blameless, he did a couple of things yesterday I question. But it seems HE questions himself too, which means he is keen to learn. I'm not tossing him out to pasture yet by any stretch of the imagination,and frankly, I don't believe any supporter who can see further than their own nose should mate...that's just my view anyway.
Hopefully Levy to open his cheque book in January and Dzeko to make him angry he's always benched and lure him to London.
Leeds Spur
Banned
You said Spurs fans didn't want Harry gone, that's not true.
Jurgen the German
Erik Thorstvedt
Agree to an extent as the players he had brought in (Dempsey, Sig) have not performed well. But trying to shut up shop every time we take a lead has backfired for the most part, we've only kept one clean sheet in the league. And as I mentioned before, playing 1 up front at home against the lesser sides is not the answer as teams will look to frustrate us. And you can't blame fans for getting the hump when he does a like for like swap with the strikers when we need a goal rather than opting for 2 up top.
Most on here wanted him out - only a selected few vocal ones (mostly older folk) were opposing.
Leeds Spur
Banned
He will be our manager until the end of this season at a bare minimum.
Newsflash....we're 3 points off 4th