Andre Villas-Boas - Head Coach

[Rossi22]

Our home games so far

WBA - poor
Norwich - terrible
QPR - poor
Villa - mediocre
Chelsea - poor bar a good 15 minute spell but we were missing Bale and Dembele(along with other already injured players)
Wigan - crap
West Ham - good
Liverpool - ok
Swansea - good

It's not been great but we've been better recently so it's strange that it's being picked up on now, the most recent games are the most relevant to me anyway.

 

[Kingdawson]

If this is the case this time next season when AVB has had sufficient time and opportunity to get in his own players, and have clearly stamped his own style of play which we have seen in patches this season then I will agree with you. But it's pointless debating about, you obviously have a different tolerance level to me so I'm just going to remain content that I'm see small improvements in general week by week. Oh, and we're fourth level on points with Chelsea (yes, they have a game in hand but still). It's not all bad....

It's not all bad at all.

1) Away from home we look good
2) We're 4th which is great.
3) AVB is a very likeable guy.
4) he's signed some good players.
5) the way he's dealt with player issue so far has been nothing short of brilliant imo.



Home performances have been bad though and well below what is expected. One thing that has been going for us is that we're getting the rub of the green with referee decisions and we're getting results when we're not playing well but that could chance. I'm happy though but you can't praise him for everything he's done right and then make excuses for everything that isn't working.

 

[Kingdawson]

and i suppose we are the only ones to lose to some poor teams and have inconsistent patches of form ?

No we're not but you're missing my point.

It's not the losing that i worry about but to put in these kind of performances at home consistently is worrying and it's not all to do with formations, new tactics etc etc.


Rossi i don't think Liverpool was 'ok' and West sham was good the second half but the rest is a fair summary imo.

 

[billyiddo]

I don't get the bit about rotation tbh. Well i get it regarding Parker for maybe sandro but who else could he have possibly rotated that would have made a difference?

Corluka for Walker
Pienaar and Krancjar for any of our midfielders in the second half of the season, especially when Lennon was injured and he decided that the best course of action was to play two of Bale/Modric/VdV out of position to cater for his absence.

tickle my balls with a feather. The same rules applied for the previous manager and he got deserved stick when we lost to Norwich last season.

we played some poor football and suffered some terrible results for sure this season, i don't think ANYONE has tried to claim otherwise - the difference being how some people react to those results/performances - do you try and look at things in perspective or do you write the manager off because of a handful of bad games when there are plenty of disruptions which could account for why things aren't particularly running smoothly ? if Villa Boas' Spurs team are throwing away the same kind of games in 2/3 seasons then he very much will be getting the same stick that Redknapp got, i would go as far as to guarantee that.

I hear you, we've lost players, but are you saying that means we still aren't good enough to be beating Norwich, WBA and Wigan at home? We were outplayed for large parts of each game. Even with all the players we've lost, were a top 4 contender and a top 6 side at worst, were not some struggling midtable team. As for giving him two seasons, I agree, but that doesn't mean we should just brush it off when we get outplayed at home by inferior teams.

no it doesn't mean we aren't good enough to beat these sides, just the same that failing to beat them doesn't mean that there is anything more to the situation than a rough settling in process.

this whole kind of pro avb debate that seems to have dragged on is more about not jumping on every poor performance/every poor result and look at it in more than what it is - a bad game, trying to write the manager off (which i saw many people doing and is the main reason myself and the likes of Steff tend to rally behind the manager) at such an early stage with so many things going against him and the team is futile. as i mentioned earlier, lots of changes at many clubs this season (ours more than most i believe) and how many of these clubs in the league are not also suffering from poor results/performances ? only really City and United (out of last seasons top 6 or so) can claim to have any form about them and funnily enough they are the two sides who have changed the least from last season, funny that

 

[Kingdawson]

Walker didn't suffer a drop in form to my recollection. As for him playing players out of position i remember him doing it once or twice regarding Bale and Luka but i don't remember many people calling for niko and pienaar to start even with the lennon injury.

 

[Jurgen the German]

we played some poor football and suffered some terrible results for sure this season, i don't think ANYONE has tried to claim otherwise - the difference being how some people react to those results/performances - do you try and look at things in perspective or do you write the manager off because of a handful of bad games when there are plenty of disruptions which could account for why things aren't particularly running smoothly ? if Villa Boas' Spurs team are throwing away the same kind of games in 2/3 seasons then he very much will be getting the same stick that Redknapp got, i would go as far as to guarantee that.


no it doesn't mean we aren't good enough to beat these sides, just the same that failing to beat them doesn't mean that there is anything more to the situation than a rough settling in process.

I'm not writing the guy off at all, I have simply expressed concerns that we have played badly in a lot of games this season and have only played well for 90 minutes in a handful of games and I worry we can't sustain a pattern of winning whilst playing badly all season. I know we have a different team to last season, I've addressed that in the previous page so no point going over it again.

 

[billyiddo]

No we're not but you're missing my point.

It's not the losing that i worry about but to put in these kind of performances at home consistently is worrying and it's not all to do with formations, new tactics etc etc.

for the first part of the season we had no choice but to play 1 up top with Defoe, he done well but we should know from previous seasons that not having a forward who can hold the ball up like Adebayor in a 4XX1 formation means the whole team suffers as there's isn't much in the way of an outlet - add the fact that our main replacement for Modric (Dembele) had barely played 5 games in our opening 12 or so meaning we had to play Sigurdsson/Livermore and our replacment for VdV (Dempsey) didn't have any sort of pre season to speak of then it all adds weight to why we have had such a sloppy start to the season results and performance wise.

i know you'll probably turn round with "excuses excuses" or something but actually think about what we had to work with and then remember that even at full strength under Redknapp we also often faltered against such opposition, this season we have been nowhere near full strength against teams we have a history of slipping up against so i think there's enough there for a reasonable person to lay off the manager for a while

last 5 games or so we have generally started to see a steady rise in performance and is no doubt partly due to being a period where we have been able to play both Dembele and Adebayor, also Dempsey is starting to come through after building up his match fitness/sharpness.

 

[Kingdawson]

but Billy the teams we've played badly against also had new players, systems, managers etc etc?

 

[billyiddo]

Walker didn't suffer a drop in form to my recollection. As for him playing players out of position i remember him doing it once or twice regarding Bale and Luka but i don't remember many people calling for niko and pienaar to start even with the lennon injury.

are you kidding? he was a totally different player in the second half of the season - massive drop in performance levels

Modric on the left, Bale on the right, VdV on the right, Modric on the right - loads of times he tinkered with the midfield in the second half of the season and was a common complaint i recall seeing on here.

no use calling for a player who is loaned out to be starting mate

I'm not writing the guy off at all, I have simply expressed concerns that we have played badly in a lot of games this season and have only played well for 90 minutes in a handful of games and I worry we can't sustain a pattern of winning whilst playing badly all season. I know we have a different team to last season, I've addressed that in the previous page so no point going over it again.

that wasn't directly aimed at you - was more an explanation as to why people like myself are becoming entrenched on this side of the argument, i have no problem with people moaning about bad performances at all, it's just there seems to be a lot that go beyond that and question the managers appointment/if he knows what he's doing/writing him off etc etc when in truth we were always likely to experience results performances like this with the changes that have taken place since the summer, ideally we'd have just steamrolled everyone and we'd be right up the Mancs arses but alas 4th will have to do for now im afraid

 

[Rossi22]

Rossi i don't think Liverpool was 'ok' and West sham was good the second half but the rest is a fair summary imo.

I think people overreacted with the Liverpool game. We smashed them about early on and just decided to sit on it, they passed the ball around fairly aimlessly without creating too many clear chances and it took a freak goal for them to even score. I'd call that an efficient performance.

 

[billyiddo]

but Billy the teams we've played badly against also had new players, systems, managers etc etc?

but KD, so what ? worry less about what the other teams are going through and look purely at what we are and tell me you don't think there is reason for us to have some level of inconsistency about us.

 

[Gazza Dazzla]

but KD, so what ? worry less about what the other teams are going through and look purely at what we are and tell me you don't think there is reason for us to have some level of inconsistency about us.

Those teams had new managers, new systems and some player changes, however they didn't have the injuries ON TOP of all that. Kaboul, BAE, Parker, Dembele and Ade all out!

It's the perfect storm of upheaval that causes people to defend AVB. No other prem team has had to cope with ALL that as proved by the analysis a page or so ago, teams have had some of the troubles we have but not all!

 

[NaijaSpurs]

Tottenham boss Andre Villas-Boas says he is not expecting to be very active when the transfer window re-opens at the start of January.

Christian Eriksen, Fernando Llorente and Willian have all been linked with Spurs but the manager says that, if the London club make any moves at all, it is more likely to be towards the 31 January deadline.

"You won't see Tottenham doing anything in the beginning of January, if we do anything," said Villas-Boas.

"Buying players early in the window makes a difference to the preparation in pre-season but, during the season, it doesn't have the same effect. I think we are comfortable with how things are."

Villas-Boas added that departures from White Hart Lane may be more likely and that goalkeepers Carlo Cudicini and Heurelho Gomes are available, due to the presence of Hugo Lloris and Brad Friedel.

"With Gomes and Cudicini we will listen to proposals," Villas-Boas said.

"(Chairman Daniel Levy and I) spoke about the January situation and the eventuality that we could look to strengthen the squad to be better. What came out of those conversations was that our level of focus is not to do a lot in January.

"We feel comfortable at the moment. Our squad will become big, even in terms of numbers, with the return of injured players. I believe that they will give us an extra edge.

"I am not ruling out any situation in the market, but at the moment it looks unlikely."


Cue Ade going off to the ANC and Defoe getting injured/suspended

 

[Jurgen the German]

I think people overreacted with the Liverpool game. We smashed them about early on and just decided to sit on it, they passed the ball around fairly aimlessly without creating too many clear chances and it took a freak goal for them to even score. I'd call that an efficient performance.

They had a shot cleared off the line and Henderson missed an open goal amongst other chances.

 

[Jurgen the German]

Those teams had new managers, new systems and some player changes, however they didn't have the injuries ON TOP of all that. Kaboul, BAE, Parker, Dembele and Ade all out!

It's the perfect storm of upheaval that causes people to defend AVB. No other prem team has had to cope with ALL that as proved by the analysis a page or so ago, teams have had some of the troubles we have but not all!

Yes they have. Liverpool for a start as has been discussed.

 

[Kingdawson]

but KD, so what ? worry less about what the other teams are going through and look purely at what we are and tell me you don't think there is reason for us to have some level of inconsistency about us.

eh? you're using the reason about new systems, managers etc for our poor home performances but you're saying "so what" that the teams that we played poorly against also suffered from the same thing?

ok to answer your question i don't think that's the reason. So you don't find it a little weird we play poorly at home, then good away, then poorly home, then good away, then poorly home..i mean we're missing the same injured players, playing the same formation(for the most part) and have the same manager for these games. We're also missing Lukaa and VDV for those away games just like we're missing them for the home games (another excuse people make).

 

[Kingdawson]

Those teams had new managers, new systems and some player changes, however they didn't have the injuries ON TOP of all that. Kaboul, BAE, Parker, Dembele and Ade all out!

It's the perfect storm of upheaval that causes people to defend AVB. No other prem team has had to cope with ALL that as proved by the analysis a page or so ago, teams have had some of the troubles we have but not all!

have those injured players missed our away games as well as the home games?

 

[Gazza Dazzla]

And they're bottom half of the table doing nowhere near as well as us and just lost 3-0 at home to villa!!

They've had a few games where they've looked pretty good and they've been unlucky with a couple of results but they've also had some shockers as well. Honestly I think people are going overboard on Liverpool, they seem to be the latest hype machine.

 

[billyiddo]

Yes they have. Liverpool for a start as has been discussed.

Liverpool who were brick last season and are equally as poor this season - Im not even sure why they are brought in to this discussion tbh

injuries to 3 key players (Vs our 4 or 5) and without any major outgoings, that i can think of anyway

 

[Gazza Dazzla]

have those injured players missed our away games as well as the home games?

See what your saying, but away systems and home systems can be very different. We lost our possession / creative players in modric and vdv and also lost their replacement in Dembele to injury. It's those creative players you need at home to unlock teams who sit back and look to hit on the break, away teams don't commit as many players to attack as home teams.

Away from home we have set out to counter attack with pace, we didn't lose any of our pacy players so we've found it easier to keep to those strengths and put in mostly better performances away.