Andre Villas-Boas - Head Coach

[ringo]

Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

Regardless of where you play certain players, they still have the same abilities, characteristics and so on. Stick Dembele out on the left, but he is not going to be doing much sprinting down the wing, beating a man and whipping a cross in. Dawson's a warrior in his own area, great at getting in the way of shots, depriving the opposition of the ball etc. But in a tight midfield with quick passing and no time on the ball, he'd be poor.

When you're between transfer windows - you have to start with players' strengths and weaknesses, what they can and can't do well, and then fit the system to the players. (And if your intended system fits neatly with players qualities, then that's great.)

From what I have seen so far, neither Dembele, Paulinho, or Sandro appear to be midfielders that make quick short sharp runs into space, play quick one twos, burst into the box at pace. They all seem relatively ponderous in their play, albeit physically solid. Ironically of the three I'd say that Sandro is most inclined to release the ball forward quickly. So you could call Dembele or Paulinho an attacking midfielder, but they still wouldn't play like one.

Then we have Holtby, who is quicker in his movement and play, but still shows no great signs of getting into the box and scoring, or sliding the balls through to Soldado. And then Eriksen and Siggy who can both play centrally, but still seem to want a bit too much time on the ball in advanced areas. (Not seen Lamela enough centrally to comment -he seems to like a one-two but doesn't have anyone to play them off.)

So I think we have lots of players with good defensive and possession based skills for deeper midfield roles, but very few midfielders who can link the play up between the wide players and CF, or just with the CF. And with two midfielders who have DM abilities, we will often only have three or four players attacking, and Soldado often pulls to the edge of the box, with no one making a compensating run into it. So we need more offensively capable players on the pitch of a certain type.

 

[Rorschach]

Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

On AVB - I really do agree with African's point that we are seeing right now what AVB wants, to an extent.

E.g. the reason we do look better going forward when one down is because the directive is there to flood forward a bit more. What I like is that when needing to push forward, we do seem capable of creating chances. When Torres get sent off in the game earlier in the season I was confident we would create one good chance and could win the game, it was just a shame Defoe fluffed it.

I think the plan is to play with more control earlier in matches and turn it up towards the end of games. That is then the point at which the opposition is tiring, the opposition is losing concentration and we can then step up after conserving our energy with the ball and over-run them. People always accuse AVB of being defensive or conservative, but I don't think it is that. It is control he wants. He wants to win. And the best way to control a game is to keep hold of the ball, and not let the opposition score and force us to make all the running. A solid defence is obviously the base of that.

We do need to improve the period in the games where we don't quite need to flood forward, but do need to look a bit more comfortable in what we are doing. I think that will come. There was discussion earlier in this thread about Arsenal having rehearsed movements - e.g. when this player goes here, that player goes there - and it helps pull apart a defence. I think we are getting to that but with so many new attacking players, all that have their little intricacies and ways of being used best, it will take time to get that firing. Something in AVB's biography talked about rehearsed movements I think. Kind of like plays in basketball.

I think we will get there. The players are buying into it. We have the defensive side down. The good part is that when we actually do need to flood forward and create chances, we can do it. We just need to learn what is probably the hardest bit, which is playing with the balance and good decision making that means we can conserve energy and keep the ball but still create chances when needed over the earlier parts of the game. This will come. This is clearly what we are working towards.

I'm glad to hear that this is in his thinking. I would prefer to believe that we're 'unfinished' rather than what I am seeing now in the final third. I think our movement is particularly poor at the moment, though there were some promising signs in the Saudi Sportswashing Machine match.

 

[BrainOfLevy]

Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

Regardless of where you play certain players, they still have the same abilities, characteristics and so on. Stick Dembele out on the left, but he is not going to be doing much sprinting down the wing, beating a man and whipping a cross in. Dawson's a warrior in his own area, great at getting in the way of shots, depriving the opposition of the ball etc. But in a tight midfield with quick passing and no time on the ball, he'd be poor.

When you're between transfer windows - you have to start with players' strengths and weaknesses, what they can and can't do well, and then fit the system to the players. (And if your intended system fits neatly with players qualities, then that's great.)

From what I have seen so far, neither Dembele, Paulinho, or Sandro appear to be midfielders that make quick short sharp runs into space, play quick one twos, burst into the box at pace. They all seem relatively ponderous in their play, albeit physically solid. Ironically of the three I'd say that Sandro is most inclined to release the ball forward quickly. So you could call Dembele or Paulinho an attacking midfielder, but they still wouldn't play like one.

Then we have Holtby, who is quicker in his movement and play, but still shows no great signs of getting into the box and scoring, or sliding the balls through to Soldado. And then Eriksen and Siggy who can both play centrally, but still seem to want a bit too much time on the ball in advanced areas. (Not seen Lamela enough centrally to comment -he seems to like a one-two but doesn't have anyone to play them off.)

So I think we have lots of players with good defensive and possession based skills for deeper midfield roles, but very few midfielders who can link the play up between the wide players and CF, or just with the CF. And with two midfielders who have DM abilities, we will often only have three or four players attacking, and Soldado often pulls to the edge of the box, with no one making a compensating run into it. So we need more offensively capable players on the pitch of a certain type.

Does Paulinho not look like a man who will break into the box to you?

 

[Cochise]

Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

The whole rehearsed moments thing is essentially AVB and his "playbook". Moving the opposition into position and then passing with precision, with our players already aware of where they are going to move and exactly when to start that move leads to the opposition already being a yard or two off the pace. I think we have seen this in individual places this season with our fullbacks moving up into crossing positions with the inverted wingers drawing the opposition fullbacks with them (Walker has been put into this position often via a pass by Dawson).

On the Paulinho subject: AVB seems to be using him similarly to Scolari. He has started deep and received the ball off the centre back before passing it back, turning and moving forward. He is as someone else stated about Dembele, a MF, not an AMF or DMF, just a straight up midfielder, a jack of all trades (not to sound detrimental). The thing he excels at is turning up on the edge of the box with his marker trailing behind, but due to the sluggishness of our overall play we aren't creating it. Brazil have Neymar, Hulk and Oscar all stretching the back line, keeping wide at times even. We haven't replicated this movement with our front four.

PS: Think Dembele's comments are regarding the move from he and Paulinho to Sandro and Paulinho, something which is defensive but needed to balance the team.

 

[billyiddo]

Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

PS: Think Dembele's comments are regarding the move from he and Paulinho to Sandro and Paulinho, something which is defensive but needed to balance the team.

and one which i think the majority of people were wanting at the time

 

[kanoute16]

Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

I've just read through the comments on this page, all very well put and nicely reasoned however there is just one thing that has not been mentioned.

We do not score enough goals and our strike rate at home is exceptionally poor!!!!

This leads on to the bare bones of what is glaring at us right in the face - whatever AVB is trying to do is sapping our ability to score goals.

He needs to tear up the carefully laid out notes he has made, the book on management he avidly subscribes to and just get his team playing some goddamn football.
Attack the other team, put them on the back foot, play balls in to soldado quickly, move off the ball, make the opposition think, get behind a defence!! One of these would be nice.

He's making us hard to beat I hear, well Saudi Sportswashing Machine managed it! So did West Ham! When did we last lose two home games in the first quarter of the season against mediocre teams like these? Their goalkeeper had a blinder I hear, when are our forward players going to have a blinder? Not anytime soon from what we have witnessed so far.

There is always the possibility that avb is over managing his team, stifling their natural expression to play. These are talented players who are being pressed into a philosophy they are not comfortable with imo. This is the core of why we have only manged 9 goals all season.

I'm pleased that you are all happy with what you have seen so far this season but sadly I cannot share your optimism - the coming weeks will be telling!

 

[90291Spur]

Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

I've just read through the comments on this page, all very well put and nicely reasoned however there is just one thing that has not been mentioned.

We do not score enough goals and our strike rate at home is exceptionally poor!!!!

This leads on to the bare bones of what is glaring at us right in the face - whatever AVB is trying to do is sapping our ability to score goals.

He needs to tear up the carefully laid out notes he has made, the book on management he avidly subscribes to and just get his team playing some goddamn football.
Attack the other team, put them on the back foot, play balls in to soldado quickly, move off the ball, make the opposition think, get behind a defence!! One of these would be nice.

He's making us hard to beat I hear, well Saudi Sportswashing Machine managed it! So did West Ham! When did we last lose two home games in the first quarter of the season against mediocre teams like these? Their goalkeeper had a blinder I hear, when are our forward players going to have a blinder? Not anytime soon from what we have witnessed so far.

There is always the possibility that avb is over managing his team, stifling their natural expression to play. These are talented players who are being pressed into a philosophy they are not comfortable with imo. This is the core of why we have only manged 9 goals all season.

I'm pleased that you are all happy with what you have seen so far this season but sadly I cannot share your optimism - the coming weeks will be telling!

Go back thirty or so pages and you will see that many many people are not happy with what they have seen this season. And thanks for the deep tactical insight. Problem solved.

 

[kanoute16]

Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

Calm down dear, I was talking about people on this page!

And thanks for the patronising comment, of course I could be as arrogant as you and consider myself some kind of tactical messiah but I am far too honest!

I may be found wanting when it comes down to tactics or i may not have the time or the inclination to share my incite with you (you will never know!), however I know one thing when I see it - boring, rigid, ineffective football!

This is what avb is dishing up at the moment yet your counterparts seem happy to swallow it because it may get us 4th with the likes of city, utd and chelsea stuttering so far! In fact some are so deluded that they seem to think that avb will focus on the attacking side of our play once he has made us into a team who can hold onto the ball.

Never heard anything so ridiculous - sacrifice scoring goals to hold onto the ball? What the hell for?

 

[Modric THFC]

Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

On AVB - I really do agree with African's point that we are seeing right now what AVB wants, to an extent.

E.g. the reason we do look better going forward when one down is because the directive is there to flood forward a bit more. What I like is that when needing to push forward, we do seem capable of creating chances. When Torres get sent off in the game earlier in the season I was confident we would create one good chance and could win the game, it was just a shame Defoe fluffed it.

I think the plan is to play with more control earlier in matches and turn it up towards the end of games. That is then the point at which the opposition is tiring, the opposition is losing concentration and we can then step up after conserving our energy with the ball and over-run them. People always accuse AVB of being defensive or conservative, but I don't think it is that. It is control he wants. He wants to win. And the best way to control a game is to keep hold of the ball, and not let the opposition score and force us to make all the running. A solid defence is obviously the base of that.

We do need to improve the period in the games where we don't quite need to flood forward, but do need to look a bit more comfortable in what we are doing. I think that will come. There was discussion earlier in this thread about Arsenal having rehearsed movements - e.g. when this player goes here, that player goes there - and it helps pull apart a defence. I think we are getting to that but with so many new attacking players, all that have their little intricacies and ways of being used best, it will take time to get that firing. Something in AVB's biography talked about rehearsed movements I think. Kind of like plays in basketball.

I think we will get there. The players are buying into it. We have the defensive side down. The good part is that when we actually do need to flood forward and create chances, we can do it. We just need to learn what is probably the hardest bit, which is playing with the balance and good decision making that means we can conserve energy and keep the ball but still create chances when needed over the earlier parts of the game. This will come. This is clearly what we are working towards.

And also what I would say, is this kind of controlled way of playing is exactly what top clubs do. They conserve their energy over a season and strike at the appropriate times. Plucky mid table teams need to gather as many points as soon as possible and it doesn't matter where they come from because they won't be fighting for anything at the end of the year. Arsenal's run at the end of last season coincided with them facing a plethora of mid-table teams that had nothing to play for. For sure they put in some good work, but they also had a very favourable run. Arsenal had also lost a few games earlier in the season (Norwich away for example) that they would never have lost in a final run in.

We are now being coached as a top club would be. That is over a game, and over a season. Conserving energy and waiting for the time to strike in both cases is the smart play. It's not the only factor in success for example - Arsenal's good start is a lot down to the fact that they have kept their good players and added a great one - but I'd say it's massively important and often understated when fans analyse their team, which is why the discussion then deviates into the manager not knowing what he is doing or this or that player being a flop or a panic buy. It is telling that our players are fully behind the manager, there aren't really any rumblings of discontent and they are clearly trying to implement what he wants from them out on the pitch. I'd say the fact that we look so awkward at the moment shows we are trying to do what he wants, it's just that we aren't comfortable and aren't very good at it yet.

So absolutely we do need to get to that stage where we are comfortable and creating good chances earlier on in games. It's just at the moment a good chance may come every 10 minutes and it should come every 5. (Spurious example, I don't know the exact stats but I'm just trying to illustrate the point). The fact that we have signed the players to get to that style as opposed to Dempsey et al means I think we will get there.

That is AVB's plan and its horrible.
Instead of the creativity, player's self expression and all the beauty people love in the game its physically, rehearsed movements and boring weaker teams into submission.
And from a non style point of view I just don't think targeting the last 20 minutes of a game to finally score is an effective tactic.
I don't see us saving energy and having more energy than other teams I see AVB sending first team players on pointless trips all over Europe. But its great in theory.
But it all fits in with what I see AVB doing, treating lesser teams as someone to conserve energy against, not having specific tactics to beat teams defending against us at home.

What AVB ignores here is the psychological aspect to games. The opposition team gets a huge lift when its 0-0 against us and they might snatch a draw. They're not going to tire as he predicts they have a mental lift. Similarly our players are getting nervous at this point. And that's why he had a go last month out of frustration.

 

[BrainOfLevy]

Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

Calm down dear, I was talking about people on this page!

And thanks for the patronising comment, of course I could be as arrogant as you and consider myself some kind of tactical messiah but I am far too honest!

I may be found wanting when it comes down to tactics or i may not have the time or the inclination to share my incite with you (you will never know!), however I know one thing when I see it - boring, rigid, ineffective football!

This is what avb is dishing up at the moment yet your counterparts seem happy to swallow it because it may get us 4th with the likes of city, utd and chelsea stuttering so far! In fact some are so deluded that they seem to think that avb will focus on the attacking side of our play once he has made us into a team who can hold onto the ball.

Never heard anything so ridiculous - sacrifice scoring goals to hold onto the ball? What the hell for?

You are talking about football on such a basic, basic level. Do you honestly not see the benefits of holding on to the ball? The thought that goes in to planning a team for a game and for a season is way beyond what you are suggesting here.

Simple point: it is telling that our players are still coming out with the 'top 4 is our objective' 'we are fully confident in our aims' 'who's to say we can't challenge for the title?' kind of quotes. If AVB and his tactics were stifling the ability out of them, they wouldn't be saying this. They are hardly quotes of a squad lacking confidence in the methods of their head coach. Intact it seems like a squad that entirely buys into the methods and has confidence that things will get better.

Now, please try and respond to this point. I am going to suggest that we play the way we do so that we can exert control over a game. This allows us to play a match on our terms, and allows us to decide when to exert maximum energy, and maximum pressure. It also allows us to control points in a season where we can really decide to step it up a gear.

This method requires a solid defence. One thing you cannot deny is that our defence is exceptionally well drilled. This is in terms of our pressing and of our offside trap. The amount of times we catch out even top teams with our defence is great to see. The players are clearly buying into it and have clearly responded to the coaching given to them.

This method also requires us to take control of the ball, and to retain possession. This way we force the other team back, set up our own offensive positions and don't waste energy chasing the ball about for usually any longer than a few seconds. It means that we will often go backwards in order to allow our team to set up in this way.

Now, with this in mind, we are able to pinpoint parts of games where we will step up pressure. Going behind obviously forces our hand. Similarly, towards the end of matches when the opposition is tiring is the perfect time to overwhelm them, having conserved energy for the long season ahead during the game. It is what a wining club does.

Can you see why it may be worth holding on to the ball in some cases? Does any of that mean anything to you? I don't know the half of the type of preparation that goes into these matches, but I am 10000000% sure it goes beyond 'get the ball to Soldado early! Get in behind their defence!' Obviously they are ultimate objectives, but the way of doing that is a bit more in depth, and must be done within the framework of what we are trying to achieve.

There's a reason Wigan always did so well towards the end of seasons. Martinez planned it so they would be at their peak at the business end. He didn't suddenly turn into tactical genius, to tactical clutz and then back to genius again, and the players didn't fluctuate like that either. It's also a big reason why Arsenal go on such good end of season runs and usually overtake us. It could have been different last season with perhaps one penalty award here or there and ultimately the Inter week killed us, but we actually performed really well points wise in the business end of the season ourselves.

My point is, we are now being prepared and coached to perform over a season like a top club. I believe it will show towards the end of the year. We as fans have to stop looking at what we see and drawing the simplest conclusion, as if we know exactly the level of detail that has been implemented into the planning process. This is high level stuff, and it isn't as simple as you think. Yes, you're right, the football isn't great right now. You can see that, we can all see it. But have your years of watching football not taught you anything about the peaks and trophs of form? Haven't enough supposedly clueless managers suddenly conjured a run of results that made you realise that maybe they do have some clue about something? Have you really never gotten carried away by our form during good periods and declared us to be completely on the right track? These things happen every single year to every club. I won't over react to anything until the end of the season, unless we are so far behind our objectives that they cannot be achieved, or we are so far in front of where we originally planned to be that we cannot be caught.

 

[Rorschach]

Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

That is AVB's plan and its horrible.
Instead of the creativity, player's self expression and all the beauty people love in the game its physically, rehearsed movements and boring weaker teams into submission.
And from a non style point of view I just don't think targeting the last 20 minutes of a game to finally score is an effective tactic.
I don't see us saving energy and having more energy than other teams I see AVB sending first team players on pointless trips all over Europe. But its great in theory.
But it all fits in with what I see AVB doing, treating lesser teams as someone to conserve energy against, not having specific tactics to beat teams defending against us at home.

What AVB ignores here is the psychological aspect to games. The opposition team gets a huge lift when its 0-0 against us and they might snatch a draw. They're not going to tire as he predicts they have a mental lift. Similarly our players are getting nervous at this point. And that's why he had a go last month out of frustration.

Rehearsed movements in themselves is not the problem IMHO. About 90% of Barca's attacking play is repeated patterns and rehearsed movement. Actually their defensive play is also a series of rehearsed rules and triggered movements too but that is for another day (good read on it here if you are interested). AVB's play book does not need to be ripped up, it just needs a few more pages in the attacking section. What I see is too many of our players looking for the ball to feet when we get in and around the box. Not a bad thing in itself but when everybody wants it to feet we rarely get any penetration. Countless times I've seen 5 or 6 spurs players ringing the box and Soldado the sole player in it. This is very easy to defend against and the number of long range efforts we take is a symptom of this. The key to improving our chance creation is movement from the AM's in particular and Paulinho from deep IMO. It's not good enough at the moment and our number 10 or whomever has the ball at feet more often has only safe or impossible options. I find Barca a tad boring sometimes, but their attack is very well drilled and off the ball movement is superb (and rehearsed), and of course having Messi does help. Lamela is our Messi

 

[NWND]

Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

And also what I would say, is this kind of controlled way of playing is exactly what top clubs do. They conserve their energy over a season and strike at the appropriate times. Plucky mid table teams need to gather as many points as soon as possible and it doesn't matter where they come from because they won't be fighting for anything at the end of the year. Arsenal's run at the end of last season coincided with them facing a plethora of mid-table teams that had nothing to play for. For sure they put in some good work, but they also had a very favourable run. Arsenal had also lost a few games earlier in the season (Norwich away for example) that they would never have lost in a final run in.

We are now being coached as a top club would be. That is over a game, and over a season. Conserving energy and waiting for the time to strike in both cases is the smart play. It's not the only factor in success for example - Arsenal's good start is a lot down to the fact that they have kept their good players and added a great one - but I'd say it's massively important and often understated when fans analyse their team, which is why the discussion then deviates into the manager not knowing what he is doing or this or that player being a flop or a panic buy. It is telling that our players are fully behind the manager, there aren't really any rumblings of discontent and they are clearly trying to implement what he wants from them out on the pitch. I'd say the fact that we look so awkward at the moment shows we are trying to do what he wants, it's just that we aren't comfortable and aren't very good at it yet.

So absolutely we do need to get to that stage where we are comfortable and creating good chances earlier on in games. It's just at the moment a good chance may come every 10 minutes and it should come every 5. (Spurious example, I don't know the exact stats but I'm just trying to illustrate the point). The fact that we have signed the players to get to that style as opposed to Dempsey et al means I think we will get there.

Coached as a top club? You mean a club that can't buy a goal from open play, a club that is 7th and gets taken apart at home to West Ham with no striker? Ok, ok, I'm being a d**k, but surely you don't even believe all that you've just typed, it's oh so text-book perfect and AVB is quite the genius.

I think what you meant to say, is that AVB is "attempting" to coach us like one version of a top club, i.e. the Mourinho style 'power-house'. A team that controls the game via physicality and squeezing of space and ruthless finishing by some goal-scoring attackers.

That's only one vision of a "top-club". The other is the Wenger "passing model" and then there is the Man U "go for the jugular" attacking/domination model.

Really for AVB's system to work, he kind of needed Benteke (i.e. a Drogba-type). He really needs to bit the bullet and bring Ade back.

His style of football is turgid though. its only effective by being a battering ram. At the moment with powder-puff Sig, Soldado and Townsend upfront, its going nowhere...

 

[milo]

Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

On AVB - I really do agree with African's point that we are seeing right now what AVB wants, to an extent.

E.g. the reason we do look better going forward when one down is because the directive is there to flood forward a bit more. What I like is that when needing to push forward, we do seem capable of creating chances. When Torres get sent off in the game earlier in the season I was confident we would create one good chance and could win the game, it was just a shame Defoe fluffed it.

I think the plan is to play with more control earlier in matches and turn it up towards the end of games. That is then the point at which the opposition is tiring, the opposition is losing concentration and we can then step up after conserving our energy with the ball and over-run them. People always accuse AVB of being defensive or conservative, but I don't think it is that. It is control he wants. He wants to win. And the best way to control a game is to keep hold of the ball, and not let the opposition score and force us to make all the running. A solid defence is obviously the base of that.

We do need to improve the period in the games where we don't quite need to flood forward, but do need to look a bit more comfortable in what we are doing. I think that will come. There was discussion earlier in this thread about Arsenal having rehearsed movements - e.g. when this player goes here, that player goes there - and it helps pull apart a defence. I think we are getting to that but with so many new attacking players, all that have their little intricacies and ways of being used best, it will take time to get that firing. Something in AVB's biography talked about rehearsed movements I think. Kind of like plays in basketball.

I think we will get there. The players are buying into it. We have the defensive side down. The good part is that when we actually do need to flood forward and create chances, we can do it. We just need to learn what is probably the hardest bit, which is playing with the balance and good decision making that means we can conserve energy and keep the ball but still create chances when needed over the earlier parts of the game. This will come. This is clearly what we are working towards.

According to the Secret Footballer most (all?) top level managers do this

Switch to our world and the level of detail that goes into games still, to this day, amazes me. Every player has his own script, what to do, when to do it, information on the player he's up against, including weight, height, age, strengths, weaknesses, even what that opponent is likely to do when the ball comes to him in certain situations. We memorise every single set piece, where we have to stand, run and end up. We even memorise this for the other players so we know where everyone else will be at any given time.

You know that pass when you say to yourself: "How did he spot that?" Often he didn't need to; he knew the player would be there because, the night before in the hotel, he read about the runs he would be making.

It's exactly the same pass after which sometimes you might find yourself saying: "Who was that to?" The receiving player either forgot to be there or was taken out of the game by a tactical manoeuvre by his opposite number.

Football at this level is very chess-like, maybe not to those outside of football but certainly to those inside. I sometimes wonder whether it's more enjoyable playing lower down the leagues. After all, who wants to play chess?

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2011/jan/29/secret-footballer-andy-gray-pundits

 

[90291Spur]

Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

Calm down dear, I was talking about people on this page!

And thanks for the patronising comment, of course I could be as arrogant as you and consider myself some kind of tactical messiah but I am far too honest!

I may be found wanting when it comes down to tactics or i may not have the time or the inclination to share my incite with you (you will never know!), however I know one thing when I see it - boring, rigid, ineffective football!

This is what avb is dishing up at the moment yet your counterparts seem happy to swallow it because it may get us 4th with the likes of city, utd and chelsea stuttering so far! In fact some are so deluded that they seem to think that avb will focus on the attacking side of our play once he has made us into a team who can hold onto the ball.

Never heard anything so ridiculous - sacrifice scoring goals to hold onto the ball? What the hell for?

I am very calm, darling, thanks very much for your concern about my emotional state. My sense is that a lot of Spurs fans are not happy with the type of football we are seeing from our team (we are supposed to play the exciting stuff) and are concerned about the lack of goals. The split seems to come from those who want AVB out and those who feel he should be given more time.

My hope is that his plan is to make us solid at the back - which is working apart form the Wet Spam game - and then build up our attacking play. If that's deluded then count me in.

 

[Modric THFC]

Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

I am very calm, darling, thanks very much for your concern about my emotional state. My sense is that a lot of Spurs fans are not happy with the type of football we are seeing from our team (we are supposed to play the exciting stuff) and are concerned about the lack of goals. The split seems to come from those who want AVB out and those who feel he should be given more time.

My hope is that his plan is to make us solid at the back - which is working apart form the Wet Spam game - and then build up our attacking play. If that's deluded then count me in.

No one wants him out apart from the creator of that one thread.

But there's a lot of here that think "this is it, this is how he wants us to play and its horrible".
As far as I'm concerned it would be stupid to get rid of him in the middle of season, and he'll probably get some nice offers next summer anyway.

 

[NWND]

Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

AVB's master-plan:

Crystal Palace (A) - We huffed and puffed and fluked a win against the league's s***est club with a dodgy penalty that being kindest would be considered 50/50
Swansea (H) - Again, we huffed and puffed and at least the penalty was actually merited in this game. Did we actually create a chance apart from this? I'm not sure, but I seem to remember Paulinho blazing over so that might be 1!
Arsenal (A) - Back down to earth, we didn't look like scoring after conceding and so it's 270 minutes without a goal from open play!
Norwich (H)) - blimey, we scored! Twice! Don't get carried away with our best performance so far this season, though, as this lot got spannered 7-0 later on in the season!
Cardiff (A) - Another 90 goalless minutes…good job we had injury time to grab the winner! That Lamela chap set it up, wonder why he never plays?
Chelsea (H) - For 45 minutes we looked good, but for 45 minutes we also got our asses handed to us. Mourinho almost pulled it out the bag and AVB looked clueless as to how to change it. Good job that cheeky boy Torres wanted to get to the showers first to stop Ashley from stealing his body-wash!
West Ham (H) - Wow, 3 whole goals! Only, they weren't scored by Spurs. West Ham played without a striker. They didn't have any fit ones, it didn't matter, as we were so bad. Humiliated at home by a team as poor as them….words fail us!
Aston Villa (A) - Another boring game, we don't look like scoring until Andros decides to whip in a cross for a change rather than shooting….oh, he mis-hit his cross like he does all his shots and it went in! That was lucky!
Hull (H) - See Crystal Palace, we fluke a win against a very undeserving Hull side, who created the better chances in the match. Sucker punched by another 50/50 handball call, we again never look like scoring.
Everton (A) - neither side create anything and the Premiership's dullest ever game fizzles out into a drab draw
Saudi Sportswashing Machine (H) - Football is a Krul game, but to be honest, for all we might have been unlucky, overall you could hardly say this defeat wasn't coming.

 

[billyiddo]

Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

You seem to have confused a master plan with games that have been played.

Simple mistake i guess

 

[90291Spur]

Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

You seem to have confused a master plan with games that have been played.

Simple mistake i guess

I am taking a wild guess that it was a snarky post about all the things that have gone wrong this season. Thank **** we are 5 points off the top. Imagine the melt-down if we were in the bottom half of the league.

 

[milo]

Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

AVB's master-plan:

Crystal Palace (A) - We huffed and puffed and fluked a win against the league's s***est club with a dodgy penalty that being kindest would be considered 50/50
Swansea (H) - Again, we huffed and puffed and at least the penalty was actually merited in this game. Did we actually create a chance apart from this? I'm not sure, but I seem to remember Paulinho blazing over so that might be 1!
Arsenal (A) - Back down to earth, we didn't look like scoring after conceding and so it's 270 minutes without a goal from open play!
Norwich (H)) - blimey, we scored! Twice! Don't get carried away with our best performance so far this season, though, as this lot got spannered 7-0 later on in the season!
Cardiff (A) - Another 90 goalless minutes…good job we had injury time to grab the winner! That Lamela chap set it up, wonder why he never plays?
Chelsea (H) - For 45 minutes we looked good, but for 45 minutes we also got our asses handed to us. Mourinho almost pulled it out the bag and AVB looked clueless as to how to change it. Good job that cheeky boy Torres wanted to get to the showers first to stop Ashley from stealing his body-wash!
West Ham (H) - Wow, 3 whole goals! Only, they weren't scored by Spurs. West Ham played without a striker. They didn't have any fit ones, it didn't matter, as we were so bad. Humiliated at home by a team as poor as them….words fail us!
Aston Villa (A) - Another boring game, we don't look like scoring until Andros decides to whip in a cross for a change rather than shooting….oh, he mis-hit his cross like he does all his shots and it went in! That was lucky!
Hull (H) - See Crystal Palace, we fluke a win against a very undeserving Hull side, who created the better chances in the match. Sucker punched by another 50/50 handball call, we again never look like scoring.
Everton (A) - neither side create anything and the Premiership's dullest ever game fizzles out into a drab draw
Saudi Sportswashing Machine (H) - Football is a Krul game, but to be honest, for all we might have been unlucky, overall you could hardly say this defeat wasn't coming.

Hyperbole doesn't make your argument any more convincing.

 

[NWND]

Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

I am taking a wild guess that it was a snarky post about all the things that have gone wrong this season. Thank **** we are 5 points off the top. Imagine the melt-down if we were in the bottom half of the league.

I should hope we were near the top with that starting fixture list!

It's a good job they were all teams where you could put out a bunch of lemons and still win, even if you need a dodgy penalty to do it!

You know its fine just pretending everything is rosy because we're 5 points off the top, but as I keep saying, the results have been better than the performances and we have been highly jammy to accumulate the level of points we have done.

Anything less than our current points total though, would have been bitterly disappointing given the fixtures we were dealt.

Our next two fixtures could easily see us with no points from 3 games, 1 point from 4 and drifting out to 9-11 points off the top. Not to mention the possibility of scoring 9 goals in 13 games, 6 from open play!