• Dear Guest, Please note that adult content is not permitted on this forum. We have had our Google ads disabled at times due to some posts that were found from some time ago. Please do not post adult content and if you see any already on the forum, please report the post so that we can deal with it. Adult content is allowed in the glory hole - you will have to request permission to access it. Thanks, scara

Andre Villas-Boas - Head Coach

The Moonlit Knight said:
That's a pity. Your previous post was reasoned. The uncalled for dig in this post has outed true colours it seems. Welcome to my ignore list!
Click to expand...
Outed my true colours? Okay maybe it was uncalled for, but I wasn't really sure what exactly you were arguing with regards to expectations of Redknapp and AVB, and I've found some of your posts to provide a simplified view of things in the past. I found it funny how confidently you shot down me posting that AVB report when there was no tangible evidence of it being disproven online, when it is in fact corroborated by AVB himself in an actual youtube interview.. I thought this was consistent with your posting style both under this username and your last.

If you hadn't just put me on your ever-expanding ignore list, I would have asked you on what grounds you could possibly have said that the report that has now been posted on here multiple times and confirmed to be true was a 'hoax'.
 
I would be gutted if we finish 7th i do not think that will happen though,what i hope for is that we are in the running for the top four and challenging to win a trophy especially in Europe.
 
Jordinho said:
I'm not so sure that Chelsea will gel instantly. There's a huge turnover in players there right now. Drogba, Kalou, Bosingwa gone, Sturridge going. Malouda and Benayoun are finished as top level players IMO. They need more attackers and Di Matteo has a massive task ahead to make it work.
Click to expand...

there's every chance they can have as poor a league season as last year as they take time to settle - i think the same can be said of Arsenal - two new strikers who have yet to hit it off outside of one particular club - every chance they will need time to bed in and adjust.

IF (and it's a big if) we can hit the ground running and those two continue to falter then we have a good chance of replicating this season or even do better - but im not going to be expecting it
 
7th would mean THREE of Chelsea, Saudi Sportswashing Machine, Liverpool and Everton finished above us. Right now I would say that's not good enough, but we have no idea what things are going to be like come September. I wouldn't be happy with it, but will reserve judgement until I know the circumstances.
 
nayimfromthehalfwayline said:
I cant imagine it working out for him tbh, but do wonder if he might be kept on as a squad unit for the short term.

Despite seemingly happy to spend there is a lot of work to do and finite resource to achieve it.

Thats the same reasoning behind my thinking we might not go for a GK this window. While we need one its not so urgent and outfield positions might take precedence
Click to expand...

No, me neither, but it's good that AVB is giving lots of players a chance, something he was accused of not doing at Chelsea.

I think if we're going to play this much talked about 'high line', we need a keeper who is going to come out and deal with balls over the top early, what a lot of people have called 'the sweeper keeper'. While Friedel is a very solid and dependable keeper as we saw last season, I think he would be massively exposed if asked to do this/ in a team leaving large gaps behind the defence.

I remember when Fabianski had an absolute shocker against Chelsea as he could not judge the balls in behind/ over the top, Drogba ran riot and made him look like an utter clown. We need a mobile keeper who's confident with his feet and willing to come out and collect balls early if we aren't to befall a similar fate in some games this season. Like you say though, whether the funds are there is another question, although I'd hope if we soldModric we'd have plenty of money to play with.
 
(Obviously Fabianski is not even half the keeper Friedel is, but he looked like a non-League player in that game!!)
 
so Bentley's been told by AVB that he's given a clean slate and we now have GDS saying he is in no hurry to leave...whilst we've got a few better ones like Krunchie and Charlie who have swiftly departed. now we all know that AVB really studies players and has had time to make contact with some of them. do you think that all these are also his doing and that quite possibly he does see something in both Bentley and GDS as he rebuilds the new Spurs side?
 
7th isn't neccesarily the end of the world as long as we're seeing signs of improvement as the season moves on and Villas-Boas football philosophy working.
I don't think we'll fall that much down the table, tip us at 5th myself, at worst 6th. And I'm very excited about the Europa League this season.

4-5-4
7-4-3 + any silverware

What would be the best three years?
 
Pandy said:
No, me neither, but it's good that AVB is giving lots of players a chance, something he was accused of not doing at Chelsea.

I think if we're going to play this much talked about 'high line', we need a keeper who is going to come out and deal with balls over the top early, what a lot of people have called 'the sweeper keeper'. While Friedel is a very solid and dependable keeper as we saw last season, I think he would be massively exposed if asked to do this/ in a team leaving large gaps behind the defence.

I remember when Fabianski had an absolute shocker against Chelsea as he could not judge the balls in behind/ over the top, Drogba ran riot and made him look like an utter clown. We need a mobile keeper who's confident with his feet and willing to come out and collect balls early if we aren't to befall a similar fate in some games this season. Like you say though, whether the funds are there is another question, although I'd hope if we soldModric we'd have plenty of money to play with.
Click to expand...

Im certainly not saying it isnt important, it is. Just that with a fixed amount to spend it may be deemed less important for this window than, say, a wide forward.
 
Jordinho said:
I'm not so sure that Chelsea will gel instantly. There's a huge turnover in players there right now. Drogba, Kalou, Bosingwa gone, Sturridge going. Malouda and Benayoun are finished as top level players IMO. They need more attackers and Di Matteo has a massive task ahead to make it work.
Click to expand...

We potentially could have a fair few new players to bed in too and may be in a similar position. If Modric and VDV stay then this will help massively. Adapting to a new system is a challenge but having half the starting eleven changing too just adds to it. AVB has his work cut out.

(Benayoun was a loan?)
 
nayimfromthehalfwayline said:
Im certainly not saying it isnt important, it is. Just that with a fixed amount to spend it may be deemed less important for this window than, say, a wide forward.
Click to expand...

True, this summer is already looking like a big one though and if we sell Modric you can imagine AVB will be given most, if not all of that money. How much did we get from Kranjcar and Corluka? About £10m? If so our net outlay isn't that great atm, I could see us spending £20-30m overall this summer.
 
Rorschach said:
We potentially could have a fair few new players to bed in too and may be in a similar position. If Modric and VDV stay then this will help massively. Adapting to a new system is a challenge but having half the starting eleven changing too just adds to it. AVB has his work cut out.

(Benayoun was a loan?)
Click to expand...

Don't you remember Wenger hypocritically protesting against the loaning of players over the age of 21, probably because Adebayor was so successful and Benayoun such a flop!?
 
Even with that sort of resource, by all accounts we are looking at some significant (record breaking) buys this summer - so even with £30m to spend it might not necessarily go far. Thats why I dont really buy the £12m bif for Lloris that was reported.

If Modric goes Moutinho could cost as much as £25m to replace him.

The Brazilian striker at Internacioinale would be around £20m reported. As well as the AM there.

Lewandowski, Remy? Up to about the £20m mark IMO

We could well get 4 or 5 players this summer and not a GK because there simply wasnt the cash for it
 
nayimfromthehalfwayline said:
Even with that sort of resource, by all accounts we are looking at some significant (record breaking) buys this summer - so even with £30m to spend it might not necessarily go far. Thats why I dont really buy the £12m bif for Lloris that was reported.

If Modric goes Moutinho could cost as much as £25m to replace him.

The Brazilian striker at Internacioinale would be around £20m reported. As well as the AM there.

Lewandowski, Remy? Up to about the £20m mark IMO

We could well get 4 or 5 players this summer and not a GK because there simply wasnt the cash for it
Click to expand...

Only time will tell whether we'll sign most/any of those players. No matter what happens we're definitely in for an interesting few weeks, I'm certain AVB will want to have finished making signings by the Saudi Sportswashing Machine game or preferably earlier, so I can see this flurry of July signings continuing.
 
I don't think we'll be coming 7th. Certainly not with the money it seems like we are spending. We will be in the conversation for 4th but may finish 6th. Because so many things can happen, because points can be won and lost on the bounce of a ball all we can ask is to be in the conversation for top 4. It's completely unfair to say the only way Harry's sacking can be justified is if AVB gets 4th. There were other reasons Harry had to go. But we can ask that we are in the conversation for 4th, with their only being a couple of points between us and the other teams competing for it. We should be challenging them, because our squad is as good as those other challengers. We may finish 7th, I'd say if we have rotten luck with injuries and Saudi Sportswashing Machine have great luck with their own, but other than that, we should be well up there. If we aren't, AVB will have failed.

At the end of the day his job is to win football matches. I wanted him when it looked like Harry needed to be backed or sacked, but I'm not willing to accept 7th or 8th, a 'season of transition', because he's now here. If we provide him with the players he needs, and we look like player for player our team matches up to our rivals, then he should be near them. Since Jol's first full season, we've finished 5th, 5th, had two seasons where we are in transition, adjust to having a new director of football and a coach that didn't work out with us, and then we get 4th, 5th, and 4th again. So AVB is not inheriting a team in transition. He's not doing a rebuilding job. He's tasked with adding quality in the positions that need it, integrating those players and winning us football matches. And personally I think he will do it.

Harry was a fantastic manager for us for the situation we were in at that time. But I think it was right that he went, because he was too focussed on the first team, and wasn't willing to take risks on younger, unproven signings that may represent the best value for us. Doesn't mean he wasn't awesome for us though, because he was. AVB is here now though, and we should be in that conversation for 4th because we have a talented squad that measures up to that of our rivals.
 
Pandy said:
Only time will tell whether we'll sign most/any of those players. No matter what happens we're definitely in for an interesting few weeks, I'm certain AVB will want to have finished making signings by the Saudi Sportswashing Machine game or preferably earlier, so I can see this flurry of July signings continuing.
Click to expand...

Absolutely, time will tell and we wont be waiting to long to find out...
 
BrainOfLevy said:
So AVB is not inheriting a team in transition. He's not doing a rebuilding job. He's tasked with adding quality in the positions that need it, integrating those players and winning us football matches. And personally I think he will do it.
Click to expand...

Of course he is! Just as it would have been with Redknapp in charge.

Friedel on his last legs. Gallas and King seemingly on their way out. Only one striker on the books. Coping with the probable loss of Modric. Adebayor, Saha, Nelsen, Kranjcar, Corluka all leaving. Pienaar, Bentley, Gomes, Bassong, Jenas all looking likely to leave...

The squad was looking shallow last season, this summer was always going to be massive no matter who was in charge.

Add to that the fact we do have a new manager with a very different playing style and of course there will be a transitional period as his ideas and training methods take hold.

That said I do think AVBs approach is a natural progression from Harrys, its a more focused, more organised version of how Redknapp had us play. I also think that the shape of the squad was ideal for AVB to take over, as the core was already there but he is left with room (and funds) to augment it to suit his ideas.

This should, hopefully, expedite the transition - but its not a guarantee
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back