Andre Villas-Boas - Head Coach

[Mumorn]

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

But under HR we had the best record from points from a losing position, and this season when we equalised against Fulham that was the first time we have equalised when going behind this season? Hmm.

I just think Bale was world class, in the same way that I don't credit the Barca/Madrid managers for creating Messi/Ronaldo, Bale just did what he does best in my opinion.

Hasn't been bad under AVB though.

QPR at home
Sunderland away
Reading at home
Emirates Marketing Project at home
Stoke away

were last year when we were behind and won as well as times where we have come from behind to equalise. Under AVB I was ALWAYS confident we would end up scoring a goal when we were a goal down, he turned us into some team that never quite knew when it was beat and it was great to see.

Under Redknapps last season with us he managed to win 1 game when going behind.

 

[Spurs_Bear]

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

Hasn't been bad under AVB though.

QPR at home
Sunderland away
Reading at home
Emirates Marketing Project at home
Stoke away

were last year when we were behind and won as well as times where we have come from behind to equalise. Under AVB I was ALWAYS confident we would end up scoring a goal when we were a goal down, he turned us into some team that never quite knew when it was beat and it was great to see.

Under Redknapps last season with us he managed to win 1 game when going behind.

Original discussion was about this season no?

Redknapp's last season we should have finished 3rd, would suggest we were potentially ahead a lot more than behind, could say the same in some games under AVB prior to this season. Always the danger of comparison.

 

[DHSF]

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

Since when was it a benchmark of how much progress you are making by examining the points won coming from behind? MAYBE just MAYBE we dont and didnt go behind on a number of occassions.

People are still reading waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay toooooooo much into stats - way tooo much time on your hands.

Football really is simple - your eyes tell you more than any ****in stats. At the moment my eyes are telling me that the football in the last game was better than the previous games and hopefully it gets even better. simple.

 

[BrainOfLevy]

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

Since when was it a benchmark of how much progress you are making by examining the points won coming from behind? MAYBE just MAYBE we dont and didnt go behind on a number of occassions.

People are still reading waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay toooooooo much into stats - way tooo much time on your hands.

Football really is simple - your eyes tell you more than any ****in stats. At the moment my eyes are telling me that the football in the last game was better than the previous games and hopefully it gets even better. simple.

Agree with your first point but not necessarily the rest. Stats can be useful and what we see doesn't always mean the most obvious conclusion should be drawn. It's all about using stats/knowledge appropriately.

I agree that under Harry's final season we went ahead more often, so less likely to need to come from behind.

 

[Kingdawson]

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

We played really well in that Chelsea game and missed a lot of chances, infuriatingly so because a win there and whatever Chelsea did in the CL woudn't have mattered to us. I remember Modric and VDV missing from 6 yards. Bale heading over when easier to score.

But do you know what? For all the good performances under Harry, and there were plenty, I also remember a lot where we looked absolutely toothless and despite having the possession, failing to come really close to a goal. Kind of like Liverpool's performance away to Hull and Arsenal this season. I think being the kind of team that is 'capable of beating anyone on it's day' is great and those kinds of teams will usually smash the inferior ones, but when it all isn't clicking and popping off as it should it looks really disappointing. It's at this point we look like we have no plan and people start craving a system.

I know we've had games under AVB where we've looked toothless for large periods but in most if not all games there always comes a point where we genuinely threaten the opposition goals with clear chances. Away games, we would peel one after the other last year and just keep winning. I don't think our squad under Harry would have done similar, but we might have smashed Southampton at home rather than needing a Bale goal for example. But at the end of the day, under AVB we just kept winning, more than we ever had done before. You're probably right in that there are more '90 minute' performances under Harry, certainly against teams we 'should' be beating. But I'd say there's also more games where we look like we have absolutely no idea and don't threaten the opposition goal whatsoever under Harry than there has been under AVB. Because even in most of AVB's worst games, we still have a spell where the switch is flicked. Which is kind of his whole strategy - blitzing a team in short bursts.

The games I'm talking about in Harry's years are the likes of QPR away, Everton away that season. Tonnes of possession but no real plan or strategy for the game. Just a mish mash of players told to go out there and play and because they were better players, they would whole possession for a longer period. But we never, ever came close to threatening in those games with serious chances. Even last year the QPR game we drew 0-0 and Sandro got injured Ade was missing chances that were easier to score.

Ade also missed a 1 on 1 sitter. Chelsea literally had no chances but a Mata free kick in the first half that hit the post.

The rest of your post i cannot argue with, good post.

 

[Kingdawson]

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

Wait BOL...what are you saying as i'm confused. You're not saying we've looked more likely to score under AVB than Arry are you?

 

[africanspurs]

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

Ade also missed a 1 on 1 sitter. Chelsea literally had no chances but a Mata free kick in the first half that hit the post.

The rest of your post i cannot argue with, good post.

he does tend to have that on some rraaaaaaaaare occasions

 

[africanspurs]

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

Wait BOL...what are you saying as i'm confused. You're not saying we've looked more likely to score under AVB than Arry are you?

nah, but that at the extreme ends of the spectrum...when toothless under AVB we still tend to create a clear cut chance or two..or that we could look like we could be in the game whereas with harry's toothless games we didnt look like we had that much of an idea how we would go about breaking the opposition and had less clear cut chances

 

[BrainOfLevy]

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

nah, but that at the extreme ends of the spectrum...when toothless under AVB we still tend to create a clear cut chance or two..or that we could look like we could be in the game whereas with harry's toothless games we didnt look like we had that much of an idea how we would go about breaking the opposition and had less clear cut chances

Yeah that's pretty much it.

Even in the games under AVB where we look slow, turgid etc I'm always pretty confident we will have a spell where we create proper chances. Chances that are easier to score than miss. There may not be spread out over the match and it may look like a poor offensive perfomance overall, but we will in the majority of the games have that spell. Under Harry, if we didn't look like we had an idea, then we often just didn't have an idea. It either clicked and worked really well or it didn't click and we looked like Liverpool against Hull.

 

[Kingdawson]

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

Yeah that's pretty much it.

Even in the games under AVB where we look slow, turgid etc I'm always pretty confident we will have a spell where we create proper chances. Chances that are easier to score than miss. There may not be spread out over the match and it may look like a poor offensive perfomance overall, but we will in the majority of the games have that spell. Under Harry, if we didn't look like we had an idea, then we often just didn't have an idea. It either clicked and worked really well or it didn't click and we looked like Liverpool against Hull.

hmmmm dunno about that. There's been quite a few games where we haven't created a single clear chance (home games in particular).

AVB deserves credit for our away performances and i don't think anybody can argue about that. We look far more solid, we look like we'll create at least 1 big chance a game, we generally look defensively solid, we look like we have a gameplan.

 

[Kingdawson]

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

he does tend to have that on some rraaaaaaaaare occasions

I like BOL tbh :lol:. I don't agree with 99.9% of what he says but i feel it's coming from a good place AND he's never overly critical of previous management to prove his points about the current manager.

 

[Gutter Boy]

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

Yeah that's pretty much it.

Even in the games under AVB where we look slow, turgid etc I'm always pretty confident we will have a spell where we create proper chances. Chances that are easier to score than miss. There may not be spread out over the match and it may look like a poor offensive perfomance overall, but we will in the majority of the games have that spell. Under Harry, if we didn't look like we had an idea, then we often just didn't have an idea. It either clicked and worked really well or it didn't click and we looked like Liverpool against Hull.

I've always thought football is a bit like chess, just with more squares and less pieces.

AVB probes with his pawns, always with the final game-winning 10-move slotting into place under the surface. Whereas Redknapp carelessly throws his queen around from the start, which will either knock his opponent for six, or leave himself hopelessly exposed.

The big difference for me is control - AVB tries to control games, which at times means wearing opponents down, rather than going for the neck at every opportunity.

 

[africanspurs]

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

I've always thought football is a bit like chess, just with more squares and less pieces.

AVB probes with his pawns, always with the final game-winning 10-move slotting into place under the surface. Whereas Redknapp carelessly throws his queen around from the start, which will either knock his opponent for six, or leave himself hopelessly exposed.

The big difference for me is control - AVB tries to control games, which at times means wearing opponents down, rather than going for the neck at every opportunity.

what would you say the following teams do

barcelona
arsenal
spain
the lyon team of the early naughties
the entire italian league (generalising)

 

[Gutter Boy]

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

what would you say the following teams do

barcelona
arsenal
spain
the lyon team of the early naughties
the entire italian league (generalising)

All play like we are trying to (I'm less familiar with that Lyon team).

The Barca movement as they queue up to get in at goal (and then reset if it doesn't come off) is exactly the sort of pre-planned strategy I expect us to be executing in time.

 

[ALtottenham_hotspur]

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

Was gonna start a new thread (still might) but think its best suited to being in here really

I read André Villas-Boas: Special Too (see below link) on Sunday I couldn't put it down once I started.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Andr%C3%A9-Villas-Boas-Luis-Miguel-Pereira/dp/1905928084/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1386672112&sr=1-1&keywords=andre+villas+boas

Before I read the book like many people on here I was unhappy with AVB, and again like some I didnt want him sacked but at the same time I was completely annoyed by his tactics. GutterBoy (think thats his name) in this very thread started talking about what AVB trys to bring to a club and suggested reading the above book.

I have now finished it and I have regained the faith in AVB, I want to try and give a few reasons why.

Some of his scouting work while under Mourinho was exceptional, the detail he put into those reports is frightening. His man management is first class, if any more story's come out about him losing the dressing room its complete lies. An example of how good he is while at Porto Hulk's sister lost her two kids they drowned in a pool, AVB told Hulk to leave for Brazil and dont come back until he's ready however long it takes. Another player at Academia his wife lost twins again AVB told him to go away and only come back when ready. Also AVB knew of a clinic which would be helpful to the wife when they wanted to try again for kids so he got them booked in when they were ready. AVB believes if a player is mentally suffering they cant be trusted on a pitch. (could explain why Ade took so long to return to the first team) He keeps in touch with all his ex players, they can come to him about anything

Gutterboy mentioned how AVB likes to attack in spells during a game, from what I read I thought it came more across of AVB likes his teams to be in total control of the ball, if we have the ball, we dont waste energy trying to win it back. His strategy's don't tend to change because of the opposition we face that weekend, he prefers teams to worry about us.

I know some people may reply if he's so good why have we been poor in some many games this season. My answer would be too many signings in such a short space of time plus all of them have come from abroad, we always hear how fast English football is and I do think the players think they have more time on the ball when they should be trying to pass the ball around quicker. Its no real surprise our best players this season have been the likes of Walker, Lennon (recently), Demeble, Sandro all have been in English football either all their lives or spent a number of seasons in England. I think as this season goes on we will get stronger and stronger, infact I think we have started our run now.

I would recommend everyone buying the book.

 

[BrainOfLevy]

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

Was gonna start a new thread (still might) but think its best suited to being in here really

I read André Villas-Boas: Special Too (see below link) on Sunday I couldn't put it down once I started.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Andr%C3%A9-Villas-Boas-Luis-Miguel-Pereira/dp/1905928084/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1386672112&sr=1-1&keywords=andre+villas+boas

Before I read the book like many people on here I was unhappy with AVB, and again like some I didnt want him sacked but at the same time I was completely annoyed by his tactics. GutterBoy (think thats his name) in this very thread started talking about what AVB trys to bring to a club and suggested reading the above book.

I have now finished it and I have regained the faith in AVB, I want to try and give a few reasons why.

Some of his scouting work while under Mourinho was exceptional, the detail he put into those reports is frightening. His man management is first class, if any more story's come out about him losing the dressing room its complete lies. An example of how good he is while at Porto Hulk's sister lost her two kids they drowned in a pool, AVB told Hulk to leave for Brazil and dont come back until he's ready however long it takes. Another player at Academia his wife lost twins again AVB told him to go away and only come back when ready. Also AVB knew of a clinic which would be helpful to the wife when they wanted to try again for kids so he got them booked in when they were ready. AVB believes if a player is mentally suffering they cant be trusted on a pitch. (could explain why Ade took so long to return to the first team) He keeps in touch with all his ex players, they can come to him about anything

Gutterboy mentioned how AVB likes to attack in spells during a game, from what I read I thought it came more across of AVB likes his teams to be in total control of the ball, if we have the ball, we dont waste energy trying to win it back. His strategy's don't tend to change because of the opposition we face that weekend, he prefers teams to worry about us.

I know some people may reply if he's so good why have we been poor in some many games this season. My answer would be too many signings in such a short space of time plus all of them have come from abroad, we always hear how fast English football is and I do think the players think they have more time on the ball when they should be trying to pass the ball around quicker. Its no real surprise our best players this season have been the likes of Walker, Lennon (recently), Demeble, Sandro all have been in English football either all their lives or spent a number of seasons in England. I think as this season goes on we will get stronger and stronger, infact I think we have started our run now.

I would recommend everyone buying the book.

Nice one mate - I just hope he's not already on the way out and actually gets to build something worthwhile at this club!

 

[Gutter Boy]

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

Was gonna start a new thread (still might) but think its best suited to being in here really

I read André Villas-Boas: Special Too (see below link) on Sunday I couldn't put it down once I started.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Andr%C3%A9-Villas-Boas-Luis-Miguel-Pereira/dp/1905928084/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1386672112&sr=1-1&keywords=andre+villas+boas

Before I read the book like many people on here I was unhappy with AVB, and again like some I didnt want him sacked but at the same time I was completely annoyed by his tactics. GutterBoy (think thats his name) in this very thread started talking about what AVB trys to bring to a club and suggested reading the above book.

I have now finished it and I have regained the faith in AVB, I want to try and give a few reasons why.

Some of his scouting work while under Mourinho was exceptional, the detail he put into those reports is frightening. His man management is first class, if any more story's come out about him losing the dressing room its complete lies. An example of how good he is while at Porto Hulk's sister lost her two kids they drowned in a pool, AVB told Hulk to leave for Brazil and dont come back until he's ready however long it takes. Another player at Academia his wife lost twins again AVB told him to go away and only come back when ready. Also AVB knew of a clinic which would be helpful to the wife when they wanted to try again for kids so he got them booked in when they were ready. AVB believes if a player is mentally suffering they cant be trusted on a pitch. (could explain why Ade took so long to return to the first team) He keeps in touch with all his ex players, they can come to him about anything

Gutterboy mentioned how AVB likes to attack in spells during a game, from what I read I thought it came more across of AVB likes his teams to be in total control of the ball, if we have the ball, we dont waste energy trying to win it back. His strategy's don't tend to change because of the opposition we face that weekend, he prefers teams to worry about us.

I know some people may reply if he's so good why have we been poor in some many games this season. My answer would be too many signings in such a short space of time plus all of them have come from abroad, we always hear how fast English football is and I do think the players think they have more time on the ball when they should be trying to pass the ball around quicker. Its no real surprise our best players this season have been the likes of Walker, Lennon (recently), Demeble, Sandro all have been in English football either all their lives or spent a number of seasons in England. I think as this season goes on we will get stronger and stronger, infact I think we have started our run now.

I would recommend everyone buying the book.

Welcome to the church ;-)

 

[Mumorn]

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

Think I may have to purchase this book. Although I was never a non-believer and always thought the criticism coming AVBs way was always pathetic.

 

[billyiddo]

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

Perhaps we should start a book club

 

[Mumorn]

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

Perhaps we should start a book club

First up:

André Villas-Boas: Special Too

next:

arry Rednapp: my ortobiografee - aways manajin