Lennon is not a front three player and Bale won't want to move wide. It won't happen, and neither will Damiao. I don't even see the fuss with him, his best season he got 14 in 28. Benteke's younger and has 15 in 30 in England. I guess familiarity breeds contempt.
-------------------- Lloris ---------------------
Walker ----- Kaboul ------ Vertonghen ----- Rose
----------- Sandro ------- Dembele ------------
-- Lennon ---------- Bale ----------- Eriksen ---
------------------- Striker ---------------------
It's a wonky front 3 though. Bale would be tucked in like Hulk, whereas Lennon would be out wide like Varlea.
Re the CF, I just think AVB is quite single minded about his targets and Leandro was clearly the only forward he wanted he January, so I think we'll give it another try. Re Benteke, he's a great hold-up CF for a team that plays on the break, but because we're going to be a possession side we need more of an intelligent clever-moving last-shoulder #9 instead.
can see us going for Eriksen but not so sure he's needed - isn't he an attacking central midfielder? isn't that where we want to be playing Bale?
Why are we going to be a possession side? Spurs aren't Porto, Spurs are Spurs. We're not a good possession side, we're built around pace and power, it would take a big change in playing personel for us to change that.
AVB was once asked to sum up his football philosophy. His reply was “4-3-3 of ball possession and movement, and when necessary, the use of a high defence line and vigorous ball recovery”. His raison d'etre is possession, resting with the ball and short bursts of intense pressing.
Dembele, Sandro, Holtby, Siggy are all good enough to play a possession game, we just lack that one final Xavi/Moutinho/Modric type player in there to knit it altogther.
He did not say that at all. All he said was that he will be continuing with the same system as we'd previously been using. This 433 thing is really strange, it's as though people support a formation more than a football team around here.
I'm not sure they are and I think you're wanting us to become something we're not. I think the other North London side are perhaps better suited to your tastes.
I think we have 2, but one is so good we are playing him elsewhere
Your writing a quite but its bit one ive ever read. Can you actually please find that quote somewhere?
I don't think we will move from our current system and will but players to suit it, which means a few quality players in rather than wholesale changes.
It from his, horribly-titled but otherwise pretty good, biography (rather than an article on the internet): http://www.amazon.co.uk/André-Villas-Boas-Luis-Miguel-Pereira/dp/1905928084. P17
I would recommend everyone read it.
Some other interesting bits from it.
On his substitutions:
When he makes changes to the team, he usually does so in midfield. The timing of the changes: between 60 and 75 minutes. He removes a winger from the attack and thereby makes a midfield quartet, intermediate base of the 4-4-2 and its variants (diamond shape or 1-3). In this way, he avoids the ‘wear and tear’, and tactical fatigue that the 4-3-3 may more easily cause to the team (and t the individual players), and he avoids speaking about ‘tired players’ or a ‘worn out team’. The time he makes the change is also fully considered. At its best, the team begins to recover for the following match… in the previous match. The 4-4-2 clearly makes it possible to rest more with the ball (possession for possession’s sake)
On dealing with player problems:
Villas-Boas never had private conversations with players when they were upset. He always spoke to them face to face, but within the group. His message was: ‘What matters here is the group, the club, and not this or that player in particular’
Andre Villas-Boas likes to resolve things face to face and in front of the entire team. An effective and instructive way of overcoming any potential sources of discontent”
And perhaps of relevance to Bale's position:
“No player will ever be allowed to fulfill individual ambitions rather than collective ones”
It from his, horribly-titled but otherwise pretty good, biography (rather than an article on the internet): http://www.amazon.co.uk/André-Villas-Boas-Luis-Miguel-Pereira/dp/1905928084. P17
I would recommend everyone read it.