YOU are the manager

[Modric THFC]

Cant score? How about starting the guy that has scored 1/3 of our league goals this season?

How about a few simple rules for a start. No Lennon on the left. No Lamela on the left. Don't play wingers when trying to break down a team sitting deep. MAke all your player watch tapes of Soldado runs for the next week until they can spot them.

 

[Pirate55]

Wow. Now you are talking!

First, credit AVB where credit is due. He has consolidated our team and made us very hard to beat. He has us up to 4th in the table despite us not firing on all cylinders. He has demonstrated he is a good defensive coach and got a good team spirit going. However, there are undoubtedly improvements that are necessary. We need to score more goals and improve our home performances. How we achieve these twin objectives while still maintaining the positives is the key IMO.

How to score more?

1. Practice corners and free kicks so they become a well drilled aspect of our play. I know this is a hobby horse of mine, but we have decent delivers of a dead ball yet hardly ever any outcome. If necessary, employ a specialist corner/free kick coach to concentrate on this aspect. If we could score a few more from these, other teams (especially those that park the bus) would then have to come out and fall into our counterattacking game plan.

2. Decide between Soldado and the inverted winger style of play. They really aren't that compatible IMO. If Soldado is to be the main man, then Townsend should start on the left and Lamela( or Lennon) on the right to get to the byline and whip in crosses.

3. Don't take any first teamers to play in early Round EL games away from home.

4. Decide on little triangles and get these players working together eg Paulie, Walker and Lamela/Townsend. Soldado, Eriksen, and Siggi. Defoe, Holtby and Dembele so they begin to form partnerships and get to know each others moves.

5. In January, buy a strong, tall, bustling centre forward as clearly AVB sees there is no future for Ade and we need that type of option up front if Plan A isn't working. Mk1 Ade would be fine if we could find him!

6. Also in Jan we need an attacking left back as either a replacement for, or back up to, Rose. Without one we are too unbalanced. Verts played well there against Everton, but I prefer him at CB.

7. Fire our entire medical team. It is a scandal how long it takes our players to get back from injury. There is no way that it seems always to take our players so much longer than expected to get back up to speed and ready for first team action. Also, to have allowed Lloris to carry on against Everton was shocking. After an injury like this, he should never have been allowed to continue no matter how much he wanted to.

8. Be more creative in our substitutions and make them earlier to have a chance of influencing games. I think this is one of AVB's Achilles heels. He too often just subs like for like, without reacting to the situation or other teams tactics (eg Chelsea or Everton in the second half)

9. At home, against the lesser teams that park the bus, we don't need a double defensive midfield pivot. Sandro or Capoue alone is enough to provide defensive cover in these type of games, which would allow us to field another more creative player to help break them down

10. Start with a fast tempo and press teams high up the pitch. We did this in the first half against Everton and played them off the park. Too often we start slowly and get slower. Force the initiative

How do we entertain more, especially at home?

1. See 9 and 10 above. Give the crowd something to cheer and they will respond.

2. Get the ball forward faster. We need to hit the ball into space behind the defence to allow our wide men to use their speed.

3. Much more running off the ball is required. We need to give the man in possession at least a couple of options.

4. Midfielders must run in behind Soldado. Watch the Arsnal to see how this is done.

5. Do not sit on one or even two goal leads but continue to be ruthless and press home our advantage. Lets see some goal feasts like Mancity deliver at home.

6 Never forget our Motto - To Dare is to Do. Lets go for it at home.

COYS. You know it can be done. Believe!

 

[Raziel]

Pirate, you have some good points, as did a couple of other people.

The problem is, with us playing two games a week, very hard to see where the time to drill some of those ideas into play will come from.

I agree with quite a bit of it, suspect it will simply come down to learning in games unfortunately.

 

[thfcsteff]

I wrote this in another thread earlier, but I'd use Eriksen on the left (rather than at #10) to break him into the pace of the league a bit more gently, just like we did with Modric.

I do see why Townsend and (and less so, esp considering Siggy's form) Lennon, are starting, but I just think their style of play is wrong for the team. I wouldn't rush Eriksen and Lamela to the extent that it might harm their long term prospects, but we need their qualities as soon as we can starting integrating them.

I somewhat see the logic of that, but I think it's too big a risk given the high-line we like to play and the way AVB does want the full-backs to push on. It would leave Eriksen with a lot of defensive duties/graft that I'm not sure is quite in him? To be fair, Harry used Modric like that for a while, but as I remember it was as much out of necessity as anything else. Ramos had already broken him in, albeit as a deep playmaker, and I think Luka was always made of tough stuff given the league he came out of. Agree with their qualities (Eriksen and Lamela) being needed sooner than later...

 

[thfcsteff]

Wow. Now you are talking!

First, credit AVB where credit is due. He has consolidated our team and made us very hard to beat. He has us up to 4th in the table despite us not firing on all cylinders. He has demonstrated he is a good defensive coach and got a good team spirit going. However, there are undoubtedly improvements that are necessary. We need to score more goals and improve our home performances. How we achieve these twin objectives while still maintaining the positives is the key IMO.

How to score more?

1. Practice corners and free kicks so they become a well drilled aspect of our play. I know this is a hobby horse of mine, but we have decent delivers of a dead ball yet hardly ever any outcome. If necessary, employ a specialist corner/free kick coach to concentrate on this aspect. If we could score a few more from these, other teams (especially those that park the bus) would then have to come out and fall into our counterattacking game plan.

2. Decide between Soldado and the inverted winger style of play. They really aren't that compatible IMO. If Soldado is to be the main man, then Townsend should start on the left and Lamela( or Lennon) on the right to get to the byline and whip in crosses.

3. Don't take any first teamers to play in early Round EL games away from home.

4. Decide on little triangles and get these players working together eg Paulie, Walker and Lamela/Townsend. Soldado, Eriksen, and Siggi. Defoe, Holtby and Dembele so they begin to form partnerships and get to know each others moves.

5. In January, buy a strong, tall, bustling centre forward as clearly AVB sees there is no future for Ade and we need that type of option up front if Plan A isn't working. Mk1 Ade would be fine if we could find him!

6. Also in Jan we need an attacking left back as either a replacement for, or back up to, Rose. Without one we are too unbalanced. Verts played well there against Everton, but I prefer him at CB.

7. Fire our entire medical team. It is a scandal how long it takes our players to get back from injury. There is no way that it seems always to take our players so much longer than expected to get back up to speed and ready for first team action. Also, to have allowed Lloris to carry on against Everton was shocking. After an injury like this, he should never have been allowed to continue no matter how much he wanted to.

8. Be more creative in our substitutions and make them earlier to have a chance of influencing games. I think this is one of AVB's Achilles heels. He too often just subs like for like, without reacting to the situation or other teams tactics (eg Chelsea or Everton in the second half)

9. At home, against the lesser teams that park the bus, we don't need a double defensive midfield pivot. Sandro or Capoue alone is enough to provide defensive cover in these type of games, which would allow us to field another more creative player to help break them down

10. Start with a fast tempo and press teams high up the pitch. We did this in the first half against Everton and played them off the park. Too often we start slowly and get slower. Force the initiative

How do we entertain more, especially at home?

1. See 9 and 10 above. Give the crowd something to cheer and they will respond.

2. Get the ball forward faster. We need to hit the ball into space behind the defence to allow our wide men to use their speed.

3. Much more running off the ball is required. We need to give the man in possession at least a couple of options.

4. Midfielders must run in behind Soldado. Watch the Arsnal to see how this is done.

5. Do not sit on one or even two goal leads but continue to be ruthless and press home our advantage. Lets see some goal feasts like Mancity deliver at home.

6 Never forget our Motto - To Dare is to Do. Lets go for it at home.

COYS. You know it can be done. Believe!

Whilst I don't agree with everything you've said, I'd like to say that it was a fine read, really interesting and not without it's strong points too mate…top post! COYS indeed!

 

[Pirate55]

Whilst I don't agree with everything you've said, I'd like to say that it was a fine read, really interesting and not without it's strong points too mate…top post! COYS indeed!

Thanks Steff. That's top praise from you - and much appreciated, mate!

 

[Pirate55]

Pirate, you have some good points, as did a couple of other people.

The problem is, with us playing two games a week, very hard to see where the time to drill some of those ideas into play will come from.

I agree with quite a bit of it, suspect it will simply come down to learning in games unfortunately.

At this stage of the season, I don't think fitness is the key issue. Therefore, there should be ample time now for practical tactical drills to be dealt with in training I would have thought. This should be the priority now IMO as it is our main weakness.

 

[mudshark]

I agree with many of the points being made re Soldado and finding the right system to get the best out of him. It's such a shame we haven't had Adebayor as another option, I think. If I were AVB, I reckon I'd have been shifting heaven and earth to get him back involved, whereas the opposite seems to have happened. I'd have kept Benny at the club as well, personally.

The defensive solidity is nice (not to say essential, given that we are so blunt in attack), but if the goal drought continues, I fear we may be the likeliest of the top 5 or 6 clubs to start lagging behind. I really hope AVB doesn't actually believe his own propaganda when he tells interviewers he's perfectly happy with our goal return because we've scored 30 including the Europa League or whatever it is.

I'm another one who would like to see Eriksen preferred over Holtby; I just feel he has more guile about him. Lamela, I think, probably does need to be eased in still and given more time to settle in off the pitch. We'll very likely not see the best of him till next season, I'd say.

All things considered, I'll give AVB 8/10 so far, and I think I trust him to sort out the principal conundrum.

 

[scaramanga]

Pirate, you have some good points, as did a couple of other people.

The problem is, with us playing two games a week, very hard to see where the time to drill some of those ideas into play will come from.

I agree with quite a bit of it, suspect it will simply come down to learning in games unfortunately.

Easily fixed - play the kids (not bench players, actual kids) in the EL and AVB should send someone in his place so he can spend more time with the team.

 

[milo]

Easily fixed - play the kids (not bench players, actual kids) in the EL and AVB should send someone in his place so he can spend more time with the team.

Our last manager got slaughtered for playing the kids in Europe. You couldn't move for people saying that he was respecting the competition and fans on here at the time.

 

[milo]

That should read disrespecting

 

[Pirate55]

Our last manager got slaughtered for playing the kids in Europe. You couldn't move for people saying that he was respecting the competition and fans on here at the time.

We have a massive squad. For AWAY games in the qualifying group, there would be so much sense in playing those not involved with the first team. A team of say Friedel , Naughton, Kaboul, Chiriches, Fryers, Kid until Capoue is fit, Lennon, Lamela, Defoe, Ade, Kid.

A team like this for AWAY EL qualifying games would:

1. Save the regular first teamers and keep them fresh for the EPL.
2. Give players who aren't featuring regularly some much needed game time
3. Allow experimentation eg to see if 4-4-2 might be an option
4. Enable us to blood a couple of kids
5. Have more than enough to get a result - and even if they lost, the damage could be repaired at home
6. Allow AVB to work on corners and free kicks at home with the first team
7. NOT disrespect the EL in any way, shape or form!

 

[Gutter Boy]

2. Decide between Soldado and the inverted winger style of play. They really aren't that compatible IMO. If Soldado is to be the main man, then Townsend should start on the left and Lamela( or Lennon) on the right to get to the byline and whip in crosses.

I don't really agree with this. I think ideally Soldado would be supported by players more suited to being inside forwards. Inverted wingers is a half-way-house, but byline wingers is going in completely the wrong direction IMO.

If Lennon and Townsend played on their correct sides (actually I don't think Townsend has ever really played on the left despite being left-footed, but never mind), all we'll get is pointless crosses where 6'4" centre backs will be untroubled by 5'10" or smaller Soldado, Paulinho, Holtby and Eriksen. Soldado feeds off intelligent through-balls that pick out his clever movement. Having wide forwards cutting in to play these is exactly what we need. The problem is that both Lennon and Townsend are too direct/head-down and lack the vision to find Soldado.

Remember AVB has always used forwards like Soldado (Falcao, Torres) over big #9s. I'm just confident that when Lamela and Eriksen get introduced they'll be much more in-tune with the type of service he needs. Until they are ready I'd definitely revert back to Siggy over Lennon, or even think about using Ade as wide forward.

 

[scaramanga]

Our last manager got slaughtered for playing the kids in Europe. You couldn't move for people saying that he was respecting the competition and fans on here at the time.

I think the first thing any Spurs manager has to do is understand the fact that no matter what he does, people will slaughter him (especially on here).

I know it's a bit of a broken record with me, but until UEFA respects the competition I have no expectation of our manager to do so. It may be a small risk to our PL ambitions, but to me the competition doesn't warrant any risk.

 

[braineclipse]

I don't really agree with this. I think ideally Soldado would be supported by players more suited to being inside forwards. Inverted wingers is a half-way-house, but byline wingers is going in completely the wrong direction IMO.

If Lennon and Townsend played on their correct sides (actually I don't think Townsend has ever really played on the left despite being left-footed, but never mind), all we'll get is pointless crosses where 6'4" centre backs will be untroubled by 5'10" or smaller Soldado, Paulinho, Holtby and Eriksen. Soldado feeds off intelligent through-balls that pick out his clever movement. Having wide forwards cutting in to play these is exactly what we need. The problem is that both Lennon and Townsend are too direct/head-down and lack the vision to find Soldado.

Remember AVB has always used forwards like Soldado (Falcao, Torres) over big #9s. I'm just confident that when Lamela and Eriksen get introduced they'll be much more in-tune with the type of service he needs. Until they are ready I'd definitely revert back to Siggy over Lennon, or even think about using Ade as wide forward.

I think this is a good point.

Like you I'm quite interested to see if Lamela and Eriksen can create some magic together.

 

[Bullet]

Milo - don't confuse a vocal minority with the entire fanbase. If a load of people on here are whining, there are a load of people quite content and vice versa. Big decisions like playing the second string in Europe will elicit moans, but so does playing first teamers in Uzbekistan. I would play the second string. It is great experience for the younger players and good training for those coming back from injuries and subs that aren't getting game time.

Gutterboy - I agree Eriksen and Lamela must be the end goal, above Lennon and Townsend. They have much more skill, awareness, cuteness. If we are playing on the break I like Townsend and Lennon, but not if we are dominating.

Pirate - yes, we need to sort out corners - it was no surprise whatsoever that Caulker scored yesterday, he attacks them with real determination and makes it happen.

Lots of rational and reasonable comments in here so far, quite rare!

 

[harr1984]

I don't understand why Lennon has walked straight back into the team despite Sig playing well and/or would have been a good opportunity to give a start to Lamela in one of the 3 attacking midfield slots.

Agree with that. In the formation we play the two wide forwards or whatever you call them have to have goals in them otherwise you're over reliant on the striker. Sig is much more of a goal threat. He also creates and does a decent shift defensively even if not as good as Lennon does...

 

[Jurgen the German]

In the spirit of discussion, do you think Eriksen is ready to graft games like yesterday's? I still think he has a bit of a soft centre in that regard…I personally believe that Lamela will absolutely start to have an impact in the coming months, but he will also need patient handling.

I said a few days I believed AVB would pick Holtby again, but I don't think we needed all 11 players to run their ******** off, we had Sandro, Paulinho, Lennon and co to do that, Eriksen and Sig both looked good when they came on.

 

[Jurgen the German]

Agree with that. In the formation we play the two wide forwards or whatever you call them have to have goals in them otherwise you're over reliant on the striker. Sig is much more of a goal threat. He also creates and does a decent shift defensively even if not as good as Lennon does...

Been a massive Lennon fan for years, defended him when other clubs fans have him stick. But the penny has dropped with me that his end product just isn't good enough. On his day he can be devastating, but he gets around 4 or 5 goals a season. I absolutely wouldn't sell him as he's a good option to have on the bench. Look at Arsenal, not just now because they are settled but they've always had goal scoring midfielders, Nasri, Ljungberg, Fabregas, Cazorla, Arshavin, Pires, you get the idea.

 

[IulianSteaua]

Did that, v West Ham. It didn't end well.

Surely you do not blame Defoe for us getting 3 goals scored against us. Usually we score 1 time in the league, so let's say the end result would have been 1-3 would that make you happier?