braineclipse
Willie Hall
I do worry about how we'll get the ball close to the 10 yard line in the second inning without a proper point guard, but at least we have an enforcer who can fight the opponents if they pick on our smaller athletes...
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Andre Villas-Boas - Head Coach
- Thread starter Bale
- Start date
I do worry about how we'll get the ball close to the 10 yard line in the second inning without a proper point guard, but at least we have an enforcer who can fight the opponents if they pick on our smaller athletes...
thfcsteff
George Hunt
It's not whether we need to strengthen, its whether we have enough money to strengthen in a way which will rapidly improve what we have. The Ba deal is perfect for Chelski as some have pointed out, as much because they can blow off the insurance danger (again as pointed out by others, i can't claim THAT thought as mine ;-) )...I think that 'if' we get lucky with injuries, absolutely our squad is good enough for the top 4. But we will need a dash of luck.
tottenhamlondon
David Kerslake
Splendid, no one really minded if he'd taken off to London again as it does no harm. But he hasn't. More concerned about some clueless Scots taking over at the moment.
Careful now, no way to speak to people who won a World Cup group off mighty old Ingerland!
braineclipse
Willie Hall
Janary transfers can be great deals that push teams on to reach their targets. The great success stories of recent years includes... Well, not many actually. Cisse, Suarez to some extent I suppose, I'm sure there are others, but I can't think of any right now.
There are plenty of examples of signings that have done very little to help the club that season and nowhere near were value for money. Torres and Carroll are the obvious recent ones, but even Evra and Vidic when they first signed for United in a January window were fairly poor for the rest of that season.
There is no reason to buy just to buy, I agree with you. If we can find the right player then we should and will go for it. Someone like Moutinho who knows AVB and AVB has worked with before sounds perfect, but honestly if we want someone to perform straight away we should primarily be looking at PL proven players. A new signing who doesn't work out straight away can also cause some harm, unrest in the squad and of course if that player gets to play ahead of someone who was actually performing earlier in the season that can affect the results directly.
That being said, let's sign Moutinho, Llorente and Willian please
thfcsteff
George Hunt
Janary transfers can be great deals that push teams on to reach their targets. The great success stories of recent years includes... Well, not many actually. Cisse, Suarez to some extent I suppose, I'm sure there are others, but I can't think of any right now.
There are plenty of examples of signings that have done very little to help the club that season and nowhere near were value for money. Torres and Carroll are the obvious recent ones, but even Evra and Vidic when they first signed for United in a January window were fairly poor for the rest of that season.
There is no reason to buy just to buy, I agree with you. If we can find the right player then we should and will go for it. Someone like Moutinho who knows AVB and AVB has worked with before sounds perfect, but honestly if we want someone to perform straight away we should primarily be looking at PL proven players. A new signing who doesn't work out straight away can also cause some harm, unrest in the squad and of course if that player gets to play ahead of someone who was actually performing earlier in the season that can affect the results directly.
That being said, let's sign Moutinho, Llorente and Willian please
I think, sadly, we couldn't. :-(
Funny re: Suarez...we turned down the chance a couple of seasons ago, our management couldn't make up their minds on him (weren't sure what he would bring that they didn't feel we already had...!!!!...and also a question mark over his character) and whilst the last point is absolutely 100% bang-on, I have to say, this current side with Suarez would be the business. There again, I'd have trouble supporting a player like that in our shirt, so maybe it remains a case of 'good decision.
BrainOfLevy
Michael Carrick
I think maybe one of the reasons was that I'm not sure how well he would fit in with our lads. The dynamic of the team was something Harry was good at building to be fair, in terms of a balance of characters, and I really feel like Suarez would be the odd one out here.
He wouldn't be the 'main man' like he is at Liverpool, and would have to fit in amongst a lot of guys despite pretty questionable behaviour. I know we have Ade and Gallas who have been eccentric at times but Ade seems to have humbled in the last few years and Gallas has been by all accounts pretty exemplary in his role as veteran in the squad since he's been here. Other than that, most of ours lads seem to fit a certain kind of mould, and I don't think our players would be willing to pander to Suarez like the Liverpool ones do. In that sense I'm not too fussed that we didn't go for him, as I'm not sure he would have been as successful here.
At the time I thought the explanation that he was too similar to Rafa (how can a professional football manager not see the difference in their playing styles?) was a bit preposterous and something else was probably the reason, with the public one given to placate fans wondering why we let him go to Liverpool when needing a striker ourselves.
The Moonlit Knight
Banned
I think you are AVB's love child and see what you want to see. What was the biggest problem with Ade last season? He kept drifting wide. This is not a new thing AVB implemented. Sorry to be so blunt but you are so in love with AVB it is totally pointless discussing anything with you.
JerusalemMan
Paul Robinson
I don't think you are sorry at all.
greatwhitenorf
Dean Richards
My word. Nice little debate going on there, but that's taken the bowling a bit too bodyline.
braineclipse
Willie Hall
I'm Norwegian, someone beating England really doesn't impress or surprise me. England is like the Saudi Sportswashing Machine of international teams.
*duck for cover*
Spursalot
Jimmy McCormick
Is that such a bad thing? We want a player who can hold the ball up as a striker. The opponents full backs are likely to attack us when they have the ball. So it makes perfect sense to me for Ade to drift wide. He's moving into space to pick up the long ball and additionally he has the likelihood of dragging one of the central defenders out of position.
Rossi22
Pedro Mendes
I think most English posters feel the same way.
thfcsteff
George Hunt
Don't worry, that guy has been consistent in his dislike for me over the last year or so, nothing that surprised me in the least. I take it as a form of love.
thfcsteff
George Hunt
The problem is, our esteemed and uber-knowledgable companion has dropped a bit of a gonad with regards to Ade's "biggest problem" last season. Alas it had nothing to do with 'drifting wide' (as the only recognised striker in a 4-4-1-1 last season, such transgressions become harder) and much more to do with playing him through niggling injuries in March and April when we often had two strikers on the bench (one of whom has proven a prolific regular this season - nothing to do with AVB I'm sure!!!)...as you have quite rightly said, his pulling out to wide positions this season are much more to do with the team and space creates for the likes of Bale and Dembele to move into...I find it somewhat surprising that this has bypassed even one as smart as he!
Spursalot
Jimmy McCormick
I thought his biggest problem was the fact that he's not a clinical goalscorer. Which is one i can, and likely everyone in here, agree on.
thfcsteff
George Hunt
Agreed!
braineclipse
Willie Hall
With Holtby confirmed it's one more first team signing under AVB. That makes it 6 by my count, Vertonghen, Dembele, Dempsey, Sig, Lloris and now Holtby.
In the Holtby thread he is among other things being described as a very good ball winner, sounds like a hard working player. I think we are again seeing signs of what AVB wants to do with the club, all his signings have been hard working players who can do a bit of everything, but who are also good on the ball regardless of where they play.
We've already seen the benefits of a defender in Vertonghen and goalie in Lloris who both are very good on the ball, as I've said previously I think this benefit will show even better when we get Ekotto back. I still think a couple of our players aren't good enough on the ball at this point though and it's holding us back. I think we will keep improving under AVB and I think the signings made will continue to reflect this, no more Bassong, Hutton or Gomes type signings is my speculation.
I also think we've seen some of the benefits of having a team of hard working players (yes, that included Ade). Our pressing has been very good at times and we're looking more and more like a team that defends like a unit, not just individuals. This has meant letting Kranjcar go and I think it influenced the decision to let VdV go, but that's little more than speculation. Similarly I would speculate that it was the reason we weren't in for Berbatov - similar to the reasons why Ferguson didn't use him much after his first season and why he was eventually sold. I think our transfer strategy will continue to reflect this as well.
When you talk of getting more than the sum of it's parts out of a group of players I think having only hard working players in a side is a very good example. If you have only one or two players who aren't part of the defensive work a high pressing game will often fail, but if you have an entire team of hard working players it can all come together very nicely. Barca and Manu are two excellent examples of this imo. Having only players who are good on the ball is another example.
In the Holtby thread he is among other things being described as a very good ball winner, sounds like a hard working player. I think we are again seeing signs of what AVB wants to do with the club, all his signings have been hard working players who can do a bit of everything, but who are also good on the ball regardless of where they play.
We've already seen the benefits of a defender in Vertonghen and goalie in Lloris who both are very good on the ball, as I've said previously I think this benefit will show even better when we get Ekotto back. I still think a couple of our players aren't good enough on the ball at this point though and it's holding us back. I think we will keep improving under AVB and I think the signings made will continue to reflect this, no more Bassong, Hutton or Gomes type signings is my speculation.
I also think we've seen some of the benefits of having a team of hard working players (yes, that included Ade). Our pressing has been very good at times and we're looking more and more like a team that defends like a unit, not just individuals. This has meant letting Kranjcar go and I think it influenced the decision to let VdV go, but that's little more than speculation. Similarly I would speculate that it was the reason we weren't in for Berbatov - similar to the reasons why Ferguson didn't use him much after his first season and why he was eventually sold. I think our transfer strategy will continue to reflect this as well.
When you talk of getting more than the sum of it's parts out of a group of players I think having only hard working players in a side is a very good example. If you have only one or two players who aren't part of the defensive work a high pressing game will often fail, but if you have an entire team of hard working players it can all come together very nicely. Barca and Manu are two excellent examples of this imo. Having only players who are good on the ball is another example.
BrainOfLevy
Michael Carrick
Agreed.
We're building a squad of hard-working players that are good on the ball and can play right across their line of the team. Next season I can see us being so fluid, so adaptable to different situations and different approaches against us, and so adaptable to rotation and injuries within our squad. We should be very consistent.
The hard working, pressing is definitely part of the equation.
I do think technically good players is also high on AVB's/clubs list, one of the things that stands out for me watching us play over last few seasons is progressively how much better technically our players are, first touch, ball control, ability in tight spaces.
I do think technically good players is also high on AVB's/clubs list, one of the things that stands out for me watching us play over last few seasons is progressively how much better technically our players are, first touch, ball control, ability in tight spaces.