Andre Villas-Boas - Head Coach

[Nigeyman]

Re: AVB - Making Tottenham His Own

Nah

Right...now this is my opinion but feel free to shoot me down if you wish....

The first half was massively impressive from us, I thought the pressing and the dominance of possession in Evertons half was really good from us, of course we don't have messi nor did we have xavi to thread the balls through to solly but on the whole it was very encouraging. I think we have better players than Holtby & Lennon on the bench in Lamela and Erikson even Sig.

Don't be so down about our team Colin nor about Andros......in the past we did not have the ability the talented players.....for the first time(and here goes my head in the gilllotine) I believe we have the squad to win the title...I firmly believe this. What we lack is cohesion and confidence which I believe will come in time (no I wont change the record)

yes our performance dropped off and we were guilty of not scoring when on top. Andros is good enough...there is nothing wrong with his ability but his decision making does need to improve ten-fold......again this will come with training and getting used to what his teammates want....how they play.

Its all opinions if you think Andros isn't good enough that's your opinion and fine by me....personally I think we will be on song come the new year.

 

[onlyme]

Re: AVB - Making Tottenham His Own

The more people blame loyal and hardworking spurs players, that have been plying their trade for us for years, for soldado not have having one of his spanish league marketed danger mouse fox in the box routines...the more i actually dislike soldado

if its good enough for defoe and ade to get a decent haul without penalties then it should be at the very least decent or satisfactory enough for him. Maybe the problem isnt completely rest of the team, surely at least partially to do with? I mean the guy had an uncontested header.....showed he is human.

for the record i actually thought today was one of his better games for us, but if he isnt scoring then he just isnt scoring, lets deal with that and move on to the next game and another 90 minutes of developing team chemistry with him and the rest.

next thing you know people will start blaming the pitch........oh wait

I thought Soldado was the weakest link today. He had more touches than usual outside the box but he rarely found a Spurs player.

As I have already said he was up against 4 Everton players on his own this afternoon so I am not gonna slate him for his work inside the box.

Everton are a decent but not great side. I am gonna repeat myself just one last time but we have to have more men in the box or we will never score again except from long range efforts.

 

[onlyme]

Re: AVB - Making Tottenham His Own

I think Townsend will be phased out of the team unless there's a massive upturn in form from him. He's not good enough to always go for glory, sometimes a simple pass can be way more effective.

We also need our wingers to become forwards and become more involved in the build up play. Vertonghen had a good game today, but playing the attacking FB role to perfection meant Lennon was wasted on that side. Siggy would have been a much better fit today. I saw a heat chart that showed us playing a 2-6-2 formation, but the front two were way too deep. A proper 4-3-3 would suit us better IMO.

I completely disagree.

What did he do wrong today? He had 2 on target shots that if spilled by the goalie Soldado was waiting to pounce. He did not waste crosses trying to find a miracle ball to Soldado (unlike Lennon) He cut Baines off at the knees. Baines was not a threat today.

 

[El Guepardo]

Re: AVB - Making Tottenham His Own

I thought Soldado was the weakest link today. He had more touches than usual outside the box but he rarely found a Spurs player.

As I have already said he was up against 4 Everton players on his own this afternoon so I am not gonna slate him for his work inside the box.

Everton are a decent but not great side. I am gonna repeat myself just one last time but we have to have more men in the box or we will never score again except from long range efforts.

You are right about men in the box. When the ball is on the left wing we should have a minimum of the striker, the number ten and the other winger in the box, how often do we have three players in the box? Vice versa for ball on the right wing.

 

[kanoute16]

Re: AVB - Making Tottenham His Own

If townsend isn't good enough then which player in the team is?
The only glimpses of possible threat come from him or sigurdsson
Is Paulinho good enough? What about Holtby?

Are avb's tactics good enough? 9 goals in 10 league games, is that good enough?

 

[BrainOfLevy]

Re: AVB - Making Tottenham His Own

I think people are ignoring how good Townsend is at picking up the ball and relieving pressure by driving forward with it. He really does have an excellent touch and ability to beat a man. The goals will come from him.

 

[BrainOfLevy]

Re: AVB - Making Tottenham His Own

If townsend isn't good enough then which player in the team is?
The only glimpses of possible threat come from him or sigurdsson
Is Paulinho good enough? What about Holtby?

Are avb's tactics good enough? 9 goals in 10 league games, is that good enough?

This is such a lazy analysis. 9 goals in 10 games! Bad tactics!

Totally disregarding that those tactics will lead to the good aspects about our play as well as the bad. Rafa Benitez once said management is like working with a short blanket. You have to make decisions that will leave one part of the team's body covered well and other parts exposed. You can't be everything to everyone.

So with us, yes we are not cutting teams apart at will right now. Which would really really suck, if it wasn't for the fact we were sitting in 4th and had picked up 2 points per game. The lack of goals also ties in with our lack of conceding them too. It also ties in with our control of possession in most games. At the moment we haven't got to the point where we can turn possession into clear chances yet. But at the very least we are getting decent results and territorial performances from the team, certainly at grounds with difficult teams to face like Everton.

Emirates Marketing Project have lost to Cardiff and Villa this season. Are Pelligrini's tactics good enough? They are nice and fluid and destroy teams at home, but they aren't solid away yet. Short blanket. Work in progress really just like us.

 

[onlyme]

Re: AVB - Making Tottenham His Own

You are right about men in the box. When the ball is on the left wing we should have a minimum of the striker, the number ten and the other winger in the box, how often do we have three players in the box? Vice versa for ball on the right wing.

I was getting so excited early on in the game. Sandro was bossing we were winning every midfield ball then getting the ball to Andros who was bombing down the wing and then you looked into the penalty area and there was Soldado on his own with 4 Everton guys. End of excitement. Andros either runs across the field or passes to Holtby who won't shoot or Lennon who won't shoot.
Strikers will shoot. Harry Kane will shoot. Siggy will shoot.
Edit: I should mention Verts doing similar on the left.

 

[metalgear]

Re: AVB - Making Tottenham His Own

the one that was supposed to make it work - linkup, support attack, and even add goals - was paulinho. he is a solid player but he doesn't have all the attributes to play in the role he's been asked to.

holtby was the hardest runner and tackler yesterday - a destroyer in an advanced positino that i believe is a more defensive role.

the problem is not our players per se, but our attacking line is too far forward making it easy to defend in numbers. we need all players coming back 10 - 15 m outside the penalty box and taking turns to make darting penetrating runs

 

[Cochise]

Re: AVB - Making Tottenham His Own

I thought a couple of times today Townsend was too greedy. One incident I remember towards the end of the game he fired a left foot curler when a cross onto the penalty spot would have had Soldado or Paulinho (i think) with a free header.

 

[kanoute16]

Re: AVB - Making Tottenham His Own

This is such a lazy analysis. 9 goals in 10 games! Bad tactics!

Totally disregarding that those tactics will lead to the good aspects about our play as well as the bad. Rafa Benitez once said management is like working with a short blanket. You have to make decisions that will leave one part of the team's body covered well and other parts exposed. You can't be everything to everyone.

So with us, yes we are not cutting teams apart at will right now. Which would really really suck, if it wasn't for the fact we were sitting in 4th and had picked up 2 points per game. The lack of goals also ties in with our lack of conceding them too. It also ties in with our control of possession in most games. At the moment we haven't got to the point where we can turn possession into clear chances yet. But at the very least we are getting decent results and territorial performances from the team, certainly at grounds with difficult teams to face like Everton.

Emirates Marketing Project have lost to Cardiff and Villa this season. Are Pelligrini's tactics good enough? They are nice and fluid and destroy teams at home, but they aren't solid away yet. Short blanket. Work in progress really just like us.

I'm asking questions and quite frankly I do not care about Emirates Marketing Project.

Why can we not do both, defend well yet attack well too? This can happen with quicker movement and passing.
Avb needs to take a risk - go out to win not to not lose, all this ******** about how good everton have been. So what?
We had them on the ropes today in that 1st half yet in the second we decided to settle for what we had with 60 minutes on the clock.
This isn't the way we should be thinking imo.

Finally I'm not expecting us to cut teams apart I'm expecting us to create chances and look to score ,especially at home.
I can't believe you are just blindly accepting what is being served up at the moment because we are 4th. The bigger picture is we cannot sustain this position if we cannot score goals.

 

[glorygloryeze]

Re: AVB - Making Tottenham His Own

I'm asking questions and quite frankly I do not care about Emirates Marketing Project.

Why can we not do both, defend well yet attack well too? This can happen with quicker movement and passing.
Avb needs to take a risk - go out to win not to not lose, all this ******** about how good everton have been. So what?
We had them on the ropes today in that 1st half yet in the second we decided to settle for what we had with 60 minutes on the clock.
This isn't the way we should be thinking imo.

Finally I'm not expecting us to cut teams apart I'm expecting us to create chances and look to score ,especially at home.
I can't believe you are just blindly accepting what is being served up at the moment because we are 4th. The bigger picture is we cannot sustain this position if we cannot score goals.

Hmmmm...struggling to argue with this point, anyone else what to have a go?

 

[BrainOfLevy]

Re: AVB - Making Tottenham His Own

I'm asking questions and quite frankly I do not care about Emirates Marketing Project.

Why can we not do both, defend well yet attack well too? This can happen with quicker movement and passing.
Avb needs to take a risk - go out to win not to not lose, all this ******** about how good everton have been. So what?
We had them on the ropes today in that 1st half yet in the second we decided to settle for what we had with 60 minutes on the clock.
This isn't the way we should be thinking imo.

Finally I'm not expecting us to cut teams apart I'm expecting us to create chances and look to score ,especially at home.
I can't believe you are just blindly accepting what is being served up at the moment because we are 4th. The bigger picture is we cannot sustain this position if we cannot score goals.

I'm accepting it because I don't think this is the ultimate goal of where the staff want to take the team. It so clearly isn't. I just refuse to lose my **** after ten games when we are 4th! And the funny thing is, most pundits will be thinking 'Emirates Marketing Project and United have started poorly and will surely improve' and will expect them to come up and probably take our spot, but I think we've got so much room to improve and the potential to do so with our players that it is likely that we will do so too. We will surprise some people I would say.

It's fairly simple though. As I see it, AVB has focussed on making sure we can defend in the way he wants. This is something he implemented largely in the second half of last season. He is also making us comfortable in possession. The next stage will be to take all of that, and combine it into creating chances while at the same time getting results. He knows he is in a results business though and trying to do all of that at once won't work, as he showed with Chelsea. Liverpool also played some really nice stuff last year and finished 7th...so good on them but I much prefer getting results.

I completely acknowledge that our attacking play certainly at home is dull and hard to watch. But I also appreciate the reasons we are in that position. I don't think AVB doesn't see exactly what is going on and I don't think he is surprised by it either. I think he knows it's a necessary stage in our development.

 

[kanoute16]

Re: AVB - Making Tottenham His Own

I'm going to ask you the same question as in the last thread "How do you know all this?"

It is an assumption on your part, I'm reflecting on some pretty averagely disappointing performances this season that quite frankly we were fortunate to get away with thanks to some penalties.

What's that saying about assume...?

 

[glorygloryeze]

Re: AVB - Making Tottenham His Own

I'm accepting it because I don't think this is the ultimate goal of where the staff want to take the team. It so clearly isn't. I just refuse to lose my **** after ten games when we are 4th! And the funny thing is, most pundits will be thinking 'Emirates Marketing Project and United have started poorly and will surely improve' and will expect them to come up and probably take our spot, but I think we've got so much room to improve and the potential to do so with our players that it is likely that we will do so too. We will surprise some people I would say.

It's fairly simple though. As I see it, AVB has focussed on making sure we can defend in the way he wants. This is something he implemented largely in the second half of last season. He is also making us comfortable in possession. The next stage will be to take all of that, and combine it into creating chances while at the same time getting results. He knows he is in a results business though and trying to do all of that at once won't work, as he showed with Chelsea. Liverpool also played some really nice stuff last year and finished 7th...so good on them but I much prefer getting results.

I completely acknowledge that our attacking play certainly at home is dull and hard to watch. But I also appreciate the reasons we are in that position. I don't think AVB doesn't see exactly what is going on and I don't think he is surprised by it either. I think he knows it's a necessary stage in our development.

Ok. Good response.

 

[Mulletperm]

Re: AVB - Making Tottenham His Own

Tactics etc aside, the thing that disappointed me with AVB yesterday was his handling of the Lloris incident. It was clear the medical team thought he should come off, but he let him carry on playing.

He should have gone over to Lloris and made damn sure he came off. Not leave it up to the physios and players to try and persuade him.

It's admirable that Lloris came back on, but it could have (and still could) prove to be bloody stupid.

 

[billyiddo]

Re: AVB - Making Tottenham His Own

I'm asking questions and quite frankly I do not care about Emirates Marketing Project.

Why can we not do both, defend well yet attack well too? This can happen with quicker movement and passing.
Avb needs to take a risk - go out to win not to not lose, all this ******** about how good everton have been. So what?
We had them on the ropes today in that 1st half yet in the second we decided to settle for what we had with 60 minutes on the clock.
This isn't the way we should be thinking imo.

Finally I'm not expecting us to cut teams apart I'm expecting us to create chances and look to score ,especially at home.
I can't believe you are just blindly accepting what is being served up at the moment because we are 4th. The bigger picture is we cannot sustain this position if we cannot score goals.

I don't think anyone is blindly accepting anything - what makes you say this? i think everyone is aware of our current problems in attack - the difference seems to be the length in time which we are prepared to wait to see if things impove.

 

[metalgear]

Re: AVB - Making Tottenham His Own

Why can we not do both, defend well yet attack well too? This can happen with quicker movement and passing.
Avb needs to take a risk - go out to win not to not lose, all this ******** about how good everton have been.

It does seem that while AVB wants us playing tight I wonder if its all part of a grand plan in which a system and culture of playing is being hardwired into a core team first? It may seem ridiculous to bench the likes of lamela and eriksen.. for a game against everton now, but I suspect that we will be seeing them gradually being in introduced through the season.

Whats working for us is in the centre of the park. Dembele's got it buttoned down and does well regardless who is alongside him, so now its time to work the rest - hence sandro and paulinho starting - and perhaps its from this core of players (including capoue) that will provide the foundation before AVB works on "opening up" in the more advanced areas of the pitch.

The thing is I'm very sure that AVB sees all the issues we do - and more - given the type of person and manager he is.

edit: Take this typical response from him for instance (after the everton away draw):

"I don't think it is dramatic," said Villas-Boas. "We are on 30 goals in 17 games and it is the second highest ever at the club at this stage so I don't worry about that. Hull are sitting 10th and we are fourth. The chances are coming and sometimes they go your way and the opponent is not there to stop it. The team is creating more chances and more shots. I can carry on about all the good statistics and others can carry on about all the negative statistics and the debate will go nowhere.

 

[BrainOfLevy]

Re: AVB - Making Tottenham His Own

I'm going to ask you the same question as in the last thread "How do you know all this?"

It is an assumption on your part, I'm reflecting on some pretty averagely disappointing performances this season that quite frankly we were fortunate to get away with thanks to some penalties.

What's that saying about assume...?

How do I know? Because of how he ultimately wanted Chelsea to play? Because of how Porto played? Because of how his biographer who studied his career up until Chelsea saw that his teams played? Or even disregarding all of that, because of the flashes we have shown in some home games and certainly many away games during AVB's reign.

It's pretty clear that because of those flashes, that we can play some nice football and create chances. But a home game is a different proposition and we need to learn how to do it with comfort when with lots of possession and when the team against us isn't offering much space. I don't think anyone can reasonably expect that to happen overnight.

 

[Spurs7891]

Re: AVB - Making Tottenham His Own

Mourinho says he doesn't know which is his best team. I think Chelsea, ManCity and us are having the same problem : all 3 teams have too big squad that we don't know which is our best team. Arsenal have a small squad and a settled team that they can play every match.