Andre Villas-Boas - Head Coach

[Robspur12]

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

Sorry did I say Belgian? I meant Dutchman.

 

[billyiddo]

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

Are you saying AVB has a clear, consistent and well defined plan and has bought players to execute that plan? Or is he pragmatic and continuously changes formations, tactics and players?

i think AVB has a style of play/tactic that he wants to instill, i don't think that he is dead set on religiously playing this tactic to any blue print he has already drawn up and i think that he will tweak and adapt it until he gets what he wants. i think between himself, Baldini and Levy they have set about building a SQUAD which will let us do just that, a squad that has all bases covered, 22 players of a similar quality that doesn't rely on any one individual - i think where he is going wrong at the moment is that he is changing things around too much (in terms of playing personnel) im all in favor of rotation - but i think you need to have a base to start from, get a decided upon first XI playing how you want, then bring in the others bit by bit so they can pick it up - the end result should be a squad of players well versed in the tactics and in tune with their team mates. at the moment, with so much chopping and changing no one is getting a chance to find familiarity with either their team mates or the tactics.

 

[milo]

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

Even Harry has said it is relatively easy to set up a team not to get beat. To play sooo defensively, particularly at home, of course has an impact on your goals for column.

Lloris is used as a sweeper- keeper yes, but there is a distinct difference between this role and relying on this as a last ditch form of defence as a defensive tactic. It's like relying on the offside trap to work every time.

To me, our defence looks fragile to say the least and the Emirates Marketing Project attack showed it up. It was not a blip, but a scoreline waiting to happen (unfortunately). Kaboul and Dawson are not an ideal centre back pairing and Verts has already said in the past he doesn't like playing left back against fast, skillful wingers. So what did we do?

What are those other score lines supposed to prove?

It took two really bad individual errors for them to get to that point. I do not think that we looked particularly vunerable until the 3rd went in. After that they opened us up at will but oboviously, we were trying to push on and get something from the game, so it is hardly a good game to judge our defence on.

 

[thfcsteff]

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

None of the previous 141 pages matters anymore...the writing us on the wall...it will take a miracle for him to survive...he has few friends in the media and agents of players not getting a look in will feed stories in the coming days...his only hope is to take everyone to Tromso and out of the country...I really don't think he is going to get he time to complete his project...

 

[thfcsteff]

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

We will all know on Sunday afternoon, but even that will, I suspect, be a stay of execution...more swings, more roundabouts, more 'new messiahs' more failing dreams...there's parts of London just cracking up right now...

 

[NWND]

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

The overall plan hasn't changed. Maybe tweaked a little, but every team make changes depending on who the opposition is.

Selecting players that show form, dropping those who don't, not persisting with his "favorites", able to change his mind when evidence suggests he should. I thought those were good traits in a manager. AVB doesn't have a perfect track record (who does? ), but he does all those things.

Yeah but he changes too soon! He doesn't give anything a run of games to see if it starts working. Lamela plays brilliantly against Sheriff, should have got a start against Saudi Sportswashing Machine but is dropped then re-appears for his league debut out of position in our toughest away fixture of the season???? Really? Seriously if this kind of thing isn't a sign of an inexperienced manager drowning in indecision and desperately seeking something, anything to save his job, I don't know what is, it's just bizarre!

He will play Eriksen against Norwich, he does well, but then has a stinker v West Ham so he's dropped. It's not a case of he's a young player integrating into the team I need to give him a run and the inconsistency will be ironed out, it's just reactionary crap that won't do Eriksen's confidence or ability to "gel" with his new team mates any good at all

 

[BrainOfLevy]

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

Yes we can play boring, soul-less, Tika-taka style in whatever formation we play. Is that what you mean?

Yes.

 

[milo]

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

Yeah but he changes too soon! He doesn't give anything a run of games to see if it starts working. Lamela plays brilliantly against Sheriff, should have got a start against Saudi Sportswashing Machine but is dropped then re-appears for his league debut out of position in our toughest away fixture of the season???? Really? Seriously if this kind of thing isn't a sign of an inexperienced manager drowning in indecision and desperately seeking something, anything to save his job, I don't know what is, it's just bizarre!

He will play Eriksen against Norwich, he does well, but then has a stinker v West Ham so he's dropped. It's not a case of he's a young player integrating into the team I need to give him a run and the inconsistency will be ironed out, it's just reactionary crap that won't do Eriksen's confidence or ability to "gel" with his new team mates any good at all

I thought that he was stubborn and wouldn't change his mind

 

[BrainOfLevy]

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

The farce (which is what everyone in football called it) of AVB desperately trying to flog Dawson only to be told @@@k you I'm not going anywhere, then admitting he was wrong.

Yes, it's to be commended that he wasn't stubborn, but again it flys in the face that AVB has this clear plan for the future he won't be deviated from!

Why? If on assessing Dawson he feels he can suit the style better than he thought he could, then he brings him back into the fold. Doesn't change the idea that we are working towards something. You seem to think a rotation of players proves we don't have a plan or system, when in actual fact we just have a large squad.

 

[Cochise]

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

It took two really bad individual errors for them to get to that point. I do not think that we looked particularly vunerable until the 3rd went in. After that they opened us up at will but oboviously, we were trying to push on and get something from the game, so it is hardly a good game to judge our defence on.

We looked good and capable of opening them up at points in that half hour after the first goal, but at the same time they did open us up 3-4 times in that space of time and not just with quick counters.

 

[NWND]

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

I thought that he was stubborn and wouldn't change his mind

Did you? Good for you!

 

[Pirate55]

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

It took two really bad individual errors for them to get to that point. I do not think that we looked particularly vunerable until the 3rd went in. After that they opened us up at will but oboviously, we were trying to push on and get something from the game, so it is hardly a good game to judge our defence on.

I am not judging it on that game alone. However, they could easily have had 10 or more - Nasri shot/cross off the bar, Sandros miraculous, goal denying tackle on Nasri, Lloris brilliant one handed save from Aguero, Negredo's free header over the bar, Jordinhos miskick from five yards spring to mind.

 

[NWND]

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

Why? If on assessing Dawson he feels he can suit the style better than he thought he could, then he brings him back into the fold. Doesn't change the idea that we are working towards something. You seem to think a rotation of players proves we don't have a plan or system, when in actual fact we just have a large squad.

We don't have a plan or a system, well apart from the two things I dislike most about our team:
A) we always play a high line, even against teams with pacey, intelligent strikers and midfield creators, which in my mind is like handing over your entire nuclear weapons arsenal to Al'Queda and saying "here you go lads, enjoy your new toys"
B) we always play this 'controlled' sideways low-risk passing strategy waiting for the opposition to make a mistake.

Everything else is a free-for-all, with players swapping positions week by week, no consistency and no team structure or continuity

 

[Pirate55]

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

None of the previous 141 pages matters anymore...the writing us on the wall...it will take a miracle for him to survive...he has few friends in the media and agents of players not getting a look in will feed stories in the coming days...his only hope is to take everyone to Tromso and out of the country...I really don't think he is going to get he time to complete his project...

Noooooo. If he takes everyone to Tromso, he will deserve to get sacked for that decision alone.

Forget Tromso. Use all his so called brilliant tactical genius to get us three points off each of United, Fulham and Sunderland. Show us all he is a top coach. Stop leaving his hidden talents for another day. Show us all what he can do NOW.

 

[NWND]

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

Noooooo. If he takes everyone to Tromso, he will deserve to get sacked for that decision alone.

Forget Tromso. Use all his so called brilliant tactical genius to get us three points off each of United, Fulham and Sunderland. Show us all he is a top coach. Stop leaving his hidden talents for another day. Show us all what he can do NOW.

=D>

 

[diego_maradona]

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

I really do hope AVB turns this around. I've had enough of change. I know Levy has got a structure which might make it ok to just bring in a coach but there is so much I admire about Villas Boas. I just want him to succeed.

 

[NWND]

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

I really do hope AVB turns this around. I've had enough of change. I know Levy has got a structure which might make it ok to just bring in a coach but there is so much I admire about Villas Boas. I just want him to succeed.

Would you not say the fact that he's clearly a very likeable, stylish bloke with some interesting and unusual ideas about football cloud people's judgement and make them brush over the increasingly bizarre team selections, substitutions, tactics, performances and results?

 

[BrainOfLevy]

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

None of the previous 141 pages matters anymore...the writing us on the wall...it will take a miracle for him to survive...he has few friends in the media and agents of players not getting a look in will feed stories in the coming days...his only hope is to take everyone to Tromso and out of the country...I really don't think he is going to get he time to complete his project...

That the Guardian came out with that is quite worrying. I wonder who it is that is leaking it - to be honest the story itself is almost as bad as the Mail's though. I mean 'Sandro feels he is being left behind Capoue'. WTF!? and I'm sure if they actually read the quote about being 'ashamed', AVB wasn't saying the players should be, he said anyone associated with the club should be, meaning him, his staff, and the players. Basically that everyone is in it together - exactly what Hytner says he was not saying.

I didn't think the Guardian stoop to printing rubbish, and I will be very annoyed if we now bring in another new team, another new project, another few years of ripping it up and starting again. FFS the feeling of a club in total dissaray annoys me more than any result, 6-0 drubbings included.

NWND and anyone else arguing the point that him bringing in Dawson and Ade means he doesn't have a system or a plan...I don't know why you think this is where you've caught the other side about and see hypocrisy. It's entirely possible to believe in a system and style, and make first judgements on which players will suit it. It's also then entirely possible to change your mind about certain players and decide they would be able to fit. In Dawson's case, AVB probably thought he would have the same problems tactically as with Terry, and didn't need the hassle. Dawson showed a lot more willingness to learn though and was therefore welcomed back in. Nowhere near perfection and entirely understandable.

 

[Modric THFC]

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

Here we go:


André Villas-Boas on brink of losing Tottenham Hotspur job


David Hytner
The Guardian, Tuesday 26 November 2013 17.30 EST

André Villas-Boas is clinging to his job at Tottenham Hotspur after Sunday's 6-0 hammering at Emirates Marketing Project prompted the north London club's hierarchy to question whether he remains the manager to establish them in the Premier League's top four.

The Portuguese was cut to evens by bookmakers on Tuesday to be the league's next managerial casualty, with the City result being considered not as an isolated blot but as the most worrying sign of a malaise.

Villas-Boas, who takes his team to Tromso for a Europa League match on Thursday, desperately needs a good result at home to Manchester United on Sunday as he battles a clutch of problems. Those include the perception inside the club that he has sought to blame everybody bar himself for the recent difficulties, from the White Hart Lane crowd and the Tottenham medics to members of the first-team squad. Villas-Boas said that the City loss ought to have provoked shame in the players, which went down badly in the dressing room.

The embarrassment at the Etihad Stadium was keenly felt by the club's chairman, Daniel Levy, and the owner, Joe Lewis, who had initially been angry after the 3-0 home defeat by West Ham United on 6 October and Villas-Boas's hard-luck-story when he read of the defeat.

There had been disappointment at the early-season loss at Arsenal and, the weekend before West Ham, the manner in which Chelsea had reeled Tottenham in to earn a 1-1 draw at White Hart Lane. But West Ham represented the beginning of what has become an intense examination of Villas-Boas's suitability to fulfil Tottenham's ambitions.

The club did not sanction a summer outlay of £110.5m on seven players (including three club-record fees) for a team that would lose at home to West Ham. And, if the ultimate measure of a man is where he stands at times of challenge and controversy, then Tottenham feel Villas-Boas has not distinguished himself.

He took the bold, and possibly foolish, decision after the 1-0 win over Hull City on 27 October to chide the White Hart Lane crowd for how they had created a "very tense, difficult atmosphere". Villas-Boas said it was "like it drags the ball into our goal, instead of the opponent's goal", and added that "this is something that is felt within the squad. It's a feeling that invades us in fixtures like this".

The Tottenham fans are no different to any other London crowd in that they grumble when things are not great and they have only reacted to the football they have seen from their team, which has been cloaked in caution. Spurs have scored nine league goals in 12 matches this season (three of them penalties) and it is not only the supporters, who demand an exciting style, who have become frustrated.

The board has not enjoyed many home matches this season and some of the players have wanted to see Villas-Boas switch from his preferred 4-2-3-1 formation to play with two strikers. Villas-Boas orders his wide midfielders to work hard defensively and so the team have often struggled to commit men in front of the ball.

Villas-Boas reacted surprisingly to the Hugo Lloris controversy, after the goalkeeper had suffered a head injury in the 0-0 draw at Everton on 3 November and played on. When Tottenham's medical staff said that Lloris was unfit to play in the home defeat to Saudi Sportswashing Machine a week later, Villas-Boas made it clear that this was their decision rather than his, saying that Lloris had been "clinically and medically" ready to play.

He called for the club to present a member of the medical department before the press to offer a full explanation, which did not happen, and the effect was to make Villas-Boas look isolated and at odds with the doctors.

His comments after the City defeat were badly received in the dressing room and it reinforced the impression that Villas-Boas might be happy to talk up the collective when results are good but he will revert to blaming others in times of adversity.

The criticism from the dressing room is that his highly scientific approach overlooks the human dimension, which is ironic, given that is one of his buzz phrases. The players, technically, ought to have been ashamed after City but, on a human level, would that soundbite not have been better kept behind closed doors? Other managers might have accepted the blame in public, albeit as a diversionary tactic.

Villas-Boas has struggled to manage the transition since the sale of Gareth Bale and the influx, for a second successive summer, of a host of new faces. Some of the existing players have been bumped down the pecking order, which has led to gripes.

Mousa Dembélé, for example, is no longer a first choice after the arrival of Paulinho and Christian Eriksen; Sandro fears that he is behind Etienne Capoue, albeit the Frenchman has been injured and with no left-back having been signed to replace Benoît Assou-Ekotto (on loan at Queens Park Rangers), whose face did not fit, Jan Vertonghen, arguably the club's best centre-half, has been forced to deputise in the position.

Most alarmingly, Villas-Boas has struggled to get the best from the new signings, particularly Erik Lamela who, at nearly £30m from Roma, is the most expensive in Tottenham's history. Given his difficulty in adapting, it was a surprise that Villas-Boas introduced him for his full league debut at City.

Roberto Soldado, the £26m striker from Valencia, has sometimes looked isolated and his impact was always likely to be measured in numbers. He has four league goals, three of them penalties, plus two more in the Europa League qualifier against Dinamo Tbilisi. The hope remains that the new signings will show their true colours once they have acclimatised. The process was never likely to be easy.

Villas-Boas intimated that he turned down Real Madrid and Paris St-Germain over the summer to stay loyal to Spurs and begin a second season at the same club for the first time in his short managerial career. He remains only eight points off the title pace in a congested division but he must urgently address the damaging momentum.

He's pretty much gone now.
A journo who's brief to report on Tottenham doesnt write something like that without being briefed by the club.
And all the things about have come from with in the club.

 

[Modric THFC]

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

None of the previous 141 pages matters anymore...the writing us on the wall...it will take a miracle for him to survive...he has few friends in the media and agents of players not getting a look in will feed stories in the coming days...his only hope is to take everyone to Tromso and out of the country...I really don't think he is going to get he time to complete his project...

I don't think it is agent of players.
Its from within the Tottenham board.

It looks like Levy wants him out and is flying a kite for the idea in the media to see how the supporters react to the idea.