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Andre Villas-Boas - Head Coach

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

I really don't think those stats paint a fair picture at all, AVB took over a top 4 side, there's no point showing him in a list with other managers that took over teams at the bottom of the league (Ramos for example) and using his win percentage to rank him higher. Just doesn't stack up for me. I would expect a manager that has taken over a top 4 side to have the highest win percentage just by doing their job properly.

On the other hand, AVB lost Tottenham's four best players (Ledley King, Luka Modric, Rafael van der Vaart & Gareth Bale) in the space of 12 months, so his achievements are even more noteworthy.
 
Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

On the other hand, AVB lost Tottenham's four best players (Ledley King, Luka Modric, Rafael van der Vaart & Gareth Bale) in the space of 12 months, so his achievements are even more noteworthy.

He told Van der Vaart that Sigurdsson was ahead of him, that's enough to make anyone leave. And he had uber-Bale, someone which none of the other lot have had.
 
Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

He told Van der Vaart that Sigurdsson was ahead of him, that's enough to make anyone leave. And he had uber-Bale, someone which none of the other lot have had.

I think I'd rather a team consisting of in form Adebayor, van der Vaart, Modric and King along with Bale than just uber-Bale.
 
Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

(Cut out the rest of your post as I wanted to discuss this particular point)

What you say might be true to an extent if the traditional centre forwards you're talking about are limited to this and a couple of other abilities. The Andy Carroll type centre forward.

However there are quite a few "complete" centre forwards out there that have height and strength as well as a wide range of other abilities. Berbatov at his best, Drogba, Lewandowski, Mandzukic, Giroud, Llorente, Balotelli, Zlatan, Cavani, Lukaku and so on.

What is somewhat worrying to me is that a lot of the strikers that are or have been successful at top teams that play a lone striker can be classified as this kind of complete centre forward. They give their teams that aerial presence in the box from crosses, holdup play and flicks when forced to play it long etc. This type of striker is very much the modern striker to me and is someone capable of thriving on many types of service including crosses.

That's not to say that a striker like this is a prerequisite to success when playing a lone striker. But it does make things a lot easier, particularly when your buildup play isn't quite working.

Yeah, well dissected - that was quite a throw-away comment and I was really just thinking about the Andy Carroll/Kevin Davies/Kenwyne Jones battering ram type.

I do agree - the modern forward can definitely do the combination of hold-up play, link-up play and goal-scoring. And under Redknapp I was desperate for us to have a player like this, and it's what Ade was brought in to be.

There is still a valid point though that modern number #9s are far more capable with their feet, so the amount of ball that comes in the air from wide players is far decreased. Indeed a lot of them will drift wide and play provider themselves. And because of this the need for a touchline hugging winger is quite significantly decreased (especially as inverted wingers and two holding players actively enables overlapping fullbacks).

My thinking at the moment though is that that type of player isn't suited to the system we are developing. It would be a bit like when Barcelona tried to bring in Ibrahimovich, or say trying to deploy Chivers in 1987 team in place of Clive Allen.

One particular thing I've been wondering though is whether Chadli has been brought in to purposely compensate for not having a powerful CF. Remember this is what AVB did at Porto where Hulk played wide and Falcao was the CF.
 
Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

He told Van der Vaart that Sigurdsson was ahead of him, that's enough to make anyone leave. And he had uber-Bale, someone which none of the other lot have had.

I thought it became clear that all the theories about Rafa leaving were discredited when it became clear that the real reason was down to the breakdown of his marriage.

I don't think he was especially an AVB player, but I'm sure he'd've been given a chance, especially when he knew the alternative was Dempsey.
 
Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

I think I'd rather a team consisting of in form Adebayor, van der Vaart, Modric and King along with Bale than just uber-Bale.

Right, but I'm just saying I don't think the stat really gives people a level playing field. I didn't even use the example of HR, I used Ramos, and I hated Ramos and never defend him to anyone.
 
Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

I thought it became clear that all the theories about Rafa leaving were discredited when it became clear that the real reason was down to the breakdown of his marriage.

I don't think he was especially an AVB player, but I'm sure he'd've been given a chance, especially when he knew the alternative was Dempsey.

Rafa said himself with quotes that AVB told him that Sigurdsson had the advantage over him and he wasn't 'The Man' anymore. I thought the breakdown of his marriage happened when he laid into his wife.

I don't really know what an AVB player is anymore, like you said I'm sure Dempsey wasn't one of them.
 
Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

Rafa said himself with quotes that AVB told him that Sigurdsson had the advantage over him and he wasn't 'The Man' anymore. I thought the breakdown of his marriage happened when he laid into his wife.

I don't really know what an AVB player is anymore, like you said I'm sure Dempsey wasn't one of them.

Couldnt be as worse as when VDV laid into his wife.
 
Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

Yeah, well dissected - that was quite a throw-away comment and I was really just thinking about the Andy Carroll/Kevin Davies/Kenwyne Jones battering ram type.

I do agree - the modern forward can definitely do the combination of hold-up play, link-up play and goal-scoring. And under Redknapp I was desperate for us to have a player like this, and it's what Ade was brought in to be.

There is still a valid point though that modern number #9s are far more capable with their feet, so the amount of ball that comes in the air from wide players is far decreased. Indeed a lot of them will drift wide and play provider themselves. And because of this the need for a touchline hugging winger is quite significantly decreased (especially as inverted wingers and two holding players actively enables overlapping fullbacks).

My thinking at the moment though is that that type of player isn't suited to the system we are developing. It would be a bit like when Barcelona tried to bring in Ibrahimovich, or say trying to deploy Chivers in 1987 team in place of Clive Allen.

One particular thing I've been wondering though is whether Chadli has been brought in to purposely compensate for not having a powerful CF. Remember this is what AVB did at Porto where Hulk played wide and Falcao was the CF.

There's an excellent line from Capello in his autobiography where he says something along thge lines of teams resort to crosses when they have run out of ideas. I've been trying to find it again for a while because it is a lot better than I make it sound. The basis of it is that wingers playing on their natural side and sticking to the byline are easy to defend against.
 
Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

Journalist @DuncanCastles claims Levy is preparing to sack Villas Boas at the end of the season rather than mid due to payment incentives.
 
Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

Journalist @DuncanCastles claims Levy is preparing to sack Villas Boas at the end of the season rather than mid due to payment incentives.

FFS, I will lose all respect for Levy if he does this.

It may not be true, and Castles seems to have a good line on Mourinho (not rating Mata etc) rather than necessarily AVB, but it does seem like a few journos are taking this line and I bet there is no smoke. Levy is an absolute fool if he does this. We may as well have not sacked Harry.
 
Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

FFS, I will lose all respect for Levy if he does this.

It may not be true, and Castles seems to have a good line on Mourinho (not rating Mata etc) rather than necessarily AVB, but it does seem like a few journos are taking this line and I bet there is no smoke. Levy is an absolute fool if he does this. We may as well have not sacked Harry.

Shall we wait until the season is over before deciding if it's a good or bad decision?
 
Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

Shall we wait until the season is over before deciding if it's a good or bad decision?

Why? It would still be too early so it would be just as bad a decision in the summer as it would be now.
 
Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

What if we come 2nd or 3rd in the leauge? Will Levy still sack him? Eh...no.
If we tumble down the table and finish just above the relegation zone. Will he sack him then? Probably.

Castles knows nothing. It's just ****ter bollox.
 
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