* Official Pre-Season Games Thread *

[Wriggly]

Sorry was this the CL final, or a meaningless pre-season friendly to get fitness up ?

 

[braineclipse]

Reading your posts I'm now glad I didn't stay up to watch that...

Maybe the next game will be better as we edge our way towards better match fitness. Hopefully the injuries aren't too serious.

Actually I wish we would have lost that, we should lose at least one pre-season match...

 

[africanspurs]

Sorry was this the CL final, or a meaningless pre-season friendly to get fitness up ?

the latter i would suspect. Didnt see the game, was going to watch it but like brain decided against it..work and all that

did you watch it? what did you think of it? did you think anything of it?

 

[elltrev]

its not panicking or being overly critical, but more having to get used to being open defensively and conceding chances because thats what AVB teams do. You will see when the season kicks off and gets fully going, it will be the same. Hopefully by then we have strikers to make us more threatening up front so even if we concede 1 or 2 goals we still have the firepower to win games 2-1 or 3-2 etc

According to Wikipedia Porto conceded 16 league goals in 30 games under AVB - hardly a bad defensive record!

 

[BrainOfLevy]

Hmm seems like we didn't play well and were defensively shaky.

Ahh well. I haven't seen the game yet, but if it looked like we were pressing and playing a high line, the whole system probably involves our players being fit enough to carry it out. We faced a team half way through their own season while it's only our second friendly of the summer.

It's good that we were creating chances, and I'm certain the pressing will come as fitness increases, and the players get used to what they need to do. Again it's worth remembering, pre-season really does mean nothing. We've had pre-seasons where we've won every match and lost the opening Premier League game to an average team.

Infact it kind of heartens me that we are struggling a bit - it makes it obvious where our weaknesses lie and gives us the chance during the summer to correct them and drive home what we need to do. And it shows we are trying something in order to get that 'added extra' bit of performance out of our team. In seasons gone by we've started the season thinking everything was fine when in actual fact we've had serious deficiencies we've needed to correct (Zokora replacing Carrick was one) and so people should chill. It's all gonne be ok

 

[Wriggly]

the latter i would suspect. Didnt see the game, was going to watch it but like brain decided against it..work and all that

did you watch it? what did you think of it? did you think anything of it?

Nah I went to bed. I did read the comments from the multiple pages on the game. Our first match against decent opposition and it looked like this was supposed to be a performance worthy of the CL final. I always forget, even after I try and remind myself, but we have a brick load of stupid supporters. Maybe as I forget, the stupidity is rubbing off on me too.

 

[BrainOfLevy]

According to Wikipedia Porto conceded 16 league goals in 30 games under AVB - hardly a bad defensive record!

Yeah, I don't think it's a given at all that 'AVB teams concede chances' it's just like any system really. When it's effective, we will create loads of chances ourselves and strangle the opposition. When it isn't, we will look open at the back and struggle to be potent upfront.

When the AVB system is firing on all cylinders, we will be pressing the fudge out of teams, keeping possession, not giving them any time on the ball and not letting them have it. We won't concede chances like that. It's just that when there are teething problems, we will look open. But that's to be expected.

 

[Spursalot]

Jesus H Christ, you lot are a right pessimistic bunch. ONE pre season game and the majority are calling for AVBs head...get a fudging grip man!

Not as far as i'd noticed. People had concerns but understood that there was time for them to be sorted out before the season begins..

 

[Spursalot]

Nah I went to bed. I did read the comments from the multiple pages on the game. Our first match against decent opposition and it looked like this was supposed to be a performance worthy of the CL final. I always forget, even after I try and remind myself, but we have a brick load of stupid supporters. Maybe as I forget, the stupidity is rubbing off on me too.

It was? Perhaps reading it back is misleading, because that's not how it looked when the game was actually going on.

 

[africanspurs]

According to Wikipedia Porto conceded 16 league goals in 30 games under AVB - hardly a bad defensive record!

careful now....people will start asking you to weight the opposition and break down the stats to the cut of the grass

nah only joking..the record isnt bad , i just question everything he does in portugal cause it was the stand out best team in portugal in a pretty weak league if you get me meaning

 

[Spursalot]

Walker and VDV both doubts for the liverpool match, but at least it means they're not far off..


Thanks fudge for that..

 

[Spursalot]

careful now....people will start asking you to weight the opposition and break down the stats to the cut of the grass

nah only joking..the record isnt bad , i just question everything he does in portugal cause it was the stand out best team in portugal in a pretty weak league if you get me meaning

Erm, i know it's a dig at me.


But why would you do that if you played all the opponents twice? :lol:

 

[africanspurs]

* pretty sure you can still look defensively solid and organised even when a system isnt working.

so did we play a high line then?

 

[Spursalot]

* pretty sure you can still look defensively solid and organised even when a system isnt working.

so did we play a high line then?

Yes. In the first half it was cut apart by a couple of good looking balls from deep to Keane, but second half it looked a little better..


(Though that could be because Keane went off)


It's a work in progress..

 

[africanspurs]

Erm, i know it's a dig at me.


But why would you do that if you played all the opponents twice? :lol:

:lol:

i really should be asking you that....home and away? we play opponents twice as well

besides some grounds have long grass and some have short, some have slick and some have dry...these things can affect results.

 

[Spursalot]

:lol:

i really should be asking you that....home and away? we play opponents twice as well

besides some grounds have long grass and some have short, some have slick and some have dry...these things can affect results.

We play opponents twice yes, but that doesn't mean single players within our team did.

Anyway, enough of that


Caroll looked a promising prospect, Kane also did a decent job holding the ball up. Didn't get much service up front, but he could still become half decent from yesterdays showing.

 

[monkeybarry]

Jesus H Christ, you lot are a right pessimistic bunch. ONE pre season game and the majority are calling for AVBs head...get a fudging grip man!

HARRY OUT 8-[

But seriously - one pre season game, which we DIDN'T LOSE against a team who are part way through their season

Reality check needed.

Yes we need a new striker (well, two) - but from the sounds of it the game showed a few things we already knew or hoped; that some of the fringe players (Carroll, Kane, Townsend) can come in a "do a job" when needed (league cup, busy xmas period etc).

 

[BrainOfLevy]

* pretty sure you can still look defensively solid and organised even when a system isnt working.

so did we play a high line then?

I think if you play a defensive system, you will probably look defensively organised for the most part if it's not working, but will struggle to keep the ball or show any kind of cutting edge in attack. If you play an attacking system, you will probably create a few chances but will look a bit open at the back. Especially if that attacking system relies on fitness, pressing, forcing mistakes etc and it isn't quite there yet for the players.

But of course if both systems are working, the defensive one will soak up pressure and counter attack with incisiveness and look dangerous while the attacking one will create chances, strangle the ball and not give the opponent any time.

I'm not worried because last night we were trying to do something that could really get us good results when carried out well, and in any case we've had great pre-seasons and gone on to have terrible starts in the league.

 

[indianspur]

I think if you play a defensive system, you will probably look defensively organised for the most part if it's not working, but will struggle to keep the ball or show any kind of cutting edge in attack. If you play an attacking system, you will probably create a few chances but will look a bit open at the back. Especially if that attacking system relies on fitness, pressing, forcing mistakes etc and it isn't quite there yet for the players.

But of course if both systems are working, the defensive one will soak up pressure and counter attack with incisiveness and look dangerous while the attacking one will create chances, strangle the ball and not give the opponent any time.

I'm not worried because last night we were trying to do something that could really get us good results when carried out well, and in any case we've had great pre-seasons and gone on to have terrible starts in the league.

did you watch the whole game last night

 

[BrainOfLevy]

did you watch the whole game last night

Watched absolutely none of it haha, but I'm going from people saying they were worried about us playing a high-line.