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(Another) Interesting Article on AVBs Tactics and How Our Players Will Suit

Donki

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May 14, 2007
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I think he will play less of a high line with us and adjust with the personnel a bit better.

He will have learnt that from his time at Chelsea

Problem with this is the high line is a HUGE part of his tactic, high line means less space for the opposition to knock it about in also means more pressure when the opposition has the ball. You are correct in that this was hugely his mistake at Chelsea, in Portugal I would say the teams try to play better football and keep the ball on the deck so wouldnt have been as exsposed, in the PL its much different with a lot of teams opting for a long ball from the off (liverpool anyone :)). As the article staes we do have better much faster CBs in Kaboul, Chalker and hopefully Verts, will certainly be intresting to see how we line up.

If AVB is tatcially as good as they say he is he will be fit to adap.
 

tototoner

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Mar 21, 2004
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Problem with this is the high line is a HUGE part of his tactic, high line means less space for the opposition to knock it about in also means more pressure when the opposition has the ball. You are correct in that this was hugely his mistake at Chelsea, in Portugal I would say the teams try to play better football and keep the ball on the deck so wouldnt have been as exsposed, in the PL its much different with a lot of teams opting for a long ball from the off (liverpool anyone :)). As the article staes we do have better much faster CBs in Kaboul, Chalker and hopefully Verts, will certainly be intresting to see how we line up.

If AVB is tatcially as good as they say he is he will be fit to adap.

Yes I agree the high line more suited to Portugal than England and that is why he'll have to adapt
 

StartingPrice

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Feb 13, 2004
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I'm just going to quote one example here, and I'm not even going to explain in any detail what happened - everyone should know. Udinese away. Disaster. Gomes is many things. A good sweeper is not one of them IMO.

How was his confidence level at the time?
Maybe, like all other aspects of his game, his ability to come out and sweep balls depends on how confident he is.
 

tototoner

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Mar 21, 2004
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Gomes is a massive confidence player, I am convinced there is still a special keeper in there somewhere
 

punkisback

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Apr 10, 2004
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Careful with that talk...you'll set BC off again :eek:
I've had enough of the "Chocolate teapot" talk. It drives me crazy as my MD uses it at work too. As long as you have the quality of players to hold the ball you don't need two busy cloggers in the centre. In fact a midfield of Hudd, Mod and Rafa would be orgasmic. We played like this in the first half of the milan game and dominated.
 

Spursidol

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Sep 15, 2007
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Yes I agree the high line more suited to Portugal than England and that is why he'll have to adapt

Who else in the Premiership regularly uses a 433 system ? If they do, what are the differences between the 'Premiership 433' and AVB's 433 ?

This talk of AVB only playing 433 slightly worries me. Can understand him liking the system, but not against all opposition as you get too predictable - and maybe in some matches against some types of opponents it maybe better to play 4231.

It maybe that by the start of the season we do not have all the players to play 433, but we do now have the players to play 4231 (and 442 - but that seems to be generally agreed to be outdated). If we do not have the right players, maybe AVB needs to change away from 433 or at least play different systems sometimes ?
 

brasil_spur

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Aug 25, 2006
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"Starting at the back, Andre Villas-Boas utilises a back four whereby the full backs push up looking to join the attack and help press without the ball. He did this at Porto with Alvaro Pereira and Cristian Sapunaru performing the task superbly. At Chelsea, he went with Ashley Cole and Jose Bosingwa, favouring the faster Portuguese full-back over the less mobile Branislav Ivanovic.
In midfield, he likes to utilise a central three who operate at different levels. Firstly there is a defensive ball winner, who can drop in to help the centre backs when the full-backs are pushed on to avoid a 2v2 situation.
Secondly there is a playmaker who’s job it is to distribute the ball wide for crosses and through to a number nine.
Thirdly, there is an attacking player used to drive on and create overload situations with the forwards.
The front three consist of a central number nine and two wider forwards. The central striker is there as an outlet and to score goals, whilst the two wider players have different functions. With the ball, Villas-Boas usually instructs one to go inside to help the central striker, whilst the other moves wide to stretch the play and avoid congestion."

Translated to Spurs that reads as:

  • Starting at the back, Andre Villas-Boas utilises a back four whereby the full backs push up looking to join the attack and help press without the ball. Walker and Ekotto are perfect for this.
  • In midfield, he likes to utilise a central three who operate at different levels. Firstly there is a defensive ball winner, who can drop in to help the centre backs when the full-backs are pushed on to avoid a 2v2 situation. Sandro and Parker are both a perfect fit.
  • Secondly there is a playmaker who’s job it is to distribute the ball wide for crosses and through to a number nine. Assuming Modric is off then we'd need someone like Moutinho, with Hudd as a great back-up player.
  • Thirdly, there is an attacking player used to drive on and create overload situations with the forwards. Sigurdsson obviously ideal for this role and Oscar as a potential world class player in this position.
  • The front three consist of a central number nine and two wider forwards. The central striker is there as an outlet and to score goals, whilst the two wider players have different functions. With the ball, Villas-Boas usually instructs one to go inside to help the central striker, whilst the other moves wide to stretch the play and avoid congestion. Bale as the wide forward seems obvious with VdV the one that cuts inside perhaps less obvious but definitely well suited to the role. Lennon and perhaps GdS as back-ups to both those players (Lennon wide and GdS cutting in). Number 9 is obviously a position we need someone for, Ade seems like a sensible option for many reasons but i'd hope we have someone else lined up, although if not Defoe would make a so-so backup for this.
 

tobi

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Jun 10, 2003
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Adebayor will have to adapt and move into the channels less.
 

Scot-Spur

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May 20, 2012
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Bale could be moved back to left back in this as well as the fullbacks look as though they would be pushed on high and we would have alot of the ball?
 

Spursh

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Jul 21, 2009
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I know we haven't been linked with him for a little while, but Dembele could be an interesting option, seeing as he only has a year left on his contract

Played deeper for Fulham last year, and was excellent, and was my MOM when he visited WHL towards the end of last season. Holds the ball superbly, with fantastic skill & technique. His size, strength & speed would also make him perfect for one of those 3 midfield roles. He's decent defensively too (remember reading some very impressive defensive stats of his), and even though he isn't a goal-scorer (probably his only weak-spot), he can operate on either wing too.
 

StartingPrice

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Feb 13, 2004
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Who else in the Premiership regularly uses a 433 system ? If they do, what are the differences between the 'Premiership 433' and AVB's 433 ?

This talk of AVB only playing 433 slightly worries me. Can understand him liking the system, but not against all opposition as you get too predictable - and maybe in some matches against some types of opponents it maybe better to play 4231.

It maybe that by the start of the season we do not have all the players to play 433, but we do now have the players to play 4231 (and 442 - but that seems to be generally agreed to be outdated). If we do not have the right players, maybe AVB needs to change away from 433 or at least play different systems sometimes ?

I think his overelying on 4-3-3 is being overplayed a tad. He has played 4-3-2-1, I'm sure, and, despite not adapting when the high back line was being exposed last season* I am pretty sure he won't be sending out a bar football team that cannot move or adjust.

* I commented on the folly of this at the time, but it was largely down to the players he had available, adn, for all we know, Roman, in his frequent statements of support may have agreed with him that the rest of the team needed to adjust to that system, and that would be hindered if not put into affect now, but that they would be getting the central defenders to cope with it (maybe Cahill was intended to be the start of that?).

Adebayor will have to adapt and move into the channels less.

I think he needs to starting using his head ;)
 

BPR_U16

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Jun 28, 2006
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Good read and interesting to note how we see players fitting into the master plan.

However, the pace, and how we play the game over here is different to Portugal so there must be a Plan B too and one would hope that this is what AVB has learned since his time at Chelsea.
 

SpurSince57

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Jan 20, 2006
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Tom Huddlestone should never be played in anything other than a 3 man midfield.

Yet he managed better than many thought he would in a two with Modric. This is not to suggest that he should be played in a two, still less that AVB will suddenly take it into his head to go 4-4-2, more to point out that if he could perform effectively in a system that did him few favours, he might surprise many in a more favourable one.
 

spurious1

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Sep 20, 2005
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Do we really believe that it's certain AVB will stick religiously to his up-to-now favoured system? He is meant to be a tactical genius, so one would assume that he would vary his approach at least sometimes, although it would be easier for him to implement it with our (generally) pacier players than with Chelsea's donkeys (well, CL-winning donkeys one has to admit).

Any tactic that is vulnerable to the long-ball is dream opposition for a lot of PL clubs who like nothing better than just that.

On a somewhat unrelated note, I wonder if Spain's success with their striker-less 4-6-0 system will have any effect on tactics in the less-elevated level (of course no one else has a midfield like Spain has)
 

SpurSince57

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Jan 20, 2006
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Do we really believe that it's certain AVB will stick religiously to his up-to-now favoured system? He is meant to be a tactical genius, so one would assume that he would vary his approach at least sometimes, although it would be easier for him to implement it with our (generally) pacier players than with Chelsea's donkeys (well, CL-winning donkeys one has to admit).

Any tactic that is vulnerable to the long-ball is dream opposition for a lot of PL clubs who like nothing better than just that.

On a somewhat unrelated note, I wonder if Spain's success with their striker-less 4-6-0 system will have any effect on tactics in the less-elevated level (of course no one else has a midfield like Spain has)

The CBs have to be quick and the DM disciplined, but I think we're overstating the danger. Instead of worrying about what the opposition might do to us, why not think about what we could be doing to the opposition?

With the current squad and the new players coming in, AVB can play pretty much any system he wants to. To be honest, I think we're getting far too hung up on formations; it needs only the slightest adjustment to switch from 4-3-3 to a 4-2-3-1 with two DMs rather than one, which some might feel a safer alternative.
 

tototoner

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Mar 21, 2004
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Bale could be moved back to left back in this as well as the fullbacks look as though they would be pushed on high and we would have alot of the ball?

good point , he would be more dangerous and have more of the ball as an advanced LB / LWB
 

SpurSince57

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Jan 20, 2006
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Bale could be moved back to left back in this as well as the fullbacks look as though they would be pushed on high and we would have alot of the ball?

We're already doing that. Walker needs absolutely no prompting to get forward, and Benny's been getting progressively higher up the pitch over the past three seasons; initially he used to sit relatively deep, which was a surprise as he's played at LM quite a lot.

In all honesty, I think the big difference we'll see with AVB will be greater overall discipline and much more precisely defined roles for individual players rather than Harry's do-your-own-thing-let-it-all-hang-out approach.
 
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