AVB is over achieving

[Spurs_Bear]

He's definitely not over-achieving, but we're doing fine points/results wise.

 

[TheSecretNonFootballer]

Is that because you know all about integrating new players and a new system at the very top level of the sport?

I hear you just have to tell them to run around a bit.

 

[Oscar22]

Having watched us under Jol, Santini, Ramos, Gross, Graham and various others I was, and still am pleased we have a young talented manager like AVB who has won things before and has a mindset perfect for a club like ours. He is an up and coming manager with all the talent in the world to achieve all sorts, we're a club who aren't as successful as we once were who need building up again in order to challenge the top top clubs.

Some sections of our support have been ridiculous this season. It's like the hint of success has gone to some peoples heads. Not long ago we were playing the likes of Postiga, Mendes, Poyet, Acimovic etc. Now we have names like Soldado, Lamela, Paulinho, Vertonghen.. i could go on.

I keep seeing people say "if playing this way gives us success then i want to play how we used to" - That is ridiculous to me, It wasn't too many seasons ago we played out a thrilling 4-4 draw with Leicester City... that was thrilling wasn't it. Where did we finish that season again?.

It's just sickening reading some 'fans' posts this season. support your team, support your manager. I agree, we haven't been exciting this season so far, but i'm happy to give it the entire season to see it all click. We have talented and young players who will take a while (possibly a long while) to really click together and get going. We have played 10 games this season, that's it. We sit 4th in the champions league spots having conceded very few goals and kept more clean sheets than i ever thought a Spurs team would.

I cannot comprehend that some fans who have sat and watched the absolute dire shit, wasteful, capitulating performances against poor teams of recent years with us dribbling home in 14th, or just scraping a UEFA cup spot ahead of the likes of Bolton cannot look at the progress we have made over the last ten years and see that we are quite clearly on the up, improving every season and attracting the kind of players who you couldn't have even dreamed of getting in seasons not so long ago.

If i have to watch a season of our previously shaky defence being strengthened to give us the mentality of not conceding and not losing games in order to eventually see us work on the forward line being more fluid and free scoring then i'm ok with that. I really am, I will happily watch a season of not overly exciting football to get back in the champions league and then watch us do what we have for the past ten years plus and progress and improve into an all round better team including goal scoring, entertaining football.

I have seen enough from AVB that I am happy to give him the time to get everything set up just right. I am also confident that the way we are playing now is not the way we always play under AVB and that the attacking will improve. I have every faith in AVB and the club that we will continue to improve and that we are doing so step by step as a team.

 

[Spurs_Bear]

I hear you just have to tell them to run around a bit.

I actually wish sometimes he would say just that.

 

[Ribble]

I hear you just have to tell them to run around a bit.

Isn't it "Fackin' run around a bit"?

Maybe that's where we're going wrong...

 

[looklikemodric]

I certainly would not say he is over-achieving. Last season was ok however we did exit all cup competitions with a whimper that certainly was not good enough.

Lets wait and see we have an exciting football squad. If we click and become more adventurous we could have a special season. What the quality squad and experience guarentees is a default finish, we know we are unlikely to finish below the top 8. That is not arrogance just the bridge of quality between other teams

The only time this theory does not work is if you have a terrible manager such as Juande Ramos who could not speak English but even then the squad rose to eighth from twentieth. Because the quality will always come through.

Lets see where we are by January 1st, how we are playing and take it from there. At the moment not under nor other achieveing.

 

[CowInAComa]

Its not really our back line that is responsible for our great defensive record as strange as that sounds. Its the strength of our midfield - in terms of protecting that defence and more pertinently we dominate games through loads of possession. We limit the amount of ball the opposition sees. Add in Lloris's fantastic ability to sweep given our high line, and its no surprise the opposition don't get much of a sniff.

Do agree though, if we can improve in the final third we're flying.

And if we let slip in the back third we're fucked.

Or stop being awarded penalties.

Skating on thin ice if you ask me.

 

[NEVILLEB]

You don't drop Eriksen because he had a couple of quiet games. The guy needs time to settle and get his fitness.

In my opinion, having brought Eriksen and Lamela to play in the front 3, he should keep throwing them in there until it clicks.

 

[NEVILLEB]

We have a great squad. Maybe only second to Man City's in depth and quality.

Our striking options are average. Not helped by AVB's squabble with Adebayor.

 

[Mr Pink]

And if we let slip in the back third we're fucked.

Or stop being awarded penalties.

Skating on thin ice if you ask me.

Well if things don't improve in the final third these fine margins could become more exposed. Time will tell but I think we will improve and the defensive resilience he's instilled will pay off in a big way over the longer term.

 

[NEVILLEB]

Well if things don't improve in the final third these fine margins could become more exposed. Time will tell but I think we will improve and the defensive resilience he's instilled will pay off in a big way over the longer term.

Damn it Mr Pink. Why are you always right and level headed!

 

[CowInAComa]

Maybe its just me and Im crap at wishful thinking. But Im just seeing toothless performances with no sign on refuge on the horizon.

I dont see why we need to wait for the 'click' before the players can make runs or try to create some space.

 

[CowInAComa]

Im beginning to also think that rather than refer to the next transfer window to solve all our ills every time we should coach the players we've got into a coherent unit.

That excuse is as lazy as its convenient.

 

[NEVILLEB]

Maybe its just me and Im crap at wishful thinking. But Im just seeing toothless performances with no sign on refuge on the horizon.

I dont see why we need to wait for the 'click' before the players can make runs or try to create some space.

If we weren't so clueless last season then I wouldn't be worried. I'd just see it as an adjustment period.

But we were...I think AVB is blinded by his desire to make 4-5-1 work in the premier league.

The quick fix is to replace Soldado with Adebayor. Also to get Lennon on the right and Townsend on the left putting crosses onto Adebayor's head.

One thing Harry was good at was seeing the simple option and taking it. He didn't get in the way of common sense.

 

[Mr Pink]

Maybe its just me and Im crap at wishful thinking. But Im just seeing toothless performances with no sign on refuge on the horizon.

I dont see why we need to wait for the 'click' before the players can make runs or try to create some space.

It is frustrating so I can understand your exasperation. I think the problem is playing the inverted wide forwards who don't have much nous and brain about them. We're a possession side, we need those creative types in that three behind the forward - at the very least we needed Eriksen in there instead of Lennon on the left.

Personally I wouldn't play either of them at the moment, they aren't creating anything - and Lennon isn't suited to playing from the left at all.

The sooner AVB starts playing the creative types behind Soldado and sticks to it for a run of proper games the sooner our attacking play will flourish and we'll become more fluid.

That's just my take on it.

 

[Damian99]

when Eriksen and Lamela have started to spark and Soldado is banging away chances like he did for Valencia – the dividends could be handsome indeed.

Be a good idea to have the first two on the pitch then maybe??

 

[CowInAComa]

If we weren't so clueless last season then I wouldn't be worried. I'd just see it as an adjustment period.

But we were...I think AVB is blinded by his desire to make 4-5-1 work in the premier league.

The quick fix is to replace Soldado with Adebayor. Also to get Lennon on the right and Townsend on the left putting crosses onto Adebayor's head.

Apart from the fact that Adebayor is pretty bad in the air...

Though, sure its an option I guess and nothing else is working - but its a bit of a cop out for a modern forward thinking manager though isnt it? Get wingers down the outside putting crossing in for the big CF. Is that the sort of thinking everyone lauds AVB for?

And agree, this is a pure continuous of the Bale obscuring issues of last season and its actually getting more entrenched.

 

[CowInAComa]

It is frustrating so I can understand your exasperation. I think the problem is playing the inverted wide forwards who don't have much nous and brain about them. We're a possession side, we need those creative types in that three behind the forward - at the very least we needed Eriksen in there instead of Lennon on the left.

Personally I wouldn't play either of them at the moment, they aren't creating anything - and Lennon isn't suited to playing from the left at all.

The sooner AVB starts playing the creative types behind Soldado and sticks to it for a run of proper games the sooner our attacking play will flourish and we'll become more fluid.

That's just my take on it.

It is still wishful thinking though isnt it. Its what you hope will happen but there is no evidence of it in our play.

The issue is all coaching and team selection. The wrong team is picked and the team interaction in the final third looks non existent.

 

[only1waddle]

Im beginning to also think that rather than refer to the next transfer window to solve all our ills every time we should coach the players we've got into a coherent unit.

That excuse is as lazy as its convenient.

I agree, we can't keep switching players because they are not good enough for the now, take Holtby for example, some on here would ship him out if given the chance, while he has certainly not hit the heights we had hoped for, he has potential, who is to say that with decent coaching and a regular group of players around him that at 24/25 he starts to really fly.
Same applies to other guys on our books, with decent coaching and a consistent playing style, and minimal changes in the transfer windows then i can see the point you are making to be the same thinking that the club has, continuity for a club like us should reap rewards.
Some of our players are obviously not going to make it at the next level, and will need moving on (Naughton), it is the potential to be coached that needs to be taken into account.

 

[weststandvoice]

Sabotage Times in "Get someone to write us 800 SEO friendly words" shocker. I hate people who say, "I couldn't be bothered to read all that", but I really couldn't be bothered to read all that.