AVB - things i can't get my head around !

[shelfboy68]

We are defending really bad at the moment, annoying that we conceeded 3 v Lpool while WHU were able to keep them out for a point. We should have got a point out of that game at least, very annoying.

Exactly since Liverpool we have been a shambles we gave away two bad goals to let Liverpool win and we haven't recovered since.

Even vertonghen and Dawson who were looking good now look shaky and nervy but parker and dembele were sitting deeper then and protecting better.

At the moment we are averaging two goals a game thats got to stop or for sure we wont get top four, I also think that a month ago we would of beaten Everton Sunday thats where the slide is so visible.

 

[parklane_n17]

Would have Harry back tomorrow over avb, saying that avb has done alot better than I thought he would.

 

[Kendall]

Last year,our manager was in his fourth season in charge with god knows how many years experience of the league....this is AVBs first full season managing in the prem(with a weaker squad than last year)
I think it's just unrealistic to expect an instant results,when hopefully ,AVBS here for the long haul.
Its a well known fact that Utd were very close to sacking fergie at the start of his reign,as I'm sure a lot of Utd fans felt his impact made "no improvement at all"

So, what's your argument again?

I said he hasn't improved us. Are you agreeing with me or not? It looks like you're agreeing with me, but trying to insinuate that I want AVB sacked or expect him to win the league.

I just don't think we've progressed, despite all the plaudits AVB has received on here.

 

[ryantegan]

How he has perfectly flexible but rigid appearing hair.

I just cant get my head around it. damn you AVB

 

[Liquidator]

Well he sorted that conceding-late-goals issue we had earlier in the season, by concentration-boosting elements in training. That's an improvement.

I think we'd have beaten Everton with Bale and Lennon in the side. Clearly not AVB's fault they aren't.

The loss to Liverpool was down to two humdingers of player-error, not AVB.

I think overall he has a plan, and it will take time, but that there is generally an upward curve on the graph.

 

[Gb160]

How he has perfectly flexible but rigid appearing hair.
I just cant get my head around it. damn you AVB

This is so true...if it doesn't work out as a manager he could quite easily model for those 80s looking pictures found hanging in every barbers.

So, what's your argument again?

I said he hasn't improved us. Are you agreeing with me or not? It looks like you're agreeing with me, but trying to insinuate that I want AVB sacked or expect him to win the league.
I just don't think we've progressed, despite all the plaudits AVB has received on here.

No i dont agree...until AVB has a couple of seasons under his belt,after getting the players in he actually wants... its too early to judge "progression"

 

[Spurs_Bear]

No i dont agree...until AVB has a couple of seasons under his belt,after getting the players in he actually wants... its too early to judge "progression"

Not at all, we didn't bring in AVB because we were left high and dry, we brought him in as an improvement on the previous regime. Us and Liverpool need to be judged in the same way as far as managers go. What makes us different is that their manager was backed in the transfer window where as ours wasn't. They are as bad as they were results wise, and we are similar.

I think AVB has improved us slightly in defence, we at least look more organised even if we do concede more goals. But as an attacking force we are blunter than a rubber duck. And that's with Bale in the side too.

Overall, we've kept our heads at the same level, which is fine provided we finish that way.

 

[dontcallme]

But surely the players you lose has to be taken into account.

Rodgers took over a poor Liverpool side, by their standards, and has been given some breathing space as a result. If Carragher had retired and they sold Gerrard and Suarez then he'd be given even more time.

We lost our 2 best midfielders and our rock in defence. Whoever the manager was they'd surely be given some level of lenience, whether it was HR or a new manager.

 

[brasil_spur]

At Chelsea he obviously upset the senior players and now at Spurs he seems to be doing the reverse.
At the beginning of the season he plays Friedel over Lloris as he don't want to upset Freidel.
Now he constantly changes the centre back pairing and the only reason i can see is that he don't want to upset anyone, if there's another someone please let me know !
Dempsey instead of Holtby is another one.
Continually brings on Sig for Lennon when A. Sig is not a right winger B. Sig has never done anything in that position.

The balance of the squad :

So now he plays Bale in the centre of the attacking mid three when we already have Holtby, Sig, and Dempsey who play that position, the last three all bought recently and no out and out left winger as he has let Townsend go out on loan and hasn't bought anyone.

So at the moment we have :

5 central defenders
1 left back
No left winger
One right winger
Four attacking central midfiled players
Two average forwards.

The Kane situation, why bring him back if he's not going to even put him on the bench especially when we are short of forwards.

There's a lot of bullshit to take in here, but i'll have a go at answering some of it for you.

At the beginning of the season he plays Friedel over Lloris as he don't want to upset Freidel.
Well had he thrown Lloris into the deep end and Lloris had made a cock up then it would have set back his place in the team massively. The way AVB handled this was perfect IMO, despite pressure from the media.

Now he constantly changes the centre back pairing and the only reason i can see is that he don't want to upset anyone, if there's another someone please let me know
There's a couple of reasons here. One being injuries - we've had injuries to: Kaboul (long term), Dawson, Gallas and Caulker this season. As well as Ekotto (pushing Verts from CB to LB). Another reason is rotation. We've had a lot of games in Europe and so what has been happening is that the CB's have been changing from one game to the next even if they are the same pairing in the PL as we have switched them for the european games in between. And finally AVB is trying to work out the best formation and players for his style of play (high back line that pushes up) and so of course as a new manager he will be experimenting a bit in his first season with pairings.

Dempsey instead of Holtby is another one.
Holtby is new to the league and so there is a period of adpatation and there are times when playing Dempsey makes more tactical sense.

As for the overall squad balance:
5 central defenders - that's the correct number to have IMO
1 left back - with two covering players, seems ok to me
No left winger - agreed but this no doubt will be dealt with in the next available transfer window - Bale has only been played in this new role mostly since December so was hard to foresee this issue occruing and the Jan window is hard to find the right player to replace him at LW.
One right winger - cover is needed and if there's one mistake in all you've pointed out it is probably loaning Townsend who could provide useful cover on both flanks, but he is probably developing better by being at QPR
Four attacking central midfiled players - Sigurdsson and Holtby both are, Holtby not just this though, he's more of a flexible player. Dempsey is not an attacking CM, he is an advanced AMF or a CF who plays in the hole. Bale is a bit of an enigma and falls into that odd category of 'second striker / free reign to do what he wants' like with Ronaldo/Messi.
Two average forwards. - i'd actually say one average and one shit, i'll let you decide which way round you want to call that

 

[sunnydelight786]

Not at all, we didn't bring in AVB because we were left high and dry, we brought him in as an improvement on the previous regime. Us and Liverpool need to be judged in the same way as far as managers go. What makes us different is that their manager was backed in the transfer window where as ours wasn't. They are as bad as they were results wise, and we are similar.

I think AVB has improved us slightly in defence, we at least look more organised even if we do concede more goals. But as an attacking force we are blunter than a rubber duck. And that's with Bale in the side too.

Overall, we've kept our heads at the same level, which is fine provided we finish that way.

Bear if Villas-Boas gets backed in the transfer market this summer how far do you think he can get us....? Genuine question as we are up against 2 sides wth a bottomless pit of £ and another that is the biggest club in the world who generate their own £.....

 

[Spurs_Bear]

But surely the players you lose has to be taken into account.

Rodgers took over a poor Liverpool side, by their standards, and has been given some breathing space as a result. If Carragher had retired and they sold Gerrard and Suarez then he'd be given even more time.

We lost our 2 best midfielders and our rock in defence. Whoever the manager was they'd surely be given some level of lenience, whether it was HR or a new manager.

What about the players you gain? The only one we can take into account is Modric who was a big loss, but the gain of uber-Bale cancels that out. King didn't play regularly enough and half the ****s on this forum reckon we are better without VdV anyway!

I'm not talking about showing him lenience in the same way that I'm not saying he should be under pressure, I wouldn't expect anyone to do better than we have over the last few years. If we finish 4th this year it will be superb as it was the 2 years out of the last 3.

The original question though, 'has Villas-Boas improved us?', in my mind not to the extent that others seem to think. And I'm a big fan of him as well.

 

[Spurs_Bear]

Bear if Villas-Boas gets backed in the transfer market this summer how far do you think he can get us....? Genuine question as we are up against 2 sides wth a bottomless pit of £ and another that is the biggest club in the world who generate their own £.....

3rd or 4th...? It's always going to be difficult to break the top 2 when they are who they are, but it would give us more of a yardstick to see how good we were if he had at least one player he actually wanted.

 

[CowInAComa]

Also a big AvB and I think next season we will see the fruits of his labour moreso, but right now I think Rodgers has improved Liverpool more than AvB has improved Spurs.

We have our moments (Inter @ Home and Swansea first half etc) but we are too often being dragged along by moments of individual brilliance rather than tactical nous or impressive team play/movement.

 

[sunnydelight786]

3rd or 4th...? It's always going to be difficult to break the top 2 when they are who they are, but it would give us more of a yardstick to see how good we were if he had at least one player he actually wanted.

My thoughts exactly. I get the feeling he will jump ship in a year or 2 as he would have reached his ceiling with us.

 

[Spurs_Bear]

Also a big AvB and I think next season we will see the fruits of his labour moreso, but right now I think Rodgers has improved Liverpool more than AvB has improved Spurs.

We have our moments (Inter @ Home and Swansea first half etc) but we are too often being dragged along by moments of individual brilliance rather than tactical nous or impressive team play/movement.

Not difficult. I could have done that.

 

[Spurs_Bear]

My thoughts exactly. I get the feeling he will jump ship in a year or 2 as he would have reached his ceiling with us.

I'll get negged to fuck for this...but I'm still not overly convinced he'll outgrow us Sunny. My biggest fear is a Ramos style capitulation if things don't start well next year.

 

[Kendall]

I've seen no evidence to suggest AVB will be a manager jumping ship from us, which is a pretty rare occurance in management anyway.

 

[Liquidator]

I would have said he needs to stay at a club and prove himself after the CFC debacle. Build the AVB brand back to its former heights.

So I don't expect him to swan off any time soon...

 

[eViL]

We're still a FIT, Premier League established CM from being able to play a 4-3-3, so until that time, we'll be playing it scrappy and un-AVB's porto like.

Unless Parker suddenly relearns how to string a pass together, we could well be 2 CMs short.

 

[dontcallme]

What about the players you gain? The only one we can take into account is Modric who was a big loss, but the gain of uber-Bale cancels that out. King didn't play regularly enough and half the ****s on this forum reckon we are better without VdV anyway!

I'm not talking about showing him lenience in the same way that I'm not saying he should be under pressure, I wouldn't expect anyone to do better than we have over the last few years. If we finish 4th this year it will be superb as it was the 2 years out of the last 3.

The original question though, 'has Villas-Boas improved us?', in my mind not to the extent that others seem to think. And I'm a big fan of him as well.

I think losing big players always has a negative effect. Players become important to a club and even if you replace them with quality it takes time to adjust to their loss.

Modric was the main one as the puller of strings in central midfield and anyone thinking we're better off without VDV is insane.

We went on a really good run last season and were not far from second place. It didn't surprise me that this run came at the one time King had a run of games. How much would we have loved for King to have a run of 8 games this season with Kaboul and BAE injured?

Technically you are right. We are not better now under AVB than we were last season under HR. Considering the changes in personnel I wouldn't have expected anything more.