AVB's inheritance

[mkkid]

I think last years squad was the best we've had in 30 years - not even taking into account our injuries this year. On top of that, we've relied ALL season on 2 strikers, one of whom has been MIA. We still have a good chance to finish with our highest point total ever in the prem. I dont know how anybody can not respect the job AVB has done.

The 87 team was far better than last years.

 

[spudtrader]

agree. Overall i would say the media overlook any such things because people like Souness represent the "media". He's a moron who has been put in front of a camera and told to speak.

However, some people overlook a few things which should be mentioned when looking at it objectively.

We have lost Modric, VDV and a 1/2 fit King.
Modric was a huge loss, we have missed VDV's class but he was also injury prone, King was running on empty for parts of that last season (i would take a reliably fit Vertonghen over a half fit Ledley). Not only have we gained Vert, we've added a world class GK, a strong CM in Dembele, as well as two of last years premiership good performers (Sig and Dempsey).

I also think that AVB should take some responsibilty for not getting the best out of Ade, in the same way he should take credit for Bale's excellent season.

We have a really good squad and first team which should be finishing 5th or 4th given the surrounding clubs. Some could argue that we are better than Arsenal on paper, but that is a tough call to make.

Better leave it to the experts (such as Souness )

 

[Rout-Ledge]

I'm just glad we haven't had to suffer a customary appalling run of results leading up to May as we did in the previous two seasons. There have been blips but under Redknapp we were going 10-12 games without a win.

 

[llamafarmer]

It came across as two bitter ex managers not liking a young upstart and it's sad that Hoddle has stooped to this.

Agreed. I think he's also resented for being an outsider. What can he know about football if he never played professionally? He's doing well so far!

 

[Main Man]

Our squad is nowhere near the level it was last season. Every Spurs fan knows that, who cares what Graeme Souness or Glenn Hoddle have to say, both are absolutely clueless.

But to contribute to the argument, if we'd have had Kaboul available to us all season we would now be in the Champions League and AVB would be loved by us, but he would still be portrayed negatively in the media due to their love affair with Redknapp.

 

[WestBelfast Spurs]

mon see next year when we win the prem, fuck you souness your just bitter you didn't get your chance in the great shirt

 

[SteveH]

AVB has done a great job.

Poor squad through poor signing and bad luck with injuries.

Compare the midfield at Chelsea to ours, then tell me AVB is not an excellent appointment.

Now I'm going to be harsh here.

Other than Bale, Lloris, Verts, Walker, Defoe, Dembele and a 'strange one I know' Adebayor the rest IMHO have question marks against them with reference to remaining at Spurs. Special mention here for Lennon, his fitness levels are not tolerable for such an important position in the team we need proper cover for him or he must be replaced, I hope Dembele does not go the same way.

I've not include Sandro and Kaboul in this, but I'm not overly convinced about any player getting back to their prior standard after these big injuries i.e Vidic.

My big gripe is Gylfi, Clint and Lewis, no not bad footballers as Glenn said rightly last night but probably not good enough at the level we find ourselves.

 

[tototoner]

a blind man can see we have a much weaker squad this season than last and we have have more injuries this season than last, which makes Villas-Boas achievements all the better

it's also well known that a blind man can see more than Graeme Souness

 

[THOWIG]

Glenn Hoddle the same person who said at the start of the season that Dembele was better than Modric.

 

[Krafty]

If the squad AVB was so good, how come we aren't playing in the Champions League this season? Yes, we finished fourth, but it wasn't good enough, was it Harry, and frankly we should have had 3rd wrapped up with games to spare.

Then you take out the players already mentioned, plus new ones settling on, and injuries to Sandro and Kaboul, and suddenly Sounness looks like a muppet.

I normally have time for him, but he's off the mark here.

 

[SteveH]

a blind man can see we have a much weaker squad this season than last and we have have more injuries this season than last, which makes Villas-Boas achievements all the better

it's also well known that a blind man can see more than Graeme Souness

Dont mind Souness usually but last night, boy was he bad.

Glenn though was spot on.

Glenn Hoddle the same person who said at the start of the season that Dembele was better than Modric.

He meant a two legged Dembele?

Seriously, even with two working legs Dembele is no Luke. But in defence of Dembele his recurring hip injury needs sorting.

 

[markiespurs]

I'd like to see how most teams would do after loosing 3 massively influential players in Modric, VDV and King, as well as long term injuries to current players like Kaboul and Sandro.

Yes AVB has made mistakes this season, some of which has cost us points, but as someone who was very sceptical about AVB when he was appointed, I think he has done a great job with the players he has at his disposal and with the addition of a just a couple of summer signings can see us pushing on well next season.

Both Souness and Hoddle have been out of football management for so long now they really are becoming an irrelevance.

 

[thinktank]

AVB hasn't even had the chance to play his best team from the current squad at all this season;

Lloris

Walker
Kaboul
Verts
BAE

Sandro
Dembele
Siggy

Lennon
Ade
Bale

Yes other teams have injuries, but surely they've been full strength at some occasion during the season, we haven't, not once!

If we had that team fit all season (and with Benny not playing like a loon), we, quite probably, would have won the title this year. I'm deadly serious.

 

[Harry_Snatch]

Last year we had....
A fit Kaboul and semi fit King
Modric who is one of the best CM's in world football and has incidentally forced his way into the real madrid side, which even VDV and Sneijder failed to do.
Sandro and Parker the whole season
VDV scoring 15 odd key goals and big game goals.
Fit BAE on form.
On form Adebayor with 17 and 11

This season.
Dembele for Modric and he's not even close to modric if we are all honest. AVB wanted Moutinho
siggy and Dempsey for VDV and they aren't even close. Siggy has potential and has finished the season a much better player than he started
Vertonghen is class but no Kaboul teh whole season.
Half Fit Adebayor
Half a season of Sandro, half a season of Parker
BAE a shadow of himself and unfit most of the season.
Holtby has looked like a decent squad player but not anywhere near VDV
Lloris has been class but had to settle in

None of the attacking and midfield players are anywhere near the quality we let go and the defensive players take loger to bed in. We lost 2 of our top class players and took too long to sign our best striker again from last year.
AVB has taken us to exactly where our level is this season. We have a top 5 squad that is good enough to challenge the gooners. No more, no less.

 

[jonathanhotspur]

Agreed. I think he's also resented for being an outsider. What can he know about football if he never played professionally? He's doing well so far!

You said it.

Wasn't Hoddle lamenting the prevalence of foreign managers in the PL last night?

Hoddle started laughing at that.
Hoddle was sat at Levy table on Tuesday night.He was never going to mention the chairman signed the players it was easier to talk about signing AVB and the stadium money.

I just had a quick look at it again and the other two plonkers were sniggering at Hoddle when he said this season's squad isn't as good as last season's.

Was Hoddle sitting with Levy at some kind of bash on Tuesday night?

 

[ethanedwards]

No not a thread about AVB claiming some money following the death of an elderly relative. I'm talking about the debate between Souness and Hoddle after the Chelsea game. It seems to highlight a point that a lot of the media appear to have been completely oblivious to this season and a lot of people who debate football in various forms.

For those of you who turned over/didn't see it Souness basically said that AVB had inherited a brilliant squad and so if he doesnt make champions league why did we sack Harry?

The amount of times that the media in different forms don't pick up on what we lost before this season is unreal, it's like they don't want to be seen to be crediting AVB.

Last season King, Modric and Rafa VDV formed a huge part of our team, they were the spine of it. We lost all three of them before this season. I've heard some mention that AVB was here when we lost those players and so cannot blame it, however King retired injured. Modric was always going (let's face it as much as we hated it we could see it a mile off early in the season) and if the stories are to be believed Rafa left due to more personal reasons due to Sylvie working in Germany and their relationship being trickier with the travel.

Add to that this season AVB has been without Dembele for a long time, Kaboul has missed nearly the entire season and Sandro has been out for a sizeable chunk too as has Defoe at times. Again that is nearly the entire spine of our team.

Yes, it hasn't helped that Ade hasn't been the same as last season, and yes at times Bale has carried us through. However i really don't understand why these issues never get mentioned within the media and these debates on television, it's glaringly obvious to anyone who has seen us play this year. Had Kaboul, Sandro and Dembele been fit all season how different do we think the table would be?.

We have brought in decent players. Siggy, Dempsey, Holtby they are all good players. I know the criticism dempsey gets but both he and Siggy have scored important goals this season even if they haven't got them by the bucket load. I think even the most ardent Dempsey hater would admit he has scored some important goals in tight games this year.

I know that King, Modric, Rafa > Holtby, Dempsey, Siggy I just don't see why the issue gets mentioned on here a lot but never acknowledged on a wider scale by other fans and pundits. I genuinely think that taking everything into account AVB has done a fantastic job with what he has had availiable to him, we have needed to go shopping and haven't but is that AVB or Levy?.

Either way, which side are you lot on? Do you think AVB has done very well with a lesser squad, or are you with Souness and think that he inherited a more than decent enough squad to be getting into the top four?.

Have to disagree with this, on paper yes, on the pitch last season apart from Rafa no. King was finished and for the last few months Modric was strolling through games.

 

[only1waddle]

You said it.

Wasn't Hoddle lamenting the prevalence of foreign managers in the PL last night?


I just had a quick look at it again and the other two plonkers were sniggering at Hoddle when he said this season's squad isn't as good as last season's.

Was Hoddle sitting with Levy at some kind of bash on Tuesday night?

Ledley's Tribute bash, not sure on the seating plan though

 

[worcestersauce]

Last season we got 69 points, in the previous two season we got 70 then 62 so it is highly possible that we top all our previous best total, not a bad return on a depleted legacy with a first season learning curve I guess.

 

[YiddoJames]

~It's astonishing that they failed during that debate to mention VdV, Modric and King.

Particularly surprised at Hoddle, who you'd think would be the first to point those players out, following us as closely as he does.

Souness was wrong, Hoddle correct on the basic point. Last season's squad was better. They also ignored the fact we had players like Corluka and Kranjcar, even Pav for what he was worth, on the bench, who are clearly superior to the subs we've had most of this season.

Sandro and Kaboul's injuries were also completely ignored during that discussion. Would be nice if so called experts on these TV analysis shows actually had some expertise!

 

[YiddoJames]

I was screaming at Hoddle to mention the loss of Modric, VdV and King to shut Souness up! He had a smirk on his face at the end because he felt his point was right and given his links with Spurs Hoddle should have been able reel off those 3 huge players whose loss has weakened our squad. On top of this he could have also mentioned the long term injuries to Kaboul and Sandro.

Precisely!!