- Jan 15, 2006
- 1,753
- 1,758
I was sold on Villas Boas from day one. There's something about him that just seems to fit with Spurs. Probably it's that most of us, being Spurs fans, will always tend to go for the slim chance of glory/large chance of failure option over the safe but maybe unspectacular one. That's why we went with Ramos over Jol, Villas Boas over Harry/Moyes. We love the idea that this might.. just.. work. And so far it's... well, it's a work in progress.
However there is something not quite right with what we're seeing so far, and this is not meant to fuel a Villas Boas bashing thread but more an honest discussion on what is he up to. Clearly he got burned at Chelsea. He tried to move too fast, too soon and alienated some of the seniors and lost the fans very quickly. However I feel he's almost guilty of the opposite at Tottenham. I do not and did not expect 4th in his first year. To lose King, Modric and Rafa in one window, bring in a new manager and philosophy and maintain our ground is not realistic. And currently we are on the path to a "just outside the top 4"" finish. Which I would have no really issue with if we were building the team and the philosophy that will push for 4th next season and for the next 5 seasons. But we're not.
We are playing a goalie, a very good goalie albeit, but not a world class one, over one of Europe's hottest prospects. Now if Brad was 36 and Lloris was 20 I'd say fair enough. But Lloris will need to take over next year. I'd much rather have him settling in now as opposed to sitting on the bench every week. If Villas Boas continues with playing Brad in the PL Lloris will have 3 more games this year. We need to look to the future and use this season to get a system and a familiar back line who will be able to push on next year. Brad's been awesome for us but Villas Boas needs to start looking at a long term plan. Which brings us to....
Gallas. I get that Villas Boas wants a leader out there but when your vocal leader isn't leading by example with his play then it's a bit useless. Gallas has cost us several goals already and if you look at the back line I would argue that he is the reason we are not playing the famous Villas Boas high line. And if we are not playing the Villas Boas high line then I don't see why Dawson shouldn't be in ahead of Gallas anyway. I'd much rather Villas Boas just takes this season to invest in the youth and get the team used to playing the high line. Play Vertonghen in his natural position (he's been guilty of costing us goals too from LB). Pair him with Caulker til Younes is back. Play the Kyles as full backs. A back line of those 4 would be able to play the high line no problem and would allow the rest of the team get used to this this season instead of being back to the drawing board next season learning this new system. Speaking of systems...
Pick a formation and make the players play it. No I'm not saying to put square pegs in round holes, well maybe a little... Right now we play mainly a 4231/451/4411, pretty much anything but the 433 we expected. Obviously losing Dembele hasn't helped but even with him there it was a 4231. This formation is killing our creativity in the middle of the park, mainly due to the failure to secure Moutinho as the metronome for the team. As much as I love how Hudd strikes a ball he's just not good enough to play that role. But again I'd rather see us play it with what we have and get the team used to it than just to carry on with this patently uncreative system for the sake of it. If we're gonna lose the Wigan at home lets lose in a way that we learn something from. Dempsey, and I feel bad for him to be honest, is just not fitting in right now. I don't think we should be playing with a number 10 in this system but rather with 3 proper midfielders and 2 wide strikers and a 9. Dempsey would be a great squadie to cover all three of the 3 front positions but I'd not have him starting anymore. Also with us not playing 433 and with us not playing the high pressure game you ave to wonder what was the point of trading in Rafa for Dempsey. There's nothing Dempsey is doing now that Rafa couldn't have. Well maybe lasting 90 mins, but I'd rather have 60-mins of Rafa and 30 of Sig than 90 of Dempsey. Also I've seen more from Carroll in the central role this season than from Hudd. I get that he's tiny but play him next to Sandro and let him do the dirty work for him. Again, lets learn how we will be playing for the next 5 years now instead of just limping on as best we can.
And in the top 3 I would use Bale/Defoe/Ade. Lennon should be an impact sub. He doesn't offer enough in 90 mins. In the top 3 we need at least 10-15 goals from each wide striker. Bale can get this. Lennon has scored 16 goals since 2008. Ade can provide creativity and link up play wide as he did a lot against City. I would look to get another wide playing (Willian) in in Jan and then move Ade central and Defoe to the bench.
But for now I think Villas Boas just need to be Villas Boas. Playing it safe and failing is the worst of both worlds.
Based on injuries etc this is how I would start us now.
Post Jan (assuming we get Moutinho or someone else to fill that gap and a Willian type:
However there is something not quite right with what we're seeing so far, and this is not meant to fuel a Villas Boas bashing thread but more an honest discussion on what is he up to. Clearly he got burned at Chelsea. He tried to move too fast, too soon and alienated some of the seniors and lost the fans very quickly. However I feel he's almost guilty of the opposite at Tottenham. I do not and did not expect 4th in his first year. To lose King, Modric and Rafa in one window, bring in a new manager and philosophy and maintain our ground is not realistic. And currently we are on the path to a "just outside the top 4"" finish. Which I would have no really issue with if we were building the team and the philosophy that will push for 4th next season and for the next 5 seasons. But we're not.
We are playing a goalie, a very good goalie albeit, but not a world class one, over one of Europe's hottest prospects. Now if Brad was 36 and Lloris was 20 I'd say fair enough. But Lloris will need to take over next year. I'd much rather have him settling in now as opposed to sitting on the bench every week. If Villas Boas continues with playing Brad in the PL Lloris will have 3 more games this year. We need to look to the future and use this season to get a system and a familiar back line who will be able to push on next year. Brad's been awesome for us but Villas Boas needs to start looking at a long term plan. Which brings us to....
Gallas. I get that Villas Boas wants a leader out there but when your vocal leader isn't leading by example with his play then it's a bit useless. Gallas has cost us several goals already and if you look at the back line I would argue that he is the reason we are not playing the famous Villas Boas high line. And if we are not playing the Villas Boas high line then I don't see why Dawson shouldn't be in ahead of Gallas anyway. I'd much rather Villas Boas just takes this season to invest in the youth and get the team used to playing the high line. Play Vertonghen in his natural position (he's been guilty of costing us goals too from LB). Pair him with Caulker til Younes is back. Play the Kyles as full backs. A back line of those 4 would be able to play the high line no problem and would allow the rest of the team get used to this this season instead of being back to the drawing board next season learning this new system. Speaking of systems...
Pick a formation and make the players play it. No I'm not saying to put square pegs in round holes, well maybe a little... Right now we play mainly a 4231/451/4411, pretty much anything but the 433 we expected. Obviously losing Dembele hasn't helped but even with him there it was a 4231. This formation is killing our creativity in the middle of the park, mainly due to the failure to secure Moutinho as the metronome for the team. As much as I love how Hudd strikes a ball he's just not good enough to play that role. But again I'd rather see us play it with what we have and get the team used to it than just to carry on with this patently uncreative system for the sake of it. If we're gonna lose the Wigan at home lets lose in a way that we learn something from. Dempsey, and I feel bad for him to be honest, is just not fitting in right now. I don't think we should be playing with a number 10 in this system but rather with 3 proper midfielders and 2 wide strikers and a 9. Dempsey would be a great squadie to cover all three of the 3 front positions but I'd not have him starting anymore. Also with us not playing 433 and with us not playing the high pressure game you ave to wonder what was the point of trading in Rafa for Dempsey. There's nothing Dempsey is doing now that Rafa couldn't have. Well maybe lasting 90 mins, but I'd rather have 60-mins of Rafa and 30 of Sig than 90 of Dempsey. Also I've seen more from Carroll in the central role this season than from Hudd. I get that he's tiny but play him next to Sandro and let him do the dirty work for him. Again, lets learn how we will be playing for the next 5 years now instead of just limping on as best we can.
And in the top 3 I would use Bale/Defoe/Ade. Lennon should be an impact sub. He doesn't offer enough in 90 mins. In the top 3 we need at least 10-15 goals from each wide striker. Bale can get this. Lennon has scored 16 goals since 2008. Ade can provide creativity and link up play wide as he did a lot against City. I would look to get another wide playing (Willian) in in Jan and then move Ade central and Defoe to the bench.
But for now I think Villas Boas just need to be Villas Boas. Playing it safe and failing is the worst of both worlds.
Based on injuries etc this is how I would start us now.
Post Jan (assuming we get Moutinho or someone else to fill that gap and a Willian type: