Thoughts on AVB

[buttons]

I wonder whether the sentiment of this thread would have been different had the initial questions been posed after the Everton or Stoke games...

I have always been a fan of AVB and have always been behind him. I think if we were offered 4th spot in the league, 6 behind Citeh, ahead of the goons, toon and Liverpool most would have taken that.

The signs have been there for a while now that the players, and AVB, are starting to get 'it' and i think the three clean sheets in a row (4 in last 5) speak volumes for that. I think we will continue to get stronger in the second half of the season. Am intruiged to see what happens in Jan, hope there are a couple of surprises!

 

[Wiener]

He comes across as very professional and a gent. He has done very well dealing with a hostile and often moronic bunch of journos.

Half a season is far too little to pass judgement on. Given the injuries and summer transfer window it's hard to complain. So far so good. He looks to be worth a min 3 seasons. Needless to say the inevitable rough patches and barrage of criticism will happen but he looks have the bottle to deal with them. The only way I can see him go in the next few years is if we are flirting with relegation or there is some falling out with the owners, whether that be Levy (unlikely as they seem to get on we'll) or the next lot.

 

[Mullers]

I think he is the right man for the job, I think with backing he will bring us success. I have this nagging feel though that he will get the sack if we don't get a CL place, with once again a whole summer of turmoil and speculation. I really, really hope that doesn't happen.

 

[Jamturk]

I think he is the right man for the job, I think with backing he will bring us success. I have this nagging feel though that he will get the sack if we don't get a CL place, with once again a whole summer of turmoil and speculation. I really, really hope that doesn't happen.

Well if that happens we will know as supporters where the problems in our club lay.

 

[StartingPrice]

Thoughts on AVB:
Like I said when Chelsea hired him - has talent, will be sacked sooner rather than later by Chelsea, and probably a good signing when that happens.
Was totally shafted by Abrahmovich and the senior players at Chelsea (what would you expect from someone so totally devoid of morality as JT?).
Didn't believe very much of the media anti-AVB BS from his Chelsea days.
Found it hilarious that the media tried to pursue this this season, especially with the he's making the same mistakes BS, when it was clearly the opposite of what was happening.
Handled the Friedel/Lloris situation very well.
Got us to where we are during a transition period with between four and seven 1st teamers out, having lost our three best players in the Summer.

Still early days, yet, though...so let's cut out the mutual BJs, eh!

It wasn't that many games ago that plenty of people were telling us that he's a massive ****

As is the way with these things, that's quietened down right now, but it'll be back, regular as clockwork, as soon as we hit a bad patch again.

I still think the same as when he got the job, we need to show some patience and give him time to impose his methods on the club as a whole. Personally, i'd like to see him given at least three seasons in the job. And maybe one or two players of his choosing while Levy is at it. If I had my way he'd be given even more time than three years. Its about time we had someone in place long term.

I think we'll have a few more downs yet, but also that we are starting to slowly see the seeds he's planting come to fruition. IIRC most of SC seemed to think that 5th/6th would be where we finished this season so we're on course to match a lot of posters expectations.

Like I said in the Summer, when so many on here were more intent on bemoaning his employment because he was a massive flop at Chelsea - I would have preferred to have had him on a longer contract.
(Apologies for agreeing with you...we can get back to the disparagement whenever you are ready ).

Fuck this. I miss Aitch's quips.

Is that a euphemism?

 

[mill]

Very much meh when he come in, still not wholey convinced but I feel we're about par for where we should be and the team is starting to look better, hopefully with a bit a backing we can really start to go places

 

[ultimateloner]

looks on track to deliver 4th; needs to get us CL this year to prove he's worth more funds.

 

[ostrov]

I would be happy to return to CL but more important I would be happy to see us play exсiting football there like we did the first time, even if we were very naive in the beginning.
In this respect I am less optimistic as we really struggle with creativity and opening the tight defenses up both in England and in EL this season so far. So far AVB style is more physical than intelligent and creative. We completely dominated Villa but needed to wait 57 min for that clever pass from Naughton . For me it's a major disappointment in AVB's football. In some matches we were so poor it's unbelievable, conceding all those late goals, not being able to kill the teams off.
I hope with one or two new key signings we can improve.

 

[Spurs1960]

He has come with with a commendable attitude and has been given the task of changing club mentality from hopefuls to winners. That is a long process with pain along the way.

In pressure situation you react with your default setting which for us is to run back and defend our box (which we haven't been doing well). You either change the default setting of players or change the players. The next 2 transfer windows will be interesting to see how he tackles this. How a player reacts under pressure is everything. Our manager has been under pressure and he has reacted positively. The signs for the future therefore are good.

"As a coach remind your top players that you will attack them as a player, but love them as a person." Bill Beswick former (presumably he still isn't) team psychologist for Manchester United.

The same can be said of supporters, we may attack certain aspects of a manager but that is merely to highlight an area we feel needs improving, not an attack on the individual as some see it.

A new system, quickly adjusted when it wasn't working. Further changes again to positional play such as tweaking Bale's role a willingness to switch to 4-4-2 shows AVB analyses our games and opposition to find weaknesses.

He seems to do what the majority of businessmen get wrong. He looks at strengths and how to improve strengths. Bale is a prime example delivering at one end with the weigh off of doing less defending at the other, hence the goals against Liverpool, WHU and Everton.

If you improve an employees weaknesses you can only improve them by a degree that will have little affect on the company as a whole. The individual doesn't like these tasks so are never going to be very good at them. If however you improve their strengths and have someone else do their weaknesses (for whom it is a strength) then the company will benefit greater with employees doing what they are best at and thus greater productivity.

AVB has improved as a manager in his time with us and is steadily finding what doesn't work with the players available and adjusting so I'm content with his progress. Time will tell if he is going to change tactics in the last 10 minutes or continue a tactic which hasn't working.

We should be sitting comfortably in 3rd right now but are in the shout for 4th. Iron out more errors and his stock will rise further. At this point 7.5/10

 

[TheGreenLily]

AVB needs time and support. The most important thing is not where we finish, but how we are developing.

Also, Levy support the fella to okay

 

[RuskyM]

I absolutely love the man.

 

[Spurs1960]

AVB needs time and support. The most important thing is not where we finish, but how we are developing.

Also, Levy support the fella to okay

Where you finish determines everything, this is a results orientated industry. Results determine success or failure otherwise there would be no point giving out trophies or awarding points for scoring more goals.

In our case, outside the top 4 arrests our development for 2 years minimum and results in the sale of players thus possibly arresting it for longer, within the top 4 and Champions League football speeds it up.

 

[Has1978]

I like the guy. Hard work and attention to detail. Considering the injuries, the poor start to the season , loss of 2 talismanic players (apart from King), media with their knives out, Adebayor and Dempsey not match fit - I think he has surpassed expectations. Agree with the sentiment of this thread, something seems to be taking shape but it's still a little early to be sure.

 

[dn013]

Also if the rumours are confirmed that AVB was not keen on Nuri Sahin over the summer, then it looks like he can judge a player as well. I like the manager and hope that we give him a good opportunity to excel

 

[kaz Hirai]

Like I said in the Summer, when so many on here were more intent on bemoaning his employment because he was a massive flop at Chelsea - I would have preferred to have had him on a longer contract.
(Apologies for agreeing with you...we can get back to the disparagement whenever you are ready ).



Is that a euphemism?

if remember correctly you were very pro Brendon Rogers and not exactly over joyed that we got AVB.

Were as I was delighted we got AVB instead of a 1 season wonder who actually performed no better than Aston Villa's current manager yet got massive hype because he has spent his managerial career watching Barca play on TV and desperatley attempting to copy them. As pool are finding out possession football isn't everything in the premier league

I'm watching you SP

 

[Shadydan]

He is a manager of immense dimensions and talent.

Seriously, happy with him and glad that his philosophies are starting to bear fruit on this team. I've always said that we have a hungry success starved team who were in desperate need of modern coaching and tactics. It seems he's learnt from his mistakes at Chelsea and is learning from his mistakes with us thus far and is willing to to change his ideals for the good of the team which is a sign of something very promising.

Taking into account the circumstances he was placed in when the season kicked off with the players who were sold/got injured/retired and the new players brought in he's done a superb job of keeping us amongst the top places.

The jury is still out of course but of you ask most Spurs fans they'd probably say that they are more than content with him at the moment, here's to a great 2013 and beyond with this man at the helm.

 

[markiespurs]

Wasn't all that enthusiastic when he was appointed and at first our performances were very poor. But I've got to admit that I'm beginning to warm to the AVB reign.

However, over the last couple of months I've been quite impressed with how he has learned from some of his early mistakes (like not playing Dawson) and has got the team playing some good, attacking football again.

Time will tell, but so far I think he has done well (considering the players we've had out injured) and has set us up nicely for the 2nd half of the season.

 

[scat1620]

Forgot to mention: Away wins. This is now a thing we do. Including at Old Trafford. Good job Andre.

On the point above alone, with no comment as to AVB's overall performance so far as our manager, our improvement from being forever hopeless away from WHL to ending seasons with a respectable number of away wins started under Harry. Let's not forget how long we'd been without an away win at the Scum or Liverpool before Harry's tenure, as well as giving AVB credit for how well he did to get us our first win at Old Trafford in decades. But I'm pleased to see that AVB has continued our recent trend of being a dangerous side away from home.

 

[Blackcanary]

On the point above alone, with no comment as to AVB's overall performance so far as our manager, our improvement from being forever hopeless away from WHL to ending seasons with a respectable number of away wins started under Harry. Let's not forget how long we'd been without an away win at the Scum or Liverpool before Harry's tenure, as well as giving AVB credit for how well he did to get us our first win at Old Trafford in decades. But I'm pleased to see that AVB has continued our recent trend of being a dangerous side away from home.

That is true and it wasn't a diss on Harry - I was thinking more in the short term, considering how poor we were away at the back end of last season.

 

[leffe186]

I think he is the right man for the job, I think with backing he will bring us success. I have this nagging feel though that he will get the sack if we don't get a CL place, with once again a whole summer of turmoil and speculation. I really, really hope that doesn't happen.

I don't think for one second that this will happen. It's clear to me that he's been brought in with a view to creating/maintaining a philosophy of play in the club a la Wenger, and that Levy has the long haul in mind. Of course, had AVB failed this year then he might have been out the door, but he hasn't.

I think he's done well, all things considered. We've ridden out the initial media storm, dealt with a plethora of injuries, and are still fourth. I thought top six was a reasonable expectation, and still do. He's made mistakes, and learned from some of them, but it's still too early to tell. I'm happy with the results, happy with the way our play seems to be developing, a little concerned that the kids should be getting more opportunities.

I like that we have a really likeable manager again. I mean, I think 'arry did a cracking job, but I never felt quite like he was ours. Not in the same way Jol did. AVB feels like he's heading the same way.