Well balanced article about AVB (Football 365)

[Kendall]

Anyway, I didn't think the article was particularly balanced. The only thing it balances is the media shit storm against AVB... by being completely pro-AVB.

 

[scat1620]

Totally with Dinghy on this one. The article shows absolutely no balance whatsover, it's pretty much a party political broadcast in favour of AVB. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing - Villas Boas has had a terribly unfair time of it in the media since he joined us and it's good to see the tide flowing the other way in this instance. But the article itself is an AVB suck-fest and doesn't offer anything other than a 100% rosy picture of our Portugese. Likewise, the digs at Redknapp are completely unbalanced by any mention at all of all the good things that he did do for us (despite the article's criticisms of him being fairly valid).

(I like AVB, for what it's worth, just would stop short of saying that he's about to cure cancer whilst simultaneously eradicating world poverty like that article is doing.)

 

[rez9000]

Why should there be pro- and anti-AVB within the clubs fanbase at this point in time? Shouldn't we all be pro-AVB at this particular juncture, in as much as we should be giving our support to the current managerial incumbent, less than four months into his tenure?

Why should we be debating the pro- and anti- side to the manager within the fanbase? How can instill a siege mentality when we constantly snipe at each other over an irrelevance - that being Redknapp's record and how it stacks up against AVB's methods / records / approach / style / haircut?

I appreciate that it's emotive and God alone knows I've been guilty of being a nasty son-of-a-bitch on this board. What so many fail to realise though is that what we share is far more important than where we differ.

If there was an absolute test that determined Redknapp was the Godly testicles of football, and that anyone who supports AVB is a rabid moron, would that change our love for Spurs one iota?

For some time I spoke on the subject of belief and how I think it can pervade an entire club. An extension of that is the attitude we show. If we're constantly in-fighting, if we're vociferous in our opposition to the methods or personnel at the club, I think that seeps into everything we do. At the very least it becomes obvious to outside observers.

That isn't to say that there should be one voice with absolutely no dissent - that's as bad as being totally atomised. But our debates should always be conducted while understanding that no-one on this board (other than the WUMs, neutrals and genuine opposition fans) wants Spurs to suffer.

If we want the world outside to view us as a fortress of fanatical, loyal, vocal and vociferous support, we need to change our mindset. We need to present a united front, otherwise we will all be tarred with the epithet 'fickle' for years to come.

 

[sloth]

I can see Defoe essentially doing what Ade did last year, running the channels and holding the ball up, bringing others into play and getting on the end of things. Are you saying he's doing something different?

Sorry, we have some new personnel, but on the whole its still the same system. I know you guys really want to make yourselves out like expert football managers, but if you can tell me what any individual is doing differently to last year as part of a new team system, then please do. Aside from Dembele who I've already mentioned does a bit more than Modric defensively, I don't see all that much. Certainly not enough to say the players should've had trouble getting used to it.

I think there were signs of basic coaching last year, the team tended to play with a certain shape etc. but this year you can see proper thought in everything we do, with not only team shape, personnel etc, but in particular specific players carrying out their own set of instructions depending on the opponents and what's happening in the game. It feels like chalk and cheese, and I'm genuinely surprised you think it's just the same.

 

[kernowspur]

Interesting that even on the BBC no one is questioning Redknapp. On Radio 5 on Sunday morning a longish interview with Redknapp's failed to ask his view of our win at Old Trafford the previous day, my wife, with little interest in football, asked why didn't they ask him about the result yesterday?

 

[Spurs_Bear]

I think there were signs of basic coaching last year, the team tended to play with a certain shape etc. but this year you can see proper thought in everything we do, with not only team shape, personnel etc, but in particular specific players carrying out their own set of instructions depending on the opponents and what's happening in the game. It feels like chalk and cheese, and I'm genuinely surprised you think it's just the same.

Unless I'm missing some glaring examples, feel free to point them out to me sloth, I don't think there is as massive a difference as you are making out regarding the players doing their jobs.

On the whole, it's quite simple to spot our differences, a notable one being that our attacks are not solely focussed on the flanks.

 

[davidmatzdorf]

That's only 'balanced' if you're a confirmed vilifier of Harry Redknapp, or are still stewing in a miasma of testosterone and beer after the win at Old Trafford.

It's not a bad article, especially in its comments on the motivations of the press, but it's nothing remotely like 'balanced' in any way.

 

[davidmatzdorf]

Unless I'm missing some glaring examples, feel free to point them out to me sloth, I don't think there is as massive a difference as you are making out regarding the players doing their jobs.

On the whole, it's quite simple to spot our differences, a notable one being that our attacks are not solely focussed on the flanks.

That's so - and it has virtually nothing to do with Villas-Boas' tactical differences from Redknapp and everything to do with the replacement of Luka Modric with Mousa Dembélé - the former being primarily a passer and distributor, the latter having an inclination to drive centrally up the park with the ball. It's an improvement because it adds variety to our play, but it's down to the differing styles of the players.

 

[davidmatzdorf]

He is obviously a good manager but he completely goes against the norm of all previous managers we've seen in the EPL.

In my view, this is the real reason the press have set out to wreck AVB's career. It has nothing to do with Redknapp and nothing to do with Spurs. He's from quite a privileged family. He's good-looking, but in a totally non-footballer way. Very importantly, he has never played professional football. He's foreign and dresses smartly in a slightly metrosexual manner. He's articulate and usually avoids cliché - although his choice of words in English is often wayward, it's usually clear and only occasionally veers into pretentiousness.

The English press really do not like people who refuse to fit into their pre-drawn caricatures and they will print more or less anything to force them back into whatever box they originally assigned for them. Only when someone previously-vilified reaches an advanced age and loses all meaningful influence (qv. Tony Benn) are they permitted to be patronisingly and affectionately accepted.

 

[davidmatzdorf]

Why should there be pro- and anti-AVB within the clubs fanbase at this point in time?

Well, there shouldn't be, but it's easy to see why there are. The chairman sacked a manager who was more successful than any we have had for decades. That's a pretty audacious risk and it's still way too early to tell if the risk will pay off.

Until AVB starts to have a comparable level of success to Redknapp, there will be people who persist in setting up Redknapp as having presided over a lost golden age and AVB as a loser ... and vice versa. Both camps are full of shit. Both managers are good.

 

[Gb160]

Interesting that even on the BBC no one is questioning Redknapp. On Radio 5 on Sunday morning a longish interview with Redknapp's failed to ask his view of our win at Old Trafford the previous day, my wife, with little interest in football, asked why didn't they ask him about the result yesterday?

Agreed...but you can bet your house that if we had our pants pulled down at OT like normal...he would've been asked about it.

 

[Kendall]

Unless I'm missing some glaring examples, feel free to point them out to me sloth, I don't think there is as massive a difference as you are making out regarding the players doing their jobs.

On the whole, it's quite simple to spot our differences, a notable one being that our attacks are not solely focussed on the flanks.

Probably says more about Dembele and Modric than anything else. In the first 3 games (the ones where we were apparently needing to get used to this new mythical system), we were definitely playing it out to the wings a lot and having very little joy.

 

[Spurs_Bear]

Probably says more about Dembele and Modric than anything else. In the first 3 games (the ones where we were apparently needing to get used to this new mythical system), we were definitely playing it out to the wings a lot and having very little joy.

I can confirm I did not see ANY of the first three games, first was Reading, so I am not arguing with you.

 

[Spurs_Bear]

In my view, this is the real reason the press have set out to wreck AVB's career. It has nothing to do with Redknapp and nothing to do with Spurs. He's from quite a privileged family. He's good-looking, but in a totally non-footballer way. Very importantly, he has never played professional football. He's foreign and dresses smartly in a slightly metrosexual manner. He's articulate and usually avoids cliché - although his choice of words in English is often wayward, it's usually clear and only occasionally veers into pretentiousness.

The English press really do not like people who refuse to fit into their pre-drawn caricatures and they will print more or less anything to force them back into whatever box they originally assigned for them. Only when someone previously-vilified reaches an advanced age and loses all meaningful influence (qv. Tony Benn) are they permitted to be patronisingly and affectionately accepted.

This for me is the most important thing, the British Press cannot fathom that a manager can come from a background where he hasn't done the hard yards first. Even when they talk about Brendan Rodgers, they also have to almost spit out the "er but yeah he had to retire from professional football because of a knee injury."

The same press tried to mug Mourinho off, he made them look stupid, I am confident that AVB can do the same.

 

[JerryGarcia]

I'm a big fan of both Villas-Boas and Redknapp and I don't find the article balanced but it was a good read.

I seem to remember AVB got a good reception from the press when he first came to Chelsea, they then had a run of bad results and the press dug their claws in. I think some of them slated him in such a way that they're now simply trying to prove that they were right, even if that means creating stories themselves which have no basis in truth.

The more games we win, the quicker the press will shut up and do their jobs properly.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

Not sure where the balance is in that article?

Nothing in there, for exmple, to say that the first few games of his reign the football was dire (and yes yes yes, we all know that it is a new system that is being put into place and so it's going to take time bla bla bla.) Nor, for another example, anything about Harry having the best points return for Spurs in the PL-era, leading to very genuine concerns when he was dismissed (and yes again, we all know that there were a number of valid concerns and possible justifications for this but...)

It's a very pro-AVB article in which the author chooses to 'balance' the piece by denigrating one of Spurs' best managers of all time.

Balanced? Only if by a balanced article you mean one with a chip on both shoulders.

The article isn't balanced, but I don't think he denigrates Redknapp, merely points out that he wasn't perfect and his role (intentional and unintentional) in the bias against AVB.

It doesn't actually eulogise AVB's every breaking of wind either if you actually pick the bones out of it. It is more saying "AVB wasn't/isn't as bad as the press made out" and points out briefly examples of the bias, hypocrisy and hyperbole employed by the media. The Lampard situation, The Lloris situation, and when he says AVB is sexy, rich, articulate, urbane & Foreign etc, he is using these as examples of why the press can find him dislikable - compared to the chirpy, rent-a-quip, baggy faced loveable cockney "one of us old school football types" geezer Redknapp was.

It is piss easy to give examples of this distorted bias and treatment of the two men by the press. It would be impossible to list the amount of times Redknapp got away with utter shit and contradiction to the press. If you like I could give you a couple ("How could someone not get results with this team/I can only work with the shit I've got", "Modric couldn't get a game when I came here", Spurs fans are stupid"). Can you imagine the press this would have created if AVB had come out with shit like that ? All he has to do is say I won't be dropping my in form keeper and it's a catastrophe of bad man management.

That is the point the article is making, the disparity in approach by the media to the two men.

 

[TheGreenLily]

Fuck the boo-ers, or the ones who throw their toys out of the pram when we don't win. It's people like YOU that are a fucking disgrace to THFC.

Awwww, you are breaking my heart, do you want a hug and make up

People like me, who wanted a manager to turn up for work when he was mooted for the England the job (once again, going for the job was not the problem, it was the way he did it). People like me, who wanted a manager who could develop themselves and adapt to situations. People like me who saw the importance of taking the EUFA cup seriously as being in Europe year in year out (regardless of which one) as it required the players and the manager to learn and adapt to dealing with the pressure of all competitions in order to sustain ourselves at the top. People like me, who got sick of the crap that came out of his mouth. People like me, who think it was completely deserving that he got sack, especially aftter the golf club interview at a time when Levy was in America dealing with his sick wife (GDS is guilty of this too). People like me, who saw the need of a new manager before the start of last season as it was clear then he was not the man for the future, as it turns out, waiting a year seemed the best thing to do, now with the appointment of AVB. People like me, who understood that Harry did do well, although it doesn't disguise the many failings of man who couldn't think beyond the starting 11, lack of real rotation that ended up isolating so many squad players. People like me, who saw Harry's inadequacies let the club lose a 10 point advantage over our most bitter rivals when we was comfortably in third, to finally finish 4th, then to lose out to Chelsea winning the CL... I don't give a toss what Chelsea did, we should never had screwed up like we did, if Harry had done his job properly then we would not have had to worry about Chelsea winning the CL. People like me who just simply didn't swallow Harry almost endless stream of bullshit he often came out with. Now look at Harry and his red top (Sun, etc) buddies and how they have treated the New manager and the club now, what a lovely man he is.

So sorry I am such a disgrace to the club and made my views abundantly clear, I am such a horrible disgrace for ever thinking that there was life out side Harry as the Spurs manager, what a nasty evil horrible thing to do and how I have been proved so so so wrong for wanting change when it was seriously needed.

If all that is being a disgraceful Spurs fan, then I will surely wear that badge with honour.

 

[Spurs_Bear]

Awwww, you are breaking my heart, do you want a hug and make up

People like me, who wanted a manager to turn up for work when he was mooted for the England the job (once again, going for the job was not the problem, it was the way he did it). People like me, who wanted a manager who could develop themselves and adapt to situations. People like me who saw the importance of taking the EUFA cup seriously as being in Europe year in year out (regardless of which one) as it required the players and the manager to learn and adapt to dealing with the pressure of all competitions in order to sustain ourselves at the top. People like me, who got sick of the crap that came out of his mouth. People like me, who think it was completely deserving that he got sack, especially aftter the golf club interview at a time when Levy was in America dealing with his sick wife (GDS is guilty of this too). People like me, who saw the need of a new manager before the start of last season as it was clear then he was not the man for the future, as it turns out, waiting a year seemed the best thing to do, now with the appointment of AVB. People like me, who understood that Harry did do well, although it doesn't disguise the many failings of man who couldn't think beyond the starting 11, lack of real rotation that ended up isolating so many squad players. People like me, who saw Harry's inadequacies let the club lose a 10 point advantage over our most bitter rivals when we was comfortably in third, to finally finish 4th, then to lose out to Chelsea winning the CL... I don't give a toss what Chelsea did, we should never had screwed up like we did, if Harry had done his job properly then we would not have had to worry about Chelsea winning the CL. People like me who just simply didn't swallow Harry almost endless stream of bullshit he often came out with. Now look at Harry and his red top (Sun, etc) buddies and how they have treated the New manager and the club now, what a lovely man he is.

So sorry I am such a disgrace to the club and made my views abundantly clear, I am such a horrible disgrace for ever thinking that there was life out side Harry as the Spurs manager, what a nasty evil horrible thing to do and how I have been proved so so so wrong for wanting change when it was seriously needed.

If all that is being a disgraceful Spurs fan, then I will surely wear that badge with honour.

No thanks, no hug required. I'm not sure you'd get your arms out of the straight jacket anyway.

I'm glad people like you clearly never visit WHL.

 

[TheGreenLily]

I'd rather just talk about AVB and leave Redknapp alone, when he gets a job in the Prem this place is going to be unbearable.

It is difficult not to mention him though I guess when you get wankers writing stuff like "when push comes to shove, he was utterly shit."

It's not even stupidity, it shows a far deeper and greater non-understanding of anything football related, which is sad, and worrying all in the same breath.

Sorry, but I have completely disagree with this and it is even more shameful than the attack me on me being Spurs fan, when it was abundantly clear in the last half of the season he was found wanting as a manager, even bond is quoted as saying he wasn't taking training. We only won one game in 11 and the only reason why we started winning again was because Lennon came back from injury and Harry could revert back to his favourite starting 11. The 10 or so games before that, it was just a joke, a complete and utter joke with Harry trying to fit square pegs in round holes.

Now, I know it is early days and still too soon to be certain, but AVB has 6 first team players injured, BAE, Kaboom, Parker, Ade, Livermore and Naughton and has also lost VDV and Modric, and we just beat Man U at OT (and those that have come in are still trying to gel within the squad). Harry had one player injured from his favourite starting 11, Lennon, and we win one game in 11 and throw away a 10 point game from 4th.

I will let you figure the rest out and whether it is me that requires the straight jacket.

 

[TheGreenLily]

No thanks, no hug required. I'm not sure you'd get your arms out of the straight jacket anyway.

I'm glad people like you clearly never visit WHL.

Only one person needs a straight jacket here, and that is the person I am responding too....

Hey, we could do synchronised rocking in our padded cells... Never know, they could make it a new paralympic sport