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Andre Villas-Boas - Head Coach

This appointment is about rebuilding the squad and laying the foundations to lead the club into the next generation, the new training ground is here, next stop is the stadium. People saying "if we finish 5th he's failed" are missing the point of what Levy is doing here completely.
 
Jurgen the German said:
Kaboul, Bale, Parker, Sandro, Dawson, Friedel, Ekotto, Lennon, Walker and Livermore at the very least will all be here and probably add Vertonghen, Sigurdsson and 1 or 2 new strikers to the mix. Don't why you mentioned Nelsen, losing him won't be a massive setback. Ditto for Jenas, Rose, Bassong, Pienaar etc!

Liverpool have to rebuild too so there's no way we should accept finishing below them.
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Do you really think that group of players is better than the Arse, Liverpool and Chelsea squads.?If you do, I am afraid you are delusional. You base your assessments/hopes entirely on new players. That is just wishful thinking at present. We dont have CL or a CL budget to attract the best. We lost Ade and probably Modric. If you think that AVB can wave a magic wand and suddenly deliver 4th then you must be some kind of optimist to say the least.
 
Sheikh Ma Nuggets said:
From 4th to 7th and 1pt off 3rd to 3pts off 4th.

And you'd "take that". Wow.

Each to their own, but I want my club to actually improve - not get worse :~
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You're arguing very much from the standpoint that improvement can only be judged in relation to other clubs. You're also taking a very short term view - judging success or failure on what happens next season.

Both are perfectly valid. Just so long as you are aware that there are other ways of judging and measuring success.

Say, for instance, that Spurs were to finish 5th next season having won 74 points. Would we have improved or regressed?

Alternatively, imagine that Spurs clear out much of the deadwood, sign some young but highly promising players, start the season with a poor points return as the new team gels and acclimatises to AVB's ideas before finishing the season strongly with a ten game unbeaten run to earn 7th spot, four points short of 4th.

You would doubtless, and with some justification, describe that as failure and regression.

And yet what if, the following season, the team continues its strong form from the back end of the previous season, goes from strength to strength and finishes comfortably in 3rd? What if that improvement couldn't possibly have come about had the initial changes (which led to the initial regression) not been taken?
 
Jurgen the German said:
No it wouldn't. We managed to finish 4th with that squad last season. We only need to make 3/4 new signings and make sure we hang on to Modric, easier said than done when it comes to Modric.
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We got most of our points in the first half of the season when we had Krancjar, a fit Parker, an as Fit as you can be King, Dawson before his ligament damage, Bassong, Corluka and of Course ade. Second half of the season we let go of bassong and Corluka, marginalised Krancjar, and suffered a lot of injuries.
 
Spur of the moment said:
Point is we already had a great manager who not only got us fourth but had us playing some of our most attractive soccer since the 80s.
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what do you think Redknapp had as a manager that made him so good that anyone coming in can not live up to ? im not talking about where we finished im talking about what it is that Redknapp had in his locker that other managers don't ? 4th 5th 4th is a good record - but what is it about him as a manager that is going to be so hard to replace ?

im not trying to make this about Redknapp but just trying to figure out why people think he was irreplaceable or more why they think the new guy couldn't possibly be a better manager than him
 
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Pirate55 said:
Do you really think that group of players is better than the Arse, Liverpool and Chelsea squads.?If you do, I am afraid you are delusional. You base your assessments/hopes entirely on new players. That is just wishful thinking at present. We dont have CL or a CL budget to attract the best. We lost Ade and probably Modric. If you think that AVB can wave a magic wand and suddenly deliver 4th then you must be some kind of optimist to say the least.
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We are better than Liverpool that's not even up for debate! Jesus christ, would people really accept us finishing below them if Redknapp was still in charge? Would they fudge!

Look at Arsenal's squad, once you get past the likes of Van Persie, Song, Wheelchair, Vermaelen and Podolski, it's very thin also! Chelsea have a better squad I admit.
 
I love how myopic all those saying '4th or failure' are

Personally I think the odds of Harry getting 4th next year were slim.

There is/was transition ahead with this squad regardless of who is in charge simply because a number of players time is up.

Changing those players leads to change in fortunes (in the short term at least)

Then of course there is the competition. Liverpool have a new manager, one I would have liked here, so its possible they will get into the mix.

Arsenal, Chelsea, Utd and City traditionally have the top 4 sewn up, and despite apparent weakness with some of those they are always there or there abouts.

And there is Saudi Sportswashing Machine. While I can see why some say they will be one season wonders lets be honest - they had a fantastic season last year on the back of building a VERY good team. They could well be competing this year.

So at this point I think with Harry or not next season was going to be a massive challenge and anyone calling less than 4th/5th a failure is being foolish IMO.

I wont make predictions myself until I see the state of the squads in the top teams. It could well be we look really favourable come 1st Sept, it could be that we look deep in the mire...
 
punk_is_back` said:
We got most of our points in the first half of the season when we had Krancjar, a fit Parker, an as Fit as you can be King, Dawson before his ligament damage, Bassong, Corluka and of Course ade. Second half of the season we let go of bassong and Corluka, marginalised Krancjar, and suffered a lot of injuries.
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Dawson and Bassong barely played in the league. Walker kept Corluka out of the team. Most people on this forum would gladly drive Bassong to his next destination based on his performances last season and judging by some of the comments on this forum. Kaboul was our best centre half last season.
 
jimmyb said:
You're arguing very much from the standpoint that improvement can only be judged in relation to other clubs. You're also taking a very short term view - judging success or failure on what happens next season.

Both are perfectly valid. Just so long as you are aware that there are other ways of judging and measuring success.

Say, for instance, that Spurs were to finish 5th next season having won 74 points. Would we have improved or regressed?

Alternatively, imagine that Spurs clear out much of the deadwood, sign some young but highly promising players, start the season with a poor points return as the new team gels and acclimatises to AVB's ideas before finishing the season strongly with a ten game unbeaten run to earn 7th spot, four points short of 4th.

You would doubtless, and with some justification, describe that as failure and regression.

And yet what if, the following season, the team continues its strong form from the back end of the previous season, goes from strength to strength and finishes comfortably in 3rd? What if that improvement couldn't possibly have come about had the initial changes (which led to the initial regression) not been taken?
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What if we'd kept Harry and improved on last season by qualifying for the CL? That would have paved the way to bring in a better calibre of players.

I couldn't give a monkey's about the average age of the team so long as we keep progressing. Harry proved you can do that with a fair percentage of older experienced players. So why was he sacked?
 
You're taking such a short term view, very much like Harry. Where was the future in Redknapp? I don't think the board could take another summer of him seriously suggesting Joe Cole and Phil Neville to them, he then goes from one extreme to another and starts moaning to the media that we couldn't get Tevez :rolleyes:
 
billyiddo said:
what do you think Redknapp had as a manager that made him so good that anyone coming in can not live up to ? im not talking about where we finished im talking about what it is that Redknapp had in his locker that other managers don't ? 4th 5th 4th is a good record - but what is it about him as a manager that is going to be so hard to replace ?

im not trying to make this about Redknapp but just trying to figure out why people think he was irreplaceable
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1 Excellent man management -
2 By common consent the most attractive style of play in the Premiership
3 A habit of winning

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
 
Spur of the moment said:
What if we'd kept Harry and improved on last season by qualifying for the CL? That would have paved the way to bring in a better calibre of players.

I couldn't give a monkey's about the average age of the team so long as we keep progressing. Harry proved you can do that with a fair percentage of older experienced players. So why was he sacked?
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My guess is that Harry wasn't offered a new contract because:

a) He talked himself out of a job by persistently pursuing his own agenda in the media while undermining the chairman and the club.

b) He spent three months batting his eyelashes at the FA while the team was busy throwing away a comfortable 3rd position.

c) Daniel Levy simply couldn't work well alongside Harry. Different characters. Different visions for the future. That happens sometimes. Nothing that anyone can do about it. No one to blame.
 
Rossi22 said:
You're taking such a short term view, very much like Harry. Where was the future in Redknapp? I don't think the board could take another summer of him seriously suggesting Joe Cole and Phil Neville to them, he then goes from one extreme to another and starts moaning to the media that we couldn't get Tevez :rolleyes:
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Exactly; we learn with Graham and we learn with Hoddle that you have a lot of risks when it comes to forsaking youth to sign older players. I don't mind signing players who have been world class and won things like Davids, Klinsmann and Naybet but signing journeymen like parker, nelsen and saha to add experience is laughable.
 
Spur of the moment said:
1 Excellent man management -
2 By common consent the most attractive style of play in the Premiership
3 A habit of winning

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
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Some people would argue, with justification, that it was broke.

Or did you miss the second half of the season? Winning most certainly wasn't a habit by then, sadly.
 
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Woke up to excellent news just now. Made the mistake of signing in to the forum.

Way to go GG. Once again turning a positive thread into 'who has the biggest internet ****'.

Sad and fudging pathetic.
 
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