When people say he 'deserved criticism' earlier on what does this mean? What exactly was he doing wrong? If we accept that implementing new ways of thinking, tactics and coaching methods will take time, is he then doing something wrong because of a natural bedding in period?
What I'm trying to say I guess, is that the people who backed him from the start even through the results and performances weren't great deserve a bit of credit for sticking with him and seeing a broader picture, rather than simply saying he's doing something wrong because we didn't see an instant boost in performances.
For some AVB will always be too negative. Defending a 2 goal lead is not on for some, they're prefer to see us Ossie Ardiles it out for a 4-4 in the Tottenham way.
Hehe...thing is I don't even think he's that negative, he's just pragmatic and a winner. It's obvious from what he has said before what his preferred style of football is, but if he's got the slowpokes Dawson and Gallas against an attack containing Suarez and Sterling he's damn well going to go with a deeper line and hold on to a 2 goal lead. The team probably needs to learn how to counter attack better when defending deep rather than just hoofing clear, but we are getting the results. And we can really only get better.
For some AVB will always be too negative. Defending a 2 goal lead is not on for some, they're prefer to see us Ossie Ardiles it out for a 4-4 in the Tottenham way.
No, it's not on when we try to defend leads when we aren't good enough to do it. By all means, if you have a defense like Chelsea did under Mourinho, then look to shut up shop if you've got a comfortable lead, but we've kept two clean sheets all season, we don't have a good enough defense to do it.
Most of our games where we have tried to defend leads deep this season it has actually worked. Man United away, Southampton away, Liverpool at home etc.
Against Chelsea we simply weren't good enough, against Emirates Marketing Project away we were playing a high line, against Arsenal we went for it even with ten men. But most of the time defending deep has actually saw us cling on to points this season.
Great point. Liverpool tried this against us, especially early on. You could see, everytime one of their players went up to press, and made a challenge to get the ball that seemed likely to be successful, the 2-4 players around him immediately sprinted forward. I remember one instance where this happened and we nearly created a cracking chance because Dembele(I think) stood off the challenge.
Cheatski are another good example. We're just too slow at times turing defense into attack, but GHod knows we have the speed to be deadly on the counter. Is it a coaching thing or a player mentality thing?
Most of our games where we have tried to defend leads deep this season it has actually worked. Man United away, Southampton away, Liverpool at home etc.
Against Chelsea we simply weren't good enough, against Emirates Marketing Project away we were playing a high line, against Arsenal we went for it even with ten men. But most of the time defending deep has actually saw us cling on to points this season.
Most of our games where we have tried to defend leads deep this season it has actually worked. Man United away, Southampton away, Liverpool at home etc.
Against Chelsea we simply weren't good enough, against Emirates Marketing Project away we were playing a high line, against Arsenal we went for it even with ten men. But most of the time defending deep has actually saw us cling on to points this season.
For me, there is a clear, clear intent for our full-backs to be more like wing-backs and for our wide men to tuck inside behind the main striker whenever possible. Bale and Lennon have both been working the channels better than ever this season/cutting in at angles on goal when possible. The first goal last night is the sort of goal we've all been crying out for yet not seen for ages; Bales blisters, Lennon tucks inside off the back post for the chance.
I think there's a far greater emphasis put on retention too; Daws is certainly pumping long balls less frequently than I ever remember, and there is a general protection of the ball which (to my eyes) sees every pass considered in percentage terms and if there isn't a clean one available then the ball is kept/knocked around until such a time as space opens up. Dembele benefits from this as he usually ends up with space in the middle to roam providing we can keep the ball. That's our major issue right now, keeping it. Luka would be perfect. Moutinho would be good too.
And yes, there is an obvious premium on pressing the ball higher up the pitch/squeezing the out-space for the opposition. Problem comes, as King and others have said, when you hit the fatigue wall, and after 3 in 7 with that style played, I think we ran out of steam last night and rode our luck...
You want my honest opinion? I don't think you liked Redknapp and you're letting it cloud your emotions. For 15 games last season we were playing our best football since the 80's. The whole team was fluid and played some lovely stuff. I am not sure what you regard as playing as a team, but for me this season we have been too reliant on Bale and I am looking forward to seeing what we can do without him. I don't think we have played well as a team yet this season, we look very disjointed at times. But we are also playing a much more rigid system this year and it will take time for certain players to adjust.
Lennon was my player of the season last year. People blame all sorts of things for our bad points return after the turn of the New Year, but during that run of games our performances weren't that bad but we just couldn't create much. All of that coincide with Lennon being injured. He returns for the last few games and we end up with an excellent 10pts from 12pts. No co-incidence for me.
So far overall AVB is doing really well.
No, it's not on when we try to defend leads when we aren't good enough to do it. By all means, if you have a defense like Chelsea did under Mourinho, then look to shut up shop if you've got a comfortable lead, but we've kept two clean sheets all season, we don't have a good enough defense to do it.
Yep no one can be certain that he will be a huge success here, but all the signs are ( imo) that he will certainly improve our team play and he has already shown that certain players will look better with his training ( Defoe, Lennon are jusr two who look far better).
i know its a bit late in the day to reply to this but the full backs thing is down to personell. for instance vertonghen doesnt even remotely look like a wing back..or act like one. clearly he shouldnt impede bales option. kyle walker annoyingly has been doing his wing back thing for years .....even chimbonda acted like a winger. this isnt avb's thing
with regards to wingers coming infield. again look to last season when harry was getting stick for just that. again nothing new there. i will say that lennons positioning is better under avb's regime than last season IMO
ball retention is down to personell plus we did that last year and the year before. dawson's long ball was to crouch...and to wingers, you see less cause we dont have crouch. when dawson first came back this season he made quite a few long balls to the wide men actually. so that hasnt left.
am surprised that you think our ball retention is better now than before? its odd cause all we did last 2 or 3 seasons is control the ball
and this pressing thing......i dont see it. or maybe we are just crap at it. we do it in bursts for sure, but it isnt a thing that i am consistently noticing
A lot of people are just short term reactionary thinkers. Nothing is proved with AVB yet. He hasn't proven himself to be an excellent manager for us, or a bad manager for us. It will take longer than a season before he can be judged in my view. Just look at Gerry Francis all those years ago. First year and a bit in charge was fantastic but a couple of years after that? Oh dear!