Mumorn
Vic Buckingham
Swap him for Leandro and I think it'd still make us challengers even though I'm not his biggest fan (I'm not Moutinhos biggest fan neither) but I think they'd improve us a lot.
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What does AVB and the board need to do to make us better callengers next season?
- Thread starter glorygloryeze
- Start date
Swap him for Leandro and I think it'd still make us challengers even though I'm not his biggest fan (I'm not Moutinhos biggest fan neither) but I think they'd improve us a lot.
BrainOfLevy
Michael Carrick
Benteke or similar probably is....fairrrrrly. I don't know who exactly. Hell, maybe an Ade on form for a season might be a shout.
Also an additional point, if we have Dembele and Moutinho in the same midfield we might be able to play the 'rotating central 3' that was a big part of AVB's success at Porto. He tried to implement it at Chelsea but said the transitions in England were too quick and made it difficult to apply. However, if we have those 2, plus Holtby, I reckon he may think about trying it again as they are all nimble, athletic players comfortable carrying the ball at their feet and are a bit more mobile than the likes of Lampard and Raul Mereles who he was trying to play it with last time.
It could potentially be a high risk tactic that gains us a few extra points if we have the right personnel for it.
Spursalot
Jimmy McCormick
He's not. Benteke is happy at Villa and they have no reason to want to sell. Ade on form would work, but you just don't know if he'll do it. The striker position will be the most difficult to fill imo. Always is.
The midfield point is good though. Might take a while for them to get used to it though, would have to start in Pre-season.
metalgear
Nayim
didn't see anything good on the pitch from him though.
Gutter Boy
Tim Sherwood
Jol sussed this one. You never get 4th aiming for 4th, when there are four other teams aiming to win the league.
Mumorn
Vic Buckingham
Priorities change.
Our priorities would be "get into the top 4" - The four (Arsenal/Chelsea/City/United) all should be competing for the title, they're big clubs/spending big money. Over the course of the season though that starts to get realistic (as it has done for Arsenal over the past few years) so there aim also turns to "get into the top 4"
BrainOfLevy
Michael Carrick
I fudging love Di Canio. Would definitely have him here when AVB goes.
spurs' magna carter
Ronnie Rosenthal
AVB - Improvements needed in home form and better results against the smaller teams
Our away form this season is by far the best we've had in the Prem but our home form was below par this year
P19 W11 D5 L3 F29 A18
29 goals scored at home is a poor total with it being the 2nd worst in the top ten, even West Ham scored more (34). It's especially poor when you consider the top four all scored between 40 to 47 goals at home this season with Arsenal scoring the most although their home record was the exact same as ours (W11 D5 L3). Compare this year's home form with last year's and you'll notice a difference on all fronts
P19 W13 D3 L3 F39 A17
Those three loses last year were to both Manchester club's and Norwich. Where as this season we lost at home to Chelsea, Wigan and Fulham, the latter two being games we really should be winning, we took 11 pts out of an available 18 off the relegated teams.
The board - The obvious, complete signings before the start of season.
The above on AVB isn't any criticism on him, he really has exceeded my expectations to be left as short of depth in his squad as he was with only 2 strikers, 3 full-backs, 3 then 2 wingers and the injuries to both Kaboul and Sandro (our best tacklers in the team, important considering we were set up as a counter attacking team this year) and still take 72 pts is very impressive. This shortage is as a result of transfers being left to the last minute. Most our new spine (Dembele, Dempsey and Lloris) were signed in the last week or two of the window which isn't ideal preparation. We really cannot afford to do this anymore, pre-season is for players to begin the gelling process, not just get fit and used to any new tactics.
Our away form this season is by far the best we've had in the Prem but our home form was below par this year
P19 W11 D5 L3 F29 A18
29 goals scored at home is a poor total with it being the 2nd worst in the top ten, even West Ham scored more (34). It's especially poor when you consider the top four all scored between 40 to 47 goals at home this season with Arsenal scoring the most although their home record was the exact same as ours (W11 D5 L3). Compare this year's home form with last year's and you'll notice a difference on all fronts
P19 W13 D3 L3 F39 A17
Those three loses last year were to both Manchester club's and Norwich. Where as this season we lost at home to Chelsea, Wigan and Fulham, the latter two being games we really should be winning, we took 11 pts out of an available 18 off the relegated teams.
The board - The obvious, complete signings before the start of season.
The above on AVB isn't any criticism on him, he really has exceeded my expectations to be left as short of depth in his squad as he was with only 2 strikers, 3 full-backs, 3 then 2 wingers and the injuries to both Kaboul and Sandro (our best tacklers in the team, important considering we were set up as a counter attacking team this year) and still take 72 pts is very impressive. This shortage is as a result of transfers being left to the last minute. Most our new spine (Dembele, Dempsey and Lloris) were signed in the last week or two of the window which isn't ideal preparation. We really cannot afford to do this anymore, pre-season is for players to begin the gelling process, not just get fit and used to any new tactics.
I like this, but how do we deploy this when we are away?
Would self destruct at a high profile club, little bit too much of a nutter .. press would find stuff to kill him with at Spurs
Also needs to prove himself, prove he can manage egos as well.
DHSF
Les Ferdinand
braineclipse
Willie Hall
Haven't we finished 4th twice in the last 4 years or did I miss something?
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Overall the most important thing to do is to just continue doing what we've been doing. The great deals we've found and the developing superstars (and almost superstars) we've been able to pick up ahead of our competition (Carrick, Berba, Modric, Bale, Sandro). We've done this without any more catastrophic failures in the Rebrov, Bent and Keane mach 2 class recently. Keep making good signings at good prices, find the right deals, they're out there to be made.
Good (and great) value signings brought us to where we are now, I think it will be very important for our continued progression. Yes we can add one or two more high profile signing like Villa to that, but we still need more of those signings that have worked so well for us in the previous seasons.
arguably the positives from this season are things which are hard to get right in the first place - away form, good record against the top sides and the way in which we continually clawed back points from the jaws of defeat, whilst the negatives can be explained by issues which we should be capable of ironing out over the summer transfer window - lack of creativity, lack of cover and lack of fire power. on top of that our defensive worries can in part be put down to injuries to key players (Sandro & Kaboul, as well as Ekotto for the first half of the season leaving us alternating between Vertonghen and Naughton covering)
so i think a good transfer window is key to us improving (no brick) - a first choice LW/LWF would not only improve the first team it will also mean we have great options off the bench for the wide positions in Townsend and Lennon.
a striker capable of attacking the penalty area with strength and speed and a creative play maker to link it all together are the only 2 other first team signings i envisage and using the signings of Lloris, Dembele and Vertonghen as an example we know that we are capable of signing genuine quality for the first team for a reasonable price. looking beyond that we could possible require back up for LB if Rose is moved to first choice (which is what i believe will happen) and Ekotto get's moved on. someone more suited to our needs than the out and out defensive nature of Parker as cover for Sandro and we really aren't that far away from having not only a very strong first XI but also, more importantly, a balanced squad with competition for all positions.
none of that, to me, sounds far fetched or unlikely to happen - we have a handful of players that can be moved on for 10-20 million depending on how generous you want to be with valuations and in that group of players we will also be losing a fair chunk of the wage bill (Gallas, Gomes, Bentley, Huddelstone and Parker have got to be on 200k between them, if not more - also remember that Cudicin and Jenas left in Jan) so hopefully space and funds will be easily made for the incoming players - ive often thought in the past that since the 25 man squad rule has come in we have felt the strain of what i considered a fairly bloated squad, mainly in the deadwood department - a lot of players on reasonably high wages with 2/3 years on their contracts that are hard to move on.
so i think a good transfer window is key to us improving (no brick) - a first choice LW/LWF would not only improve the first team it will also mean we have great options off the bench for the wide positions in Townsend and Lennon.
a striker capable of attacking the penalty area with strength and speed and a creative play maker to link it all together are the only 2 other first team signings i envisage and using the signings of Lloris, Dembele and Vertonghen as an example we know that we are capable of signing genuine quality for the first team for a reasonable price. looking beyond that we could possible require back up for LB if Rose is moved to first choice (which is what i believe will happen) and Ekotto get's moved on. someone more suited to our needs than the out and out defensive nature of Parker as cover for Sandro and we really aren't that far away from having not only a very strong first XI but also, more importantly, a balanced squad with competition for all positions.
none of that, to me, sounds far fetched or unlikely to happen - we have a handful of players that can be moved on for 10-20 million depending on how generous you want to be with valuations and in that group of players we will also be losing a fair chunk of the wage bill (Gallas, Gomes, Bentley, Huddelstone and Parker have got to be on 200k between them, if not more - also remember that Cudicin and Jenas left in Jan) so hopefully space and funds will be easily made for the incoming players - ive often thought in the past that since the 25 man squad rule has come in we have felt the strain of what i considered a fairly bloated squad, mainly in the deadwood department - a lot of players on reasonably high wages with 2/3 years on their contracts that are hard to move on.
BrainOfLevy
Michael Carrick
I think he's gonna be a great manager. He doesn't make it his mission to tinkle off every player, just the ones who he perceives to be putting a lack of effort in and not taking their profession seriously.
He expects a lot of his players and I think at a big club he would actually be well suited. He had plenty of fights with players at Swindon but was still successful with them - I think the idea of not tinkling off players is over-rated to be honest.
superfaisty
Nico Claesen
For me the balance of the squad isn't right and hasn't been for a few years. We, read AVB, needs to make better use of the 25 man squad.
Sure you can't keep 25 first team players happy but we need a squad that AVB isn't afraid to use.
I can see AVB taking the Europa League seriously again, but I for one hope he rotates more in these games and other cup games, if nothing else to speed up the development of our youngsters.
So for me I'd like to see AVB taking more calculated risks, and being brave about team selection, but before that we need to get the proper balance in the team.
Sure you can't keep 25 first team players happy but we need a squad that AVB isn't afraid to use.
I can see AVB taking the Europa League seriously again, but I for one hope he rotates more in these games and other cup games, if nothing else to speed up the development of our youngsters.
So for me I'd like to see AVB taking more calculated risks, and being brave about team selection, but before that we need to get the proper balance in the team.
glorygloryeze
Ian Walker
There was an interesting post earlier in the thread about AVB's coaching effect on certain players like Bale, Dawson and possibly even Adebayor.
How do people think AVB's methods have improved our players' individual games, particularly those above?
How do people think AVB's methods have improved our players' individual games, particularly those above?
Bale has obviously improved, but to be fair, Bale's "education" started prior to AVB with the switching flanks, etc. Perhaps the big improvement this season is his set piece taking.
Dawson has won back his place, but not sure much has changed about his basic game.
Ade .. no credit, the guy has always been capable of being a monster on the day, those days just tend to be far apart
AVB for me has improved the team as a unit, we seem more disciplined, more capable of turning games around from poor starts, and the last couple of games showed we can show up with pressure on us and deliver.
To the previous poster re balance, look at other teams, very few teams have perfect balance. And you can only use 25 man squads if you are City/Cheat$ki that can afford to pay same level players to sit on a bench for half a season.
The two most important things for me are (a) getting the new signings done sooner rather than later and (b) buying what we actually need rather than the slightly scatter gun approach of some recent windows.
Re timing, we don't another situation as with Moutinho last summer where we could/should have signed him but left it too late. that is just amateur. AVB needs to sit down with Levy, identify the 3 or 4 main targets and try and get them in by the end of July. The problem with signing players on 31/8 at 11pm is that by the time they are integrated into the team, we've played 5 games (thats 13% of the season's points).
I also think that if you look at the squad, by adding three or so top quality players we can put ourselves in the mix for a strong top four finish.
As far as big money signings go, I would be keen to bring in a new LB, a midfielder and a new (proper) striker.
One thing this season has shown is that a couple of injuries to key players (eg Sandro and Dembele) and our second string players for those positions (Parker, Livermore and Hudd) are not of the same quality that the likes of City, United and Chelsea have. We cant expect to compete with these other teams if we have poorer squads.
One thing is a given - Liverpool and Arsenal will spend big this summer.
Re timing, we don't another situation as with Moutinho last summer where we could/should have signed him but left it too late. that is just amateur. AVB needs to sit down with Levy, identify the 3 or 4 main targets and try and get them in by the end of July. The problem with signing players on 31/8 at 11pm is that by the time they are integrated into the team, we've played 5 games (thats 13% of the season's points).
I also think that if you look at the squad, by adding three or so top quality players we can put ourselves in the mix for a strong top four finish.
As far as big money signings go, I would be keen to bring in a new LB, a midfielder and a new (proper) striker.
One thing this season has shown is that a couple of injuries to key players (eg Sandro and Dembele) and our second string players for those positions (Parker, Livermore and Hudd) are not of the same quality that the likes of City, United and Chelsea have. We cant expect to compete with these other teams if we have poorer squads.
One thing is a given - Liverpool and Arsenal will spend big this summer.
braineclipse
Willie Hall
When it comes to noticeably improving the individual ability of established first team players over the age of 25 I don't think we can expect much from any manager/coach.
Judging the development of a younger player is also very difficult as we have no "control", we can't turn back time, un-sack Redknapp and see how Bale would have developed without AVB around.
A season is also a fairly short time in this respect. The real answer will come a couple of years down the line I think. I think there are positive signs, but it's early days still.
I think we might have improved our fitness levels this season. We've become a force late in games as the season has progressed and that's despite playing EL games with many of our first choice players unlike last season. I also think we might be getting stronger mentally, also very difficult to judge, but after those poor games earlier in the season where we collapsed a bit at the end of games AVB took steps to rectify that and it seemed to work well. Hopefully something can be done about our persisting tendency to fall asleep at set pieces and also our goals conceded from corners sooner rather than later.
One of the things I'm also more hopeful of is getting us set up in a way where we function better as a unit. Earlier in the start of the season I thought there were really positive signs that our pressing was improving considerably. That faded as the season wore on, not sure if that's down to a change in tactics or just that a change in approach takes time to learn and improvement/change being uneven in nature perhaps made worse by the busy season. Hopefully we'll see an improvement again this summer and going into next season and hopefully that can stick around for a bit longer this time around.