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Andre Villas-Boas - Head Coach

You're a complete joke.

How about he's been given the job and we gave Harry nearly 4 seasons so let's give this guy at least one.

My point is Chelsea started well and now are falling off the wagon. We need to not be complete qunts here. Sacking man after 12 games and in the middle of an injury crisis would be utterly mental. Is it because he's a rich good looking fella? Lets be honest, you're no oil painting are you? ;)
 
You know what has occurred to me?

What in the hell has AVB truly proved to warrant people actually wanting him in the first place? Didnt Ramos also do well with Seville and we all know how that turned out.

AVB had one truly great year for him and thats really it - is that really enough? I dont understand why there is all this 'adulation' so to speak for him.

He seems like a bright guy, but let's not forget that he inherited a very good Porto squad including Falcao-a bona fide world class striker, and Moutinho- a borderline world class midfielder. And Porto are one of the biggest clubs in Portugal, they're always at the top end of the table.

I hope it isn't a case of people just wanted the last guy gone so badly that it's clouding their judgment when it comes to AVB.

I don't know what to make of the job he did at Chelsea. Not exactly inspiring, but they have some gigantic egos at that club who I'm imagining aren't easy to manage, especially when they run to their daddy Abramovich when the mean boss won't play them. And Chelsea would probably sack Fergie eventually if he was their manager. Think we just have to forget what happened at Chelsea and judge him on what he does here.
 
You're a complete joke.

How about he's been given the job and we gave Harry nearly 4 seasons so let's give this guy at least one.

My point is Chelsea started well and now are falling off the wagon. We need to not be complete qunts here. Sacking man after 12 games and in the middle of an injury crisis would be utterly mental. Is it because he's a rich good looking fella? Lets be honest, you're no oil painting are you? ;)

Well is he good looking? Not really noticed it myself - but you would have course know more about that kind of stuff. The rich stuff - yeah well if I got a pay off for being brick at my job im sure you would be jealous too.

The vast majority of people on here have not suggested sacking - one or two yeah but not the majority. However he ism not above criticism and thats my point - it seems there is this loyalty, or expectation or this certainty that the guy will do well even though nothing has warranted this expectation.

You turned it into something that its not - it certainly wasnt slagging off AVB more what credentials does this guy have to take us forward? Its akin to buying a player for 20m based on performing well for a season. Didnt work out well for Ramos.
 
I just hope his team talks make more sense than his post match comments. "We were in control from the first minute to the last minute." Now that is just plain embarrassing.
 
I just hope his team talks make more sense than his post match comments. "We were in control from the first minute to the last minute." Now that is just plain embarrassing.


It's a man who cannot win. A man who needs to protect his team and protect one of his only two strikers. Wenger did it once after a 5-1 defeat at ours, and yes, it sounds mental but it's designed to try and protect your players. In fact, had I been AVB, I would've elected to mention that yes, Ade's tackle wasn't smart, but that the referee did himself no favors by allowing Cazorla to fake the extent of injury and Wheelchair to influence the decision!!! As a club we need to be tougher in these situations. We never ever ever get into the ref like other sides, and say what you like, I'd like to know we're prepared to do it.
 
Can I say that Moyes would have been an even worse choice than AVB. My reasons are as follows:

1 - If people are moaning about not playing 2 strikers in a 4-4-2, do you think you'll be happy with Moyes??
2 - His methods seem to be great at developing defenders, especially CBs imo, and defensive midfielder types, but he seems to grind down creative players and forwards: watch Jelevic go into decline later in the seaosn and become a regular crock; If Fellaini stays another year, perhaps the same will happen to him too. I wonder also how long Mirallas will last (remember Van Der Meyder and Simon Davies??)
3 - I think the shoe-string budget is often overplayed in respect to Moyes; he has art times had money to spend but the retun on his investment over the years is not very good imo. In fact, Harry gets his teams playing much better on less spend.
4 - If we feel bored with AVB's method, we'd feel even more bored with Moyes.

I'm glad we didn't appoint Moyes after sacking Harry; there would have been no point

Moyes is a good solid manager but for the ambitions we

1) Personally i'd rather we play 1 up top.
2) Grind down creative players? Pienaar is far more creative than anything he's produced here, Fellaini has become a a complete midfielder and jelavic and mirallas is simply guess work based on nothing. So far they've both looked superb.
3) Return on investment has been hit and miss like all managers but mostly a hit.
4) Don't agree one bit. This season they've played superb attacking football.
 
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I think that the change in job title probably points towards us appointing a sporting director/director of football at some stage

Let's forget about job-titles for a bit - who do you think should be responsible for establishing a clear football strategy in the club?
 
Let's forget about job-titles for a bit - who do you think should be responsible for establishing a clear football strategy in the club?

I don't really care as long as there is one and everyone knows their roles and responsibilities.
 
Even if we finished 8 - 14 I would still give him one more season. I like the idea of seeing a plan through not becoming a cry baby after the first set back.
 
I don't really care as long as there is one and everyone knows their roles and responsibilities.

Persnally, I would like that to come from our manager - the man we've appointed with the greatest responsibility and arguably highest qualifications.
 
The problem with peoples opinions of AVB are that those who are influenced by the media are going to have a skewed view if his abilities as a manager. I was unfortunate enough to hear the beginning of the Adrian Durham show last night and a less informed barrage of drivel I am unlikely ever to hear again.

The facts as I see it are these

We were poor at home to Norwich, WBA and Wigan.

When Demble plays we are strong in midfield

AVB is severely limited by his squad availability, Assou-Ekotto, Kaboul, Parker, Dembele and Adebeyor would most likely all start if fit and most have hardly played this season.

AVB was let down by Levy in the transfer window, missing top target Moutinho and leaving us woefully short in midfield especially as Huddlestone seems to be a shadow of his former self.

Tactically away from home he is very good, at home I am still to be convinced. What I am convinced of is that it would be ludicrous to even consider getting rid of him now.
 
The question that should be answered - is what points to AVB being actually any good? As asked and some have answered - what warrants this 'loyalty' to him? Loyalty is different from support. One good season in a very inferior league does not particularly point to him being any good.

I support AVB but certainly not loyal to him. just not sure where the hell this loyalty stems from and where this expectation that AVB will do well and is the man for the job comes from.

Harry had to prove it before anyone on here was particularly loyal or dare I say it supportive but with AVB its the cart before the horse.

What makes any manager good? Who else will be doing better than AVB right now? Who else will have a better chance of establishing us with a long term plan, to develop youth, to set a playing style right through the club etc? Who else is so much better tactically? Who else is better at motivating players?

What I'm trying to get at, is that managers are only as good as they are suited for the club they are at and the job they have been given to do. I'm very happy that in AVB we have the right man for what we want to do. If that means teething problems in his first half season when the squad is in major transition then I don't really care. Even if it takes three quarters of a season before we start showing real consistent football in both halves I don't mind. I want us to see a plan through. I can't really see any other manager that is somehow so obviously more prepared than AVB to do it. Blanc? He will have bad runs of form and have his certain ways that people will moan about just like AVB.

Every manager has something about them that people will moan about. Every manager has bad runs of form. But every manager also has that knowledge that makes them successful. Our's isn't an easy job. I always thought the idea us trying to maintain a top 4 spot at the same time as implementing major transitions in the playing squad and playing style was pretty much the equivalent of Chelsea expecting to still challenge for the title while doing the same thing. We have a long term job on our hands that needs patience. If we are going to establish ourselves amongst clubs that have far more money we are going to probably need to take a year or 2 of pain to get that base down. There needs to be an acknowledgement that no matter how good AVB is as a manager, we may not challenge this year because the scale of transition is actually too great. If we hold him to maintaining last year's finish and sack him because he doesn't make it, we've wasted a year and lost out on a good manager.

I'm sure he's probably a bit guilty himself for raising expectations at the start of the season, but I guess he wants to breed a winning mentality among the players. But in private with his bosses, they all need to acknowledge that what we are trying to do will take time. AVB hasn't actually done much wrong. He handles the players well, they respect him and are motivated by him. Tactically, he makes sound decisions. (Please don't say bringing on a defender to maintain a lead is a bad thing, because it could just as easily work the other way, when we decide to still attack and get sucker punched. Sometimes the players simply need to carry out the instructions given to them) and he has managed the squad well. (Everyone is fighting for their place and knows there is a fair chance of getting a go, as opposed to how Hughes has managed QPR which seems to be about throwing money around and the guys on the most get to play. The Green/Cesar example is utterly shocking if you ask me. Green is so obviously going to be a source of poor motivation at the club, players seeing him picking up his big pay cheque but not needing to do anything to get it).

The problems we have had, are so clearly that our players haven't adapted to the playing style yet. It doesn't mean it's a bad playing style, or will never work. It just means they haven't adapted to it yet. It seems to be rather different from how they were used to playing before, and how they are now being asked to think about a game. So it will take time. Just like it would have taken time at Chelsea. But we just need to see it through. The other problem is probably AVB figuring out how to get the best out of the squad he has, which will also take time since we have lost key players and because the ones he has aren't really suited to his ideal style of play. So that will take time too. But we need to see it through with him. There's no guarenteed better manager out there. We have a good one. We have one that knows his stuff. We have one that the players respect. The only thing he is lacking right now is the time to see his ideas bed in, and we need to give him that otherwise this whole year will have been a complete waste of time.
 
Persnally, I would like that to come from our manager - the man we've appointed with the greatest responsibility and arguably highest qualifications.


Personally i think the manager should be too busy managing the first team to deal with this. It should also be someone more permanent than the manager, as there is no point in having a system if every time you remove the manager it gets ripped up and place anew.
 
Personally i think the manager should be too busy managing the first team to deal with this. It should also be someone more permanent than the manager, as there is no point in having a system if every time you remove the manager it gets ripped up and place anew.

The overall plan/ambitions must come from board level, then you hire people that fit with what you want to achieve. Just looking at the results someone has achieved isn't enough, ie. you don't hire Allardyce to create a possession based, passing team.
 
^ it's not looking for excuses, just understanding the circumstances. having both last seasons cb's, central midfielders, attacking midfielder and forward either injured, retired or sold is going to cause problems to how we play/take to the new style - does it justify taking 2 points from home games against Wigan, Norwich and West Brom ? no of course not. would it go some way to explain why we haven't been able to find our rhythm in terms of style/consistency? imv, of bloody course it does! and is it fair to draw conclusions on the manager under these circumstances ?

Circumstances tend to lend to one side of a debate when it suits them. Every Manager has injury problems, it's part of the game. Last season we had bad injury problems for example, and look what happened to us when Lennon got injured or the beginning of the season when we had to play Kranjcar in central midfield. During the Premier League era the two Managers most hit with injury problems were Gerry Francis and Glenn Hoddle. Neither Manager got cut much slack for it, especially towards the end of their Spurs managerial careers.
 
You know what has occurred to me?

What in the hell has AVB truly proved to warrant people actually wanting him in the first place? Didnt Ramos also do well with Seville and we all know how that turned out.

AVB had one truly great year for him and thats really it - is that really enough? I dont understand why there is all this 'adulation' so to speak for him.

I hear what you are trying to say, however when we appointed Redknapp he had a record of one trophy in 30years of being a manager, now according to some fans he is the best manager we have had.
 
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