Modric THFC
Jimmy McCormick
The reality is he's under a lot of pressure from the media and the fans. He's just trying to cling to some results right now. I don't think this is his idea of how he's wants us to be playing a year down the line.
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Andre Villas-Boas - Head Coach
- Thread starter Bale
- Start date
The reality is he's under a lot of pressure from the media and the fans. He's just trying to cling to some results right now. I don't think this is his idea of how he's wants us to be playing a year down the line.
Kingdawson
Banned
Steff not many players in the league possess that sort of player. All those teams that bossed us at WHL i mentioned don't posses a Modric type player bar maybe Pool with Allen (who is a tenth of Luka tbh). That can't be why we're playing that bad imo.
DHSF
Les Ferdinand
We do need that Modric player thats why it WAS/IS crucial we get in Moutinho. I cant think of anyone else bar Moutinho who could replace Modric.
But I also agree with KD as to that cant be a reason why we are playing relatively poorly or actually more to the point- why we tapered off half an hour into the game yesterday and seem to lose control for 45 mins a game. I can name countless games where we were a 45 min team.
But I also agree with KD as to that cant be a reason why we are playing relatively poorly or actually more to the point- why we tapered off half an hour into the game yesterday and seem to lose control for 45 mins a game. I can name countless games where we were a 45 min team.
thfcsteff
Terry Dyson
For three seasons we were set-up to play through Modric. We are learning a new type of game but that still requires someone who can hold the ball. Liverpool set up differently, in fact, the reason we crushed them for 30 mins yesterday was because Allen got no time on the ball when he dropped deep to pick up and cycle it. I would argue that coaches like Steve Clarke, and even Hughton, know that if you squeeze Lennon and Bale, without Dembele playing and without Benny as an outlet, you absolutely force Sandro and Hudd to be 'creatives'. Hudd is nowhere near where he was 3 seasons ago, and Sandro is excellent but not 'that'...I maintain that for what we do it's a very, very important role. In lieu of that player, you then go to the 'hole' player. Sigurdsson and Dempsey right now. It is clear that Dempsey has been fighting to discover some form whilst putting in a shift, Sig has frozen like a deer in headlights and looks scared to make a mistake.
In would argue the Chelsea (who didn't boss us for me) have Mata/Oscar/Hazard with Ramirez, thus rich in options, further Utd have Scholes and Rooney (the latter struggling for form, the former about to retire)...West Brom are very nicely set-up TBF (although we should've been 3 up at HT) and Norwich ditto came to stifle.
I would agree that sometimes nerves appear to creep in, but I do think we are dealing with a transition that is far greater than meets the eye...
thfcsteff
Terry Dyson
Agreed re: Moutinho. And yes, there have been some 45 minute halves for sure...personally, I put it down to a learning curve but perhaps I am more patient?
DHSF
Les Ferdinand
Maybe you are more patient. I said this in another post though - patience is there but some of us want to see a game on game type improvement whereas at present we are a bit yo yo
It will be one of those seasons where we have streaks (I think twunt mentioned that) three or four game streaks and unfortunately that doesnt really indicate much
Jurgen the German
Tommy Harmer
Taking Naughton off would have been a good start. Everyone could see he was getting raped by Walcott.
You say the goals were 3 individual errors, but it's not like we couldn't see those goals coming.
What about the Chelsea game? He brings Livermore on. It's basically saying we're looking to hang on and it's inviting them to come at us. I would have gone for a more positive substitution and took the game to them.
Spursalot
Jimmy McCormick
I don't get it. This team is good enough to be challenging for top four, we currently are challenging for top four. So where is the issue arising?
You can finish 3rd challenging for top four, and you could also finish 6th and still have been challenging for the top four. The margins are extremely slim.
Spursalot
Jimmy McCormick
Er wut?
We went three at the back under Redknapp several times. It was a disaster every time.
stinkfoot
Eidur Gudjohnsen
What is the actual benchmark for AVB to have the team playing his way? Will we still be discussing the players adapting to his system in the New Year?
I'm not being sarcastic I genuinely don't know? Can it take a whole season? with 2 windows, one to assemble and a second to bring in more players after appraising the first half season?
I'm not being sarcastic I genuinely don't know? Can it take a whole season? with 2 windows, one to assemble and a second to bring in more players after appraising the first half season?
I felt this summer was more about damage limitation in terms of buys, we needed to plug some huge gaps in the team. I won't be drawing any conclusions until next season. Hopefully we can add some quality in January, but I think next summer is the big one. AVB will know everything about our current team and what is needed to move forward.
Spursalot
Jimmy McCormick
Good question.
Surely the mark of a good coach is that they should always be tweaking the system therefore the system will always change?
Not particularly helpful i know.
It wasn't a disaster away at Stoke when we only lost due to some awful refereeing decisions.
I think the WBA, Norwich and Wigan results disguise the fact your right. It doesn't feel like we should be 5th personally but we are so how can anyone disagree with you?
stinkfoot
Eidur Gudjohnsen
AVB will also know just how much Levy will back him in the pursuit of that!
It's going to be interesting how this develops. Who was the last manager we had who came to the club with a preconceived (in the eyes of the media etc) 'system' type of football?
George Graham? *shudder*
parklane1
Vic Buckingham
Which is what it is doing.
SUIYHA
Scott Parker
Tricky one to evaluate AVB on yesterday. On one hand, we won a very difficult game against a team that have been proving very difficult to beat lately. The first half performance was very encouraging and good to see. But we were very poor in the second and I thought we were very lucky to win the game in the end.
It's not his fault that Caulker wasn't available and we had to expose Gallas to Suarez. The only alternative would have been playing Naughton at LB and moving Vertonghen into the centre, but after Naughton got absolutely raped by Walcott last time out, I'm not sure I'd have felt comfortable with him against Sterling. It's also not his fault that Adebayor was suspended, leaving Defoe as the only real option up front. But a few other decisions did surprise me.
For starters - bringing Sigurdsson on made no sense. Why did Dempsey come off? He was actually playing well for a change! I've complained about AVB's indecisiveness on almost a weekly basis, so it was good to see him actually realising that something had to be changed, but that was a strange one. Once we lost Dempsey, Defoe was also completely isolated in attack. Yet we kept hoofing the ball in the air up to him, with a complete lack of composure, only for him to be shat on by Liverpool's defence as he's tiny, and to invite more pressure onto us. I personally would have preferred to see Huddlestone come on, with Dembele moving a little further forward, to improve our ball retention and also have a better option in attacking players when we countered. The other thing I thought he could have done was to exploit the fact that Downing didn't have a fudging clue what he was doing and move Bale onto the right-wing.
To be in 5th place and 3 points off third is ok, but it's nothing spectacular. Especially not when you consider that:
1. Chelsea have their lowest points tally at this stage of a season under Abramovic - yes, even worse than last year
2. Arsenal have their lowest points tally at this stage of a season since 1994 - they finished 12th that year.
3. Liverpool have their lowest points tally at this stage of a season since the first Premier League season in 1992. If you apply the three points for a win to old English First Division seasons, Liverpool haven't been worse off at this stage since 1964-65 when they had a record of W4 D3 L7.
4. We are 8 points behind where we were at this stage last season
5. 23 points from 14 games averages out to 62 points over a season - would have had us two places lower last season
I know you can't win every game, but even with the injuries we've had, I still feel our squad could have more points on the board than we have now and be taking more advantage of our rivals slipping up. Certainly, without those dreadful tactical decisions against Norwich, Chelsea and Arsenal, as well as the horror show against Wigan, we could be doing even better.
Get us top four at the end of the season AVB and I'll take my hat off to you. Until then, whilst we still play poor, negative football and you make bizarre tactical mistakes, I won't be impressed.
It's not his fault that Caulker wasn't available and we had to expose Gallas to Suarez. The only alternative would have been playing Naughton at LB and moving Vertonghen into the centre, but after Naughton got absolutely raped by Walcott last time out, I'm not sure I'd have felt comfortable with him against Sterling. It's also not his fault that Adebayor was suspended, leaving Defoe as the only real option up front. But a few other decisions did surprise me.
For starters - bringing Sigurdsson on made no sense. Why did Dempsey come off? He was actually playing well for a change! I've complained about AVB's indecisiveness on almost a weekly basis, so it was good to see him actually realising that something had to be changed, but that was a strange one. Once we lost Dempsey, Defoe was also completely isolated in attack. Yet we kept hoofing the ball in the air up to him, with a complete lack of composure, only for him to be shat on by Liverpool's defence as he's tiny, and to invite more pressure onto us. I personally would have preferred to see Huddlestone come on, with Dembele moving a little further forward, to improve our ball retention and also have a better option in attacking players when we countered. The other thing I thought he could have done was to exploit the fact that Downing didn't have a fudging clue what he was doing and move Bale onto the right-wing.
To be in 5th place and 3 points off third is ok, but it's nothing spectacular. Especially not when you consider that:
1. Chelsea have their lowest points tally at this stage of a season under Abramovic - yes, even worse than last year
2. Arsenal have their lowest points tally at this stage of a season since 1994 - they finished 12th that year.
3. Liverpool have their lowest points tally at this stage of a season since the first Premier League season in 1992. If you apply the three points for a win to old English First Division seasons, Liverpool haven't been worse off at this stage since 1964-65 when they had a record of W4 D3 L7.
4. We are 8 points behind where we were at this stage last season
5. 23 points from 14 games averages out to 62 points over a season - would have had us two places lower last season
I know you can't win every game, but even with the injuries we've had, I still feel our squad could have more points on the board than we have now and be taking more advantage of our rivals slipping up. Certainly, without those dreadful tactical decisions against Norwich, Chelsea and Arsenal, as well as the horror show against Wigan, we could be doing even better.
Get us top four at the end of the season AVB and I'll take my hat off to you. Until then, whilst we still play poor, negative football and you make bizarre tactical mistakes, I won't be impressed.
Spursalot
Jimmy McCormick
Didn't actually remember that one.
I was more thinking of the cup games last season where we were utter brick against lower league opposition.
DHSF
Les Ferdinand
Yeah but wasnt that Harry using those type of games to risk those type of tactics? To see what works for future games?
Its better to practice those tactics in those type of games than against the manures of this world.
People accept that playing the young players means there will be mistakes same with those tactics I suppose.