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Andre Villas-Boas - Head Coach

Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

I agree with DVHD.. It is a watershed moment. ;)

It is not as if it is a one off. For me, the statistic of only 6 goals from open play in 12 PL games is the real issue. I want to see a team I support, score goals. Goals win games not chessboard like tactics, which are patently failing.
 
Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

indianspur said:
seriously, had we not spent the 68-70 mill on Soldado, lamela and Paulinho, would we really have been any worse off??? would Defoe, Townsend and Thudd have done any worse???

scary
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Its very, very disappointing. This season could turn out to be a real balls up. There's still time though, and hopefully a few of those players will still come good.
 
Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

thfcsteff said:
I absolutely agree with that comment.
Regardless of patience or no-patience, today was a moment where he has left himself with nowhere to hide.
He made some brave decisions today and I cannot complain because he picked the exact team I wanted to see (in the You Are The Manager thread)…
For whatever reason they simply did not click. I could speculate that letting in a goal after 16 seconds from ostensibly a keeper error made the difference, but the truth is we were too slow in the build-up to bring the game back.

I was personally glad to see Ade back in the frame, as I had heard that AVB would not pick him again, however I'd guess that a month is a long time and that right now, he's going to be forced to make some very serious changes selection-wise.

It is an absolute watershed moment, and despite the fact I still maintain patience is required, realistically he will not get the time he needs, and as such, he needs to find a way to make things click very, very quickly…

He hasn't lost the players yet I don't think. They kept going, they kept pushing (just kept on getting done on the break by some superb counter-attacking) but players can be as fickle as fans so he's going to have shoot them with confidence and a system they feel COMFORTABLE in very very fast, that's for sure...
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Completely agree it was a watershed moment. I've been of the opinion he should get time to sort our attacking play out, but that's on the assumption we'd still be picking up points and be tough to beat, throw in a few results like today though and it doesn't look good for him.
 
Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

DubaiSpur said:
Entirely true. AVB is not remotely close to convincing me of his future usefulness at the moment, but that kind of attitude is ridiculously disgusting. Probably utterly unfounded rumours, but if they do turn out to be true I'd rather we sell them all than sack AVB, because those attitudes will just carry over to the next manager when he asks them to do something they feel they don't want to do.
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=D>=D>=D>

Absolutely agreed 100%.

I think what troubled me today as much as anything is that having been so well-drilled, albeit unexciting, we were looser than the loosest wizard's sleeve today, and I have to wonder whether that's the manager trying to re-energize an attacking attitude or whether the players abandoned the manager's plans and decided to become raggedy on the pitch.

I agree though, it that is true from the two players implicated above, then bye-bye!!!!!
 
Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

As a side note I bet Lamela is gutted that he decided to join. I bet he's regretting that decision like hell. Same as Holtby actually. They both had nice careers ticking over by all accounts before moving here.
 
Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

Yiddo said:
What a load of ********. You have taken a couple of non stories and made them into a bull**** rumour.
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Just reporting what I have heard. Don't know if true or not. But they do seem to have the ring of truth about them and Verts' display today looked to me like he WASNT at all happy playing left back.
 
Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

thfcsteff said:
=D>=D>=D>

Absolutely agreed 100%.

I think what troubled me today as much as anything is that having been so well-drilled, albeit unexciting, we were looser than the loosest wizard's sleeve today, and I have to wonder whether that's the manager trying to re-energize an attacking attitude or whether the players abandoned the manager's plans and decided to become raggedy on the pitch.

I agree though, it that is true from the two players implicated above, then bye-bye!!!!!
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I missed the first 40 mins but from then on it looked like we didn't bother pressing today
 
Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

Armchair Expert said:
As a side note I bet Lamela is gutted that he decided to join. I bet he's regretting that decision like hell. Same as Holtby actually. They both had nice careers ticking over by all accounts before moving here.
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I don't think Lamela actually wanted to leave did he? He was pushed by Roma a little bit who needed the money to finance their debt.


If those 3 flop (Lamela, Soldado, Paulinho), I really can't imagine us getting anywhere near that money back. Lamela possibly the only one who could come close but even he would be 1/2 to 2/3 of the fee we paid. No one is paying 25 milion for a 29 year old Spaniard and if Paulinho flops, that would be both his trips to Europe ending poorly. We wouldn't be recouping 17 million there either.

Let's just hope that none of them flop.



I don't believe the rumours for even a second btw. But I agree with Dubai's post if they are true. Though I will say that Vertonghen did explicitly say when he moved here that part of the reason for that was promising him he'd get to play in his preferred position in the centre. We've decided to go into the season with 1 lb and then in true Tottenham style, he is out long term.
 
Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

Pirate55 said:
If training ground rumours I am hearing are true, then AVB may already have lost the players:

Dembele - when AVB wanted to tell him something about playing in midfield, he said I already play for the best team in Europe (Belgium) and don't need you to tell me how to play that position.

Verts - I am not a left back. I am a centre back. AVB apparently said, you will play where I tell you. Verts immediately handed in a transfer request

Chadli - wants out after being given no game time.

Other players rumoured to be unhappy are Lamela ( not being played in his best position ) and Sigg (same reason).

Defoe, Townsend, Capoue, etc all need first team football in World Cup year.

Does AVB really have the man management skills required to manage at this level?
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i ask again, where are you hearing this?

the trouble with 'rumors' posted on internet forum is that any johnny come lately fan from the **** end of nowhere with no connection to the club what so ever can peddle utter nonsense in an attempt to validate their theories
 
Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

thfcsteff said:
=D>=D>=D>

Absolutely agreed 100%.

I think what troubled me today as much as anything is that having been so well-drilled, albeit unexciting, we were looser than the loosest wizard's sleeve today, and I have to wonder whether that's the manager trying to re-energize an attacking attitude or whether the players abandoned the manager's plans and decided to become raggedy on the pitch.

I agree though, it that is true from the two players implicated above, then bye-bye!!!!!
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To an extent, I can understand the players' frustrations: they're being booed and blamed for something they probably feel the manager is responsible for. Shackling them, restricting their creativity, making them dull to watch: if they legitimately feel that they can play better and that AVB is preventing them doing this, I can understand their moody reactions to today's setbacks.

However, if those rumors are true, the same players need to understand that AVB is shielding them with all his might in the post-match interviews: I do not remember him singling anybody out for criticism after setbacks like today's, or absolving himself of responsibility. Despite my anger at his evident failings, I will hand that much to him: he has always insisted that the players are part of a team (which includes him) and that they succeed or fail together.

Individual players saying 'f*ck that, I don't want to do what he tells me too because I'm Billy Big B*llocks' is a betrayal of that protection, and we can't have that at the club. Not now, not ever, not even if someone like Graham is in charge. Never.

It's 99.99 percent likely to be bull****, but if it's true, see you, Jan, Moussa and Chadli. Thank you for your services, now f*ck off to some other team that will have you. Sure, AVB might join on you on the Tottenham scrapheap before long, but that does not excuse insubordination.
 
Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

billyiddo said:
i ask again, where are you hearing this?

the trouble with 'rumors' posted on internet forum is that any johnny come lately fan from the **** end of nowhere with no connection to the club what so ever can peddle utter nonsense in an attempt to validate their theories
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What theories am I supposed to trying to validate?

I was in the pub with a group of mates, one of whom has a good contact in the club. Just repeating what he said. Not embellishing one iota. As I said, I cannot verify whether true or not.
 
Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

I did not see the interview but I understand AVB intimated he would make Ade the striker in a 4-5-1.

Maybe taking Soldado out of the firing line and bringing him on as a sub may get the goals. It was not a bad performance today, it was just bad selections. For the first time in living memory Glenda called it right at HT.
We were playing non match fit players in defence against the best attack in the EPL. We were set up for playing against 4-5-1 when the other team were playing 4-4-2 same as last week.
 
Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

billyiddo said:
i ask again, where are you hearing this?

the trouble with 'rumors' posted on internet forum is that any johnny come lately fan from the **** end of nowhere with no connection to the club what so ever can peddle utter nonsense in an attempt to validate their theories
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Good post. Someone else was peddling stuff about Ade in another post.
 
Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

"It was a difficult start," Villas-Boas told Sky Sports.

"Obviously conceding a goal in 15 seconds puts your plan in doubt and everything that you've been preparing. It's difficult to take.

"We had a very, very good reaction to the goal we conceded, and that's probably the only positive of the game that we have.

"Everything went bad for us. From being one of the best defences in the country to conceding six goals, there's not a lot we can say.

"We can say City were excellent, but we were extremely poor today and we paid a heavy price.

"The good thing is that, in the Premier League or in a top club, there's always another game coming and another possibility to bounce back.

"We have a game on Thursday where we have to show that we are present, we are there and to continue to do our job.

"We have to see now the mistakes we made and reflect a little bit.

"We've created so many chances before, and it's an ongoing conversation we have to make sure we have to finish up the chances.

"The team is capable of creating, it's not finishing which is the situation right now."
 
Re: ***The Official AVB Discussion Thread***

Armchair Expert said:
As a side note I bet Lamela is gutted that he decided to join. I bet he's regretting that decision like hell. Same as Holtby actually. They both had nice careers ticking over by all accounts before moving here.
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I think Soldado is the guy who regrets. AVB saw him as a better Defoe on the strength of JD's excellent start to last season. We did not need a better Defoe we needed a better Ade.

You simply cannot expect to go through a season with a little bloke on the pitch and your only other option another little bloke.
 
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