At least he's aware of it... Tottenham boss Andre Villas-Boas: "It was a disappointing result bearing in mind we were leading taking the game into the last minute. "It has been quite an adventure in the Premier League this season; if we count the number of results that have been going for us before the last minutes we would be first. "There are so many different reasons. It is not really easy to explain because a couple of them come from different situations. "It is something we are aware of, which is why we speak about it openly, and it is something we have to improve, seeing off games."
Why can't the Captain identify that we're under the cosh and get the players to push further up? It's not rocket science - if you sit back more often than not you'll regret it.
Telling the players to do something doesn't necessarily mean that they'll comply though, Moorpheus. The retreat of a defensive line is almost subconscious, at times.
Oh yeah I get that. It's also present when we go 2-0 up, regardless of how long there is left. I'm sat watching thinking 'we've got our foot on their neck - why do we always give them a helping hand back up?'
When we go 2-0 up ?? Make that when we go 4-0 up. Remember Blackburn at home a few years ago ?? Cruising at 4-0. What was the final score ??
correct, Our better players will struggle with this style as their main strength is not their technical ability. Lennon, Defoe, Dempsey, Walker, Siggy, Ade have a poor first touch. We don't have the players to make this system work fully . We will be stuck with this insipid dour football till the end of the season or maybe for years to come . What seems mad is that the bulk of players bought in the summer are not of this type . VDV would have been better suited and superior to anyone we have now . The greed of a good return on and ageing player got the better of our enlightened leader. We may do well this season but it's sure not going to be pretty.
If you look round the team who is that character? I can't see one. We've not had a player like a Terry, Keane (Roy, before some pillock says otherwise!) or Gerrard that players naturally respond to for ages. Daws is close but isn't on the pitch these days, Gallas does at least get animated but thats more because he's a French tart. I can't see a dominant character like that, plenty of characters, but no-one to take the team or game by the scruff.
Agree with most of this but, we have Dembele who IMO is more versatile and has a better disposition then Modric. I just hope that we don't get to the stage where we are relying too heavily on him (Dembele).
Take into account that Dembele has hardly played with Adebayor and it was apparent the Ade was not comfortable. We also have coming back Parker who has yet to play in our 'new team' there are lot's of issues within the team atm and some to come as BAE and Kaboul return. All this and new game methodology means we are some way off a settled team. I don't think it's players first touch that's the problem as much as having to think about what they are 'supposed' to be doing with the ball. Don't forget there was quite a period when Modric joined that many were saying he was too small, until he settled and his play convinced everyone. As with VDV again it took time before Harry came to terms with how to play him and how he fitted the team. In fact he didn't fit the team but was too good not to use and often came up with a goal/assist that would not have happened without him. My feeling right now is that Dembele is going to end up a greater asset than Modric was but it will take time for this all to pan out.
Yes our bench options maybe poor., but our first eleven on Sunday was, in the main, surperior to theirs. Which ever way you slice it, Spurs should not have lost that game in the manner that we did.
Yes, it's an open invitation to the inevitable " well, WTF are you going to do about it then?" Question
To be fair to Lennon and Defoe, their first touch has improved massively and Defoe has been brilliant at working the ball out of tight situations, because of his first touch improvement. I thought ade's first touch and control was second to none against Everton. The others u mention I agree with, and there's more, too. Agree with pretty much everything else too. This formation is about more than just a different set up on paper. It requires different types of players, of which we only have a few that excel in their relative position. The idea behind what avb wants to do is brilliant, but the squad needs improving and developing massively before we are satisfied by both results and good football. It'll be a mix of both of the above, until we get exactly who we need. Based on our track record, it'll be about 6 transfer windows over 3 years before we're close to that. Levy's got a new man in to push us on, now he's got to back him. Those players will cost us and that's the concerning part as we're not big spenders for various reasons.. Really looking forward to jan. it's going to say a lot about us, good or bad, IMO. If I don't see some improvement on what's glaringly obvious, ill be asking many more questions of levy.
Hi, I've started two threads on the Everton board to keep up with decisions we've had and not had this season. http://www.not606.com/showthread.php/183949-Decisions-that-went-for-us - in our favour http://www.not606.com/showthread.php/183947-Decisions-we-should-have-had - in the oppositions favour If you can think of any in our match together that I've missed then comment in the thread please Thank you.
I wouldn't - I would be glad to have a manager who recognised a possible weakness. But I don't really get why it matters when in the match you concede goals. Most goals are conceded by defensive mistakes - which mistakes get punished is more down to the opposition than us. In the match on Saturday Everton had two or three much better chances earlier in the game. If they had happened to score those and miss the ones at the end the result and performance would have been exactly the same. We need fewer errors - part of this will come from having our better players back, part from increased understanding of the system from members of the squad who have barely played together before and part from coaching. We've been missing seven of our first choice eleven from last year for most matches, (three gone, four injuries). We've got 10 players in our squad who have played this year but made almost no appearances for us in the PL last season. (Lloris, Naughton, Caulker, Vertonghen, Dembele, Huddlestone, Dempsey, Townsend, Carroll, Falque). Gelling these together will take some time.
Its not being suggessted as an 'only' problem, but I'm surprised you don't think it contributes to losing possession. And the not knowing what to do with it is partly because there's sod all on movement wise. Modric was new to the PL and adjusted in a season, the players we have are all PL experienced bar JV and I see no integration problem there, so I don't see any relevance with that point.
Most of our players are good at first touch, if they weren't we would be a mid-table side. Using your logic any player from the PL could slip into the team without a problem. The reality is that some of our established players are not slipping into the team without a problem. A playmaker needs time for the team to twig his play. Should we have thrown Lloris!!!! no forget that one.
Nearly all games are decided by which team controls the midfield. The team that controls the middle, controls the game, and most of the time will come out the winners. IMO, we have been lucky to win some of our games this season. We haven't held the middle of the park, but somehow still come out as winners. If therefore follows that whatever other problems we may have, defensively, additional striker etc, the main problem is our midfield needs strengthening as a priority before any other considerations.
end up? or already? Luka Modric - Cost: £30 million, Age: 27, Club: Real Madrid. Moussa Dembele - Cost: £15 million, Age: 25, Club: Tottenham Hotspur. 2012/13 stats: Games: Modric - 10 starts, 6 substitute appearances. Dembele - 9 starts, 4 subsitute appearances. Goals: Modric - 1. Dembele - 1. Assists: Modric - 1. Dembele - 3. Total league passes: Modric - 454 (average per game 41.3). Dembele - 416 (average per game 46.2). League pass completion percentage: Modric 86.6 per cent. Dembele 88.9 per cent. Total league dribbles: Modric - 17. Dembele - 17. Total league tackles: Modric - 16 (average per game 1.5). Dembele - 30 (average per game 3.3) Total league interceptions: Modric 17 (average per game 1.5) Dembele 15 (average per game 1.7)
