Yep, AVB is definitely removing the concerns I had with him. Done well with the squad he's had available and kept up the good football from last season. Still needs to work with our defence but that's been a problem with Spurs for years. A few people said in other threads that they think defence has improved and we've looked more solid but I'd disagree, we still leak goals for a team that has some brilliant individuals, for some reason we just never seem a great collective defensive unit on a regular basis. Would be nice if AVB can bring in some faces he wants, though apart from a striker, I don't think we really need anything else now. With Holtby coming now or Summer, it'd pointless (in my opinion) to splash £15m-£20m on someone like Moutinho or Eriksen, despite being a huge fan of the latter (Maybe we should go for M'Vila who seems to be going cheap-ish) but bar that, the midfield is ok I feel, we're creating a good few chances now so the creative aspect isn't as "needy" as it once was, though the striking options are limited and like many have said, we seem to be one top striker away from achieving something special. Anyway, well done Andre, you're certainly removing the fears I had and really impressing me lately, so I hope this continues. Here's to a good 2nd half of the season
Times were when Man Utd would play their game and let the opposition worry how to stop them-home or away. The fact that SAF tailored his tactics just shows how far we have come!
Most importantly, Andre ever so subtly told Ol' Bacon Face and the MUPLC-loving media to go **** themselves... "The penalty [non-award for Rooney] is going to be debated but I hope it does not mar the game," Villas-Boas said. "I think that even during the game most of the decisions went against us. United prefer their view but I prefer to look from our view. We played better, we had 61% possession and United had four chances. We take our boost of confidence from that. "Controversy sells better but it should not mar the game. I thought we deserved a little bit more, although we take the draw in the last minute."
the problem SOS, is that if everyone puts their hand on their heart, they've got no idea how good Holtby is. We're doing what every fan of every club does right now. - biggin' up a new signing. All we've seen is a couple of CL games, you tube vids and a game the other night. until the last month ago or so, who'd genuinely heard of him? it's very rare these days that players go under the radar, but yes it can happen. (Please don't mention Michu here anyone). We have to also be prepared that Holtby might come to the premiership and be a bit like sigurdsson is right now. - Good player, but might struggle to start with. he's only 22. I know there's always the risk of that happening with any player, but someone like Moutinho is more experienced at 27 and is a full international which the world stage has seen. he's also an EL winner. We need more winners in our team.
Remember the first season we finished 4th, 09/10? We had one of the best defences in the league that year with Corluka, Bassong, Dawson and Benny. Pretty sureit was just a fluke though!
We were a matter of seconds away from 3 hrs of football without a goal, with stats in both games saying we're outdoing them in chances created. How different the posts would be today! So you'll excuse me if I don't let the end of Uniteds domination get in the way of a tragic problem we still have. Hoping our defence isn't really tested, because when it does it leaks, and scraping an odd goal for a result is not how I look forward to the rest of the season.
was never a penalty...Rooney the diving basterd went looking for it as he knew he was running away from goal. I think walker is **** by the way....been saying it all season...cant defend consideng he is a defender and is he really worth a starting berth due to his running the wings. im actually a bit dissapointed that we only drew. we were the better and if we had a player of composure like Vdv at the end of that Defoe chance and Dempsey chance we would have nicked it. Dempsey however has started to settle and he can get you a goal whne you need it most. Bale was being shown inside all day long..United played him well. i dont know why im writing all this on this thread...i knew AVB had alot going for him...he is going to build his team at spurs and its going to get us trophies...The way we are playing is perfect for Europe..hard to beat and definately got a goal or 2 in us....perfect for 2 legged matches.
Fair play but then hand on heart, who truly knows how good Joao is? I have my concerns over him more than most targets, at 26, why's he not been snapped up already and why are we the only club truly interested? At £20m+, I just think it's a hell of a lot of money for a player that I really don't think we need now. You say Holtby may struggle when coming over and I appreciate you mentioned any player can but it seems to me you think Moutinho will adapt quicker/ better because he's more experienced, to be fair mate experienced players in the past of (supposedly) better calibres than Moutinho have flopped here, I don't think any player coming over is a given as to whether they'll succeed or not. If anything though I think Holtby would adapt better, he's half English and plays in the league that has the closest style to the Prem. Moutinho would need to learn a new language and would come to a league completely different and far superior to of that which he plays in. There can be arguments for and against as to who is the better player and value for money but personally, I think with Holtby already a Spurs player (whether it be now or Summer), I think we need to focus on a striker now, the midfield department is already crammed with talent and that excludes the addition of Holtby, where as up top, while Defoe has been great for most of the season we lack that top draw striker to lead the line. If we brought in Joao, then we can pretty much kiss goodbye to any potential move for a high calibre striker.
The ref was shockingly bad, though, notso. Or, I should rather say, he was shockingly biased in United's favour. Had we had a fairer ref, one prepared to actually book United players and give more free-kicks against them, we might have won that match quite comfortably.
yeah fair points mate I know what you mean with the "why hasn't he been snapped up?" comments, but look at the job we're having trying to get him! we've offered good money and it's a bloody nightmare. his presence has grown within the last 18 months(?), but this all happened not long after he signed a deal with Porto until 2015. so it's no bloody wonder no one's moved for him. Don't get me wrong mate, I have my concerns over any player that we're going to spend £20 mill on. mainly because if it happens and they are a failure, DL will tighten the purse strings for years to come and will do all the business himself. - which we know can be hit and miss. I'm just sick and tired of us spending 4mill here, 6 mill there etc etc. - we've got loads of squad players like that now. Sometimes we need to just make that £15-20m move, like we did with Modric. It can pay off, and if AVB want's moutinho, there's likely to be a good reason why he thinks he's worth the money. appreciate what you're saying about experienced players flopping, and i did mention it can apply to anyone. but what I was getting at, is that we shouldn't be relying on a 22 year old to instantly come in (half way through a season) and solve certain problems. someone of that age is still learning.
This My real hope, now, is that we beat Arsenal, which we should do, as we clearly have a far superior side to theirs. If we can beat them, I'm going to stick my neck out and say that we'll finish 4th quite comfortably.
This My real hope, now, is that we beat Arsenal, which we should do, as we clearly have a far superior side to theirs. If we can beat them, I'm going to stick my neck out and say that we'll finish 4th quite comfortably.
