? No Modric, no VDV and with additions of Vertonghen, Dembele, Sigurdsen, Holtby, Dempsey. Plus Caulker & Naughton. No this is a different side. We lost the creative heart of Harry's team when VDV and Modric went so credit to AVB for HIS team's performance so far.
Naughton was already there & has been ousted now Assou Ekoto is back fit. Caulker is a youth product who was always going to come through. Dempsey has done **** all, Sigurdsson barely much more, Holtby is fresh in, so it's too soon to judge his impact. I'll give you Dembele & of course losing Modric & VDV was a loss over last season, but he spent the cash. I'll credit him for his side playing well & looking good, but he's not done any better thus far than Harry did.
Yeah of course luck played a part, same as it did when your lot lifted it. However, there's no way on God's Earth that AVB's Chelsea side would have overturned the 3-1 deficit to Napoli, as they'd only won 2 out of their previous 11 games under AVB & were looking like a side bereft of confidence. So it's far from 'lazt retro logic', whereas your OP is nothing more than a poorly thought out barbed jibe at Chelsea. Epic fail.
There is no fail or Epic, they're both opinions. You cannot say what AVB would have done or not done because he never got the chance OR the support. RA himself knew RDM got lucky hence the little patience with failure this season, the signs were there last season that RDM was not going to stay. An epic fail is trying to jump over a small wall and your foot catches the top and you go flying in front of lots of people
The fact he never got the support was largely down to his manner & he lost the dressing room by being heavy handed. His immaturity as a manager showed through, he reaped what he sowed. Because of the above, his side was struggling, so whilst I can't say definitively, I'd say it's more than an educated guess, that he'd have failed to overturn that deficit to Napoli. Di Matteo wasn't a 'big name' so Roman never wanted him, he only appointed him due to fan & media pressure imo. As a result, even the CL & FA Cup double only bought him a few months. Glad to see it's going so well under his successor
I think AVB has done well so far, certainly better than I expected, especially after losing 2 of there 3 most creative players, seems to have a decent rappore with the players also.
Yet it seems a coincidence the players suddenly started performing when he got sacked. If the players were not so self important and loved the shirt they wear and respect the fans, none of that would have happened and AVB would have done better, you are wasting your time with a fragmented dressing room, RDM gave Terry and Lamps and co what they wanted, that's pandering not good management You can say the bottom line is he failed, but there are far too many nuances to simplify it. AVB has done well before coming here and is doing well here with SPurs after getting the sack from one of the worst clubs to manage in football from a board\fan base perspective, worse than Real Madrid who also sack managers after winning CLs.
AVB tried to smash the 'old guard' at Chelsea & it earned him the sack, Di Matteo pandered to them & won a CL & FA Cup double, if that's bad management, then I'll take it
My point was that the players I named were NOT in Harry's side so to say it's the same team is just wrong. The fact that AVB has kept Spurs on a par with what Harry did is a good effort in itself considering this is his first season and the only player he has had the chance to bring in so far is Holtby. The consensus on the Spurs board was if AVB achieved 5th this season then OK, so far he has exceeded that.
What about Dempsy, Dembele & Sigurdsson? It's largely still Harrys side & your star attraction is what's setting you apart from the likes of Arsenal, us & the ****e at present. AVB might go on to be a massive hit at Spurs, but given the way he ****ed it at Chelsea, the jury's still out as far as I'm concerned.
Dempsey, Dembele, & Sig were the board rather than AVB and in the case of Dembele & Dempsey probably signed because we failed to bring AVB's target player Moutinho or our striker targets. It will be next season before AVB will be able to put his stamp on the squad. It's too early to bring the jury in, but so far so good. What happens at Chelsea with managers makes it unfair to judge any of them on that basis IMO. Having a stable long term manager like you have with Moyes is the target to aim for.
Redknapp's first XI was normally this: Friedel; Walker, Kaboul, King, Assou-Ekotto; Lennon, Parker, Modric, Bale; van der Vaart; Adebayor. Villas-Boas' first XI has been this, for the most part: Lloris; Walker, Gallas, Vertonghen, Naughton; Sandro, Dembele; Lennon, Bale, Dempsey; Defoe. That's 8 changes, though some of them have undoubtedly been forced and some of those included have either been knocked down the pecking order or injured, recently.
