Fair comments. For the record I'd still have Harry back in an instant but I do admit I've been impressed with Andre. I full see where you're coming from about being out his depth, like I said while he's impressed he's made some very questionable decisions in games.
Interesting Spurcat. May I ask why you think that? He wouldn't have been my choice either, but he seems to be holding his own, in what has been a tricky first season for him. (considering the "hands being tied" factors that we CONSTANTLY speak about).
What disappoints me is that some of the questionable decisions cannot be put down to inexperience, they have just been totally inexplicable. I am not a great lover of rotation, although our experiences of last season have made me reconsider my stance on the matter, but I don't feel he has used his rotation policy very wisely recently. He has also made similar unbalanced team selections lately which were the same ones which Harry was making when he took his eye off things. Not sure why that should be, but it's disappointing to see.
Quite agree, these odd decisions have been seen by all on here but not discussed at any length...because it would mean lambasting the manager. I expect both you me, and others no doubt could rattle 10 instances straight off the top of our heads, on top of more that we've forgot about, thats 10 too many. He's been with our squad long enough to know ALL our players strengths n weaknesses by now (if he doesn't he should just **** off!), yet still he puts players on unnecessarily out of position, and persists with old knackers who aren't even in good form.
Personally I believe his "hands being tied" to be a myth which has developed unchallenged as the season has progressed. I mean, wasn't it AVB himself who publically stated at the beginning of the season he was content to go with only 2 strikers ?? That we didn't get who we wanted in the transfer windows wasn't down to AVB's wishes being marginalised in any way, more down to not being able to raise the necessary funds by unloading our surplus players to get the deals over the line. That is not a way of doing things which is exclusive to Spurs, it works that way at a lot of clubs.
I suppose that we are never going to know who, or what is responsible for our missing so many of our transfer targets. However, one thing looks sure, Levy's tactic of seemingly leaving these potential transfers till the last minute, is not helping.
Missing out on targets is understandable and probably inevitable. Not getting anyone at all is just baffling, though.
City's motivation- or possible lack of it- may be a big factor. They have looked apathetic at times this season- even with all to play for, so if Utd make their title chances impossibly remote tonight, they may not be straining every sinew on Sunday.
It seems to me that, if what we read about clubs like Porto moving the goalposts at the last minute is to be believed, they're just playing Levy at his own game of brinksmanship. If Levy didn't continually try and play this game, he might leave himself a little more room to renegotiate.
Why stay calm? I think this is a great time to panic. Our lineup looks like it won't get anywhere near Man City with talent. But we'll have fresh legs, a likely press-the-life-out-of-them strategy, some hard workers, a home crowd, and what should be a desperate desire to win an absolutely crucial game. It may be that that and $2.25 will get you a ride on a Pittsburgh bus, but you never know. Man City's motivation looks as inferior as their talent is superior.
After reading the match report, I'll be the first to say I'm going to have a little rethink about our chances, I have to say I never saw that coming. Don't you just love football! http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22088969
Unfair report really Wigan were very good rather than City being listless,they worked their bollocks off and simply stopped us playing The result was a travesty to be honest
When a team is riding high the luck goes with it and the opposite tends to happen when a team is at the bottom. Wigan had some good chances. I just hope that we can regain our Spurs 3 Inter 0 form and we will win this match. Without Bale we've drawn two and this will be our biggest test yet in his absence. Roll on Sunday.
Levy pretends he is trying in the transfer market There are two ways he does this Repeatedly making offers for a player at a club with tough negotiators (Leandro) so he can blame them for failure Waiting until the last hours before making a big bid for a player he completely ignores in the following window (Charlie Adam, Joao Moutinho)
Fair enough, either way you've looked far better of late, so its a chink that hasn't been there we need to look at...better known as a straw!
It was mentioned that AVB is out of his depth with us,I don't totally agree but if he were to leave I'd still like us to go for Klopp or Blanc. The season isn't over yet so let's wait until the end to judge Andre. If he gets us top 4 then he's not out of his depth. He's young with a lot yet to learn. If we get top four I'll be happy. Chelsea supporters have said "Top three is ours." I heard them say "Modric's ours" so I'm not listening to them. Our remaining matches are winnable.
I think a manager succeeds or fails with the players he's got,obviously.Fluke goals to win a game or brilliant goals which do the same thing,can make a manager look good and they can go before the cameras and say what a great team I've got when we know we/they were bloody lucky. So many one goal wins these days too! I'd love to see Spurs putting away these poor teams by 4 or 5 goals regularly,but we just don't have the strikers to do this (hence our usually poor goal difference). The only goal scorer we've got is Bale,while the others blow hot and cold,usually cold! But if you can't buy strikers or create your own we can't do a heck of a lot!.......unless we put together a really hot defence who play together REGULARLY ,AVB!!!!!! I'm hoping for a miracle this weekend too!If we can only get the 3 points..............
As I've mentioned, AVB wasn't the man I wanted last summer. When he was appointed, part of me obviously wanted him to do well, as he was our new boss and we had to get behind him, as well as the fact that we we're stuck with him. Also, I wanted him to prove Chelsea wrong and that his dismissal was unfair. However, the other half of me was hoping he wouldn't be around for long, as I felt it was harsh on Redknapp and I almost wanted Levy to have made a bad decision as I was so gutted to see him sacked after he'd turned our fortunes round. For a long time I wanted to be on AVB's back, a bit like I currently am with Dempsey. It's bad I know, but I was looking for any excuse to give AVB grief to highlight the fact that we'd made a mistake. - I genuinely thought we may well have made a huge schoolboy error. Even since the early days, we've seen AVB make some odd tactical decisions, formations, team selections and substitutions. But I soon realised that those issues come from a bigger problem. It's been discussed a million times, but our transfer activity, lack of balance and squad depth have caused this knock on affect. My opinion of him changed as I personally felt that he was doing all he could. Another transfer window in January of nothingness further backed my feelings towards AVB, in the sense that he can only work with what he's got. He lost 2 massive players in the summer in an area of the pitch which weren't replaced properly. Yes, we got other additions to strengthen us elsewhere, but although our weaker areas of last season had been strengthened, we now had a new set of problems in a different area. This was evident long before January yet Levy did nothing to address this. - I'm not going to even go into the striker issue. That's situation is in a league of its own! This is why I now find it difficult to get on AVB's back. From a personal point of view, I've had to hold my hands up and say fairplay to the guy. I've done thesame with Sig, who I put in the same bracket as Dempsey a couple of months ago. But he's been brilliant recently and really hit form. AVB's proven me wrong with what he's got available, and for all his tactical issues, they are nothing in the grand scheme of things IMO. He is doing what he can after getting the likes of Dempsey as one example (panic buy) on deadline day. - Not to mention the other squad members we've let go out on loan. - madness. In terms of him quoting that "we'll be fine with 2 strikers", I believe those comments were made as a media front after conversations with Levy. He made those comments in the press before deadline day when there was still hope of another one coming in. Perhaps we were close on Deadline day to bringing in another, which is why Kane went out on loan, because we'd failed and got Dempsey. - who's not a striker. It was total last minute bedlam from Levy again which left AVB with someone who'd have to "make do". As it turns out, he's not been effective and with the squad lacking quality in various departments, this is why we've seen "bizarre" tactics, IMO. We have bugger all creativity No back up RW No decent scoring strikers Strikers who have been injured or away on international duty A winger who's had to become a striker as a result of the above No proper cover for LW as our other more than capable squad cover player was let out on loan It's left us with a tactical nightmare. Every game, a manager has to work out how he's going to stop the opposition by using his players to do so. Ours has the added headache of sorting ours out, so we're actually some sort of a threat, as well as stopping the opposition. - all due to the gaps and lack of cover/strength in the squad. We might talk about players being over played, but the above are some of the reasons why we've seen this. Take Dembele out of midfield for example, and we're completely toothless and have no driving force or creativity in the middle of the park. - it's no wonder he's played so much! I just find it difficult to blame the manager with so much stacked against him this season. I have no idea how I would have done it. We're bloody lucky to be competing for 4th, IMO. Gaps everywhere, no game changers and 18 goals between 3 supposed "strikers". (Defoe, Ade, Dempsey). - lets not forget that Dempsey was brought in as a striker, hence why we let Kane go. I don't personally believe that these issues are AVB's fault, and infact, there is a deeper root cause. It's too easy to blame the manager.
+1 to the Rooster for me. All our problems are down to transfers. Our squad is too small considering the number of injuries we have EVERY season. AVB saying 2 strikers was fine was to try and strengthen Levy's deadline day madness (imo). I actually wanted AVB at the beginning of the season. The only thing i was worried about was perhaps a step down in "man motivation" (Harry's strength) and perhaps a stricter training schedule pissing off players. However, i've seen none of that, some players have dipped under AVB but others have thrived. The squad morale has looked good most of the season and the players clearly like AVB. He's not a striker but we shouldn't have sold VdV in the summer. With his goals this season we would be sitting pretty.
Positives of AVB: Never slates his players off in interviews even when they deserve a good kick up the arse. Never takes credit for important/ impressive wins. Gets the best out of certain players, with Bale now being regarded as (probably) the 3rd best player in Europe under his guidance. Love his passion when we score, acts like a fan on the touchline. Has blooded in Tom Carroll to the League side, albeit would be nice to see a bit more. Tries to give all players decent amounts of playing time. Seems to learn from some mistakes which I admire, many managers tend to persist even though it clearly isn't working. Masterminded a famous win at Old Trafford, I think we're the only team to have taken 4 points from Utd this season, correct me if I'm wrong though. Negatives: Persists with Walker despite being one of the main reasons for goals being conceded yet chooses to play his competition - Naughton, at left back to rotate with Ekotto - very weird decision. Doesn't get us playing great football, we haven't had too many "impressive" wins of late where we can savour the result AND performance. Makes the weirdest of substitutions - such as removing Dembele when we're chasing a goal. Chose to (or MAY have been Levy?) loan out Townsend when we had no other natural wing cover for Bale and Lennon - which is now haunting us. Rotates the defence far too much, while at times we've needed rotation to prevent fatigue, it's been a while where we've seen the same back 4 in 3 or 4 consecutive games - a major factor I believe in why we concede too many "easy" goals.
