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Purley said:
Will AVB play a high line against all the top teams?
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He only knows one way. If we get pushed back its because the other team are dominating, thats why last season the majority of our goals where scored from the counter attack, as we was naturally a counter attacking team.

Thats why you have to question why a manager would play a system which doesn't suit the personel. Doesn't strike me as this tactical genius who was meant to be on a different planet to Redknapp.
 
Boss said:
He only knows one way. If we get pushed back its because the other team are dominating, thats why last season the majority of our goals where scored from the counter attack, as we was naturally a counter attacking team.

Thats why you have to question why a manager would play a system which doesn't suit the personel. Doesn't strike me as this tactical genius who was meant to be on a different planet to Redknapp.
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Have to wonder really.

When he was at Chelsea, he played a high line away to Napoli... One of the best counter attacking teams at that time.
 
Purley said:
Have to wonder really.

When he was at Chelsea, he played a high line away to Napoli... One of the best counter attacking teams at that time.
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I think it comes from being mourinhos assistant as your manager likes to control a game but the difference is mourinho sets up the team to the squads strength. If necessary he will sit deep. he even used a 5 at the back formation with inter to get a result.

Avb just plays the same way and won't try and mix it up. Which is odd as he is clearly a smart guy. he knows different formations, but for some reason wont use the knowledge.

any reason why mourinho and avb don't talk anymore?
 
Boss said:
I think it comes from being mourinhos assistant as your manager likes to control a game but the difference is mourinho sets up the team to the squads strength. If necessary he will sit deep. he even used a 5 at the back formation with inter to get a result.

Avb just plays the same way and won't try and mix it up. Which is odd as he is clearly a smart guy. he knows different formations, but for some reason wont use the knowledge.

any reason why mourinho and avb don't talk anymore?
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change of personnel maybe?
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was wondering if they fell out over football differences, similar to fergie and Brian Kidd as I see the reference to their frosty relationship crop up a fair bit.
 
I wonder if AVB isn't the anti-Wenger. Just as Wenger will try to play fluid, attacking football no matter the opponent (well, almost...), AVB will try to dominate the midfield and push the other team back. Will it work? We shall see, but at least it looks like we've got the midfielders to give it a whirl.

I'd at least like to see a Plan B for when we go behind, which would involve breaking at speed, midfielders bombing forward into the box, and, erm, either of the two deep lying playmakers we no longer have kickstarting the move forward. Which reminds me: Rose and Walker got mediocre reviews at best against Arsenal, but their ability to get themselves free near the goal line and launch theoretically dangerous crosses was remarkable, and only exceeded by our inexplicable inability to get anyone forward to meet them except our undersized striker.

Why on earth wasn't Paulinho, at least, who's tall and very dangerous in the air, constantly in the box for these? I don't know how many times I saw a cross heading into a sea of red shirts.

I gave AVB high marks last year, mostly for macro-type things like getting the squad motivated and getting a lot of points out of a squad without a playmaker. But I also have to say he gets micro-decisions wrong like nobody else from time to time. Why not Holtby at halftime when everyone wanted him? Why Huddlestone against Chelsea? And for an even weirder one, why did he try Huddlestone and Carroll together three or four times last year? Of all the players for the "2", surely they're the last ones anyone else would try pairing...

Anyway, it's interesting to see a wide range of interestingly stated opinions from various posters. It may say as much about individual reaction to uncertainty as anything, because uncertainty is what defines this team at the moment.
 
For some time now we have lacked a creative edge. We huff & puff, but actually create very little - how many chances did we actually make against the goons despite all our pressure? Very few.

IF we can solve that problem, we can finish top 4, if not we will finish somewhere between 4th and 7th.
 
NowsufferinginSpain said:
For some time now we have lacked a creative edge. We huff & puff, but actually create very little - how many chances did we actually make against the goons despite all our pressure? Very few.

IF we can solve that problem, we can finish top 4, if not we will finish somewhere between 4th and 7th.
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Totally agree mate.

Is it fair to say that everyone agrees about creativity now? For a long time many had different views, but now everyone mentions it!

For me, the direct 433 is a formation we can only start with in tough away games that we don't want to lose. - we keep it defensive and then counter with the wingers. But even then, we need to switch it up if we concede.

IMO we should be playing a 4231 as much as possible. Paulinho and sandro as the "2", and eriksen or holtby in the middle of the "3". Alternatively, I believe we can rest paulinho and put holtby in the "2" alongside a strong defensive midfielder.

but whatever happens, we've gotta start making life easier for ourselves.
 
The Mighty Thor said:
It will happen when we score that first goal in the PL from open play, just watch that space.
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Yep. And it'll be interesting to see how it's scored.

Ill put money on it being created by coco, holtby or Eriksen
 
Roo said:
Totally agree mate.

Is it fair to say that everyone agrees about creativity now? For a long time many had different views, but now everyone mentions it!

For me, the direct 433 is a formation we can only start with in tough away games that we don't want to lose. - we keep it defensive and then counter with the wingers. But even then, we need to switch it up if we concede.

IMO we should be playing a 4231 as much as possible. Paulinho and sandro as the "2", and eriksen or holtby in the middle of the "3". Alternatively, I believe we can rest paulinho and put holtby in the "2" alongside a strong defensive midfielder.

but whatever happens, we've gotta start making life easier for ourselves.
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Perzackerly how i see it Roo.
Holtby can cover right and left wing too if needed and has played there before and likes it. If he progresses well and gets anywhere near the potential he showed at Schalke/Mainz then he will get a lot of game time i think regardless of Eriksen coming in.
With 4231 you need goals from 2 of your 3. Say 10 league goals each and 15-20 from your 1. Lamela has goals in him, Chadli's record suggests he does too. Holtby has a decent shot on him as we've seen and Townsend likes a crack.
I fear for Lennon, his goal return is poor and he's not a no10 or one of the 2. I don't know what will happen to him
 
I like Lennon,but i think his day's are numbered,as his goals return isn't good,unless he is used in Europe,where his pace will scare defenders
 
totsfan said:
I like Lennon,but i think his day's are numbered,as his goals return isn't good,unless he is used in Europe,where his pace will scare defenders
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I was really expecting us to cash in over the last week. I heard rumours Cardiff were interested
 
The thing that Lennon has over any of the other wide players is his work rate tracking back, so many times he dug Walker out of a ditch last season. Plus the fact that he looks to create more so than score, so that could be more of an advantage to Soldado. With Townsend/ Chadli/ Lamela cutting in and looking for shots more so than crosses, that hinders the supply to Soldado, at least with Lennon, he'll be doing his best to find Roberto in the box.
 
Spurs or Sex? said:
The thing that Lennon has over any of the other wide players is his work rate tracking back, so many times he dug Walker out of a ditch last season. Plus the fact that he looks to create more so than score, so that could be more of an advantage to Soldado. With Townsend/ Chadli/ Lamela cutting in and looking for shots more so than crosses, that hinders the supply to Soldado, at least with Lennon, he'll be doing his best to find Roberto in the box.
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you make a very good point there!
 
Roo said:
Totally agree mate.

Is it fair to say that everyone agrees about creativity now? For a long time many had different views, but now everyone mentions it!

For me, the direct 433 is a formation we can only start with in tough away games that we don't want to lose. - we keep it defensive and then counter with the wingers. But even then, we need to switch it up if we concede.

IMO we should be playing a 4231 as much as possible. Paulinho and sandro as the "2", and eriksen or holtby in the middle of the "3". Alternatively, I believe we can rest paulinho and put holtby in the "2" alongside a strong defensive midfielder.

but whatever happens, we've gotta start making life easier for ourselves.
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I don't gave a problem with 433 as long as it's used correctly, as you say for tough away games it should be used to contain the other side and I don't think that was dine well against Arsenal.

My preference has always been for 4231 though and whilst I think the creativity has been an issue so far part of the problem is that we have so many new players.

Even if you didn't know what business we'd done in the transfer window, looking at our opening results you could have guessed that attack was where we made most of the changes. We have a defence where 4 of the 5 starters(inc. 'keeper) have been playing together for a year now so naturally we've done well there conceding just 1 in 3 games. It's upfront and particularly in the final third where we've not been connecting well enough. Having Eriksen or Holtby operating in the final third will certainly help that but we definitely need to get players settled and either get Dembele to stop playing within himself or drop him. Dembele and Capoue are excellent players to bring on when we're winning but I agree that Sandro and Paulinho should be the starting "2". Hopefully Scolari will feel that way too.
 
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