To be fair on the Dembele front, I don't think anyone would've imagined how inconsistent he'd become. He looked immense for Fulham and started brilliantly with Spurs but since the second half of last season, we've only seen about 5 or 6 good performances from him. For £15m and someone whd had what, 2 years previous Prem experience before signing, it's a let down but I wouldn't blame it on Levy/ AVB, at the time he seemed a great buy. Dempsey like others have said was a stop gap. Sig, similar to Dembele in terms of consistency. If Gylfi isn't on the score sheet then you wouldn't have noticed he was playing. As for the new wave, I do blame AVB for their lack of impact. Capoue and Chriches aside, none of our signings have impressed enough to say "what a buy" so far. Paulinho and Eriksen have shown glimpses, Lamela only came to life last Thursday night, Soldado never looks like scoring and Chadli didn't look amazing but has already had a number of injuries. AVB's rigid, defensive system doesn't allow our flair players to thrive, Eriksen and Lamela in particular would be so much better under a more attacking system and until AVB decides to take a few risks, I don't think we'll see the best out of them for a while and therefore that also means that Soldado will continue to get a lack of service (though against Newcastle, he had a good few chances and fluffed them). Before the season started I was chuffed at our new lads, it was arguably our best and most exciting number of additions we've ever made, yet when put into a system that they clearly can't do much in, it results in them looking like flops. If Pochettino had Lamela, Eriksen and Soldado right now, Southampton would probably be top of the league in my opinion.
Linked? thats a bit of a stretch! We asked, the player and his agent said this... "In light of Tottenham missing out on the top four, they are set to miss out on a chance to sign the in-demand forward, along with Italian sides Fiorentina and Inter Milan who had also expressed a recent interest. His agent Juanma Lopez said: "(We) will accept offers only from clubs who play in the Champions League. We are calm, because the most important decision is up to Sevilla." Clearly Negredo is not desperate to move, but if he does at the age of 27 he will not do it for the sake of it. He wants to be competing at the very top level, which means Champions League football. There will be players like him who want to narrow down their destinations using Champions League football as a barometer, and that is their personal choice. Spurs just have to find the players who have the ability yet are more open minded. Negredo isn't one of them so don't expect him to be arriving this summer." ...linked to him my arse! naff all to do with City and their money, City and their CL spot more like. If you can pull your head away from the The Mail, The Daily Star, Talksport and WSC, you might get to the meat of matters.
Putting a whole pile of youngish players with no experience of the EPL into an attacking line up would be asking for trouble surely - the sort of thing Ardiles might have done. Much better to build the solidity first and unleash the flair gradually
Problem is we're doing both at once, mainly thanks to Factitious Madrid helping themselves to the midfielders we need every summer.
Marion doesn't agree with you,called him a micky mouse player on Saturday,causing a H/T bust up in the tunnel
I think you've solved your own Dembele conundrum. As we've said before, Dembele along with a number of others are being played well out of position. Some have already noticed that AVB's defensive 'ring-a-ring-a rosie' approach does not, and will not suit the better players in this squad.
Well on this basis Ferguson would have been sacked long before he achieved anything. And I thought we played much better on Sunday.
People have claimed for years that we can't play with two defensive midfielders and now AVB is being criticised for playing too skilful a player in that role. I give up
Isn't fergie an exception rather then an example of how managers need years to finally get it right. I'm happy to criticise Avb for five years and then eat humble pie for 20 years if he can prove he just needs time but you will need to ask Levy how he views Avb to know if he will get the time you believe he needs.
Its not an experiment many clubs have done recently: managers rarely get more than two years if anything goes wrong
True. It's not an experiment which is possible at the top level in today's game so the fergie example will stand on its own for a very long time.
I think that's due to the money at stake these days and the prima donna footballers that surround us. Managers nowadays can quickly "lose the dressing room" which basically puts them in the **** the moment that happens. The club doesn't want unhappy players earing thousands to underperform so they give the manager the boot and hope a new one comes in to boost morale and performances and therefore lead the club on course for it's targets, both financially and on a playing level. Fan expectations also play a part. If a club spends lots of money it raises expectations of fans, like it has with us in recent seasons and especially the money clubs like City and Chelsea, it was only what, 6 years ago when City were fighting relegation, now their fans get pissed if they're not on course for a top 2 finish. If fans start getting disgruntled, a club can't really afford to lose it's support and therefore makes a decision to appease the fans.
It's the wrong policy though. In any other business you'd laugh if the most important staff member was changed every two years. Almost every EPL manager lasts about that long if they are lucky
