WARNING: I WILL BE DISCUSSING TACTICS I've been saying pretty much the entire season that, if we insist on playing 4231, Sando should be partnered with a deep lying playmaker (Eriksen or Carroll being the best options at present, and it's telling we're rumoured to be interested in Pirlo) to dictate our play, because we're not getting that with Paulinho or Dembele. The issue then is where do we play Dembele or Paulinho because of this? The other suggestion is go 4411 - we could play the central midfield pairings that AVB prefers behind one of Eriksen/Holtby, but the team would also have more natural width which would, in theory, allow Lennon, Lamela or Townsend freedom to do their thing down the flanks.
I can see Moussa shooting off in January. He's supposedly spoken of his unhappiness at rotation and there's been talk of a move in Jan. There'd be a queue of clubs to get him and I'm confident we could make our money back. Dembele sort of reminds me of a higher level Jenas, you can see the talent is there and every once in a while you get to see it but for so often, performs well below-par. If there's a clause where we can recall Carroll in Jan then I'd happily bring him back and say farewell to Moussa. Great player but too inconsistent. Paulinho would have to settle with competition if we go by your suggestions (which I'd be happy to see), so far he's been guaranteed 1st team football and while AVB's tactics aren't helping, I think a bit of rotation for a while could see Paulinho up his game to play how we believe he can which'll then benefit the team.
The situation with the Brasil WC poodle parade is not good. As things stand, I would rather AVB not select Paulinho to play after international duty, unless the game is in on the mainland or there is a squad injury plague in MF.
Agree, too often our players are shackled by a fear of losing the ball. I'm not so worried about a lack of creativity in the side, it's just the way they play that needs correcting. Paulinho for example looks like he can pick a pass at times and at others looks like he can **** up a pass and that fear of ****ing up seems to hold him back. Similar with Dembele and arguably Holtby. I don't know whether it's AVB's plan(wouldn't surprise me) or their own confidence/settling issues but we're sitting on a very talented midfield and need to sort it out so we see the best from them. I'd like to see us try 4141 more with Sandro sitting, Paulinho/Dembele having a greater attacking license and at least one winger on their correct side. Walker and Vertonghen need to be able to sit back from time to time too, they shouldn't have to overlap and provide width on every attack.
Excessive fear of failure causing paralysis does ring true. It's annoying to me because I used to get frustrated with teams in the Harry era because they would never pass it around for a while to get settled (so when things were going the wrong way, they kept going that way), and now we have a team that never does anything but. I'm also still annoyed we got rid of Huddlestone and Carroll, especially when Huddlestone had shown he could be an effective game-changer against the top teams, like, well, Man City.
In my opinion, both Paulinho and Dembele are top class players. In Paulinho 's case, you don't get to be a regular in The Brazil team if you can't play a bit. Dembele is a player I have always rated. So, why are these two ( and others) underperforming - even in Dembele's case, looking distinctly unhappy? Step forward the manager!....
I doubt it will be. So many are now on their crusade against the manager, that they will not be happy until he fails again and then can say "told you so". What is missing from a lot of these comments is something like "I wish I was wrong but..." or "I would be happy to be proved wrong...", but apparently everyone is so certain they are right they are not interested in AVB succeeding. And those same opinions are now aligned with our favourite rag the Daily Fail, and outlets like Talk$hite who are obviously only going to put people with the most sensationalist views on the radio. If someone rang up wanting to keep AVB would he get on the air? All this adds up to some self-fulfilling prophecy to which I can only say .... be careful what you wish for.
Many of us thought the decision to appoint AVB was insane at the time. We all reluctantly came to terms with such a left-field appointment . As none us have no say in the matter , we have no choice and have had to except a Levy's bizarre mind boggling decision . This was the view of most of the football world at the time, rightly or wrongly . AVB has given us little love with his dull suffocating possession game. None of us wanted to be proved right , we are not that pompous or self righteous . I would love him to be the greatest Spurs manager ever and see a statue outside WHL. I would proudly say to my daughter that was the man that brought the "Glory Back" . I think we all want "AVB to succeed " but unfortunately reality sets in and at the moment it looks one almighty bulls up with no silver lining. No yellow brick road .
"Excessive fear of failure causing paralysis does ring true." I don't mind losing the ball, if the ball is "lost" due to an ON TARGET shot being thwarted. I don't mind not having possession, if the team are camped back at the opponents box at worst 15 seconds after regaining possession etc. For all this talk of AVB being "scientific" in his approach, he looks to me to be akin to people in my day job who do not know how to interpret raw data, or fixate on stats that have no end value whatsoever.
I have always supported AVB as I believed he deserved a chance after the debacle of his experience at Chelsea. However, my patience has now snapped. As far as I'm concerned, Spurs were not "performing" last year and it was only due to Bale's wonder strikes that we managed to win games that Spurs were deservely losing. I thought I would give him a chance with our new signings, but despite it still being early days, I am simply not seeing progress in our performances. I'm also of the opinion that AVB is losing the respect of some players, and the rot will spread and it won't be long before he "loses" the dressing room, just like he did at Chelsea. Once that happens, Levy will have no choice but to get rid of AVB. Far as I'm concerned, I believe the cruch point will arrive after Christmas and AVB will be at risk if Spurs do not improve. Regardless of the semantics where the money come from, we have invested £110m in new players and there is little evidence we will achieve CL football - unless other teams mess up, just like they did last season (that was the only reason we ended as high as 5th).
I certainly agree with this Spain. It seems obvious to me too that both these players (and a couple of others within the squad) careers are being damaged by degrading management.
