So we are going to prolong our pain and agony for the duration of the season, just to make a decision that we knew was inevitable. Same old Spurs then!
I know its painful to watch but Levy is also in a tricky situation, plus there aren't many alternatives! We will just have to put up with this and hope our chairman gets it right in the summer.
With the Goons rolling into top 4 clashes before the Xmas period starts, AVB could be stumbling his way into only being 5-6 points behind them up to then.
I was thinking Holtby on and Lamela off was the only good choices AVB made. Lennon swapping back over to the right was Lennon's decision. Lennon and Defoe. Play them for the rest of the season. The game is half enjoyable when they're on the ball. Lennon gets the ball in the box and wins corners. Defoe shoots. Lennon, he plays on the riiiiiiiiiiiiight.
On Sunday people were saying "we're two points from second, stop moaning." Now it's 3 points from 4th. Are people going to continue to say this when we're 8 points from 6th? It's pot luck whether we pick points up or not.
Also results went for us massively today, with Newcastle, Southampton and United all losing, if any of those had won, we'd be looking in a far worse position than we are.
Some strange post-match comments from Holtby: "All week I said I have to shoot more and I did into the top corner. You can't imagine how happy I am. It is a dream come true. "We had so much bad things going on, so much negativity into the team. It was a great response from the team to come back. That is what the team needed. "I hope we are back on track and get back to a winning streak." Is he just referring to the press crap with Villas-Boas in his second line or is there something more to it?
Its such a fine line, yet Levy can't sack Avb just because the football is crap and we're 3 points off 4th in December, he can do that at the end of the season if he feels we need a change regardless (like he done with Redknapp), but to sack Avb mid season? I just can't see it happening unless we really fall off the pace.
Vlad Chiriches, he scores when he wants ...or very nearly scores Wouldn't you know we're riding on the Chiriches express... Well, I wanted a more exciting game and a faster buildup, and I got one, oddly enough until Fulham scored. I think AVB had a difficult decision to make early in the season: play defensively and try to squeeze out points, or play as we did in the first half, to hasten the team gelling. He may have made the wrong decision, but this game was a good example of why he didn't want to risk this. The game could so easily have been 3-1 either way. In any case, it does look like our offensive woes may have resulted more from the slow buildup than anything else. We've attacked quickly the past two games and scored two in each. I couldn't believe some of the saves Hugo made...or how at sea we were defensively. It must be said that Fulham came out flying. The next few games are Holtby's big chance at CM.
Not really, 4th is the aim. I don't think anyone cares about the difference between 5th and 8th half as much, especially midseason. We won today so our situation could only get better. That said, the questions have to be asked about AVB. He's got to realise that the way he wants us to play doesn't work. If he allows us to play a simpler game and a couple of months down the line when we're doing better then fair enough but after our recent performances it's unfathomable. One of the few positive points about our recent performances(despite results) has been that the winger getting down the touchline regularly has opened up the opposition but we reverted away from that twice today, once at the start and once before(maybe just after) the goal. Don't get me wrong, the players should accept their share of the blame too, we've showed a soft under belly all season after conceding. We've only conceded 7 times this season but nearly everytime(United is arguable) it's happened we haven't looked to hit back strongly and instead have let the opposition come onto us with sloppy play. What worried me as much as anything tonight though was that Vertonghen looked like he really didn't give a **** about anything other than himself. Really sad to see and if Rose or Fryers are fit I'd happily see him dropped against Sunderland.
We won't get anywhere near 4th this season on current evidence - if we do it should go into the Oxford English Dictionary as a new example of the term 'Lucky'
"What worried me as much as anything tonight though was that Vertonghen looked like he really didn't give a **** about anything other than himself. Really sad to see and if Rose or Fryers are fit I'd happily see him dropped against Sunderland." He doesn't want to be playing LB long-term. And unlike Naughton he is actually one of the better players in the squad for his true position. But then AVB is at fault for not attempting to progress Fryers when games have allowed.
I dunno. I don't rate Fryers, even at under 21 level we've got players who have gone on loan to Swindon or been sold that impressed more. Vertonghen's attitude was really disappointing when we went one down though, he's paid good money to play for us and he'll play where he's told to by the manager as far as I'm concerned. I don't watch Belgiums games but I doubt he shows the same attitude for them. He should be dropped purely because of how he behaved and his body language, if Naughton has to play then so beit.
The issue is that the system either defends or attacks, it cannot do both. When the system was being defensive it would make scoring against us difficult so we could grind out wins, but attacking play was at a premium. When the system plays more open football, it loses defensive cohesion - hence going 1-0 down tonight, or losing the lead twice against Man Utd at the weekend. We do have previous when it comes to winning at Craven Cottage by accident. Remember a couple of season ago when they were all over us, yet somehow we won 3-1?
I do - IIRC Defoe scored at least one late on. I dunno - I just can't see us clicking into gear anytime soon. AVB has the system he wants to play but very few of our players are compatible for that system. A good manager would recognise this and change the system to suit the players.
I agree with this. I cannot believe that we are going through yet another season where our strikers are complete and utter ****e! That is our single greatest problem.
