Yes that's my main feeling following the sacking of AVB Disappointment! I think we were all excited during the transfer window as the signings came in. Obviously tinged with saddness at losing Bale but in the end not too surprised. Many of us felt that the new players heralded a new era, a deeper squad, a more powerful squad. We can all be clever in hindsight and suggest it was too many players or they are not good enough but in fact I think the jury is still out on both these questions. The first moment of concern I had with AVB was the Benny saga and then the lack of Adebayor. These are both highly talented players but there talents come with a price ie they are both free spirits. AVB failed that test for me because he was unable to get the best out these two and they were consigned to the wilderness. A manager/coach is there to get the best out of ALL players in a squad, that's his fundamental job, if he can't do that then IMO he is not fit for the job. The second concern was AVB's apparent lack of flexibility again it is the manager/coach's job to get the best out the squad and build a team that is greater than the sum of it's parts. Having a game plan regardless of who is playing is so wrong I am surprised that anybody bought into this. Did Levy employ him on this basis? If so he really needs to have learnt yet another football lesson. Two very basic reasons why AVB should not be managing Spurs. Does anyone think this is a product of all these computer games (of which I know nothing) making people think there is a way to win football matches and forgetting the small point that; football is played by human beings with all their good and bad traits. Players like Gazza and Best huge talents but not conformers to the norm either. It is disappointing that we have yet to see players like Eriksen and Lamela play freely. That Soldado has found himself in a goal drought with very little he could do about it. Nevertheless they are all still with us and maybe now all the talent we have will be released from the straight jacket and allowed to express itself. Maybe now they wont have to confirm to certain 'lines' on the park, maybe now we will get to see some proper football played once again at WHL.
Yeah, I'd agree with that. AVB's inflexibility is what sealed it for me. This absolute belief that he was right, despite all evidence to the contrary. O.k. He might argue that some of the signings were foisted on him, but a good manager makes the most of that, not force them to try and adapt to his totally inflexible way of playing.
The computer games actually do deal with all of that stuff Spurf, believe it or not. Even back when I used to play the likes of Football Manager, which I haven't for several years, it had various hidden traits which made certain players harder to deal with. It's got everything from press conferences to behind closed doors meetings now. I suspect that Sherwood conforms to the Harry Redknapp School of football thinking, so we'll probably see simpler, easier to understand tactics and players being told to express themselves. 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 and no high line at the back, with an emphasis on attacking and creating chances, rather than pressure, possession and keeping it tight. What happens after that will depend upon who comes in, of course.
This has not been mentioned much, but I think the failure to get Moutinho was more significant in hindsight. João Moutinho was AVB's general on the pitch for Porto and he wanted him to be that same sort of leader for Spurs, but despite getting close to signing him, you failed to land AVB's number one target. He would have also been the perfect replacement for Modric, a player that you have failed to replace.
More importantly, we failed to sign anyone at all in that role. We still don't have a midfield playmaker in a similar style.
Good post spurf. I too, believe that the players will come good if they can "express" themselves like u say. We've signed some proven talent and up and coming talent, but we haven't played to their abilities so far. I'm still excited about the players we signed and am looking forward to them having the "straight jackets off", again, like u say. COYS!!
And you let little Tom Carroll leave on loan, a player who I thought was very impressive in cameos last season. AVB is a young manager, and he has clearly got no clue about how to develop young players right now, but maybe he felt that he can't afford to give a young player a chance, with all the pressure on him. For example when you compare AVB to Martinez, the difference is massive when it comes to developing younger players. I have no doubts that if you hired Martinez, a player like Carroll would not be on loan.
Cough cough..... I said at the time Avb was the wrong man for the job, too many players signed and there will be flops but aside from attempting to say I told you so ( which isn't something I do) ..... It wasn't being clever, it was making a call based on instinct which we all do. Most allowed their instinct to be clouded as we was making big signings, Avb was this young manager who people wanted to be a success but when we rate someone too high it clouds judgement. In his early days with us, Avb was also better re his exit from Chelsea, he spoke about them as if they screwed him over and he was desperate to claim we would be different. Pathetic at times with his charm offensive. But good read Spurf and while I'm disappointed we're in a tricky situation again, I'm glad Avb has has gone as he was never right for us.
You might be right, but Everton have more financial restraints than us and we've yet to see Martinez at a club where he's had to manage a big squad, so he's always had to use youngsters. I've been impressed with him so far at each club that he's been at, but I wouldn't like to jump to the assumption that he'd have stuck with Carroll. He brought in two central midfielders at Goodison in the summer, for example, despite having a variety of touted potential there already.
Agreed it was a good post. But I think the problem was the periodic bizarre lineups. I don't think AVB was all that inflexible, and showed it in his last few games, where we attacked the goal much faster. A tendency to try to impose himself on the game too much would be more like it, IMO.
Moutinho might have been a sticking point, but in reality we needed 2 of him as we don't have a replacement for when he is injured or rested. What would AVB's plan have been if Mouts was injured? What we saw i guess.
A well considered and distinguished post. I couldn't agree more. I defy anyone to disapprove. Spot on.. well said Spurf.
Funnily enough, I made a thread pretty much about this exactly last season. I wasn't actually in favour of Moutinho at the start as I thought £25mill was a bit pricey but I think the impact of having someone out in the middle of the pitch who knows exactly what AVB wants and can help others around him understand what's needed. Regardless we still muddled through that season and ended up doing okay. The big mistake was his strategy for this season. Whatever his decisions, he had to make it work but didn't.
Excellent post, that's pretty much exactly my own feelings about the whole thing. Same here. Last year I really did think he had learned from his Chelsea experience and become both more flexible and a better man manager. The team spirit seemed to be very good. But when I read that post by OS here the alarm bells started going off...it all seemed very petty and dictatorial, a reversion to his bad old stubborn ways. I also agree that he's made our new signings look worse than they are by forcing them into a system that doesn't suit them. Here's hoping that Soldado will now get better service and start banging them in, and that Lamella and Erikson will get the freedom to show what they can really do.
I harped on the fact that all our bad results last year happened when we had major injuries. The three melt downs this year happened with reasonably intact squads, with the exception of Liverpool.
