It is very clear that AVB struggles with his substitutions. It has cost us v Norwich and West Brom (late goals costing us 4 points). It happened v Chelsea but on that occassion I think we were outplayed for most of the match so I am reluctant to say he cost us points. It cost us in at Norwich in the cup and again today costing us a point. We could/should have 5 points more and still been in the cup. My point is that when will the lesson be learnt? In all of those games we've made defensive changes that have cost us yet they continue to happen. Losing is fine...it happens but if we don't learn lessons how will we improve? Next week concerns me...again not because I think we'll lose but because I think I can guess how...as can most of us spurs fans. We were short of players v toon on the first day of the season...played well...conceded but played our way back in and then dropped deep encouraging them on to us and we concede a late goal. This happened v West Brom ... good first half took the lead on 50 min or so and then sat back and conceded a late goal. The same happened v Norwich (only we were not good in the first half). Its happened in the Europa league too. What's the betting it'll happen next week to? Lasagne gate was not the reason we lost out on 4th in 2005/6...it was the last minute goals at Sunderland (cost us 2 points) west ham (cost us 2 points) - we also did the same in both cups that season losing to a last minute goal to Grimsby and Leicester. It set a pattern ... we regularly conceded late goals until 2 years ago but now it has returned and I think the managers changes are responsible.
Largely agree with that. Losing 2-1 away to City isn't the end of the world but the way AvB keeps going defensive when we are leading or drawing and making odd substitutions is massively worrying and he doesn't seem to be learning.
It makes no sense. We look a far better team when we're taking the game to the opposition, so why draw pressure onto ourselves when we're crap at dealing with it? I have no idea what he's thinking at the moment and he's not learning lessons from his own mistakes. Very, very annoying.
For the first time i'm starting to think AvB won't last the season. Losing is one thing but constantly making the same mistakes over and over will be noticed by Levy and co.
Levy and co are the root of problem and cannot afford to sack AVB. No fear we still make a profit on selling players , with Gareth next in line.
Yes, but that would put Levy in a very awkward position. As far as I know, he was the main champion of hiring AVB. It could well be his head on the block, too!..
It's hard to make a positive comment about AVB atm because I have seen little to be positive about but I still think it's too early to be talking about his sacking. He does seem very negative in his tactics but then he has been under pressure from day 1. We have to see what happens when Dembele, Kaboul, BAE and Parker return. I suppose one positive is that he just might be realising the value of Dawson, but bringing Defoe on WITH Adebayor had to be the right move surely. The threat of Bale and Lennon was completely absent today (unless it was there in first half hour, which I missed) and I think that was more to do with us than City.
At least AVB seems to have got the message that Siggurddson is next to useless and hopefully soon he will also realize Dempsey is not the answer as second striker (although he did work hard closing down against £ity).
I always remember seeing Man U in the early days of Ferguson's reign and thinking he doesn't have a clue. That's why I will keep my powder dry on AVB for the moment.
This wasn't meant to be a knee jerk I want him out article...I am just very suprised at us making the SAME mistakes! I'd take 5th or 6th this season and a cup (our best chance has gone after the norwich game) ... I'm old enough to remember Keith Burkinshaw taking us down before making that great team of the early 80's so I am all for giving a manager time to learn from his mistakes ... I just wish they were different mistakes ... at least I wouldn't know after 20 mins what will happen!
i'm not saying I want him out either, just seems to be making the same mistakes over and over and we will keep losing games and slide down the league if it keeps happening. Dembele and Kaboul are big misses but will having Parker and Benny back make any difference?
Parker transformed our defence when he arrived and provided serious clout in the middle. Sandro is very good but is he better than Parker? Benny makes Bale tick in a way that Verts does not. We also need Verts back in central defence.
BTW learning lessons is IMO a very annoying phrase used add neuseum by everyone in place of solutions. Sorry, just get's up my nose when I hear it. We will have to learn lessons! Yeah right!
He has no ambition in games. I'm sorry but as I said at the start of the season, AVB is not a good manager. Paul Jewell could have won titles in Portugal with the Porto team Andre had. He had a team that had two of the worlds best strikers in Hulk and Falcao and were effectively playing in a league where the competition and standard of play is average. Porto and Benfica aside, I'd say the top 7/8 teams in the EPL could go over to Portugal and either win the league or give a good title challenge. Since his time in England, AVB has shown he has no tactical know-how, no idea on how to make good substitutions/ selections and his man management skills are very questionable. I appreciate he's not got a fully fit squad to select from but does that really give a valid excuse for the way in which we play so poorly? The team that faced City was still a decent team. I didn't expect to win yesterday but I expected some ambition and desire, both from players and the manager and yet again, failed to see it. City more than deserved their win and I hate saying that. I really hope AVB sorts it out soon, the depressing football is clearly rubbing off on the crowd now, yesterday was the first away game I've been to for Spurs in which the atmosphere of the away support was considerably quiet throughout most of the game compared to previous times I've been away. Made it worse for me that the journey home was a nightmare, took about 7 hours getting back (live in Edmonton)! So all in all, was a pretty sh*t Sunday for me to say the least.
