The reason I don't 'like' him is that I think he is ineffective in a 442, so he isn't part of the 'kitchen sink' in that situation. Defoe is a good goalscorer in streaks but he is not a Greaves, Archibald or Lineker who if given one half chance is likely to put it away. We needed to create more chances not finish them better - therefore the last person we needed on the pitch was Defoe in my opinion.
I don't buy it mate, the only one we had of any use was Mod, and he was going, we did not know that on the last day!, so for a period of time we were facing the season without one! Now if that can't create some matter of urgency, and a strong manager who knew anything about our squad would stress it, I don't know what can. No, instead we extend Jenas's deal.
haha, they said that about us when we were in it last time though, in our first attempt. "Tottenam will do well to get out of the group". "we could see spurs finish bottom". 1/4 finals, anyone?! jokes aside, yeah. bang on Notso.
mate, we knew modric was going. the money was pretty much in the bank. levy was just trying to get as much as he could. but the transfer was inevitable. - it went on all summer. At the same time, there were credible reports of our interest in Moutinho, and in the final week, reports of how we were expected to go for him. - and we did, just as those people said so. But all when it was too late. - that's not AVB's fault.
Imo, you're viewing a normal situation, this wasn't one, we needed a goal, so if you prefer to believe one recognised striker on the pitch is better than 2 (regardless of one of thems performance, yes he was poor, so was his supply and support!) than we'll leave it here, because when other teams are desperate for a goal they can finish with 3 strikers on the pitch. Sadly our transfer dealings and management decisions have left us with twice as many bloody goalkeepers as strikers, this in itself deserves the biggest facepalm smiley I can think of.
Sorry mate, although what you say is credible, Moutinho is not the only player on the planet, our predicament was known all summer, and the manager has to take some responsibility for it. I'm not saying it is only AVB's fault, but when things aren't right, the buck stops with management...all of it!
I'm not sure why part of this criticism has been a poor 1-0 home loss to Wigan, with the suggestion that such a thing would never have happened under Redknapp. There are things that Villas-Boas has got wrong and some poor performances to boot, but we got exactly the same result in 2010. We had some equally poor performances too, especially in last season's barren run. Our new manager hasn't been perfect, by any means, but he's had to deal with a lot of problems. As I've said before, our first XI last season was Friedel; Walker, King, Kaboul, Assou-Ekotto ; Bale, Modric, Parker, Lennon; van der Vaart; Adebayor . Those in bold have largely been unavailable to Villas-Boas, via a combination of injuries, a retirement, late signings and transfers. Their replacements have also had issues. We brought in Dembele to replace Modric and he got injured. We brought in Dempsey to replace van der Vaart and he's had no pre-season and been called up for international games that've taken him around the world. Vertonghen's been forced out to left-back, Sandro's had fitness issues and missed the pre-season due to the Olympics and Defoe's not really suited to the lone striker role, though he's done a better job of it than in the past. One thing that's really causing the crowd unrest this season is poor home performances, in my opinion. Most of our better results have been in away games and teams are happier coming to White Hart Lane and trying to stifle us than they would be on their own grounds. With our lack of striking options and a lack of a settled side, it's been a major problem breaking teams down and I think it's affecting the side. Thursday's game is now extremely important. It'll be interesting to see how Villas-Boas approaches it and I already expect the atmosphere to be poor from the start. I'd like to see him make a few bold changes, but I can see how he might feel there's too much pressure to risk it. Injuries might force his hand on this, though.
Exactly, I'm all for trying to play like Barca but only when you have the right players. We don't have playmakers like Xavi and Iniesta, nor do we have the best player in the world . The thing that gets me though is I'm not entirely sure how AVB does actually want to play. The football we've seen has not been out and out attacking football which I feel is when we're best our at, there's no point creating a team that will attack when needed and then sit back and defend a lead, we're not great defensively, especially as a unit so our best way of winning is technically the "we'll grab one more than you" philosophy. With the exception of Kaboul and perhaps Daws, none of our defenders are of the rugged type that will bully opposition out of our area and deal with high balls etc. Our defenders are more technically gifted than some teams midfielders! We should utilise that to our strength, not try and mould them into something they're not. I hate late business and by no means is Levy without blame in this. Fact is though AVB is (regarded by some as) a top coach/ manager, he needs to make the most of what he has and he's not done that to a sufficient standard in my opinion. I think a change in formation is definitely needed. 4-4-2 with Ade & Defoe up top. Bale and Lennon's role will then rise with importance as they'll be the main outlets of creativity as we won't have a CAM (though Dempsey and Sig have hardly been creative!), though they'll have the bonus of being able to make different crosses. Up to now it's usually always a low drilled cross across goal as logic for Defoe to pounce on, with Ade, you can swtich it up and hit high crosses into the box to either attack it or head down in hope of Defoe being there to react.
I predicted 4th at the start of season and I still expect it. Anything less than 4th is technically a failure for the club as a whole. We're not (or at least shouldn't be) in another transition period and so it's a case of building on from or at least matching last season's finish. I'm confident in the players we have to get top 4, it's just down to whether the manager will be good enough to get the best out of them.
Of course our players are worse than Barcelona's but the basic premise is that we should be trying to keep the ball. Our players should be better than those of most of our opponents - if we have the ball more than them then usually they will crack and we will score. Crossing the ball makes it much more likely for an inferior opponent to be able to clear than passing it on the ground. I really don't understand how the best reaction to us not being creative enough is to play an extra attacker and give the ball away more often by high crosses and 'hoping' that Defoe might be there. Has no-one noticed that Defoe scores more regularly in the AVB formation than he has ever done before?
With Rafa and Modric aside, we only got rid of squad players. Youngsters have come in and taken the places of Niko, Pienaar, Corluka, Saha, Nelsen etc. We haven't got much of a different first XI than last season. Last season our best team would've been: Friedel, Walker, Kaboul, King, Ekotto, Parker, Modric, Lennon, Rafa, Bale, Ade. Now I'd say our best is: Lloris, Walker, Kaboul, Vertonghen, Ekotto, Lennon, Parker/ Sandro, Dembele, Bale, Defoe, Ade. There really isn't much in it. A GK (though he doesn't get a chance), CB and CM are the only new additions to the first team that we'd expect to start. A transition period for me is then a step backwards. We needed to build on from last season, not try and start from scratch in the hope we'll achieve similar goals. Don't see the logic.
These are the reasons I used some time ago, and is the premise for my suggestion of using it when all else fails, like the last 20mins v Wigan. Not so sure about starting with it, depends on the opposition of course, but it should at least be a plan B...or C even!. United and City use it when needed as an alternative from 433,451, or whatever, why not us? Like I said elsewhere, its not unusual to see 3 strikers finishing the game for those two sides if faced with a bad result, stuff worrying about MF too much, you mix it up with route one, just get the ball in the danger area.
Villas-Boas has been unable to pick Kaboul, Parker, Dembele, Assou-Ekotto or Adebayor for most of this season's fixtures and King, Mordic and van der Vaart have all left. If you include Lloris in our strongest available XI, then we've changed almost everyone: Lloris ; Walker, Caulker, Gallas/Dawson, Vertonghen ; Lennon, Sandro, Huddlestone , Bale; Dempsey; Defoe . Three players from last season's strongest side, one of which has been playing very poorly. The manager hasn't had any choice but to virtually start from scratch. Whether he's done that correctly or not is debatable, but he's not inherited the same side that finished last season.
But we don't keep the ball too well now that's the problem and when we do we're just tinkering with it round at the back or in the centre of the pitch. Our forward movement has been poor. But what else do you suggest if not a 4-4-2 with two top quality strikers? While we have no playmaker to bring the ball forward, our creativity, as proved against Wigan and many others has been slack. At least by removing one of the players that has in all fairness been a non entity, we'll have more potency up top for when the ball is played forward. We've seen enough of this 4-5-1 formation to suggest it just doesn't work, at least until Dembele is back anyway. Defoe's looked great for most parts this season but lets not forget he wasn't used as much while Rafa was here. His goal record is still really impressive according to Wikipedia though - 41 in 99 games. That's shown he's always been a goal threat prior to AVB's arrival, it's just under AVB he's become a lot more important (he's had too, we're relying on him a lot at the moment) and his link up play and work rate has vastly improved - which I've credited Andre for. Partner him with Ade and we could see a lot more goals, not just from him but others too. Ade is a great target man as proved last season. Give the two a chance. What if Defoe picks up an injury? If Ade's not had sufficient game time, which up to now he hasn't we'd then have to rely heavily on a 75% fit striker to lead the line.
Like I said I appreciate he's not had a full squad. Even though I feel the one we've currently had fit is still good enough to beat the likes of Norwich, West Brom and Wigan at home. But if this is another transition period then Levy has technically lied to us as he said the appointment of AVB and all decisions that have taken place are a part of pushing on and moving forward. I don't see a transition as moving forward, it's more of a hopeful risk that may (or may not) pay off within 2 or 3 seasons. I'm tired of being in this "nearly" stage. Past 3 seasons we've finished 4th, 5th, 4th. We should be looking at moving onto cementing at least 4th and pushing for 3rd starting by finishing 4th this year. If we're 5th/ 6th/ 7th come the end of the seaosn then we've taken a step backwards in my eyes and with a position like that, it'll be harder to retain our key players which'll then mean that the likelihood of reaching top 4 again becomes even harder.
But probably not good enough to beat Man Utd at Old Trafford, which he did. West Brom don't exactly seem to be a bye this season either, as they've beaten the likes of Liverpool and Everton already. We also lost to Norwich at home last season, despite arguably having a stronger side available. I don't think that Levy said anything about us moving forward this season, specifically, only that we were looking to progress. As tired as everyone may be with being in the nearly stage, we're being outspent by everyone around us bar Everton, so we're doing well to hold our own. It's annoying, but we're basically stuck until we gain some new investment or luck out. Chelsea finished below us last season, then went out and spent about £85m more than we did in the summer (net). How are we supposed to compete with that, especially when they've gone after similar targets and blown us away financially?
no your right, he's not the only player on the planet, and this is a very good point Notso. At the end of the day mate, AVB can only say who he wants. it's up to Levy to get them. this is why i think there was the "complication" we heard of at the death of the window. I said it at the time to my mate and I will stand by my thoughts on it: it was a cover up. - Levy left it too late, said to AVB he'd get him (which is why we went for no one else in that position, despite us being linked to every player on the planet throughout the entire summer) but ended up failing. Levy tried to play his "father christmas" role again, but all too late. i get what you mean about other players we could have gone for, but what control does AVB actually have over getting them? I know we don't have players like Barca or Spain SOS, but its the type of player. See my epic speech in the wigan match thread from yesterday morning. (i did all of that on an iphone by the way. took me about an hour!) as for defending a 1 goal lead and bringing on defensive players. - 2-3 weeks ago this was winding me up, especially seeing livermore come on to partner sandro. (the ref might as well just blow the whistle and call it a day there and then). but i'm not beginning to wonder whether AVB's been doing it because he's got so much pressure to get the results at the moment, that he feels defence is the best option, especially considering the poor form of some of our midfield players too? defensive substitutions are not something I like seeing EVER, but I can sort of see why he might be doing it. (not defending him here by the way, just trying to get my head round it) as for the final part, do you not think that up until the last 2 weeks or so, AVB has done pretty well considering the circumstances? i think that considering injuries, late signings, poor form of new players and ones we didn't expect t be so poor, he's done a good job. But now he needs to realise that the impact of those factors i have just mentioned, is finally crippling his preferred formation and needs to switch to something similar to that which you mention
I'd go with that, the bleatings that AVB hasn't had this 'full' side yet, well, we are seeing what are essentially the back up for the players that are out. We're all in agreement its not working with these players....then why continue with it? even when our backs are against the wall.
this is why i can't work out why it's such a demand on any of our managers to finish in the top 4! we need to spend a bit (which we can't with the new stadium etc etc). so therefore, we're not gaining on those above us, and those below are catching, making 4th more of a challenge!
