I don't really mind him slagging off Chelsea - they did treat him pretty poorly. But you're right - we should judge him on performances and results not on what he says.
The 2 Chelsea games this season have equal significance or maybe a bit more than NLD's imo, massive games with so much more than 3pts riding on it. There going to need strong reffing I'd say! All this nonsense will be all over the papers on the build up to the league games, so there's no need to start now.
I don't know whether the Chelsea matches will be that significant other than AVB interest. They finished 6th last season and that's a poor spot to finish in the league. I don't know that they will improve much on that.
I think it's going to be a tight call as to whether its AFC or CFC that finishes outside the top 5, next season. They each have major weaknesses. I think RDM is going to be found out, but then again, I think that AFC are going to be a toothless tiger without RvP. It's a tough call. On balance, I think CFC might just pip AFC to the final 4th spot. And that's not just blind bias talking.
If one of them is outside the top 5, who do you see in there? City, Utd, Spurs, either CFC or AFC and ........Liverpool perhaps?
El Jaffa,5 months isn't long enough at a club to be able to show what you can do. I'll repeat,Ferguson was at Man U 5 years before he won anything and now look.
Chelsea were in 5th place on the day that Villas-Boas was sacked. They actually dropped a place in the league, though I'm sure Chelsea fans will have swapped that for the two trophies that they won.
They also don't have a proven coach yet imo. Going from WBA to Chelsea is a huge leap for RDM and I don't think that he will cut it.
Fergie was a manager for a longer period, already managed his country and took Aberdeen to European glory so the fergie comparisons gets used far too much, and wrongly. As for what some have said about AVB's tactics, its a valid point as why plan a high line with a slow ageing defence? was it because he was A - naive and thought it could work B - wanted to show the players his style and use it as a way to get rid of them c - underestimated the pace of the league i keep hearing avb is this tactical genius but so far i would say he is one dimensional in his tactics and when they work, they work well but when they don't, then he gets found out. in saying that, he could well take his "model" from porto, apply with this spurs squad and hit the ground running and if that happens and it works then no one will care about any past mistakes. ....im trying my best to keep an open mind and see "positives" with avb but my gut instinct is that this will all end in tears!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/15413593 that was the game in which he got his tactics criminally wrong. 01 Cech 02 Ivanovic Booked 03 Cole 17 Bosingwa 26 Terry Not as much ageing, was thinking more of the chelsea "old boys" but them two centre backs are slow so i dont see why he decided to play a high line with them.
this is a quick but interesting read on a fans view of avbs tactics at chelsea, without slating avb as it seems honest and to the point http://www.theirtactics.com/tactical-flubs-that-eventually-led-to-avb’s-downfall-at-stamford-bridge/
Boss, it's difficult to access AVB because we have yet to see him perform at Spurs. If he is a one trick pony then it is worrying, others have described him as a tactical genius, we will see. We will see if he responds to what is happening on the pitch and manages to retrieve losing situations. Venables was one the best I have seen at this, changing a format at half time and changing the game. If he is the great tactician, as some have described, he will do this, if not then we have been sold a pup. I agree with you that he has to hit the ground running, but major changes for the players and new players will need some time to bed in. It's going to be an interesting season.
I noticed a couple of things about that Chelsea v Arsenal game. Firstly, I'd have to say that playing a high line with Terry and Ivanovic as your centre-halves does seem quite reckless. Both good defenders, but pace isn't an asset for either of them. In Villas-Boas' defence though, I'd have to say that Chelsea still had plenty of chances to win that game and only lost due to some awful individual errors. Terry's slip was the focus of a lot of reports, with the suggestion that the then recent accusation of racism may have been weighing on his mind. I'd point the finger at Malouda's woeful backpass, Cole's total mare against Walcott and Cech's rare off day though, combined with some wasteful finishing. Attempting to force Arsenal onto the back foot with a positive line-up is a very risky proposition. Playing a high line and starting with Mata and Sturridge as your wide men leaves the defence extremely exposed. However, if Szczesny had been correctly dismissed for his foul on Cole, then we might be talking about a very different result, of course. It'll be interesting to see how our own players adapt to the system that our new manager seems to prefer and whether they're more suited to it. You'd have to say that it appears that they are on paper, but we all know that's not how this game works.
Good analysis PnP. Margins are pretty fine in the PL and luck still plays a part. But all the football correspondents are 'result merchants' and grow more so as time progresses. If Di Matteo's Chelsea had lost heavily to Barcelona in the CL and had lost to either us or Liverpool in the cup (and this could have happened without any Chelsea player doing anything differently) then would people still be writing of him as a saviour? personally I think he just got lucky and AVB was a little unlucky. I don't think Piquet and Puyol are the world's fastest centre-halfs either but Barcelona seem to manage playing a high line. The whole team needs to be up for it though.
When the guy himself has said that he made mistakes and more importantly has learned from them then that is good enough for me to suggest that he will not approach it the same way plus we are not a bunch of arseholes at this club..sometimes in life to deal with arseholes..one must become an arsehole..he does not feel the need for that way at Spurs...apart from that his football theories are spot on...and ill back him even if it is not looking too good because i think about 98% of oppo fans want him to fail..for one simple reason..so they can laugh..and indirectly mock Spurs...im ready for that and for that reason im with AVB all the way.
