Michu should be in a spurs shirt. 2 million quid...what a bargain. everything about that deal had daniel levy written all over it! how did we miss him? I wouldn't be surprised if we go for him at the end of the season. Competely agree about the similarity to Berbatov. remember that "harry this time last year" had been at the club for 3 years... AVB's has only had 6 months or so
Oh Ok cheers Spurf that's good news if Adebayor isn't going. If that is the case there is no panic on buying a new striker. If a good loan option came up to freshen things up a bit then fine. Defoe doesn't do rotation well though so while he's not injured and scoring then I'd play him every match.
The striking difference between this season and the last couple under Redknapp is that we are not as exciting to watch but we are converting chances much more successfully. Is this just the rub of the green or is it the difference between the two managers? With Redknapp we had a manager who picked his team and simply let them go out and express themselves. AVB is the opposite it would appear. Dossiers, game plans and detailed instructions to the players. We can almost see the players thinking on their feet. We do appear to have more variation when we reach the oppositions goal area. Defoe is in many ways a different player, he is often seen popping up on the wing and even looking to put other players 'in'. VDV did all this quite naturally but maybe players like Defoe were not being shown what it was all about and therefore could not take advantage of it. We see Walker passing back quite often in order to keep possession, rather than moving forward all the time. Dempsey often looks as though he is not quite sure of his next move hence the 'two minds' pass that goes nowhere. Verts is always mixing up his forward moves from the left using many variations rather than just one favoured tactic. The back four which is reminding me more and more of the Arsenal back four of Graham's time (not at that level yet) spend more time looking for the right ball forward. In other words the whole team is spending time considering their moves. This is resulting atm in slower less exciting play but it also seems to produce more solid chances which have more chance of producing a goal. If what I am observing is correct we should see a steady progression and a quicker game as time goes on and the players become more used to the method.
Yeah, that's what I'm hoping for Spurf. I do agree with what people have been saying about the performances often being unconvincing and our play not as exciting but I'm prepared to give AVB and the team a lot more time to sort that out before I'd be getting unhappy about it. Another important thing though is to get in a quality passer for midfield, Huddlestone won't be good enough to even be backup and Carroll still has a lot to learn.
Dembele is the candidate in the middle but we do need another. We had Modric and VDV now we have just Dembele. Finding another has to be AVB's most important move I think. Caroll may be that player in the end but is not the finished article. If we are lucky and Dembele plays through the rest of the season uninjured we should be ok but it's trusting to luck.
This ^^ also, we're bloody luck that Dembele is so good at playing as part of the defensive 2, as well at the middle man in the 3 attackers. Def need a clone of him!
Does anybody know how FC Porto played under AVB when they won the double? Was it dour or good entertaining football?
I'm not sure that we do need to bring in a playmaker right now. It'd be a struggle for most players with no Premier League experience to adjust, it'd freeze out Carroll and Huddlestone and I think we'd lose the possibility of the 4-4-2, which still has it's place. I'd rather that we went out and picked up a couple of young strikers as back-up and competition for Defoe and Adebayor, plus a left-back of some description.
Someone like Moutinho should fit very easily though PNP (in theory). he's a very good player and has shown that at international level. As for Huddlestone, would we really be that fussed? Even if Moutinho (for example) needed to adjust, he'd still be better than Huddlestone, IMO. AVB was close to getting shot of Hudd in the summer and I can see why. - As AVB has introduced his football, Hudd is one that has struggled to fit the system. I reckon AVB knew this very early on. There's plenty of games still to play and I feel that Carroll is getting better and better very quickly. I can't see him being frozen out if we sign another playmaker.
I don't think you would deny that we need A playmaker PNP the simple point is that it is not Huddlestone IMO and Carroll needs time to develop. That leaves us with Dembele who has already missed games through an injury that has flared up in the past and might well flare up in the future. We need another, ready made. Surely we already have 'young strikers' coming along what we we need is a top striker, but these are expensive as we have found over the last seasons while we all wait for 'new striker'. Yes back up for BAE is needed, but Verts is with us and Rose in the wings. No playmaker is priority IMO to get the best out the rest of the players we already have.
i used to see highlights ,and in them they looked very attack minded,mind you they had Falcao and Hulk,thier defence could be dodgy though
What's striking to me is that we're taking my wife's advice, which is SHOOT! It seems to me (in my inexperienced and very unscientific observation) that Spurs are shooting more often and earlier, before the defenders get set, so they're getting fewer blocked and scoring more successfully. A simpler strategy cannot be devised. But it makes sense if your strength is team speed. And if you don't shoot, you can't score. Except for own goals.
In his lone season with Porto their league record was: P: 30, W: 27, D: 3, L: 0, GF: 73, GA: 16, GD: +57, Pts: 84. They finished 21 points clear of Benfica, who in turn finished 15 points clear of Sporting. They won the league, their FA Cup, their Charity Shield and the Europa League, scoring a total of 136 goals in all competitions.
That's what invicibles are,not the goons version, where you get beaten but still claim your invicible
Porto did lose three games. Sevilla and Villareal won against them in the Europa League knockout stages, but were eliminated on away goal and aggregate, respectively. CD Nacional beat them in the group stage(?) of the league cup, too.
Well now,will he last the season? It's very fits and starts isn't it? Also the football as the BBC said today lacks the normal Spurs style. We win three and then lose three and then win four and now is this the start of another run of defeats? I've never been more confused. Lawro said we'd lose 2-0,how nearly right and wrong he was with two goals in injury time. We've become totally unpredictable with AVB and I don't know the solution unless we say goodbye to him soon.
He's had an injury riddled squad He's not even had half a season His boss is Levy who is renowned for being stubborn with transfers. That's 3 reasons for AVB to use at this point in time. And despite all that - we're 5th, into the knockout stages of the Europa and ahead of Arsenal. Let's be a little generous and at least give him 1 January transfer window and 1 Summer transfer window eh? If we're still not gelling at nearly the half way point next season then maybe talk of his exit will have some sense. But until then - don't really see why patience can't be the word of the day.
