Two connected issues here. The way these players are playing, the decisions they are making the runs they're (not) making just looks so bizarre at times that you can only conclude that they're following AVB's instructions. So often balls forward, especially out wide, are not made in favour of playing it sideways and inside. The options and movement just don't look natural, as if players are attempting to follow a game plan they're not competent at or confident in. Yet it's so clear it's not working. Ask Soldado if it's working. Ask Lennon if it's working when he's horribly out of place on the left or unable to get a game cos this team must not have wingplay and pace. Soldado barely looks like he wants to make runs at times and is starting to not even complain about poor service, just dropping his head. So the tactics and style is an aspect of AVB's dogma but also his, for non-footballing reasons, exclusion of players like BAE, Adebayor. Yes there were disciplinary issues but (and I don't know the bloke personally, I know) BAE seems like the antithesis of the pampered footballer who causes trouble for the sake of it. I can't help but wonder what would inspire such disregard for authority and disrespect. Was BAE playing AVB at his own game and turning it all into stats? ("Yeah - dock me a couple of grand - it goes to charity anyway and I've got plenty - I'd rather have the lie-in"). No-one would play the AVB way with this team. No-one but AVB. So what would any new manager do? - Bring BAE and Ade back in from the cold - Ade immediately BAE in Jan. Potentially two very useful signings. - Sort out Soldado. Tell him to make those bloody runs, and, in a team with very few goalscoring midfielders, build the team around the principle that their job must be to provide for him, not score instead of him. - Only play Lennon as a right winger. He's not David Silva, he's not Mata. He's not about patient build-up and clever passes in tight spots. He's certainly not about shooting. But give him the right wing to get down, give him early balls, play at pace and he's a player who's caused Prem defences problems for years. - Kind of linked to the above but we need pace. Who's the fastest player in that team today? Townsend? And he's not actually all that quick - certainly no Bale or Lennon. But the way we play his pace is not utilised anyway - no-one's is apart from Walker and, now, Vertonghen a bit. - Need the midfield to be solid? Need to break up play and dominate? AVB's approach: "Build an entire squad around the idea of basically every player on the pitch doing this". Any new manager's approach: "Play Sandro". He will win the midfield with very little help 80% of the time in the Premier League. -Tell everyone who plays in the midfield that running forward with the ball into space is allowed and actually encouraged. Ferguson would do this, Guardiola would do this, Sam Allardyce would do this, Gerry ****ing Francis would do this, Jossy from Jossie's Giants would do this. We have the only manager on the planet who will not do these things. AVB will feel that the statistics of today's game 100% justify his approach and use of the players, I bet. Basically look at the players we have and start from there. Not start with a system and try to make any old player fit it.
"The way these players are playing, the decisions they are making the runs they're (not) making just looks so bizarre at times that you can only conclude that they're following AVB's instructions. So often balls forward, especially out wide, are not made in favour of playing it sideways and inside. The options and movement just don't look natural, as if players are attempting to follow a game plan they're not competent at or confident in." Not competent or confident in playing fast/accurate passes without taking 2-3 touches beforehand ?? If so, my advice to them is to quickly find another day job. And AVB needs to start laying down the law to players on this and umpteen other schoolboy idiocies.
I agree with a lot of this lenny. I particularly agree with the point about Ade and BAE. It's a manager's job to get the players performing to the best of their ability and to find ways of dealing with 'awkward' characters, some of whom are among the best players in the game. Non conformists are needed in football it's not a ****ing army. If players of the quality of Ade & BAE are paid by Spurs but not played by Spurs we lose out and it's the managers fault. Flexibilty is a key factor in football tactics if you only have one game plan you either have to have the best players in the world as do Barcalona or sooner or later you will be found out. You have been found out Mr.AVB, time to get flexible. If you don't bend you will get broken.
I don't know! I don't know any more! I mean I just can't help but think that all these touches, all the slowing and stopping once a player gets the ball is somehow part of the plan. Though why they can't pass better is a bit beyond me, to be honest. Well except for the fact that maybe players like Lennon and Lamela (whose first-touch passing was one of his most obvious flaws for me early on) are not made for that sort of system - they're dribblers. Siggy is certainly not Iniesta and neither is Paulinho. Eriksen and Holtby look out of their league in the Prem right now. Hard to pinpoint a single player in the team who you'd say is a very good passer of the ball. Dawson's balls out to the left are about as impressive as our passes get nowadays.
The simple solution to give the team more attacking momentum for home games is partner Sandro/Capoue with one of Eriksen or Holtby (or Carroll!) as they are capable of dictating play from midfield like Modric could, something that Paulinho and Dembele simply cannot. Paulinho and Dembele can be used to partner Sandro for away games, where we need to be more solid, but we need to be more fluid at home.
I just see players doing the fundamentals atrociously. The only AVB dogma I have issues with is the high line regardless of on-pitch personnel, and the "inverted winger" nonsense. Because of the nature of the next PL opponents, my desired changes will have to wait. But after the Mancs, I want to see whether Lamela on the left and Lennon on the right has any potential (Townsend needs to go back to basics) .
All I can say is that we've tried all the obvious things the OP mentions and it got us fewer points with a better team against worse opposition. We are taking a risk trying something new and we've signed a lot of potentially very good young players. There's no reazon to panic at all
If you put players in straight-jackets and play them out of position they will get the fundamentals wrong. This is a simple game and if you overcomplicate it expect nothing to happen.
I think the inverted wingers and high line is just two aspects of his actual over-all strategy, though. It's about pressuring the opponent, not allowing space. It means that we have only one way to create - rely on passing ability that we don't have. Passing's even harder when there are no runs either and no one trying to exploit space instead of prevent it. Of course the players should also being doing the basics better at times but also, despite all the transfer fees and hype how good actually are this team technically? I'm starting to wonder if this is actually one of the less-skilled Spurs teams that we've seen for some years. I'm talking pre-Jol days. In the days of Jenas/Zokora in midfield at least we had Keane/Berbatov up front - players with a it of something special and goals. I really think we're short of genuine attacking talent.
I think you'll find that the last time BAE and Ade were integral parts of the team and we played with pacey wingers with Lennon on the right and one single player allowed to dominate defensive midfield responsibilities (Parker at the time, Sandro at intervals over the last few years) we finished fourth then had a great CL run. Of course the players we have are not as good now. But 100m down the road who's to blame for that? Our best passers of the ball were sold and loaned out cos midfielders are there to tackle and harry not play football. Who decided that an overhaul was necessary and that all the new faces should be total Premier League newcomers? Who bought Chadli for more money than we got for Huddlestone? Yes we have little choice about players like Berba, Modric, Bale leaving us. But 100m is an awful lot of money and none of the new boys have set the world alight, attacking-wise. We should have classier, more skillful players in midfield than Siggy and Townsend when that sort of money's been spent.
With the greatest deal of respect to Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy., one of the best double acts of all time. Has Laurel grown some rough stubble and is now calling himself Andres Villas Boas., And whilst I'm here, is Soldado auditioning for the role as Hardy. In all seriousness thou., AVB is making too many mistakes and appears to have already run out of ideas.
Oh and something I meant to say earlier - the other thing that won't help with AVB's inflexibility and/or lack of ideas is his yes-man side-kick Freund. Hardly likely to get much authoritative input/challenge from there. You get a feeling that some managers appoint their assistants cos they're people they know, respect and can work with. You don't get that feeling at Spurs.
Because we live in an age of Massive hype and Emperors new clothes. I am quite sure that at least 10% of our fans could do a good job given the opportunity. In fact I would like to see notso given the job tomorrow.
We've brought a lot of classy young players in the hope that some of them will turn out very well. So far they have had 3 months or so.
Good managers have and always will make difference. This is true of all sports. It is no coincidence that the Olympic sports with the coaches with the best attention to detail where the ones where the great individuals flourished
I think there are a few out and out very good managers out there but when you look at the way so many managerial careers fluctuate and often fizzle out after a handful of jobs (even when, a few short years ago they were toast of the town) you get the impression that, like many figueheads and leaders, they are just the flotsam and jetsum bobbing around on an ocean they have little knowledge of and zero control over.
I agree that three months is not long enough to get all these new, young, premiership newcomers time to click. Which begs the question: Wasn't this obvious to the management? Were they always happy for this season to be just a learning period? And I'm not at all convinced that the players are that skillful. We have the least skillful "skillful" players that we've had for years it looks to me.
