The fact that there are a 'few' managers who do make the difference allows the rest of the chancers to get the positions. All the great managers are flexible and learn from mistakes they also make sure that they have the right people around them. Let's hope AVB is one of those although the early signs are not good.
Some sports get more success with the scientific approach, as Olympic sports are generally individual sports where coaching and scientific methods are needed (unless you're a freak like bolt), to make sure the competitor is in the best physical and mental condition. Football relies more on personality from the manager, as if you look at teams they perform in the personality and style of their manager. The other aspects such as coaching, training and the scientific aspects have their place of course but they are secondary importance when it comes to the manager, so yes I agree that the managers job isn't easy and it may look like a simple job on paper, yet if you over complicate things (as AVB does) then this is why you get fans saying "its a simple job" as AVB appears to be trying to over think, which probably comes from his job as a scout. When working as a scout, he can over analysis and provide the manager with every possible option, but he never had the final say. With us, he over complicates things and then forgets to do the simple things which are effective and it may look as simple as a tweak here and a tweak there, yet if the manager has been making the same mistakes for a season and a half then its blatantly obvious AVB doesn't see what tweaks are needed.
"If you put players in straight-jackets and play them out of position they will get the fundamentals wrong." True, but there are some fundamentals that this never excuses. I do wonder whether AVB actually reads the riot act, or whether players go on the Ade/BAE list.
For me, it's all very, very simple. Soldado is just as ****e as Defoe is (and has been for the past several seasons). End of.
The real issue is fans are content to write off performances as "boring" even though there is more attacking intent shown than in the earlier games, as evidenced on her for the Sheriff game and for today's game. This indicates that, unless we start stuffing teams by two or three goals on a regular basis, the moaners will be just as dogmatic in their dismissal of the performances are as AVB is in several areas of his tactics.
Time to forget the ridiculous Townsend hype. All those shots and one goal (from a cross ) and how many wasted opportunities to pass to somebody better placed. I am still supportive of AVB but I was very dissappointed that he did not bring on Lamela. He has taken a bit of time to show us what he can do. He may not have extreme pace but he does have extremely quick feet and brain, something sadly lacking in in Townsend.He must surely start the next game.
I said on the match thread that this was one of our best games of the season in terms of creating chances. And yet did it feel like we should have stuffed them? Do you feel robbed? I don't really. Perhaps that feeling is a hang-over from everything else we've seen over the last year and a half. This team really is lacking in technical ability, pace, freedom, space and goals. But **** me some of them can run around and get in the way. Paulinho can do it box to box. Our midfield is one of the best back fours in the EPL. A solid, hard-working defensive unit. But where's the Gazza, where's the Ginola, where's the Berbatov, the VDV, the Bale? Holy **** - where's the midfielder as creative as Tom Huddlestone? We've taken a punt on an a couple of over-priced unproven prospects in Eriksen and Lamela to try to address this (Yes I said over-priced for Eriksen - his contract was running down. For about twice his fee Man Utd got Van Persie. That is a proven international and EPL-class player who is absolutely going to hit the ground running. Eriksen was a punt on a youngster from a crap league who's not done it at international level and is only 21. Half the price of Van Persie? Should be more like a fifth to a quarter). In-****ing-sane. What when they don't work? Don't get me started on Chadli - he looked absolute ****e too. Feel free to remind me of this knee-jerk reaction when he turns into a valuable asset. He won't - I've seen enough football to feel pretty confident about that. There's no way any serious team would spend 50-60m on such massive gambles with no other players capable of providing the creativity whilst the new boys bed in (if indeed they do). We've been short of ideas ever since AVB took over. Just hope he doesn't commit the cardinal sin of being chummy with the media - that's what fan's really don't like in a manager. That's a sackable offense regardless of league position, that is. I hope that I will really notice and appreciate the positives when they come but I'm not feeling it yet. I feel like I just spent another game unable to escape the constant thought "Soldado must be ****ing hating this". And indeed he looks like he is nowadays.
Townsend rise to prominence this season says more about the drop in quality at Spurs now compared to the rest of the time he's been at Spurs than about some great talent finally bubbling to the surface.
I've said all I've got to say on the match thread, didn't see this thread till after but I'd only copy what I've put there....Spurf, have you taken leave of your senses man!
Trying very hard not to react to this. How anybody could think that either of them had no talent is beyond me. I know Laurel was the writer of the sketches and the clever one of the duo, but Oliver Hardy is one of the greatest comedy actors who ever lived, his stares into the camera were ground breaking and still funny 80 years later. Got genuinely angry when I read your post last night and decided I had to cool down before responding
I don't think you are right. There are plenty of areas where scientific methods make a huge difference in football. People seem to think that managers like Nicholson, Shankly and Ferguson were doing simple things and just motivating the team, but they all had huge attention to detail and used science a lot. Getting the players to the peak of fitness is science and can make all the difference. For all I know Redknapp was good at all this too, but if so he hid it pretty well.
This is probably true - there are only a handful who can make a real difference. The thing is I think we might have one of those! returning to your original post: what if Mourinho, Moyes or Pellegrini came in? They've not done any better than AVB with players who are much better than ours.
I am right as in these instances you mention the overriding factor are the managers with the big personality that have the biggest effect through their own personality. I'm not saying the scientific method doesn't have it place, as it's common now due to sports science but it's a secondary factor, not at the forefront when it comes to how the team performs. Wenger is a good example as he uses the scientific approach, but the overriding factor is him, his belief in playing attractive football and his relaxed nature. Avb is more rigid, over thinks and this reflects in how we play, especially in an attacking sense.
While I agree Wenger is a great manager, a lot of Arsenal fans make essentially the same criticism that we do of AVB, that he is too rigid and doesn't have a plan B. The way Arsenal are set up to play is not much different to the way AVB sets us up, the major difference currently being he has a much more settled team and almost all the players have been playing that system for years. If AVB pushed Ramsey or Ozil on to the wing as Wenger did yesterday we'd never hear the end of it on here.
Yeah but my point was more that Wenger is relaxed and his players play with freedom, creative players flourish under him and that's down to him, not sports science.
At the moment they do but for years they struggled and put in a lot of crap performances that drew criticism from the fans. It wasn't so long ago Wenger went into complete meltdown in the Bayern press conference telling reporters and it wasn't much before that, that Arsenal fans were getting frustrated at the predictable, slow, pass, pass football that Wenger stuck with. You know the same football that got them beaten time and time again when they came up against the big sides, even getting them an 8-2 hammering. I actually liked how we played yesterday, I thought we were relentless in the second half and I'd like us to play like that more often. Maybe there's something to this 4141 that we play when Sandro's on the pitch.
Because everything that made Laurel & Hardy great was written by Stan Laurel whilst Oliver Hardy was off playing golf.
All managers have gone through tough periods, I remember fergie resorting to playing Alan smith in midfield and beating the crap out of arsenal because they where so low in quality their football was atrious at times. When I view a manager in terms of the style he inspires I look at the overall picture and no matter what any of us think of the goons or Wenger, his teams play superb football and for the large majority always have. Jurgen Klopp said much the same. Anyway I know AVB has his fans, in terms of his style and yes yesterday we player better football but until that happens on a consistent basis then that is just more down to the opposition, rather then us "gellling" so only time will tell. But definitely agree about Sandro, he should be the first name on the team sheet.
