Fluke! he will probably score 10 to 15 goals overall in the capital one cup and europa league, easy when facing these crap teams!
Boss, you posted that we have a better team so I just assumed that you meant better players. Maybe I'm being too demanding after reading all the posters' comments but I still expect a 4-0 at WHL.
you mis understood what I said mate, I said in cups , making the point under Avb he can rest key 1st players and play a better team then if Redknapp rested key 1st team players when he was in charge. But in terms of the 1st team, personally I view the Redknapp one as being better and had more quality, And remember he blew 3rd to finish 4th, in any other season that would still have been a success.
I watched the Spurs match and then the Swansea match.What a pitch difference! The Spurs game was played on a pitch where the ball bounced on and off instead of rolling! The Swansea pitch looked perfect even though very wet....and the ball rolled! The Anzhi pitch took me back to my youth playing on the Lordship Lane Rec!!!!!!!
Our aim is to get into the CL. That means 2 games a week against better opposition in Europe being one of them. I'm not too bothered that our 'stars' had to make the trip and an appearance on the pitch. If they aspire for CL footy and we as fans do too then they need to get used to it and condition accordingly or we won't succeed.
Yup, I agree with this. He has shown some hints of what he's capable of and I believe he will come good once he has adjusted. To be fair, Series A and the PL are completely different in playing style.
I don't get the whole 'Arry vs AVB argument. It's impossible to say whether Redknapp was any better and whilst I understand the need to stick up for 'Arry when some fans mouth off about him, I really don't think it happens much here. Also you can bet we'd hear about it a lot if HR took us to the highest points total ever not to qualify for the CL so can you really blame others taking some pride in it. You can put any spin you like on either managers, with 'Arry you can focus on how good that run we went on was, or how badly we finished the season again. You could focus on how attractive the football was at it's best, or how throughout his time at Spurs he never managed to get us able to break down a team that was defending with their backs to the wall. You could point out that we finished 4th or that we blew 3rd and missed out on CL football. It's the same for AVB. You could talk about how we achieved a record points total or how we still missed out on CL football. To be honest, I'm struggling with the positive/negative with AVB because other than the football being a bit boring, he was very consistent with no particularly big highs or lows. I just don't really get why people dislike AVB though, I can understand a feeling that he's unproven or that you're disappointed with last season but I'm pretty sure we're all disappointed every season when we don't get into the CL. If you see AVB missing out on CL qualification as such an unmitigated failure then surely you have to judge 'Arry's last 2 seasons. And before I'm reminded of the record points total, there were many people(including me) excusing HR when he didn't qualify, bringing up the CL run and disruption to the start/end of the season, etc. Anyway, happy or sad to have AVB he's almost certainly here for the rest of the season and as far as I'm concerned there's no excuses for not bringing home a trophy or getting us in the CL. Yeah there was a lot of change even once the season started but it hasn't really affected our results so whilst I'll save my judgements until the end of the season, if AVB doesn't get us top 4 or a trophy you won't catch me sticking up for him. I hope and expect that we won't be in that position though.
"I don't get the whole 'Arry vs AVB argument." Quite simple really. Spurs failed two seasons running by very fine margins to get the CL slot Levy desires. So we are trying to understand the extent to which the end outcome was due to the talents or failings of the managers. I believe there are only so many PL points in a given squad. And neither Arry or AVB could squeeze more blood out of the stone. If you do not believe this, and feel that there was much more in the squad, then the manager is a major factor, and Arry rightly went for the collapse of 2012. Similarly AVB could have gone if last season was his 2nd/3rd as Spurs manager.
He's like Peter Crouch on steroids, basically. Definitely a useful option and you can see the thinking behind the Scousers being linked with him, especially if Suarez is going. I'm sure Allardyce would love to take him to the Boleyn, but I think he offers more than just a big target.
As for the Redknapp v Villas-Boas argument, I think that a lot it's down to personal taste, but I feel that Redknapp forced Levy's hand. Considering the circumstances at the time, that was only going to end one way. Redknapp was a very good manager for us, but I'm not convinced that he'd know how to deal with a squad of this size. He seems to get the best out of around 15 of the players he has available, pushing them to levels that they wouldn't normally achieve. Everyone else seems to get forgotten though, unfortunately.
One difference is subs, with Harry when we were not at our best 1st half say, his alterations were mainly positive, and adjusted the team mid game better imo, I recall one season we completely reversed our win stat after being 1-0 down. I've not felt that too often with AVB, most leave me thinking 'whats he doing?' AVB's one of those I think that is a clever bloke, perhaps too clever over analysing, talks a very good tactical game, but was at the back of the queue when common sense was being given out.
Thing is that Thor wasn't comparing managers. "We're SO much better than when Harry was with us" is a statement about the players isn't it? And since Harry never got 100m to spend and AVB can't be credited for building this squad I assume we cannot use the assembled squads as a barometer to compare managers. I have absolutely no idea whatsoever as to why anyone would say that this team is better than a team of: Friedel Walker King Kaboul BAE Lennon Modric Parker Bale VDV Ade ...never mind SO much better. And don't just judge the team(s) on paper. Check out the way we actually destroyed teams back then, how we were commonly viewed as the most attractive, exciting team in the country. Sorry but there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that this team is SO much better than when Harry was here. For a start I'd swap half of Harry's team into the current team in a heartbeat. Few clean sheets against poor opposition is no reason to get too excited.
Not forgotten PNP,as all of us had certain issues with Redknapp and as you say alot is personal taste, but essentially both managers have their positives and negatives and as YV pointed out, alot of spin is placed on certain achievements and for whatever reason there are fans who are anti Redknapp and cant just remember what he achieved. As for Avb, he has certainly improved on what I initially believed and there is no denying hes a capable manager yet overall I dont like his style of play, his more rigid approach and lack of thinking when it comes to subs. Overall both managers can say they done a good job, but right now Redknapp IMO can say he done a great job in getting us top four twice and had the opportunity to do something really special , yet such is football we often remember ' what could have been' and ironically that failure to get 3rd meant some fans never fully forgave Redknapp for 'screwing up' while others instead remember the great football and the great European nights.
"Check out the way we actually destroyed teams back then, how we were commonly viewed as the most attractive, exciting team in the country." It also collapsed equally spectacularly. And therein lies the fundamental problem.
