I think VDV wants to play 90mins and you can't really blame him for that.Also he is right in saying that RW is not his best position.We are suffering from having alot of very good midfielders,which is no bad thing either.
I think it's good that Harry gets a taste of his own medicine sometimes. Keep Harry on his toes VDV, and keep scoring those wonder goals He's been a great acquisition and is definitely a 'glory glory' player in the great Spurs tradition.
The one particularly startling comment I saw was: "But when I have to track back, that does not really benefit my game". Well excuuuse me! Yeah - he has a slightly questionable attitude. But it's questionable in a good way - he's incredibly competetive, wants to win and wants to be the main man. Just not necessarily 100% a team player. But I'd rather have players with great ability and questionable attitudes than the other way round. Jenas, Zokora, Crouch, Palacios all have great attitudes. It'd be nice if he kept his mouth shut, though, obviously. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...oice-play-position-Arsenal.html#ixzz1ZuhQ76T3
I don't think it's obvious at all that he should keep his mouth shut. I think he's well within his rights to wonder about whether Harry is playing him in the correct position. If VDV doesn't feel he can give his best by doing a lot of tracking back, he's perfectly entitled to that opinion. Greavesie never did much tracking back either, but like VDV he knew how how to score goals. Hoodle suffered for years from the 'English mentality' of worshipping work-rate. Glenn being English tended to grin and bear it a lot of the time, fair enough. But the Dutch tend to have a more open attitude about many things, including having their say about tactics. We have workhorses in the team like Parker. Unfortunately give Scotty a one on one like v Arsenal, he's liable to freeze, VDV just sees a nice big inviting goal. Now of course VDV doesn't score every time, but boy is he cool and clever at finishing.
The thing for me that excuses comments like this, to some extent at least, is that I think he's just desperate to play as well as he can in every game. It's not that he doesn't want to track back, but that he's just not very good at it. Great that the 10,000th competitive goal for us comes in a win over that lot though, eh? I'd also say that van der Vaart is quite a good representation of our club, too. Flirts with glory and it often brilliant and extremely watchable, but also goes from the sublime to the ridiculous and is a bit temperamental.
Indeed, Ensil, I was being coy on purpose, there! I knew what photo he was talking about. I thought it would be funny to wade in with the question, and the offending photo there for all to see! It's the kind of humorous stunt that got me banned from that humourless place on the other side of North London, the side that is now in our shadow
Ensil, would there be any chance that you could put a halo around Hoddle's head, in the avatar? That would really complete it, I feel
"I think he's well within his rights to wonder about whether Harry is playing him in the correct position." No - I just disagree. He's not at all within his rights to do that in public. Any questioning of tactics, team selection or formation should be made to Harry, if at all, not to a journalist. And Greavsie might not have tracked back but the game was different then, wasn't it? Fitness levels were not what they are now - Greaves didn't have to worry about having to mark a full-back who was going to keep attacking right up to the last minute. I just think that any player, no matter what their strengths are, is going to be an awful lot more effective if they do a defensive job for the team. Whether or not it "benefits" any individual's "game" is neither here nor there. I don't watch VDV, I watch Spurs and I want what's going to benefit Spurs' game, not VDV's.
Yup, in the old days this would have been inappropriate. Now--well, it's still not my style, but on the other hand VDV makes a point which may be worth making, which is that having him track back on the right probably isn't a good idea. Do I think VDV is difficult? I'd at least say he's not easy, but the number of big sports stars who behave like Parker these days is in the minority. I'd also say he's certainly manageable, at least by Redknapp. I'm also with those who agree we need to play both Sandro and Parker. It's not just that VDV will play far forward, it's that everyone on the team goes forward well and likes to except the CBs--and sometimes Kaboul does as well. Sandro and Parker are special partly because they both go on long runs well. So both are needed to make sure someone is home. It's unfortunate because it leaves Defoe and Kranjcar out of the starting lineup. But keeping them as the first two off the bench, and playing them in the Europa League, will give them a lot of playing time. Plus people are bound to get injured, maybe VDV especially.
Thanks, Ensil I don't know what's wrong with these Gooners! There's absolutely nothing inflammatory about me!
Fair enough Lenny, and I completely disagree with you in turn. I think he's well within his rights to question the manager's tactics. I don't have any prooblem whatsoever with it. Nor do I have any problem with VDV feeling his game isn't best suited to tracking back. I would actually agree with that analysis, that he's best using his energies, where they have most impact in the oppo last third. Like you I'm here to watch Spurs, and am delighted and proud that such a quality player as VDV is part of that team. VDV is giving his views for the team, not the individual, as you mistakenly imply, IMHO naturally
Wenger has lost the plot nowadays - no doubt about that, now. However, we have to remember that Hoddle was citing the Wenger of old. Who, let's face it, hasn't done too badly by Arsenal, overall. He's the most successful manager in their history, and one of the Premierships most succesful, too.
Yeah - I don't think that you really question the qualities of Wenger as a manager and as a role model you can't really be aiming an awful lot higher. If Hoddle had been as effective as Wenger has been we'd have been a lot better off when he was in charge. Wenger is doubtlessly one of the best managers ever to have been in charge in the Premier League's history. I for one will be delighted when he goes. Cos Arsenal were one massively lucky managerial appointment away from being just another mid-table team. Might not like the way he moans and makes excuses and I'll happily joke about his relationship with the kids but he's done a remarkable job there and, to be perfectly honest, when he says stuff in the media that makes him look like a twat he is, at least, only saying stuff that has the interests of Arsenal at its heart. He ends up looking like a prat, maybe, but he knows what he's doing. And now we're back on topic - how footballers and managers use/abuse their access to the media. See how I did that?
