Can AVB do something with an average bunch of players? Thats what im thinking. This is what Hary managed to do the last few seasons. Or does AVB need the big players to make him look good?
I could never see AVB working at Spurs but it's early days yet. If I'm wrong I'll gladly eat humble pie
I've been going to the Lane for 7 years straight now, I've never booed my team, nor left before the final whistle. Yet calling people who boo daft b*stards and should give up their tickets for "proper fans" is pathetic. These people, like myself and millions of other Spurs fans invest a lot of time and money into the club we love, whether it be attending games, buying merchandise, buying TV sports packages in the hope of catching a Spurs game and so on, whilst I don't entirely agree with the idea booing, I certainly don't condemn it, especially as there aren't many other ways too express disappointment. Like myself, people pay a pretty penny to go and watch Spurs in the hope of being entertained - win, lose or draw. What we've had to witness in the first two games at White Hart Lane have been awful and no better than what you can watch in the park on a Saturday/ Sunday afternoon. Negative tactics, poor team selections, players looking fatigued at 70 mins as if they're playing their 50th game of the season, these have been some of the most lacklustre performances Spurs have put in for years and it's been against opposition we should be doing a lot better against - add this to the fact the club has hired a manager who single handedly managed to p*ss every Chelsea fan off by playing awful football and shafting aside crowd favourites and good players (Deja Vu anyone?) and is thus far giving no impression he is a superior manager to Harry. People (myself included) are extremely worried at the moment. The fans that boo are just showing their emotion, if they left the ground feeling ecstatic that'd worry me, it'd suggest these people have too much money to care about the club. Moyes was my first. Rodgers second. Blanc third. Rijkaard/ Martinez joint fourth. AVB was nowhere near my list of preferred targets. Our (and Chelsea's) performances, treatment of players and tactics are the reason why.
Fergie had a similar start at Man U. You can't judge a guy on 3 games. However, this guy AVB must learn. We looked bloody awful with the two defensive mids, that has to change. We need creativity so either Tom Carroll or Tom Huddlestone should start (**** ref might not allow that for 3 games). We also need to play in form players, Andros Townsend has been outstanding in pre season and again the other night in the U21's against Man U he looked really good. Man U played a really strong strong ressie team including 4 internationals and Andros looked more than good enough to compete.
I was one of AVB's greatest detractors before he joined us (if you remember, I wrote that "I've been praying to the god of football, that Levy does not appoint AVB as manager"), and I questioned Levy's soundness of mind for seeking to appoint a manager who had failed so dismally, on so many fronts, as manager of the Chavs. But, to call for his head after only three matches is sheer folly. We are not Mousers or Gooners! Look at what AVB has had to contend with, for starters:- (a) Modric wanted out, and was determined to go, this time. That was bound to cause major upheaval in the side. (b) Modric didn't leave until late in the day, which meant that we couldn't use the funds to bring in our new players. (c) Ade's signature was not in the bag until late in the day, which meant that he did not undergo any pre-training with the squad. (d) There was uncertainty surrounding a number of our key players - Defoe, THudd, Dawson - which certainly has not helped things. (e) The arrival of Dembele and Dempsey late in the day - both of whom are probably going to be key players for us - has rendered pre-training preparations completely redundant. (f) There are still a couple of niggling injuries to key players. All of this on top of a new manager\staff coming in, with new ideas and systems. I'm sorry, but only imbecile's and wums could honestly believe that we'd hit the ground running, this season. No, I am not AVB's biggest fan (no, yet, at any rate), and I continue to have serious doubts that he has the ability to be a top 4 manager in the EPL, but it would be grossly unfair to judge him on any of the three games we have played so far. I'm not going to start judging him until after at least 10 games, even if that means that we don't get properly going until after 10 games. Yes, we may finish well outside the top 5 this season, but so long as, by the end of it, there is a squad and the right systems in place that can hit the ground running for the start of next season, I'll be happy. We've got to get away from this idea that a manager can come in and, regardless of the set-up, funds, personnel, manager's tightfistedness, etc, can get us instant success. If we don't, then we'll never have stability at the club, and we'll be headed in exactly the same direction as the Mousers.
I agree with a lot of what you say. However, as I put on another posting, what worries me about AVB is that I can't see what he's trying to achieve. As I say, his plan A is very difficult to decipher. His plan B seems to consist of random, hit and hope, substitutions. If I could actually visualise where he's trying to take us, I might feel a little more comfortable.
The answer is that you will have to wait like the rest of us. We have major changes to the squad and until we see them play a few games we cannot know. Why is that so difficult to understand?
Most managers come in with a tactical plan. How they want to set a team up etc. so far, I have no idea exactly where he's going, or what he wants from the players. From the way they played yesterday, it seems that they are as confused As I am.
Well I hope he has more than 1 or 2 plans. I would hope he can adapt to changing games, we will see. The hopeful sign from yesterday was the impact of Dembele and the promise of things to come from him, but until we see how the new team works it's impossible to make a judgement.
I believe one of the main reasons avb is under such pressure already, is that as fans he is remembered for his time at Chelsea, unfair? possibly,.... understandable? yes. We all judge managers by their previous, be that success or failure and lets not forget, avb has ONE YEAR of success, thats it, he had one great season at Porto and all of a sudden he is deemed to be as good as mourinho. To have such success, as a young manager, at the age of 32! is unheard of, isn’t it? clearly he moved country and job far too soon, I remember the porto chairman saying the Chelsea job came too early for him and now we seem to be left with a manager out of his depth, living off one great season.
I agree entirely about Dembele. He's a player I've always rated highly. I think £15mil will prove to be a bargain. I saw no evidence yesterday, or so far, that he has any other plan than random substitutions. I really hope for the sake of the club that I'm wrong about this. But, whoever is to blame, we are already 7 points off the pace this season.
It remains to be seen Boss. You are stuck with your preconceptions I prefer to judge him after he has had time to do the job he has been selected for. The decision to employ him has been made, he is the Spurs manager and we need to help make that decision a success by giving the team support and giving the manager time to work. At this stage being negative towards him is entirely counter productive and is more about fans egos than helping Spurs.
Don't doubt for some its about egos, but to be fair most fans are like that, as if avb is a success I can imagine many a fan will be saying "i told you so" but thats natural to respond like this when you have built up frustration about a subject that needs time to be proven right or correct.
Spurf,you mention egos but who has the biggest egos of the lot? The players. It was will he won't he with Ade and then here I come Spurs and all that big headedness. The players seem out for themselves rather than the team. I too share the frustration at the moment and if all of us who said no to AVB are to be proved wrong then I think it will take a long time for the proof to arrive.
Spurs pay for the egos of players TMT, they would not be much use to us if they didn't rate themselves. The mangers job is to get these egos performing for the team. Perrymans are quite rare and most think they are better than they are. BUT if we trash the managers well being he is not going to be able to do his job and we could miss out on success for Spurs because of it. AVB has to be strong enough to withstand all this and if he isn't he will fail whether he is a tactical genius or not. I am neither a supporter of AVB or an advocate for him yet, I am just waiting to see but I do think we should give him a chance and not make a difficult job even harder. Let's at the very least reach the Man U fixture before we start start throwing rocks.
We (and AVB) have lost the player around which our team was built, namely Modric. It is hardly surprising that AVB is in a state of flux at the moment, trying to find out what system will work best with the players that he has. It is to be hoped that in Dembele we have a play-maker around which a team can be built, but as he has only just come into the squad AVB needs the time to get things right. It cannot happen over night, and fans who begin screaming at him now are imbeciles, in my opinion. Do fans have a right to boo when the team plays badly? Yes, but not at this stage in our particular season. If AVB's tactics look clueless at this point in time it's because he's not had a settled team or a proven play-maker to begin to build with. For god's sake, give the man some time! If, with a settled squad and Dembele at the centre of our midfield, AVB continues to flounder, then I will be joining the growing throng of the discontented. But it's too early for any reasonable fan to start with the histrionics.
I would add, that if you want someone to blame at this early stage in the season, blame Levy, as he is the only person who can be blamed, since everything we have done in the transfer market, including the tactic to leave everything so late, has been down entirely to him. For my own part, I'm not looking to blame even Levy, because I cannot see that he had any control over market forces.
