There! I'm the first one to break ranks and say it. I spent a lot of last season hammering the Chavs that he had, single-handedly, brought their season to its knees, and I voiced my disapproval of him being linked to us, even before news broke that he was confirmed as our manager. I said I would give him 10 games before openly slagging him off; well, he's had 12. I would have been prepared to give him until the New Year, but his comments to the media, following our humiliation at the hands of Arsenal, yesterday, have taken the biscuit, as far as I am concerned. He has shown himself tactically inept (substitutions, and no Plan B in games), lacking in man-management (makes Dawson captain, and then puts him up for sale), lacking in leadership (inability to control players emotions and instill professionalism - Adebayor's stupidly reckless challenge so early on in the game), and now he is proving that he lacks the ability to assess the result of a match (his comment that we dominated Arsenal in yesterday's game). Sorry, but enough is enough. I am now convinced that things are only going to get worse for us. My initial gut-feeling was right: AVB is not the man for us, and we should have gone all-out to get Moyes. Roy Rodgers now has a running-mate as to who is favourite as to which high-profile manager will be the first to get the sack. Come the New Year, 'Pool could be above us in the table, and if that happens, only die-hard sentimentalists would want AVB to stay, but even they won't have a convincing case for it. You get what you pay for, and Levy didn't pay anything to get AVB - because he had already been sacked for failing at the Chavs. What the hell was Levy expecting to happen?
Let me see. Team started well, tactically ye had arsenal all bent out of shape and they could have been 3 down before the red card. Ade not only left the team a man short but a scoring forward, difficult to handle and a real problem for Arsenal to deal with. It left a massive hole in AVBs plans. My only complaint is tat he did not tighten up after losing a man, Spurs even managed another goal. Why on earth ye attacked and attacked when down to 10, it was always gonna be a rout. I think you are wrong also cos your players have this mentality when winning one of the top teams by a few goals. This was an issue long before AVB arrived, the collapsefest is not of his making. 12 games, I'm afraid you don't understand football and management and are a little if not a lot plastic. 12 games is NOTHING You have to come down on him like this, after all you've been saying about Liverpool, 2 points above the team you've been ranting on about
Er... I here you HIAG, but actually yesterdays match was arguably his best performance as a manager with us. HE is NOT the reason why we lost. Lets get Dembele, Kaboul, Ekotto and Parker back, bring in Modric and VDV real replacements. (Mountinho and Willian maybe.) Get suitable cover for Adebayor, Lennon and Bale. ...and then judge AVB. No? I blame LEVY more so than AVB at this point. The jury is still out on AVB for me.
What I find slightly jarring about AVB i his trying a little too hard to 'appear' good at man management. Seems fake at times i his presentation. Minor issue really though. Hopefully he'll get his wishes granted come January then we can really begin to see what's what.
Trust me this guy has no need to appear anything. He's a professional at the top of the game. Y'all need to remember that sitting at your keyboards
sorry HIAG, but i completely disagree with this. you move to to talk about "getting what you pay for", and that's exactly the point. we've not got the players because of levy. he's not backed the manager and i've explained my thoughts on ths further in the "dilemma" thread. The points you've raised about AVB are through no fault of his own. the problem lies with Levy, not AVB. AVB just seems like the person to blame, when infact most, if not all of this, is out of his control.
That is precisely my point BBF, He doesn't need to appear anything, yet he often behaves as if he does, or tries to prove points where he doesn't need to prove anything.
Some of the teams you've face and not won "Dont have the players" to a greater extent than Spurs Not an excuse.
Unfortunately thats the media game, they can paint a manager to look this way or that, they've made him look uncertain and comically lost when it was not at all the true AVB. This is the same of many managers. Woy Rafa and many others have had this. Funnily enough, after all the talk, much of Rafa's zonal system is now in use all over the prem.
I'll break ranks too and actually support someone for trying and looking intrested as he does so. Instead of Moping around blaming this that and the other. Every manager makes mistakes. I doubt god would even bother with the Spurs job, let alone AVB for he is buggered since he can't walk on water. To suggest his man management attitude is fake by the poster above is the biggest bag of bollocks I've heard for a while. More to the point...AVB is behaving contrary to your perceived opinion of him and now your saying it's fake...I can't be arsed. ****ing yawn fest. I'm backing AVB for trying...for actually giving youth a chance...for getting players onside...for actually picking players based on form and options before someone bangs on about how Walker should be dropped. Try to get over the fact that your comparing a new manager into his 5th month at a job to someone who was at the helm for over 3 years snd built his own team...thought I'd put that out there before the we sucked Harry brigade join in. And please keep cliches like 'this job is too big for AVB' firmly out of the question. The guy has lead a team all season unbeaten in a respectable league. Won them the title..won the Europa league. No people this job is not too big for AVB...he has tasted fruits in the very near past that our club have not even sniffed at for over 25 years. Absolute tosh. I'm happy for AVB...he learns from mistakes...he gave us the team everyone was wanting yesterday. It's very difficult to play 442 when someone decides he's off after 20 minutes because he's earned enough money for the week..the stupid ****ing childish selfish arsehole that is Ade. Get off the mans back like a bunch of bickering women...do you know if AVB didn't give some of you footballing reasons to complain about you'd still be ****ing complaining. Get ready for a very disappointing life if you really evaluate everything in life using the same sharp knives as some use on AVB. Right I'm going for a walk.
yes, but with all the injuries we've had, + not signing correct replacements and depth, those clubs aren't far behind us as a result. when injuries take out several key men and the club (who are aiming for a top 4 finish) haven't got sufficient cover to come in leaving holes in the team (due to poor transfer window activity AGAIN when the signs were obvious), then it's no wonder we've not got the results. Any team with holes is going to struggle, even if certain players on the pitch are superior to the opposition. - it's a team game. The other teams we're competing with have far better quality in depth which is suited to their style of play. injuries like we've had would hurt them, but they've got the cover to come in and do a job. we don't.
Have Everton backed Moyes? Have WBA backed Steve Clarke? Do either of those teams have a better squad than us, even allowing for our current injuries? I'm sorry, but your argument is weak. Yes, Levy is at fault for bringing AVB in, but that doesn't make AVB a better manager! The difference between us, Everton and WBA is not the squad (ours is stronger, anyway), it is the manager.
This seems to be a popular opinion. [video=youtube;5nJIp_bm0IY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nJIp_bm0IY[/video]
are everton and West brom expecting a top 4 finish? no. they are expecting the best they can with the money and resources they have. which is exactly what we should be expecting based on our net spend, which is very similar, or certainly closer to them than it is to the likes of city, united or chelsea. instead the club has unrealistic expectation based on the money they spend, and as a result, we grow frustrated. the reality is that our current approach doesn't deserve a finish any higher than the likes of newcastle and everton, but we seem to expect more, with no right to. Levy is at fault for more than just bringing AVB in Hiag (not that i think it has been a wrong decision, but i'll take your side on this for the sake of argument) He's brought in a man to do a job, left all the business till late and not addressed issues within the squad for a couple of years. the problem has been there for longer than AVB's been around for. AVB just seems like the problem and that's because Harry did exceptionally well and masked Levy's poor transfer window performance/attitude over a long period. how is ade's sending off his fault? even his substitutions which we question, have been with very limited choice. And it all comes from bigger issues which the club haven't sorted out.
I'd agree with that, much like the high line it's easy to point out when it goes wrong and old school pundits that didn't use these tactics are quick to pick it apart as they don't understand them. It's less obvious when these systems work because it tends to mean there's not a significant chance on goal and other benefits are more subtle. Frankly I don't understand the benefits of zonal marking for set pieces as Tottenham have never used it and I don't watch any other team closely enough to notice. It's the same for most fans but the pundits make it easy to see the flaws as they point them out relentlessly. With regards to zonal marking in general that's largely forced by most teams only playing one striker against 2 centre backs.
I cannot agree with that. We have a better squad than either Everton, Newcastle or WBA, so we are right to expect that we will finish above those clubs. I do agree with that. But, then again, I have never denied that Levy is at fault for many things. Discipline (or the lack of) is always down to the manager. Yes, the first person at fault is the player himself, but the manager is responsible for monitoring the behaviour of players in training as well as in matches, and must take responsibility for failing to keep players' in check. I'm not going to make a big issue out of Ade's stupidity in the last match, because I don't know to what extent this aspect of Ade's character has been spotted or spoken about between player and management, but I am certainly doubtful that, it having been brought to AVB's attention, he has the ability or the authority to do anything about it. And that is part and parcel of the entire reason why I believe that AVB simply is not good enough for this job. You can blame as many other people as you like, but none of that makes AVB a better manager or more fit for remaining as Spurs manager.
Criticise AVB all you want but Dembele should be back next weekend and, touch wood, that's when our season can start to get back on track.
1. - but we don't at the moment. everyone is injured and we didn't get the replacement in squad depth in the summer to cover for this. every side wanting the finish we want, has that taken care of in order to get through the season. This is why we're not getting the results, even against the "lesser" opposition. we're so weak at the moment, even if there are still a few individuals who are still playing that are superior to most teams we play against. it's a team game and we're still desperately short. - How can AVB do anything about this? he can only use what he's got. And what he's been left with at the moment, isn't fantastic by any stretch of the imagination. Levy should not have left us in this position. 2. Discipline - not true I'm afraid. Ade is a grown man and makes his own decisions. any action taken by him is down to him and it ends there. a manager can do as much "keeping in check" as he likes, but he cannot control something like this.
Calling him a Clown is either deliberately provocative, or just plain wide of the mark. No, he wasn't who I would have had as our manager, and yes, I am having serious doubts over his ability - his persistence with the likes of Huddlestone, etc. But, to be completely fair to the guy, we need all our players fit. If he still can't cut it with a full squad to choose from, then yes, he'll have to go.
Criticising Levy for getting in a manager that he didn't have to pay for, then pointing out that Steve Clarke's doing very well...
