I know it's only pre-season but scoring goals seems to be a problem with the current formation 4-2-3-1 (as it was last year). We don't seem to be rectifying the striker situation. The modric deal is dragging on, and the replacement not getting any pre-season now. Jenas seems to be featuring in AVB's first team plans!! WTF.
me too. We had a great week where we made some signings and tied bale up on a new contract and since then nothing. Striker desperately needed. Jenas desperately NOT needed.
Well this is what people wanted, arry out, a new "tactical genius" as our manager and to "trust" levy to bring in the players to move us on to that "next level".....doesn't look too clever at the moment but regardless of what I feel about avb, I hope we manage to perform as a team as it will be tragic if we mess up all the progress we have made in recent years.
I don't think many people were asking for it, they could just understand where Levy was coming from. Harry did shoot his mouth of too much though, which is a shame, because if he learned to rotate and utilise his squad, He/we could have gone far.
(as much as I loved arry, i cant disagree with that) However if we're going to go down a new route and make all this effort to move onto a new level then it may be an idea to strengthen the team, not go backwards as currently we're going into the season with A) Defoe & Kane as our two strikers B) Modric wanting out C) Adebayor hasn't signed yet D) Jenas and Bentley featuring again E) new defensive system which could cause us real problems I don't see any of this as a step forward. I'll praise levy for signing sig, as that was a smart move but after last season, with the squad we had, this is our chance to make sure we could push on, not stand still or go backwards and we will go backwards unless we strengthen the squad.
Arry never had a squad, he played it the old fashioned way with a first team and reserves despite getting shot of the reserve team. It cost us and would have continued to cost us. He built a very good first team but football has moved on since the early 70's. Don Revie's Leeds would not have stood a chance playing now.
Thats over dramatising the whole situation as arry is our most successful premier league manager and the only manager to get us into the champions league and the reason for increasing our expectations. What would have been ideal, was a "perfect arry", for flexibility and change in his approach, utilising the squad and being more flexible with coaches and backroom staff YET don't think "the grass is always greener" as what we now going to find is that having a coach that is the opposite may well look great on paper, but the reality is very much different. Lets see how avb gets on, but I expect most fans are going to understand all managers have their "flaws", even the great ones and with the way this club operates in the transfer market, there is a limit to what can be achieved so if old fashioned, out of touch arry comes out on top, then what does that say about how the cub is run?.
We struggled for goals in no small part down to not having any good strikers. That comes down to Levy alone, although he's not been helped by Ade allegedly having very unreasonable demands and a very stagnant market in general. We created good chances yesterday but they seemed to always fall to Lennon in the first half and Sigurdsson, who we've seen play well in that role and be a goal threat had a poor game which didn't help.
Jenas has ability and has done well for us. To be honest I think he gets a rough deal from many spurs fans but I don't understand the idea of trying bentley ... as for lack of transfers I think that we can't really be irritated by winding window down interviews that Harry specialised in one day and the next being irritated by a manager keeping his mouth shut. Re Adebayor...we can not, should not, will not pay his wage demands. One of the other Harryisms was to never given certain players a chance and not trying new systems...at least has changed. But to be honest I am completely underwhelmed by AVB...it has Ramos written all over it (only without a cup!) - of course we need to be patient and give him a chance but I am preparing a wum proof computer screne cos they are all gonna come out of the woodwork when it goes tits up
I'm more a "cold pint on a hot day washes the troubles away" type, which I will shortly be heading out for
i wanted Harry out and im glad i got my wish..im also happy to have AVB..im not going to stick the knife in before a ball has been kicked in anger...it was only 2008 when we won all our pre season games with Bent getting a shedfull..and us beating Roma 5 nil with even Bentley getting a free kick.....personally im glad it was not so smooth sailing because it means we wont go into the season thinking we are better than we actually are. and i cant recall anyone who wanted AVB saying that as soon as he comes then the job is complete....this is just the start of the clubs new 'vision'..not the completion. Have some patience.......i cant bloody believe it..we havent even kicked off our first PL match...i feel for AVB..he will be getting it in the neck from many fans here i can tell....however im staying well clear if that is the case....2 points from 8 games and yeh maybe ill hear you out..but not until then. it is almost as though many are hoping for a downfall just so that they can be proven right.
Dona, I don't care about being proved "right" as if avb fails then that means we fail as a club so i certainty don't wish for this to happen...but I can't pretend I like the guy or his style of management, just because he is now our coach so until he proves me wrong, I'm always going to have concerns. If we play with energy and his defensive high line works then he could well prove me wrong and we could have a decent season but how can we achieve anything when we have no strikers to score the goals.
if AVB gets the fundamentals correct, with the right intentions I will have no problem with the man even if we lose every game. if we're set up in a way that has been studied to beat our opposition, the correct players are being used at the time, and prior to a game we would say "yep, agree with his thinking there", AVB cannot be targeted. so far, he's been playing about with his squad and is doing everything right, IMO. but he's only 1 man, who does have a good record. but the bloke currently has his hands tied and will not be able to produce miracles. we've got gaping holes in the squad at present and time will take its toll if these issues are not resolved. I really hope everything is taken care of, because I will really feel for AVB if the demand on him is too much and he's not got the resources at hand. he'll get the blame from our fickle fans and also opposing fans saying "told you so". unless Levy is about to pull rabbits out of a hat, this season could really be a struggle for AVB, which'll be bang out of order if he's expected to get CL football, or perhaps even better!! lets hope none of this is the case, and "in Levy we trust" proves it's worth. Otherwise, I for one, will be asking questions as to why we're not capitalising/improving on our recent seasons performances come September 1st, and also wondering how such an optimistic transfer window went so stagnant, when we knew what we had to do to reach those goals we've set out to achieve.
Then again Boss..you select better teams than me at Fantasy football..so maybe i should listen to you i agree Roo..for once in my life i have lowered my expectations before a season kicks off...infact i said it months ago..i really want us to go for the Europa..the older i get the less i buy into the CL hype...but thats where the money for the clubs are so we all end up getting sucked into worshipping that competiton it seems...but id love it if we won a european trophy and ill take the Europa...and so would every single other fan if you asked them hand on heart.
I concur with all comments, we have needed NEW STRIKER for ages now but for some reason the club doesn't seem worried at all. Even if we sign someone before the Newcastle game they won't have had any time to settle in, get to know their role, teammates, management and play with their team mates before the season starts. Adebayor wouldn't be so bad as he knows the players but he hasn't played under AVB yet so again would require some time to get to know the setup.
I don't think the club are not worried, i think they're tight. We had the chance, reportedly, to snap up damaio for £16m a season or 2 back but we were offering £14m. That £2m seems like peanuts now compared to the cost of not having a forward that fits the system or the £47m Inter are now quoting for the player. I think they're trying their best to get strikers in but the problem is that the good ones a are few and far between and have a lot of suitors. We don't have (many) problems getting in pretty darn good defenders and midfielders it's just attracting the in-demand, expensive, glory boys to play up front. We need to ship modders off now and bite the bullet and spend that money up front unless we can get ade in for cheaps
It doesn't matter whether it's pre-season, mid-season or post-season Defoe can't operate successfully as a sole striker. We other problems true, but it's the striker situ that's killing us. This is surely Levy's fault not AVB's.
