Europa League Thread

everdead.ie

Naughton is wearing a protective boot now :-( could mean Vertoghen at LB and Caulker stepping in at cb against QPR?

Leinstersqspur

Saab Ed wrote: »

Someone earlier said that they thought Sandro was man of the match or the like. That is the most frightening comment of all in my opinion. The fact that a covering mid comes off as man of the match when we're at home to lesser opposition says it all really.

I cannot reiterate enough, Sandro's role is not the role that say Claude Makelele played, he doesn't sit infront of the back four. He protects the back two thus freeing up the two fullbacks to push further forward. Would you rather Sandro attacked and the two fullbacks didn't cross the halfway line?

KingdomYid

everdead.ie wrote: »

Naughton is wearing a protective boot now :-( could mean Vertoghen at LB and Caulker stepping in at cb against QPR?

Not a big problem really, Naughton is not a left back anyway and Verts plays there for Belgium.

ahnowbrowncow

Saab Ed wrote: »

The fact that a covering mid comes off as man of the match when we're at home to lesser opposition says it all really.

Lesser opposition? They finished 4th in serie a last year.

And take off those rose tinted glasses, you seem to forget you only got 23 points in your last 18 premier league games last season.

Leinstersqspur

KingdomYid wrote: »

Ah come on now, that is a very bold statement and one I can't agree with. Some of the ball we played under Redknapp in the good times was unbelievable.

Quite bold perhaps, however my optimism is based on the spine of the team i.e. Caulker, Vertonghen, Sandro, Dembele being possibly the strongest, athletic, passers of the ball I've ever seen (albeit against a weak Serie A topping team)...

Still waiting on the neysayers to tell me what they would have done differently?

Saab Ed

Leinstersqspur wrote: »

Saab Ed wrote: »

In fairness, a managerless team could have got an equal if not better result than that tonight such is the quality in that squad.

No real attacking pressure at home, holding mid at home against inferior opposition, centre back two not level with the the full backs and getting exposed by sitting back and not stepping up for offside, total lack of ideas in the final third and despite it being blindingly obvious that the thing to do was go on the attack, we didn't.

Alan Sugar (for what its worth) now has AVB first to go before Roberto or Rodgers. Gutter press headline I know but he ain't winning any fans anywhere except for the "give him a chance" brigade.

I really am praying this ends sooner rather than later. Ramos MK II. Fans can happily bollock me for his (in their opinion) early exit if they want.

Fcuk this, I'm bowing out cos your clearly deluded....



The full backs are not only defenders, that's why we utilise a holding midfielder, take a trip to the Camp Nou! We scored one, two, maybe three legitimate goals, one from a thru ball, one from a corner, one from a cross...

Good luck to yis!

There's the flaw in your argument. You set up your team around the abilities of your players and not force players to fit a system.

You've now compared us to Real in this thread and Barca in another. We are neither, we don't have players on the same level as those teams. Why doesn't every team try and emulate those teams! Simple, they're not capable. Neither are we. Who's our Messi, Xavi or Iniesta!

You play to your abilities. While arry might have been lacking as a tactician, he did understand playing attacking football. Let me remind you that's what got us 4th twice and CL football.

PogMoThoin

Leinstersqspur wrote: »

Still waiting on the neysayers to tell me what they would have done differently?

+1

Saab Ed

Leinstersqspur wrote: »

KingdomYid wrote: »

Ah come on now, that is a very bold statement and one I can't agree with. Some of the ball we played under Redknapp in the good times was unbelievable.

Quite bold perhaps, however my optimism is based on the spine of the team i.e. Caulker, Vertonghen, Sandro, Dembele being possibly the strongest, athletic, passers of the ball I've ever seen (albeit against a weak Serie A topping team)...

Still waiting on the neysayers to tell me what they would have done differently?

Ehhhhh.....4-4-1-1 like I was sayin all along. Back 4 moves up and down together with the full backs pushing on after everyone gets to the halfway line. I take it you disagree with arry if you disagree with me.

Leinstersqspur

Saab Ed wrote: »

There's the flaw in your argument. You set up your team around the abilities of your players and not force players to fit a system.

You've now compared us to Real in this thread and Barca in another. We are neither, we don't have players on the same level as those teams. Why doesn't every team try and emulate those teams! Simple, they're not capable. Neither are we. Who's our Messi, Xavi or Iniesta!

You play to your abilities. While arry might have been lacking as a tactician, he did understand playing attacking football. Let me remind you that's what got us 4th twice and CL football.

Real Madrid, don't remember that one?

Anyway, I give up, you'd prefer if we went 2-0 up and AVB came out after the game Harry style and said, "even at that stage I knew we were gonna lose"

You'd also prefer if everybody attacked except for the two center halves and we gave Lazio more than one speculaive shot at goal?

SERIOSULY??!! We were pretty good tonight.

Hatch99

If it's about the fcukin lazio game, keep it in the europa thread ffs

Hatch99

More criticism from the manager, jaysus you really don't like him lads do ya !

Thought dembele was quiet last night. We played well without cutting them up too much, need 3pts on the next thursday night adventure.

Sugarlumps

We played exceptional well, we scored three times, none of which should have been disallowed. Caulker has made a case for himself to start. Think he had one stray pass in the first half.

Townsend looked sharp, he ought to pass the ball earlier, instead of taking on too much. Lennon needs competition. Townsend looks a better crosser of the ball.

Anyhoo can’t complain. Looked very solid. The chants directed to Lennon and Defoe were sickening.

mickman

I have been a harsh critic of avb but i am coming around.

I really liked the performance last night and we should have won 3-0. Two disallowed goals and lennon should have scored at least one.

There was something about it last night, we looked very assured and relaxed on the ball. It was ... different!

Dembele will be a great player - he still seems a little rusty and is fitting in but you can see the ability there.

Naughton had a great game !

CB pairing was really good, seeing jan come out with the ball is a joy to behold.

I think walker is our weak link at the moment - he gave it away so many times last night , rubbish from him

Defoe didnt get many shots last night but he put lennon through at least 3 times with excellent little flicks - if rooney was doing that then everyone here would be all raving about him!

And lastly, hats off to lloris. I felt an air of confidence in him that i havent seen in a while. In the second half a cross came in and you could hear his shout for it on the tv and he plucked it out of the air like only a man in his 20's can,
I love brad friedal but i now concede that he has to make way for hugo. Brad will play all the cup competitions which will be still a lot of games this season.

Getting positive - if we win against qpr then it will be another giant step!

Sugarlumps

mickman wrote: »

I have been a harsh critic of avb but i am coming around. +1


There was something about it last night, we looked very assured and relaxed on the ball. It was ... different! My thoughts exactly.


I think walker is our weak link at the moment - he gave it away so many times last night , rubbish from him. He really needs to find his form.

SuprSi

This is a game where Ade would have really helped. Defoe worked really well against Reading last weekend, because they were pushing up the field. When he has 4 defenders to deal with, he either needs more support (as in another striker) or needs to be swapped with Ade.

Very happy with the performance though, very impressed with Caulker as he seems like another ball-playing CB and as mickman mentioned, seeing Jan bring the ball out of defence to the half way line is great. Another shout for Sandro who I thought was brilliant again.

Hopefully this is the start of AVB's 'real' team and the way he wanted Chelsea to play when he was there. Bring on QPR!

SuprSi

Ed, FFS, we dominated against a team that's currently winning Serie A and finished 4th last season. They came to WHL to defend, as was clearly obvious from how many people they had behind the ball as soon as we got it. They were happy with a draw all along and with the exception of a couple of shots on goal, they had absolutely nothing to offer. So in effect we were playing against Stoke, Wolves or Bolton - packing the middle and defence and not taking many chances going forward. What did you want Spurs to do?!! It's very difficult to break 11 men down inside their own half, very difficult, yet we did it multiple times and had the ball in the net 3 times, 2 of which should have been given.

To me the formation is completely irrelevant. I couldn't give a ****e if on paper we lined up 1 - 8 - 2 as long as what happens on the pitch resembles a team that is well versed and plays like it knows what's going on. This is what I saw last night and I'm not the only one. The fact that Sandro had a good game has nothing to do with our attacking prowess - he got my vote because not only did he break any attack up before it got to goal, but he was able to bring the ball forward and start attacking moves at will, something that all of our defensive players seem well capable of.

Honestly, while I'm disappointed that we didn't win, it's a definite moral victory thanks to the 2 legitimate-but-ruled-out goals and the performance, which was very encouraging. How you can take anything less than that from last night is really beyond me.

DubPerryman

Saab Ed wrote: »

Ah ffs. What was wrong with last years 4-4-1-1! As you were with siggy or dempsey in the vdv role if ade is injured. Dempsey always played as a semi striker at Fulham.

Someone earlier said that they thought Sandro was man of the match or the like. That is the most frightening comment of all in my opinion. The fact that a covering mid comes off as man of the match when we're at home to lesser opposition says it all really.

What's wrong with last year's 4-4-1-1 is that we would have been far less comfortable, and probably lost, had we been playing it last night.

I said Sandro was man of the match because he did the job he was given better than any other player. He made a ridiculous number of tackles and was composed on the ball, bringing the full-backs and wingers in to the game.

Ed, I assume you did not watch the Spurs games over the last two seasons when we played teams who sat with two banks of four? We did not draw the other team out of their box, we were hit on the break and inevitably lost 1-0.

Last night we controlled the game by playing the ball along our defence and in to our midfield slowly, drawing Lazio out and thus creating a number of disallowed goals - which should not have been disallowed. When Lazio attempted to hit us on the break either Sandro (man of the match) cleaned it up, or Vertonghen and Caulker provided cover and broke it up.

Bodie Doyle

DubPerryman wrote: »

What's wrong with last year's 4-4-1-1 is that we would have been far less comfortable, and probably lost, had we been playing it last night.

I said Sandro was man of the match because he did the job he was given better than any other player. He made a ridiculous number of tackles and was composed on the ball, bringing the full-backs and wingers in to the game.

Ed, I assume you did not watch the Spurs games over the last two seasons when we played teams who sat with two banks of four? We did not draw the other team out of their box, we were hit on the break and inevitably lost 1-0.

Last night we controlled the game by playing the ball along our defence and in to our midfield slowly, drawing Lazio out and thus creating a number of disallowed goals - which should not have been disallowed. When Lazio attempted to hit us on the break either Sandro (man of the match) cleaned it up, or Vertonghen and Caulker provided cover and broke it up.

Cannot believe the criticism of the team/system last night. We had 2 goals dissallowed, limited Lazio to one chance, had the majority of possession and kept the ball on the ground. The interchange of positions from the players ( obviously coming from Avb ) was most impressive.

The reason DubPerryman thought Sandro was MOTM is due to his reading of the game. When Vert ( how great does he look) or Caulker carried the ball into midfield Sandro dropped back, when Dempsey came back to pick up the ball Sandro drove forward ahead of him, when tackles needed to be won against his midfied opponenets he made them. He does the simple things very well. I think he will have a great partnership with Dembele ( who is going to be one of the signings of the season).

The formation was fine last night. We only have one fit striker at the moment so we had to play that way. Yeah we lacked a little up front but when Ade returns he should solve that problem.

DubPerryman

I'm a regular poster on another Spurs forum with a load of very Londoner-ish Tottenham fans. They were anti-AVB and some were even in the 'bring back Harry' camp. Today they are singing AVB's praises and are saying that we were playing in 4th gear, that 'once the team settles' we will be on fire.

So Ed, your anti-AVB group is a dwindling minority. Get with the times! :cool:

Antisocialiser

Can't understand some of the nonsense on this thread, we played superbly and were unlucky to come away with a draw! The tide is turning for us lads... AVB's game is starting to take shape.

Caulker and Verts looked like proper ball playing centre-backs last night Other mentions go to Sandro and Dempsey.

On a slightly sour note I can't understand what's happened to Kyle Walker... he looks like a shadow of his former self

tippspur

DubPerryman wrote: »

I'm a regular poster on another Spurs forum with a load of very Londoner-ish Tottenham fans. They were anti-AVB and some were even in the 'bring back Harry' camp. Today they are singing AVB's praises and are saying that we were playing in 4th gear, that 'once the team settles' we will be on fire.

So Ed, your anti-AVB group is a dwindling minority. Get with the times! :cool:

Even I'm coming round

Mr. Guappa

Antisocialiser wrote: »

Can't understand some of the nonsense on this thread, we played superbly and were unlucky to come away with a draw! The tide is turning for us lads... AVB's game is starting to take shape.

Caulker and Verts looked like proper ball playing centre-backs last night Other mentions go to Sandro and Dempsey.

On a slightly sour note I can't understand what's happened to Kyle Walker... he looks like a shadow of his former self

When BAE comes back I can see Naughton pushing Walker for that RB spot. Hopefully that lights a fire under Walker.

KingdomYid

Mr. Guappa wrote: »

When BAE comes back I can see Naughton pushing Walker for that RB spot. Hopefully that lights a fire under Walker.

You make a good point. Maybe he has gotten too comfortable and is suffering from 'second season' syndrome.

PogMoThoin

Mr. Guappa wrote: »

When BAE comes back I can see Naughton pushing Walker for that RB spot. Hopefully that lights a fire under Walker.

I'd have Naughton there before Benny, he gets caught out too often. Walker seems to have gone off a little too.

Saab Ed

DubPerryman wrote: »

So Ed, your anti-AVB group is a dwindling minority. Get with the times! :cool:

Why do you take it so personal, like its a battle between us and you've got to win. We're both fans, you like the new manager, I don't.

But if we're gonna compare mickeys then I'll take it you wanted to give Ramos time too, given your attitude towards allowing managers settle.

And lastly, a neighbour of mine , lifelong spurs fan from just around the corner from WHL, who's dad was a season ticket holder until very recently and both of who still attend games very often , both of them think AVB is a twat. They ,along with his mates think he's useless and that's before you mention the ribbing he gets to take from Chelsea and Arsenal fans, the latter who claim AVB has been Arsenals best signing.

As you well know, internet fans can be fickle.

DubPerryman

Saab Ed wrote: »

Why do you take it so personal, like its a battle between us and you've got to win. We're both fans, you like the new manager, I don't.

Fair enough. I might come across that way, I'm a ridiculously competitive person. I believe in the way which AVB, Mourinho, Guardiola and others approach the game and I guess I want to defend it.

Hatch99

On to Greece, Lloris, Smith,Daws,Caulker,Vert,Hudd,Sandro, Lennon,Townsend, Sig, Clint. Need at least a point.

MrKingsley

Yeah that sounds about right hatch but I wouldnt mind seeing Jan and maybe sandro rested for next weekend. Theres no way that they will be able to consistently perform like they have if they are playing every game. Id rather save them for villa.

Hatch99

MrKingsley wrote: »

Yeah that sounds about right hatch but I wouldnt mind seeing Jan and maybe sandro rested for next weekend. Theres no way that they will be able to consistently perform like they have if they are playing every game. Id rather save them for villa.

Fully agree mate, but at left full, BAE and Kyle are injured so not many other options unless you played townsend there, and the same in midfield with jake and parker out injured.

Ormus

Hatch99 wrote: »

Fully agree mate, but at left full, BAE and Kyle are injured so not many other options unless you played townsend there, and the same in midfield with jake and parker out injured.

Yeah we will have to run the legs off Sandro til Parker is back and then give him a little rest. He and Dembele were immense on Saturday.