Opinion of AVB in hindsight?

[JimmyG2]

Sacked far too early like most of our managers over the past couple of decades.
Like a lot of them should never have been appointed but hey ho
All managers have weaknesses and blind spots
just a different set each time.
Everyone of them needs at least three seasons,probably five
to work out their ideas,get the players they need
and develop their own abilities (philosophies?) with the players they have.

 

[Everlasting Seconds]

My view in hindsight is not really influenced by what he has done since. It hasn't changed from my view when he was fired, either. I detested the 4-2-3-1 shit, but apart from that I wanted him to have more time at the club. I thought he had showed just enough quality and gained just enough results to warrant further trust. After the Liverpool loss, I was mainly looking forward to the summer TW, even though I knew immediately that he would get fired/quit/scapegoated.

If anything has emerged in hindsight, I think he did better than what we gave him credit for. I would welcome him back in the future if that came to pass.

 

[tototoner]

He wasn't given a chance, he's still no Sherwood though

 

[Ribble]

He did very well by giving Bale the freedom to do whatever he wanted.

If his system relied on having a few specific players, then it wasn't much of a system. Hulk was always out of reach, Willian and Oscar were close then snatched away, Moutinho was a bit of a mess - so who knows, would it have really made all the difference? As it was, we were incredibly boring in his last season.

It isn't that he needed specific players as much as he needed players to fit certain roles, and those players were the best he knew of. They may well have been out of reach (don't think Moutinho was) but it was compounded by those responsible for buying not getting him anyone that was even similar to fill the gaps. The problem hadn't been solved when Poch arrived either really, the difference being that he was willing use players like Bentaleb and Mason to fill that space whereas AVB wasn't.

 

[Danners9]

It isn't that he needed specific players as much as he needed players to fit certain roles, and those players were the best he knew of. They may well have been out of reach (don't think Moutinho was) but it was compounded by those responsible for buying not getting him anyone that was even similar to fill the gaps. The problem hadn't been solved when Poch arrived either really, the difference being that he was willing use players like Bentaleb and Mason to fill that space whereas AVB wasn't.

My interpretation of this interview is that he wanted specifics and wasn't able/willing to work with what he was given.

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/foot...Tottenham-Chelsea-Oscar-Willian-transfer-news

"The chairman proposed a challenge to increase Tottenham's competitive level, but immediately [Luka] Modric left and we didn't get any of the targets I had identified, such as Joao Moutinho, Willian, Oscar or Leandro Damiao," Villas-Boas said in an interview with TVI. "These were promises that were not kept. I had a group of players I had not chosen."

If you look at the fees the players he mentions went for, Damiao aside (because his form has been crap ever since!), it's not surprising Spurs couldn't get them - Moutinho 25m Euro, Willian 32m pounds, Oscar 20m pounds - and maybe it was unrealistic to pin all hope on these four. At least that's what I take from the interview.

 

[michaelden]

Won the league with Saint fucking who?

How the migty have fallen..from the PL to some backwater Vodka slurping league played in a half empty stadium.

Super, smashing, great....

Fuck him.

And your underestimation of anything not "English" is a symptom of 1) Why Brits are viewed as wankers abroad, 2) Why England achieves the square root of fuck all.

While the Russian league isn't the strongest in Europe, its not the weakest, and to be so dismissive is pretty ugly and ignorant. If you don't like him, fine, but no need to be all rabid mouth frothingly UKIP about it

 

[michaelden]

My interpretation of this interview is that he wanted specifics and wasn't able/willing to work with what he was given.

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/foot...Tottenham-Chelsea-Oscar-Willian-transfer-news

"The chairman proposed a challenge to increase Tottenham's competitive level, but immediately [Luka] Modric left and we didn't get any of the targets I had identified, such as Joao Moutinho, Willian, Oscar or Leandro Damiao," Villas-Boas said in an interview with TVI. "These were promises that were not kept. I had a group of players I had not chosen."

If you look at the fees the players he mentions went for, Damiao aside (because his form has been crap ever since!), it's not surprising Spurs couldn't get them - Moutinho 25m Euro, Willian 32m pounds, Oscar 20m pounds - and maybe it was unrealistic to pin all hope on these four. At least that's what I take from the interview.

True but look at how well Oscar & William have settled in the EPL. And Moutinho is class like (god forbid) Fabregas. He might well have done a lot with those players.

To be honest, I think he was too rigid, and this was even done to subs when the game needed changing but he swapped like for like

 

[CowInAComa]

Yes, of course, it was all Bale. Whilst presumably Kane bailing us out was good management. There's this absurd double standard around football where when it's a manager you don't like it's a one-man-team (how dare a manager build a team around his best player), when you do like the manager it's "the manager improved them". I guess we won't agree on that.

Villa match:
>Stroking the ball around nonchalantly as if in a practice game, Spurs forced 15 corners by half-time, only five short of the record for an entire Premier League match, set by Portsmouth against Fulham in 2006.

Certainly sounds poor.

I didn't say it was one of the best ever sides, I said it was one of the best I've seen, there's oceans of difference.

And that's fine, but I massively disagree. With the exception of the Chelsea & Arsenal games, I'm hard pressed to think of five games we've played good football this season. We've been downright turgid for most of the season.

And Spurs are deadly from corners.

Shame we never matched the achievements of Portsmough though. Always in their shadow.

 

[Gb160]

Exceptional facial hair....truly exceptional.

 

[CowInAComa]

Anyone mentioned Moutinho yet?

 

[Gbspurs]

My interpretation of this interview is that he wanted specifics and wasn't able/willing to work with what he was given.

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/foot...Tottenham-Chelsea-Oscar-Willian-transfer-news

"The chairman proposed a challenge to increase Tottenham's competitive level, but immediately [Luka] Modric left and we didn't get any of the targets I had identified, such as Joao Moutinho, Willian, Oscar or Leandro Damiao," Villas-Boas said in an interview with TVI. "These were promises that were not kept. I had a group of players I had not chosen."

If you look at the fees the players he mentions went for, Damiao aside (because his form has been crap ever since!), it's not surprising Spurs couldn't get them - Moutinho 25m Euro, Willian 32m pounds, Oscar 20m pounds - and maybe it was unrealistic to pin all hope on these four. At least that's what I take from the interview.

What about Soldado £26m, Lamela £30m and Paulinho £17m??

 

[Kiedis]

I was a big fan of the guy, and I think it'll be interesting to see how he fares in the future.

At Spurs, I feel like we saw two versions of him. In his first season, we were tactically flexible and did set up the team in numerous different ways. We played 4-4-2, 4-2-3-1, short spells with 4-3-3, deployed a low block in some games and not just the high defensive line that some people seem so allergic to.

In his second season, however, it was no flexibility at all, and when the high pressing game desintegrated, we were a shambles.

 

[ajspurs]

The fact that we've still played better this season than under AVB tells you everything about his time as manager here.

We had some disgusting performances under AVB, but we've had some equally disgusting performances under Poch this season too IMO.

 

[sunnydelight786]

My interpretation of this interview is that he wanted specifics and wasn't able/willing to work with what he was given.

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/foot...Tottenham-Chelsea-Oscar-Willian-transfer-news

"The chairman proposed a challenge to increase Tottenham's competitive level, but immediately [Luka] Modric left and we didn't get any of the targets I had identified, such as Joao Moutinho, Willian, Oscar or Leandro Damiao," Villas-Boas said in an interview with TVI. "These were promises that were not kept. I had a group of players I had not chosen."

If you look at the fees the players he mentions went for, Damiao aside (because his form has been crap ever since!), it's not surprising Spurs couldn't get them - Moutinho 25m Euro, Willian 32m pounds, Oscar 20m pounds - and maybe it was unrealistic to pin all hope on these four. At least that's what I take from the interview.

Moutinho Porto, or was it DL, moved the goal posts on at the last min for the deal to collapse. Oscar was obtainable until CFC threw money at his club/him. Willian was as Shaktar and his fee then was £25m (agree still a high price) not £32m.

Bottom line is he never got one player he asked for even after Bale was sold too & we were flushed with cash!

 

[Luka Van der Bale]

aren't they like the combined Real, Atletico,Barcelona of the Russian league? Surely the question is not If he won the league but how early he won it.

Ridiculously unfair. Won it once in the 80s, then in 2007, 2010, 2011-12 and now.

 

[Danners9]

What about Soldado £26m, Lamela £30m and Paulinho £17m??

What about them? we're talking at different periods of time, not just after the Bale sale.

 

[Danners9]

Moutinho Porto, or was it DL, moved the goal posts on at the last min for the deal to collapse. Oscar was obtainable until CFC threw money at his club/him. Willian was as Shaktar and his fee then was £25m (agree still a high price) not £32m.

Bottom line is he never got one player he asked for even after Bale was sold too & we were flushed with cash!

So he says, the Spurs comment in that same link is also interesting..

 

[Luka Van der Bale]

His winning the title in Russia doesn't change my opinion of him already

He somehow got an amazing gig again after flopping and being sacked

Zenit in Russia are disproportionately stronger and have spent so much more money than everyone else in the league now that they're pretty much a shoe in to succeed. It's like Neil Lennon winning the Scottish title with Celtic

Plus it was nothing he hadn't done before - he won the League with Porto when he had the strongest team in the league (he also won the Europa league yet flopped in the CL and Europa league this time with Zenit so if anything this is less impressive)

I think he's potentially a decent manager - but I think he got the Chelsea job off the back of Jose's hype and everyone thinking he was the new Jose because of the similarities at Porto and that they'd worked together

That he failed so miserably at Chelsea and yet still Levy decided to hire him was ridiculous - but no fault of AVB, it was a poor decision by Levy and his advisers (and I suppose AVB is able to sell himself well)

He seems like a manager who can only play one way and is only suited to managing the big fish club in a small pond who will allow him to buy star players. Good luck to him in Zenit and the rest of his career, but one thing I don't think is if he'd stayed at Spurs we'd be better off now (in fact I think we'd be worse off) so again good luck to him at Zenit and the rest of his career but no this does not make me wish we'd kept him or think differently in anyway about him with the hindsight of him winning the Russian league

This is the first Zenit have won the league in three years mate. Whether or not you enjoyed his time here, don't be so immature as to diminish his successes elsewhere.

 

[Danners9]

True but look at how well Oscar & William have settled in the EPL. And Moutinho is class like (god forbid) Fabregas. He might well have done a lot with those players.

To be honest, I think he was too rigid, and this was even done to subs when the game needed changing but he swapped like for like

That's why I said unable or unwilling. He had players and the system was too rigid with them, it was dull.. if his style relied on specific players, it wasn't much of a system. It just comes across as 'I would have been successful, but...' - when he did have a decent squad and didn't/couldn't do much with it. I think the parting of the ways was very mutual by the end.

 

[Luka Van der Bale]

He maybe fixed it in the first season, but in the second season, different story.

What was this 'style' by the way? The only changes I recognised is that we had a high line, which did work sometimes, and we seemed to create no chances.

This isn't true mate our defensive record on the whole that season before he left was great. Twice (west ham And scousers) we got hit for big numbers but apart from that it was clean sheet after clean sheet. The problems were the dour offensive football and complete lack of movement up top.