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A Conversation With Myself About Man City

6 min read
by The Fighting Cock
After a terrible result sometimes you can't even find solace in your own thoughts. AVBelieve or has an ideology been shattered beyond repair?

After a result like that there is only one person you can turn to, not your best friend, a barman or the best burger chef in London, but yourself. You need silence, you need to gather your thoughts and try and not knee jerk your way into a Twitter tornado. As Black Sunday ended I found myself staring into the mirror, the depressed and bedraggled man I saw before me started to talk, I listened, I felt compelled to, I couldn’t stop.

image_061f280d0fMan In The Mirror: This has been coming, for too long we have just won, or just lost. Even when we were bashed by West Ham you and your sort put it down as a freak, an anomaly. If that was a freak result what was this?

Lombardi: A bad day at the office, a match where it all went wrong.

MITM: But why?

L: Aguero was awesome, Nasri had a great game and Negredo was unstoppable, as for Navas, wow what a finish.

MITM: You are focusing on them, when you need to look at us.

L: We were bad.

MITM: But why?

L: Because of Aguero, Yaya Toure….

MITM: Name that elephant in the room

L: Who?

MITM: Say it, say his name.

L: I can’t.

MITM: it will set you free.

L: AVB..

MITM: Well done. Freedom and nirvana await you, the gates have opened. AVB was exposed again. He has been given £100 million of talent and he doesn’t know how to use it. Give a man a fish and he can feed himself for a day, give him tools and he can feed his family for a year, unless he doesn’t know how to row a boat, or bait a hook.

L: Of course he knows, he just..

MITM: He just what? He is broken look at him! He has lost faith in himself and his beliefs. How many formations did he play? I was confused watching it on TV, imagine how the players felt chasing after Aguero and co?

L: He needs time, he has had to rebuild a side that has lost leader after leader.

MITM: And one year down the road is he any closer to coming to a resolution? All season we have been to congested in the middle, but Sunday against the league’s top scorers we were wide open. The players look just as confused as he is, it’s clearly not working

Bale plugged a hole, what we didn’t know is how many holes he plugged. This ship has hit an iceberg, the stern is in the air and the players are holding on for dear life. We the fans are already bobbing about in the water freezing our nuts off.

There are no life boats coming, we just have to hope a piece of wood without a posh bird on it comes floating past.

L: I trust him, I….

MITM: AVBelieve?

L: Yes, I am a AVBeliever, I trust him, I trust Baldini and I support Spurs, I believe that it can be turned around. I have to.

MITM: Blind faith. Please explain why you believe.

L: The change in ideology, the move towards dominating  football, a brand that isn’t just run around and hope, also we have a bench that matches anything in the Premier League.  He is building a team, he has started building, we can see it, the foundations are there.

MITM: Building from where? The back?

L: You are missing the obvious, the improvements, the fact we come into games with a system and we boast internationals across the team.

MITM: Yet we still lose, and not only that, we lose bad. Defeats to West Ham, Arsenal, Newcastle and now City. These aren’t ordinary defeats. These are a termination, a genocide of a man’s footballing philosophy.

Also we had an international striker, I think you will find he hasn’t been called up by Spain for quite a few months. Those current internationals we do have are out of position, under performing and starting to bicker with each other.

Did you see Vertonghen on Sunday? That was a broken man walking.

L: We just need time to settle, the title was never more than a hope, we are still in the hunt for a CL place.

MITM: Lamela.

L: A class player, the future. Gifted beyond anything we have seen for a while.

MITM: Possibly, but why have a beautiful car if you don’t even have your provisional license? Man U, Liverpool, Southampton away  all to come in the next month. AVP45 . What else do you have to convince me that he is still or ever has been the right man?

L: His success at Porto, last season’s points haul.

MITM: Porto. Porto? A team that was won the Primera Liga 14 times in the last 20 years with 14 different managers?

What exactly did AVB do that was so special other than hang on to a force of momentum started by others and accelerated by the presence of Radamel Falcao, Joao Moutinho, Hulk, Freddy Guarin and countless other players?

L: Last season’s point haul then? He collected the most amount of points in our PL history. He changed Bale from a periphery figure into a central player. The most expensive player in the history of football.

MITM: I agree, but then Bale walked. He had no plan B in place. His points tally meant nothing as we finished 5th and lost Bale. Its like pulling the fittest bird at the Blind Society Disco, whats the point if no one can see you doing it?

Harry finished fourth, he was a missed Robben penalty away from the CL, yet he was cast out as a leper.

AVB because he looks nice, celebrates well and has a bracelet is worshipped like some hipster God. Even the meteoric rise of Townsend had nothing to do with AVB. He rose to prominence under another.

L: You are missing what we are building..

MITM: Which is what?

L: The future, an identity, a seamless system from youth to first team.

MITM: 12 games, 9 goals scored, 12 conceded. We didn’t score a goal in November in the PL. He is finished, we should have sold AVB to PSG and plucked Rudi Garcia.

L: You’re not a projection of my subconscious you are a troll.

MITM: You are right, I am not a projection of your subconscious. You are the projection, not me. You are the foolish part of me, not I of you. Listen to yourself, you are the fantasy, not me.

You are the person standing on the edge of a cliff ready to throw themselves off believing winged virgins will catch you and take you home.

L: That cant be, I sat down here first.

MITM: Really? If you did walk away now, do a different movement to me.

L: I….I….. I…..

MITM: What?

L: I am the real one. I believe.

MITM: Fool, you don’t know anything

L: I know I will never give up hope. You are the bitter darkness of my depression, you are my inner troll, the forum black spirit. I am real its you that is the projection.

<Figure stands up picks up chair and smashes mirror, girlfriend charges in to the room>

Girlfriend: What happened?

Man: Something terrible. It’s over now.

Girlfriend: You know that’s seven years bad luck?

Man: I have had a lifetime.

[author name=”ARLombardi” avatar=”https://si0.twimg.com/profile_images/378800000190788876/b1d0a1120760e39338a815ea5827d7f8.jpeg” bio=”I read, I write, I edit for The Fighting Cock” twitter=”ARLombardi[/linequote]

All views and opinions expressed in this article are the views and opinions of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of The Fighting Cock. We offer a platform for fans to commit their views to text and voice their thoughts. Football is a passionate game and as long as the views stay within the parameters of what is acceptable, we encourage people to write, get involved and share their thoughts on the mighty Tottenham Hotspur.

21 Comments

  1. StevieBlue
    25/11/2013 @ 3:04 pm

    At least you put up a better display than our skint/quiet ne1gh6ours. Don’t forget they had the best manager ever in the world of anything and everything. Plus it was at the swamp, their own ground! Also we’ve beaten them since then to prove it was no fluke.

    Whoever played City on Sunday were on for a hiding for sure. It just turned out to be you. Shame it wasn’t the ‘twitcher’ still in charge.

  2. Spurgatso
    25/11/2013 @ 3:19 pm

    Do you know what, my man in the mirrors been saying that after the first 2 or 3 games under The Barbed Chopped Mumbler,and hes starting to get really bad tempered now.

  3. cakeboy
    25/11/2013 @ 4:01 pm

    Nice way of putting it. I’m afraid I have no faith in AVB, since the beginning the team still show no understanding of each other. They are constantly trying and failing to play the system he wants but it’s costing them their confidence. The current coaching staff are not progressing the team. You can see at Liverpool, Everton, Swansea and Southampton teams that were behind us last season and now there’s an understanding in their play that, it’s obvious came from the training ground. Spurs are getting more mixed up as the season goes on, the players look despondent and down in the mouth. This reminds me of when Ramos was sacked and Redknapp came in, a despondent crowd of players suddenly became a group of winners and triers. Thats what we need, someone like Tim Sherwood to replace the ‘current manager’ and breath new life into the players.

  4. SouthEastSpur
    25/11/2013 @ 4:31 pm

    I really don’t get this whole ‘Get rid of AVB’ nonsense going around at the moment. It’s the same rubbish we all heard from Arsenal at the beginning of the season because they’d lost one game. Now they have the best manager in the world (apparently). Look at the football we played last year. Bale was an an integral part of that for sure, but there were still 10 others on the pitch. For me this season is about time. Would we still be hearing this nonsense if we’d lost 1-0 or 2-0. It’s the backlash of us getting hammered. There are a few strategic frailties in our team, and I don’t think for one moment AVB doesn’t know this. At least the result may open his eyes more-so than if we had lost by one or two. It’s going to take a while to find the right combination of players and getting a fit left back is something that should be high on the agenda rather than playing Vertonghen out of position. This is not Vertonghens best position and AVB knows this, but needs must when no-one else can. My only major bug-bear at the moment is the inverted wingers. Yes it did work, but we’ve been found out. Put the right players on the right wings and get some balls into Soldado, which is what was happening at Valencia last year. Most players are near enough two footed now, so if they want to cut in they should be able to on the wrong foot, or at least square it across. There are no better managers out there at the moment, so why even look. And if by some magic there is, we’re back to square one in having to re-adapt our team, bring in suitable players for the manager and getting the chemistry going. We have the highest amount of possession in the league, which shows that have the talent and the build up play, we just need to adjust the final product.

    • TMWNN
      25/11/2013 @ 5:22 pm

      “Would we still be hearing this nonsense if we’d lost 1-0 or 2-0?”
      You might as well have written ‘Would we still be hearing this nonsense if we’d won?’ We lost 6-0!

      “Look at the football we played last year.”
      I saw it. Most of it was pretty dull except for Bale who singlehandedly won games out of nothing and papered the cracks in AVB’s system.

      “For me this season is about time.”
      The longer we stick with AVB, the worse it’ll get. The players already look like they have lost faith in him.

      “…getting a fit left back is something that should be high on the agenda rather than playing Vertonghen out of position.”
      How have we spent £100m and not have one senior left back at the club going into the season? AVB should have insisted on the club getting one before loaning BAE out.

      “There are no better managers out there at the moment, so why even look.”
      There are many better managers than AVB out there at the moment. Laudrup is one who comes instantly to mind and would most probably jump at the chance to manage this squad of players. It wouldn’t be change for change’s sake; the longer we stick with AVB, the longer it’ll take to sort what is quickly becoming a mess out. We took a massive gamble on someone so young and inexperienced in England. It looks like that gamble is proving a massive fail. Levy and Lewis should also start thinking about handing over the reins to someone more competent than themselves. They continuously keep us in the black, but out the CL despite some of the most expensive tickets in the game.

      • Michael Laudrup
        25/11/2013 @ 8:07 pm

        Absolutely correct on every point other than, possibly, the final one. Levy bought six world class players (plus Chadli) to add to maybe five or six we already had so is it his fault the manager has failed so badly? I guess you will say he appointed the manager and that is true but as long as he now kicks him into touch and makes a new appointment quickly (Laudrup for me) I will forgive him.

      • SouthEastSpur
        26/11/2013 @ 3:05 pm

        Laudrup is no more experienced than AVB. He’s only been managing 10 years and with mediocre teams and has had no English experience (these are the problems you said there were with AVB). The only reason he’s finally getting some recognition as this world class manager is because he’s having a good season. After our season last year we were approached by PSG so this is no different. Also, Laudrup isn’t available, so that’s out of the question.
        I really can’t believe people think that just because we’ve bought 6 or 7 players, we should be suddenly winning the league. This is turning into a Chelsea/Man City fiasco of revolving mangers because they dropped a couple of points. Why can’t we stick with it? He’s been in charge for just over a season, in a season where we had our best ever PL points. 13 games into a new season is hardly a chance is it. He’s obviously building towards something and it’s not going to be overnight. I understand the frustration but it’s just lunacy and knee-jerking reaction.

        • Michael Laudrup
          26/11/2013 @ 5:22 pm

          The problem with AVB runs far deeper than the ones you list as it’s his “style” of play (or lack of it!) that does it for me. He is a joke. Dawson and Kaboul should never be paired together as too similar with no one to sweep up. Giving Lamela his first start away at Man City was also foolish. Passing back to our keeper from the kick-off is plain baffling as presumably the plan was then to hit the half way line with a high kick (thus becomes a 50:50 ball) even though that’s we had started and with possession. Inverted wingers, not knowing when to play Sandro (West Ham, Chelsea, Newcastle), isolating Soldado, playing Naughton, playing the cheat Dembele, etc etc the list is endless. As for Man City and Chelsea, they spent £100M and, er, won the league!! (hardly a fiasco). As for giving him time as “it’s not going to happen overnight” you have to be kidding? Overnight, he’s been for 18 months and we are going backwards. As for who to get in, no quality manager is going to be “available” (All Very Boring was and look at the utter mess he has made) so what you do is go and get one and make them available. Laudrup awaits the call…

          • SouthEastSpur
            26/11/2013 @ 11:23 pm

            “Chelsea and Man City spending £100m and win the league”?! Man City only one the League 18 months ago and spent waaaaay beyond that. They were bought out in 2008 and won the league 4 seasons later! With a new manager and all that money it still took 4 years. I completely understand people jumping on the Laudrup bandwagon, but bear in mind that they are still 5 points behind us. Please don’t get me wrong, I’m really not happy with our current displays and things need changing, but getting rid of AVB is not the answer. Surely it would be starting all over again. More transitional phases, more players moving in and out & more time we can’t afford to waste. If by the last quater of the season nothing as changed then I will admit defeat. There is no way we can carry on as we are so AVB can only change things. Look at Moyes. Not one person said he wasn’t the man for the Job at United and look how that’s currently going. Luckily for him, he has 2 world beaters upfront.

    • Ffiladeys
      29/11/2013 @ 12:44 pm

      “Would we still be hearing this nonsense if we’d lost 1-0 or 2-0?”

      Maaan does this line make my blood boil. I AM THANKFUL we lost 6-0 instead of 2-0. Why? So AVB can finally admit the team was crap. If we only lost 2-0 we would hear the same rubbish after every game “we were close, but the better team won”, “team needs time”, “we can take positives from this game”, “freak accident”, “decisions didn’t go our way”, *random statistics* The truth is, the players looked confused. Every. Single. Game. Nothing is working. Goals are not being scored and we are sooooo predicable. and it’s allll okay because statistically we’re awesome. Unbelievable how oblivious some people are.

  5. Smudger14
    25/11/2013 @ 6:03 pm

    I can relate to what the majority are saying because I want to see good football . Not sure about the inverted wingers being the problem I have been saying it all season there is no forward movement from the midfield we seem to stay level with the player with the ball and even if we had messi with no support he would be marked out of the game . The midfielders need to make the runs to make the space so whoever has the ball has options to pass forward to. COYS

  6. David Patten
    25/11/2013 @ 8:20 pm

    We had a jewel in Bale, didn’t we? Truly world class. That he carried the team and almost single-handedly got us CL is not debatable. You simply don’t replace a player like that. It leaves a gaping hole. And getting 7 new players doesn’t necessarily fill the hole, as we can see. Of course it’s true that chemistry takes time, but an excellent manager quickly figures out the BEST 11 and the BEST system to play them in. A season isn’t an exercise in trial and error, unless you’re OK with finishing 12th and waiting for next year. By now he should’ve established his best 11 and STUCK with it each time. That’s what a high quality manager would have done. In addition, such a manager would have provided adequate cover for LB prior to the season, and also known that Soldado needs a partner. The Europa groups suck the life out of squads. So, play the SAME 11 in those games (second string players) and don’t have your PL 11 even bother traveling. Chemistry aside, the current squad (with the exception of Walker, Dawson, Naughton, Chadli) has an abundance of top level talent available. If you are unable to organize, man manage, and sufficiently motivate such a group, perhaps you’re just not the right level of manager for the job.

    • Spurs Youth
      25/11/2013 @ 8:59 pm

      Bale ‘single handedly got us CL’… someone clearly has no memory whatsoever of the 2009/10 season…

      • David Patten
        25/11/2013 @ 9:52 pm

        You misquoted me. Go back and reread it accurately. You should check your comments for accuracy before pressing Submit…

  7. Chiang
    25/11/2013 @ 9:32 pm

    Do not despise the snake for having no horns, for who can say he may turn into a dragon.

  8. Paul
    25/11/2013 @ 11:18 pm

    Although it may not sound long enough but I backed AVB all last season accepting the obvious mistakes. What is frustrating is that he doesn’t seem to have learned from previous mistakes, slowness to react in a game and afraid to make changes. Last season he changed formation when adebayor up front clearly didn’t work but it was delayed and we will prob see 2 up front again. Early draws against teams we should have beaten cost us a place in CL. The same problems again this year although we sneaked a couple if wins which made things look better than it was. Eriksen for me has to play every PL game as creative class is beyond gge rest but needs to play as looks like he is lacking confidence like most midfielders where possession is the goal. Constantly playing Townsend and other on opposite wings doesn’t work due to easy to defend against, inability to play the hard pass through and lack of movement from midfielders and soldado. Home games v man utd, Liverpool and west ham along with easier away games will tell how this story ends as I think levys patience will run out and I don’t see the improvement coming!

  9. James
    26/11/2013 @ 6:18 am

    Disclosure: I am a Chelsea fan.

    AVB is a stickler for his ‘philosophy’, maybe it’s the brashness or inexperience of his youth. His ‘high line’ obsession during his stint at Chelsea almost destroyed the team.

    Here are some observances:

    1) Soldado thrives on crosses, and the only person competent of supplying those on a consistent level is Townsend. Forget about Lennon, he’s only good at flapping his arms like a chicken while dribbling straight into a defender.

    2) Not sure why Huddlestone was sold and Paulinho was bought. Against the likes of Yaya Toure, you need a steadying, physical presence in the midfield, otherwise everyone gets steamrolled.

    3) Lamela should play in the #10 position, central just behind the striker.

    4) Other than Vertonghen, Spurs needs better defenders. Which brings me to the next point…

    5) Vertonghen should keep his temper in check. It’s one thing to be competitive/passionate, it’s another to be a card magnet.

    Good luck for the match against Man Utd. I’ll be rooting for a draw. ;p

  10. Windy
    26/11/2013 @ 7:53 am

    Blatant “I’ve got a girlfriend” post.

    • arlombardi
      26/11/2013 @ 10:42 am

      LOL, in this fantasy she resembles Natalie Portman and adheres to all my demands.

  11. GD
    26/11/2013 @ 11:55 am

    Why blame AVB? Why not Levi his name was all over the papers when players were being signed is it not more a case of Chairman and Manager not working well together?

  12. David Patten
    26/11/2013 @ 4:29 pm

    How about this scenario: Levy tells Madrid to fuck off; tells Bale he’s under contract and can’t just sulk and force a move. He then brings in Paulinho, Capoue, Eriksen, and Soldado anyway (apparently Joe Lewis has an open chequebook now). Think this team would still be misfiring in 9th? I don’t think so…

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