Ross Kester questions AVB, the tactics, the board, the signings and the role of Franco Baldini. It should have been so simple, yet once again we wake up to another false dawn.
Season Over By Christmas
Well it’s just over 24 hours since the worst display by a Spurs side at home I’ve ever witnessed. The dust has settled, the boots are clean and the manager is gone. I’ve had time to calm down and think clearly about what’s gone wrong. So, whose to blame? Where do I begin? Let’s start with AVB.
Were you ever really good enough? I wanted to like you, I really did but you made it so hard. We all know that last year Gareth Bale saved our season. He papered over the cracks, and to be honest I don’t blame you for that. The Chairman didn’t really give you the funds to start rebuilding even after we lost Luka Modric.
This year though, what happened? Were these your signings?
If yes, why then did you play a system that didn’t suit any of them?
We have potentially a great striker in Roberto Soldado who is being starved of chances, because we don’t play with wingers who get crosses in. Why play such slow ball and why did you never seem to have a “plan b” when things didn’t go according to plan?
Forgive me, but I just don’t think you had it in you. You started Sunday with a left back on the bench and a decidedly poor right back in his place. Zeki Fryers could have been playing since Rose got injured and you could have had Jan Vertonghen at the heart of the defence where he is so good.
[authquoteleft text=” Roberto Soldado who is being starved of chances, because we don’t play with wingers who get crosses in[/linequote]
Suddenly, despite shining for England, Andros Townsend is reduced to playing in the Europa League for no apparent reason. The young Englishman has been the one player this year that has been willing to run at defenders and cross balls, yet suddenly from being a starter, he has become a bit part player. Why?
Why is Nacer Chadli, who has done nothing to warrant his place in the team ahead of Townsend?
Why have you continued to play Michael Dawson this year? Don’t get me wrong I love Dawson, he is a true blood and guts defender, but lets be honest, he isn’t good enough and certainly isn’t fast enough. We’ve always known he needs a senior player alongside him, whether it was Ledley King, Vertonghen or Younes Kaboul.
Also why oh why do we have to play with one striker? Football isn’t a complicated game. When we have two wingers with pace who can run at defenders, play them on their wings and play with two strikers up front.
[linequote]I love Dawson, he is a true blood and guts defender, but lets be honest, he isn’t good enough and certainly isn’t fast enough[/linequote]
Another question that is nagging me is what role has the Board played in this mess? Liverpool didn’t want to sell Luis Suarez, so they didn’t. Now look at how they have prospered despite having a player “desperate” to leave them. Why are we forever bending to the whim of Real Madrid or any other team flashing the cash?
Stand up and be counted. Daniel Levy has done some great things for this club, but he has continually got the fundamentals wrong. In football the fundamentals are the team.
When we qualified for the Champions League under Harry Redknapp that was the time to invest in a striker. No-one was saying go out and do a Leeds United, but you had to buy a striker to supplement the team. For the last five years we have been crying out for strikers at this club, but none came. We had an abundance of defenders (with left back being the exception), even more midfielders but the one area the Board have failed to really look at is up top.
Goals win games and get you into the Champions League. Occasionally one comes in, as per Soldado, but only when another goes out, so the net numbers remain the same. When I think back to a few years ago when we were pushing for fourth again, we sold Roman Pavlyuchenko without bringing in someone else. Now I’m not saying Pav was world class but his goal record was up there and he knew where the back of the net was. His goals could have taken us into the Champions League that year, instead it was the usual Spurs heartache.
[authquoteright text=”Football isn’t a complicated game. When we have two wingers with pace who can run at defenders, play them on their wings and play with two strikers up front[/linequote]
Now, everyone is starting to question whether the summer signings were AVB’s or Franco Bandini’s and the truth is no-one will ever know. However what is clear is that once again Levy is presiding over something that resembles a complete mess.
There are good players at Spurs, not world class, but good and certainly good enough to put up a better fight against City and Liverpool (not to mention Newcastle and West Ham). How many more times will Levy do this? He has to take some of the blame for this, no two ways about it.
Let’s just hope someone comes in soon and turns things around for us before the season really is over.
[author name=”Ross Kester” avatar= “https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/2153900118/image_bigger.jpg” twitter=”rosskester” website=”http://hesonlygotoneknee.wordpress.com/[/linequote]
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16 Comments
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17/12/2013 @ 1:02 pm
“Andros Townsend […] has been the one player this year that has been willing to run at defenders and cross balls”.
When does he ever cross a ball?!
17/12/2013 @ 1:27 pm
As soon as he came on on Sunday!!!!!!!!!!!
17/12/2013 @ 5:02 pm
his biggest problem has been his desperate need to shoot from range – even though most are awful, and not playing in his team-mates.
think he looked better on the left (stopped him cutting inside as much) and hope this is where we see him in future (or someone gets him to stop shooting when he cuts inside and try passing to a team-mate).
17/12/2013 @ 10:13 pm
That’s the point. Get him on the left so he can cross balls in to the striker, whether it’s Soldado or Defoe
17/12/2013 @ 1:14 pm
Very few winning teams play 4-4-2 these days so you can’t blame AVB for playing with a single striker otherwise we would be completely over run in midfield. AVB may have over complicated matters tactically but IMO it has been our lack of pace & creative play in midfield that has been most disappointing this season and lost ultimately lost him his job
17/12/2013 @ 5:26 pm
….remind me, who picked Dembele?
17/12/2013 @ 10:15 pm
One striker only really works with the right players though and we clearly don’t have them. What we have are potentially two great finishers who never played together and individually have been pretty starved of chances throughout the season.
17/12/2013 @ 1:40 pm
The tactics are AVB’s responsibility. You can’t fault him playing Dawson when he is the last fit CB, you can fault him for persisting with a high line defense when Dawson is the only true CB.
17/12/2013 @ 10:20 pm
He could have dropped him earlier in the season though when Chicheres and Jan were fit and tried Fryers at left back. I love the man, but he’s just not good enough. How many of us knew Aguero would have a field day against Daws last month?
17/12/2013 @ 2:57 pm
Andre Villas-Boas – Mar 2013 : “We are on an upward spiral in terms of confidence and they (Arsenal) are on a negative spiral in terms of results. To get out of that negative spiral is extremely difficult.”
17/12/2013 @ 3:52 pm
To be fair, there wasn’t much AVB could do. Not even Mourinho or Fergie or Arry could have done anything when the football club is run by the clowns Levy and Baldini.
Letting go of Modric and Bale without competent replacements, using a scattershot method to sign players over the summer… these aren’t really AVB’s fault.
17/12/2013 @ 4:27 pm
Yep it really would be interesting to understand how many of the 7 new signings were AVBs choice …. Not that that will negate his poor choice of tactics with the players at his disposal ….but that big an overhaul in player personnel was always going to be a challenge.
17/12/2013 @ 10:18 pm
Completely agree about Modric. Potentially he and VDV were bigger losses to us than even Bale. Criminal not to replace them. I have faith Erikkson will come good – if he’s given a run of games though.
19/12/2013 @ 3:00 am
Your talking rubbish mate.
Arsenal have sold their best players for several years without spending fuck all. You spent near enough every penny of Bales fee on new players. Whilst spending fuck all and losing their best players to rival teams (not even abroad ) they have finished top four.
Answer that if you can ?
17/12/2013 @ 8:00 pm
No mention here of Lamela. What a criminal waste keeping this boy on the bench all the time. An utter joke. Perhaps the new guy will put him on the pitch where he belongs.
19/12/2013 @ 3:03 am
Lamela who ??
Baldini stiched you up, his very average. Even by you tube clips he looks average. Your an amateur and naive club. Get rid of Levy and you may see something. Lewis wants to sell but the joke is nobody wants to buy. Spurs are forever limited.