Glory vs. winning

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People just don't have patience. We are only nine games into this campaign, sitting pretty and just 3points off the top spot.

We have tried the swashbuckling stuff and it has got us nowhere in the league. What we are doing is not pretty but it is effective. Every successful club ever in history has had a tight defence. You sort that first. Once that is done you can then start improving other aspects.

The moaners can moan all they want but I want us to actually win things. Which is tough when you consider how skewed the league is. If it means we have to grind out results for this and next season then its a small price to pay if we can emulate what the scum did under gg.

If we were struggling I would still want avb given 2 more seasons at least. We need stability and structure.

Its typical spurs to turn against each other when actually we are doing well.
 
To go back to the original point of this post (about three pages ago .... good grief guys, some of you don't half go on), when I started supporting Spurs, football was a much different game than it is now. We definitely had a reputation of playing attractive football, but totally inconsistent. We were a good 'cup' side and we seemed to revel in that belief, to the point of being a bit smug about it... we would rather lose than play boring football. I was quite happy to go along with that, still basking in tradition rather than reality. We even seemed to turn relegation into a sort of success by bouncing back first time, attracting huge crowds, playing some fantastic football, and then nearly blowing it right at the end, but we got promotion, scraping by on goal difference. If you go back to the two Cup wins in 1981 and 1982, the Man City final had absolutely everything, and everyone remembers Stevie's face when he picked up the Cup - but if you look at his reaction when picking it up in 1982, he looked a bit embarrassed as we didn't play that well and its as if we didn't deserve it. 1987 was another year where we played some exquisite football - first time we tried a pioneering system of a five man midfield and a lone striker- but had absolutely nothing to show for it at the end of it. I also remember Ossie's short lived managerial career at WHL, exciting yes but enjoyable no. It would be truly Utopia if we could win and win with stylish football, but I'm now of the opinion that a win is a win is a win - three points are the be all of this and future campaigns. Maybe, once we get used to winning and have confidence that we can hold a lead, we may lose our inhibitions and start stuffing teams. But until then, let us stop moaning that we are only winning games by the odd goal or penalty - last season we didn't get 1!! Other teams and their supporters don't apologise for winning - why should we?
 
I like free flowing attacking football. And I like air tight defences that keep clean sheets. But which is best? There's only one way to find out...
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Audere said:
People just don't have patience. .
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This a million times over

We have some proper young flair players but they are not currently at VDV or Modric level

If everyone got behind the team and showed massive positive support they'd settle/adapt quicker

There's just to many twats who think AVB should beable to slot in Holtby and Eriksen and they hit the ground running like Modric and VDV in there prime

Modders took a good season or season and a half to really start showing his worth

We have some serious talent in our ranks but we've went through alot of changes in a short period of time and have alot of younger players.

If you can't go to WHL and show positive support for 90 minutes and really try to spur the team on then you'd be better off saving your money and staying at home or jus going to the pub, the team would be too.
 
Hazza said:
What happens is that the man receiving the ball usually has to take a touch (or two), often not a good touch, then looks up to find an option, doesn't see anything so he rolls it backwards or sideways just to keep possession and hands over responsibility to someone else, then stands around waiting for something to happen.
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Which is very frustrating to watch, and boils down emotionally to "boring unimaginative football". More passing options would open up if only the hand off was followed up by a bit of movement, but I suspect that this has something to do with AVBs training and match tactics.

Hazza said:
Ideally, the man receiving the ball already knows what his next move is before the ball has even reached his feet, then his first touch is perfect so he either controls it and creates a bit of space for himself, or he instantly releases it for a runner who is already moving into a space in front, and then he moves into another space so making himself available to receive the next pass. If we have this kind of quick passing and movement then we would stretch the opposition defence and make them lose their formation.
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I cannot remember the exact quote or where I read it, but the methodology involved included training the players to receive balls under pressure repetitively, such that the control and redistribution mechanisms become instinctive or "muscle-memory", thus releasing the players to fully focus on strategic flow instead of ball retention.

Hazza said:
Playing the high line and making the pitch compact is fine, but then within that compacted area you have to use every blade of grass (including all the wide areas) as a highly coordinated unit and force mistakes from the opposition. And that is what takes time to create and perfect, and it maybe that we still need to make further alterations to the squad before we reach that point.
And equally as important is getting back behind the ball when possession is lost, which I also think we don't always do well enough.
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I believe I can see (perhaps I'm seeing what I want to see) AVBs hand in evolving this type of play. I believe both he and the players attempted to bite off more than they could chew against WHU, and tuned this back against Hull in compensation. Hopefully they'll find a way to re-tune the balance favourably for tomorrow's game.
 
I dont understand the neagtivity 9 games into the season (esepcially given our position).
Last season was all about consolidation, not dropping back. And I think it was a reasonable season in that respect, dropped to 5th but made strides in away performances and consistency and lost out by the smallest of margins. It was always a compromise season though.

This season AVB has been able to really mold the squad as he see's fit, and honestly I think its the best Spurs squad Ive seen in my time as a fan. Thats really exciting IMO.

After 9 games does anyone actually suppose we are operating at 100%? Is this "as good as it gets" with AVB? Or is there more to come?

For me there is obviously more to come, and given the foundation we have now, if the penny drops and we start scoring more freely we will be one of the best teams in the league IMHO. After only 9 games Im willing to leave the "AVB doesnt know what he is doing" talk to one side and simply give him/them some time to get it right.

If we are still here in March playing the same way then Ill begin to lose patience, progress needs to be made. It can never be instant though, just doesnt work like that.

Which is why I find it frankly bizarre there are people so vehemently against him and what he is doing. We are 9 games into a season witha substantially changed team, in both personell and style, and people are expecting free flowing winning football....:paulinhofacepalm:

I wanted Redknapp out, when he went I had wanted him out for a little while - but I didnt hold that opinion at the beginning of his second season FFS!
 
Yorkshire_Spurs said:
:lloris::dawsonmean::vert::walkercry:

What game was this guy watching? (I'm aware you are quoting someone :adebaehug:)
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We had 61% possession against West Ham.

And heres another little stat from that game West Ham had the fewest touches in the opposition half of any Premier League team that weekend.
 
Eskimo said:
We had 61% possession against West Ham.

And heres another little stat from that game West Ham had the fewest touches in the opposition half of any Premier League team that weekend.
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Possession and defending don't seem to be an issue in general.

Scoring and creating clear cut chances are.

But hey. 4th place so :freundgoal:
 
Lister said:
I dont understand the neagtivity 9 games into the season (esepcially given our position).
Last season was all about consolidation, not dropping back. And I think it was a reasonable season in that respect, dropped to 5th but made strides in away performances and consistency and lost out by the smallest of margins. It was always a compromise season though.

This season AVB has been able to really mold the squad as he see's fit, and honestly I think its the best Spurs squad Ive seen in my time as a fan. Thats really exciting IMO.

After 9 games does anyone actually suppose we are operating at 100%? Is this "as good as it gets" with AVB? Or is there more to come?

For me there is obviously more to come, and given the foundation we have now, if the penny drops and we start scoring more freely we will be one of the best teams in the league IMHO. After only 9 games Im willing to leave the "AVB doesnt know what he is doing" talk to one side and simply give him/them some time to get it right.

If we are still here in March playing the same way then Ill begin to lose patience, progress needs to be made. It can never be instant though, just doesnt work like that.

Which is why I find it frankly bizarre there are people so vehemently against him and what he is doing. We are 9 games into a season witha substantially changed team, in both personell and style, and people are expecting free flowing winning football....:paulinhofacepalm:

I wanted Redknapp out, when he went I had wanted him out for a little while - but I didnt hold that opinion at the beginning of his second season FFS!
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Oh look, someone said Redknapp
 
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