Agreed!!

Still fully behind the Ginger beard man though

He's a bit like a deer caught in head lights ATM, but I fully expect him to jump to safety just before he gets hit

I agree grand, we look like spurs under ramos and gross combined.

I thought we played well in periods. The reason this loss is hard to accept is down to this - we held our own for a long time but lost anyway. I expected to lose this game so to come within a whisker of taking some points back perhaps exceeds most people's expectations.

Yes I agree with you Grandspurs. I want AVB to succeed at Spurs, I really do, but his team formation and substitutions had me scratching my head (like many Spurs were). We just looked so poor. Ok we had players injured but at least make the best of what you got, yesterday we barely strung the passes that have made us known as a good footballing team.

It's as if our philosophy was to just sit back and defend and try and attack when possible. It never worked against a City side that are not exactly playing lovely football and look weaker than last season! AVB needs to revert back to 4-4-2, I really would rather us give it our all and risk losing than use the negative tactics and lose.

I really would rather us give it our all and risk losing than use the negative tactics and lose.

-----

this for me....loose the games by going for it...trying to win them....

we are just not a club/group of players that can play to hold on to what we have....

so...either change...and be positive....or you gotta coach that attitude/style into them.

you may not like him....but our club is crying out for leaders/attitudes like john terry.

You should probably judge him when we have a full compliment of players available, we are missing arguably our best CB and best CM (Dembele),also BAE and Parker, who were important players for us last season. It didn't help that Levy took the money for both Modric and VDV and didn't buy the striker we desperately craved, but jumping on the bandwagon after 11 games seems a bit stupid - we all knew it would take time for AVB to get his own team together so that's what we should give him, it's not like we're 17th in the league staring relegation in the face.
This season will be transition imo

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

no bandwagon kev....just saying what i think he's getting wrong....

Junction8 I think we miss the leadership skills of Ledley, but then I think Dembele is that leader kind of guy that we are missing at the moment.

Kevros, I totally agree we are missing key players and of course that makes a difference. But that doesnt mean that without a few key players we just sit back and play negative. There was nothing stopping us from giving it our all with a more attack minded 4-4-2 yesterday. We could have played Defoe n Ade right from the start. AVB could have introduced Tom Carroll later in the game as well. He had a very good game against Maribor on Wednesday and yes many will argue it was against weak opposition, but the boy was full of confidence and his passing was, IMO, better than big Tommy's. Instead, it seemed like it was the mentality of "Man City are much better than Tottenham so lets just sit back and defend and hope for the best". Man City are NOT miles better than us. We were only points behind them in the league and their league form has been ok, their Champions League form has been atrocious. So we could have easily attacked them full on and unbalanced them right from the start. Instead we gave them so much confidence that we looked like the scared, weak opposition at times. This is NOT the Spurs we have been seeing of the last few years. Last season when we played City at the Etihad, they were favourites pre-match and they were playing great football, but we played with such fight that we could have won that match. None of that was evident yesterday, I like AVB but he needs to stop this over-cautious attitude that is costing us points.

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

I like AVB but he needs to stop this over-cautious attitude that is costing us points.

------------------------------------------------------------

I 100% agree with this, i just think we need to give him a bit of time to get important players back for us and see what happens. It didn't help with Levy replacing VDV with Dempsey who was completely anonimous yesterday! I would have liked to see 4-4-2 with Defoe and Ade yesterday but if we'd have lost 5-0 because of it he would have been slated. He NEEDS to start playing 4-4-2 at home though sooner rather than later.

Kevros great points mate

I would love for AVB to succeed at Spurs and absolutely he needs time, especially with key players returning in the future. I just wanna see more positive football from us, we have such a talented squad that we are capable of beating anyone on our day.

Kevros

I already pointed out it was not about the result it was about the performance and I know everybody is saying "they are the champions what do you expect" but Wigan were not champions and our performance there was just as dreadful.

Grandspurs - No excuses for the Wigan game, the only person to turn up on the day was Friedel, and without him we would have been beaten by more than we did. Once we have a fully fit starting eleven that can play a few games in succession then i think we'll see results and performances picking up

BaLennon

No we played like poo. It annoys me that we have these players yet create very little. When it comes to counter attacks we never make the most of them with our pace, they always disintegrate into nothingness.

Not enough ambition overall, and not enough concentration at the back.

To be fair to AVB, we have played much better away from home this season. Having said that and however great the win at OT was, we could just as easily have lost that game 5-3. We did exactly what we did then, yesterday, and just sat back. You will lose 90% of football matches if you don't pass the ball well, keep giving it away and fail to ease the pressure on your back four and midfield by not attacking yourselves. Now, if you're trying to do this with Ethrington, Davis, Mido and Brown in your side as we were some 7-8 years ago, you may as well give up and go home. But there's no excuse not to have a go against anyone away from home with Adebayor, Bale and Lennon in your side. I may have been tempted to play Ade where Dempsey was and play Defoe in a 4-5-1 or 4-4-1-1, but hey, hindsight is easy.

I don't know what happened to Bale, Lennon and Dempsey esp, but going to the home of the Champions was always going to be difficult. Doing it with 3 players way under par and Huddlestone looking like he was running through treacle made it impossible. I may have brought on Defoe and played Ade in the Demsey role and given Falque a run out with 30 mins left but otherwise, AVB's tactics were spot on, just some of the personnel that didn't show up. If we'd won yesterday, that would have been the first time in Premiership history that we'd have won 4 away league games on the bounce.

It's at home where AVB is really struggling. We have to play 4-4-2 against everyone bar the Manchester clubs and move the ball forward and to feet much quicker than we are doing. Get the full backs pushing right up and attack much quicker than we are doing. Playing the ball backwards and forwards between midfield and defence means we are constantly playing against 11 men behind the ball. When we break away from home we quite often create a number of 2 on 2 or 3 on 2 situations. We even did yesterday. That never happens at WHL at the moment.

It's at home where AVB is really struggling. We have to play 4-4-2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sorry but I disagree I have never been in favour of adapting your tactics to suit your opposition. Play your way and let them worry about you is my motto.

A few years ago we played chelsea in a league cup final. We played 4-4-2 (with lesser players than we have now) we played our way from the start (and they were a damned good side at the time) we ran out winners as everybody will remember.

Thats the way football should be played.

Good point Grand.

Hope you're well

N5

I am as well as the form of THFC will allow