Hopes and fears for AVB’s first 2nd season

'Follow' e-Spurs on Twitter here!

Article by Michael Halepas (UK)

So the new football season has arrived and after a nice long summer recess the batteries are recharged and business resumes again this weekend. Not only will TV sets around the planet be tuned in to matches being played in the Premier League but punters will be making last minute bets on what they expect from the upcoming season.

Rewind the clock 12 months and a good number of Arsenal fans would have told you that they had found the perfect bet. A bet that was sure to pay out – AVB to be first Premier League manager given the boot.

In reality, that was only ever going to be a misguided bet as many of those football experts found to their detriment. After all, AVB had shown glimmers of potential in a relatively short managerial career. There are worse apprenticeships in world football than his.

Long before this managerial career, back in the early 1990’s the late and great Sir Bobby Robson was manager of Porto. The story goes that a young Porto fan living in the same apartment building as Sir Bobby wrote him a letter and slipped it under his door. Contained within that correspondence were the suggestions on where the team could be improved tactically.

So impressed was Sir Bobby with the thoughts expressed on paper that he got in touch with his neighbour’s son and took him under his wing, guiding him on to begin a career in football coaching.

Fans’ letters to managers and coaches were and are nothing new but very rarely does a letter to a coach cause so much interest. AVB has shown as an adult what Sir Bobby saw in a 16 year old Portuguese lad almost 20 years ago. Unlike the dinosaur, journeymen managers that appear to litter the football leagues AVB is one of the new school. Without question a man in love with the game willing to study every angle and make his team his obsession. The guy does not appear to ever switch off from work mode.

The last couple of months have given him an opportunity to do something he has never before done in his professional managerial career – to have a whole summer to prepare a team for a second season.

The thought that AVB will have been working tirelessly to stamp his tactical approach on to the Spurs squad over the summer as well as moulding (with the help of a revolving door) that squad to best suit his tactics is an exciting one. Few would say this time around that AVB has no idea what he’s doing and over the course of last season he silenced a great many critics.

It should be no surprise that John Terry’s judgement of another human being be so badly wrong but how many managers are able to cause such a turnaround in public opinion in such a short space of time?

AVB is now regarded as an accomplished and dedicated football coach. If not publicly by Arsenal fans then at least by a better player than any in the Arsenal squad (Bale) and a little known team in Spain (Real Madrid) who circled prior to the appointment of Carlo Ancelotti as manager.

This article is not intended as THFC propaganda however. There is a lot of room for improvement at Spurs and the squad is still a way off from the finished article if the ambition is to challenge with the best over a 38 game league season.

Now would be as good a time as any to take a general look at the good and bad at Spurs.

It is easy to get carried away with assessing your club’s potential to finish higher than all the others but I will try to be as objective as possible.

What AVB has done in a 12 month period is improve this team’s match-day performances. He has been gradually indoctrinating his players to his way of thinking. For the first time in a while (certainly for the first time a lot of the younger generation are aware of) a Spurs team plays ‘smart’ football. On the whole, keeping possession of a football, being patient with and without the ball and not panicking when the team is trailing and the clock is ticking down.

As inexperienced as AVB is compared with other managers who’ve been in the profession far longer he has brought about a playing style that so many others before him did not. AVB realises what should be the norm – that a team should press and defend as a unit – that patiently keeping the ball and playing your game is more likely to turn 0 points to 1 point than losing your heads and having Dawson and Co lump the long ball forward hoping for the ball to fall to someone who might find the back of the net.

That way of playing is outdated and has plagued the English game from grass roots for too long. AVB also recognises that which Harry Redknapp did not – that the modern game is about squads not starting XIs. Rotation is key over the course of a season.

His preference when the team has possession is to pass the ball to the man in space and to pick out the killer pass when the opportunity presents itself. He does not approve of rushing in a sport where matches last at least 90 minutes and it only takes a second to create a goal scoring chance. His teams take advantage of wide men and punish opposing teams with lightning-fast breakaway attacks.

There are worse approaches to playing styles in modern football than that.

We can only hope that over the course of last season and this summer that mentality has become ingrained in the minds of the players. If the team can continue its upward trajectory then things don’t look too bad.

The concerns? That football is not so straightforward. How ever good a starting XI is, time and time again we are reminded that injuries happen. They also have a knack of being suffered by your best players at the worst of times. By their very nature injuries don’t often announce their arrival until it’s too late to avoid them. Players need rotating and there will be times when squad players fill in for established first team regulars.

 

Strikers

We all know Spurs need another top quality striker so no need to spend any time on the forwards. The only hope is that at least one more forward is purchased and that our chances:goals ratio is improved upon

Midfield

THFC now boasts a host of precocious midfielders each with their own unique style. The reason this is a smart move? AVB realises that the game is won and lost in midfield.

The opposition changes each week. This weekend we might be playing against a rigid 4 in midfield, the next weekend we might be up against a more fluid and pacey midfield. Our team therefore needs plenty of options in midfield so that the different threats can be dealt with appropriately each week.

The manager to excel at this for such a long time? Sir Alex Ferguson. If your midfield hardly ever changes from week to week (as with Harry Redknapp’s) then you become predictable as well as drained. If on the other hand, you have a varied group of midfielders each with their own specialties, it becomes easier to swap and change your midfield to better achieve the particular goals for that week.

 

Defence

Turning to AVB’s defence – the squad is slightly lighter on the ground than you’d hope them to be. Michael Dawson is now an experienced and solid centre-half having stepped up his game last season. Younes Kaboul’s middle name might as well be ‘Beast’ given the way he dominates so many highly rated forwards. His return to the team having gone the whole of last season without him is as good as a new signing.

Jan Vertonghen was one of the buys of last season. Capable of playing either at centre-half or at left back. A calm headed, solid, graceful and intelligent player. It shows that he learnt to play football at the Ajax Academy. As much as Spurs fans might wish otherwise, these players will not avoid injury this season. Another player comfortable playing centre-half is needed (unless Etienne Capoue is that cover).

The weakness for Spurs (which will be highlighted by opposing teams) is the full-back area. As with any team that pushes its full backs forward the gaps behind them will be exploited but the sooner BAE leaves the better. Danny Rose is the promising youngster who has come on leaps and bounds over the last few seasons. What he lacks in experience he surely makes up for in potential. Again however, cover and another option is needed at left back. That cover is either Jan Vertonghen or another left-back.

The bigger concern at the back is at right full-back. Kyle Walker is the only recognised right back with any real playing time under his belt. As he showed against Scotland in midweek, he is not the best defensively. He does just happen to be one of the fastest players in the league which is never a detriment when playing a position that involves marking wingers. When the team is taking a corner kick it is also reassuring knowing that Kyle Walker has stayed behind and is sitting on the centre spot just in case there is a breakaway.

His attacking game can be vastly improved but that really isn’t the priority given the other concerns. The difficulty is that he showed us last season that he has a lot to learn. His habit of losing concentration and being that little bit too laid back for a defender cost us points last season. That has got to be cut out this coming season.

I had wanted to avoid mentioning the game at Anfield but Kyle (and JD) have ensured that the flashbacks of that catastrophic collapse will be with me for a while to come.

It would be hard to argue against the suggestion that he is a tad arrogant and takes his starting place for granted. What would be easy to agree with is the notion that Kyle returned from loan a season or two early. This is not a call for Kyle to be sacked. Far from it.

If Kyle Walker can improve the defensive side of his game there is nothing to stop him going on to become one of the best right backs in Europe but he cannot rely on pace alone to get him there. Remember that Gary Neville did the same job without any pace!

The other point, rather than criticism, that should be highlighted is that teams have spotted another area to be exploited. Look out for this one:

When opposing teams are attacking down our left side (so running towards BAE) very frequently they are happy to aim a cross towards the far post where their big man striker is lurking over the shoulder of a panicky Kyle Walker. Again, that is not an overt criticism of the player. My pants would definitely be in need of washing if I had Demba Ba, Robin Van Persie, Edin Dzeko doing that to me. That is something for AVB is work on and perhaps the right centre-half can help him out a bit there. Regardless, Kyle is going to have to work on dealing with that better himself because that problem is not going to go away.

So, overall there is reason for hope this season. The Spurs team that starts against Crystal Palace will be almost unrecognisable to the team that started Harry Redknapp’s first game in charge and boasts one of the best goalkeepers in Europe. While there is cause for some trepidation - in AVB we trust.

The season has not been written yet but perhaps one thing is for sure. Putting your hard earned money on AVB to be the first managerial casualty of the season is a more ill-advised investment than it was 12 months ago.

COYS!

 

Comment on this article below.

Other e-Football Sites:

e-Football:
Site - www.efootballnet.blogspot.com
Twitter Feed - www.twitter.com/e_footballnet
Facebook Page - www.facebook.com/pages/E-football/529821593719736
Forum - www.e-football.freeforums.net

e-Spurs:
Site - www.espurs.blogspot.com
Twitter Feed - www.twitter.com/e_spurs
Facebook Page - www.facebook.com/pages/ESPURS/164631843709508

e-Manchester United:
Twitter Feed - www.twitter.com/e_ManchesterUnited
Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/pages/e-Manchester-United/202927566530790

e-Arsenal:
Twitter Feed - www.twitter.com/e_arsenalnet

e-Crystal Palace:
Twitter Feed - www.twitter.com/e_crystalpalace

e-Middlesbrough:
Twitter Feed - www.twitter.com/e_middlesbrough

e-Ajax:
Twitter Feed - www.twitter.com/e_ajax

e-Eredivisie
Twitter Feed - wwwtwitter.com/e_eredivisie

e-Ligat Ha'Al:
Twitter Feed - www.twitter.com/e_ligat_HaAl

e-La Liga:

Twitter Feed - www.twitter.com/e_LaLiga

Share on Google Plus