A good post by HABD on the forum: Boring Boring Tottenham Hotpsur A provocative title, but having suffered through the last two home matches, this is definitely something that is ringing very true at home. AVB has stated that the crowd were too negative, but from the crowds perspective there was nothing to be excited about. We all knew Hull would park the bus and that we would not break them down. The longer this went on the worse it became. There was nothing negative towards the players but there was no atmosphere. Now before anyone comments please read to the end as this will be a balanced piece and not just a negative article. First, Spurs progression under AVB. It cannot be denied that we have improved from Redknapp in some areas, but in some we have regressed. Most importantly is the defensive side. AVB is of the Mourinho mould that determines that a side should be based on a sound defensive frame and this is certainly true when you consider that we have played 15 games this season and kept 12 clean sheets. Ill repeat that, 15 games, 12 clean sheets. This is astounding, its 4/5 of our games. This is unbelievable, particularly from a team I grew up watching whos idea of defending would have embarrassed even Benny Hill. This is an important aspect of our game and certainly something to be encouraged, as at its simplest we arent going to lose if we dont concede. Furthermore we have made our best start to a season, though I doubt this season will match the start made under Harry a couple of years ago, we still need to be looking at 40 points from 19 games. 19 points so far is a great start and 7 wins from the next 10 would see us on track. Secondly, our away form. Personally, I generally feel that there is a trend across the Premier League that winning away from home is now easier than winning at home. AVB exploits this expertly and we are set up to counter attack and away from home we do this superbly as seen last year when we returned a record (well since records began with the formation on BSkyB) number of away wins. However this positive is where our home problems begin. AVB was right in one respect today, the atmosphere was dead, and its a catch 22, the players are waiting for us to inspire them and we are waiting for the players to inspire us. However AVB plays the same way at home as he does away. This is fine at times when we play the better teams who are not afraid to attack us, but we are playing counter attacking football against teams who play 451 or 541 and who have no intention of leaving their penalty box - when counter attacking football solely works when the opposition are out of position. We play counter attacking football against a set defensive unit and look completely lost. No one moves, runs in behind the opposition and the football is slow, ponderous and predictable. It is easy to counter and the most average of teams can match us and in cases such as West Ham outplay and embarrass us. Now this is a fixable position. Last year AVB took heavy criticism for the goals we were conceding late in matches and he dealt with it. We cannot keep counter attacking at home against teams who do not attack, where we rely on too many wonder goals. We need to develop a freer way of playing. The ball needs to be moved quicker. Townsend today was 20 yards off the last man and too close to Walker to be effective. There were at times massive gaps in the Hull back line and no-one was there to exploit them. We have the players to do this, it is just about changing the mentality of the players and also of the coaching staff. They cant have enjoyed this game, even though we did prevail. I have been wondering about whether we play in a formation similar to Liverpool at home. 3 at the back with Rose and Walker at full back with Sandro and Paulinho in front with Townsend and Eriksen given freer roles behind Soldado. it would give us width, dominance in midfield and we should have more attacking freedom. There are other options to this, but if we play 451/433 we need to change the style of play. As for the atmosphere, a few years ago I used to come back from the lane with no voice, these days that is never the case. Thing is we are no longer exciting. We are far more successful in the league but we dont excite the crowd. This again is a catch 22. The Tottenham way of playing has always been a cross we bare that has at times hindered us and sometimes held us back but it does affect the way we as spurs fans watch football and right now our football is dull, dour and ineffective. especially at home. Now all 36000 of us could cheer and yell for 90 minutes and maybe it would raise the players performance, but our style of play at home would not change that much if we screamed and shouted. Yet on the other hand it was like being in the Emirates today which is unacceptable. So, in a great case of fence sitting, right now at the lane both us fans and AVB are responsible for the lack of atmosphere and both need to improve for the next time. It is also worth noting that the fear of being arresting for singing half of our songs might also affect the atmosphere. Finally, it is worth noting that as much as I like what AVB is doing and the direction of the club we are not hammering sides. We dont kill teams off and we are too easy to play at the lane. I have joked in the past that the 3 step program to beating us at home is 1. turn up, 2. walk onto the pitch, 3. play 451. I wish it wasnt so true. Ill finish with a wish. Please Andre. You know what these teams are going to do. Work out a tactical way of beating them and do it quickly. s7.zetaboards/JSG/index/
Posted on: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 07:18:25 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015