It has taken 2 days for me to calm down after witnessing the very poor excuse for football on Sunday.
Where has the confidence gone? Where has the pace gone? Where has the awareness gone? Why have none of our "big" summer signings shown up? How is AVB still in charge?
These are just a few questions that are have been banded about, but it has been we have had the same issues in the team for a while now.
Firstly our manager. Most fans and pundits are attempting to put the sole blame on him, however no manager is so tactically inept that he could orchestrate a 6-0 loss! AVB has without a doubt been too stubborn in his approach, but has only become apparent after Bale's departure. We do not have a player that is capable of jumping up and scoring from anywhere. So without this our frailties are exposed and so is AVB’s mindset.
What has AVB done to counter this though?
We had bought one of the worlds best strikers. Soldado has not scored less than 20 league goals for the past 4 years! He is a Spanish international, so that really says it all. However we now have this guy playing up front by himself and is 90% of the time isolated! He is constantly having to come deep for the ball so that he can get involved in the game. This then leaves the box empty when we finally have a quick break. In order for Soldado to succeed he must be supported, we must use the wings and we must be more couragous in our attacks.
Holtby has been drafted in as our support man? I put a question mark as I do not understand this. Holtby has had glimpses of genius and we have seen some great goals from him for the youth side and very rarely for the senior team, but he has not made the step up. A support man should not be dropping into our own half EVER (unless it is to be involved in defending set pieces). A support man should be sitting in the middle of the oppositions half showing and moving for the ball so that the play can be moved forward. It could be that the player needs more experience, but at the moment he is bench warmer.
Eriksen was bought for this very role, but his performance had dropped off before his injury. A great start and then he dropped off of the radar completely. For me it's a surprise, but you have to agree with Gary Neville in "Why have none of the big clubs gone in for him before?". Well it is simple he only seemed to show up for the big games. There was concern as to whether he can perform consistently. He can, but he is young! We cannot buy an abundance of young talent and expect instant results! Eriksen had been trying to stay in position, but again the ball was not coming. We play out on the wings and those players cut in with the ball and either hold onto it too long or shoot from distance. So how is a support man or striker going to work if they are not given the ball in the needed position. The issue is that they are not showing in the required position in the first place.
So as you can see we cannot play with a lone figure and a support man as it is. We have players that are not capable of holding their position or showing / moving into the space. However there is a flip to the other side of the coin, maybe we are simply using the wrong players? Lamela or Townsend could be played in this role, but we need someone capable of holding the ball up and has the range of passing that is needed. Dembele should be the obvious choice. The midfielder is unrivaled in his Take On's (according to Squawka) and is usually difficult to push off the ball. His passing is excellent and despite his lack of goals, he is very capable of scoring. The issue of using Dembele is that he is not the quickest, so he may slow down the play too much (if we actually used our wingers for pace). If used properly he would be the best player for the role as it would give us another dimension in the middle. The key part here is that AVB seems to have caused a rift between him and player.
We have a natural left footed midfield within our ranks in Townsend, AVB is too stubborn to even consider playing him where he is likely to flourish. We had brought in Nacer Chadli, but he has found it difficult to settle and coupled with injuries it has led to the midfielder coming on looking out of shape and far from ready for the league. I believe that Townsend should be given the role. If the player is not willing to play there then there is a problem, but by fielding the likes of Sigurdsson (a central player), Lennon or Lamela we are causing ourselves huge problems that just add to the vast array of existing problems we already have.
Lamela is our most gifted player, although he is taking time to settle. It was due to pressure that Lamela was played against City, but in hindsight it was not a good idea. The player had slowly began to build up his confidence and he may of cost £30million, but at the age of 21 we need to be careful of when we play him. Graeme Souness said it himself that you cannot expect a 21 yr old to come in and out of the team and make the difference as and when. It is a sign of an immature and inexperienced manager. But to then play him out of position was sheer stupidity. At worst case Lamela was a support man, but he should have been played on the right. Lennon in my opinion is still looking at odds, so it was obvious that Townsend should have started on the left and Lennon to warm the bench.
It is all well and good having pacey wingers, but to play a slow and direct game has made us look like a Championship side. We have struggled to score and it is through the lack of pace in our game. One of the key culprits that seems to be slowing the game down is Paulinho. When in and around the box the midfielder has looked fantastic, but it is collecting the ball in our half or just in oppositions that seems problematic. He is slow to react to his team mates and often it results in missed chances and passing back to the defenders. But I have to ask why is this? I feel that Paulinho has a lack of confidence in his team amtes. This is highlighted by the fact that we drop too deep for a ball and that no space is being created in the forward area's.
Our defense had been the best thing about us until Sunday. I had a few issues, but City highlighted everything. Dawson looked ridiculous. he was leaving his man, allowing his man to get goal side and it is difficult to partner someone that allows this. As a CB you get between the goal and marker, it’s football 101. If you cannot match him for pace you push him out wide for your wingers to deal with and then get in the box. We are seeing some slow reactions in this. Kaboul has had a lengthy period out and it is going to take time to get back, so why play Dawson with Kaboul? Chiriches may not have the experience, but he has pace and skill to get him out of the hot water he can at times get himself into, but with Kaboul supporting him then it is a perfect partnership.
Vertonghen and Walker have me confused. Jan is considered our best centre back, but due to our stupidity in the summer we are forced to play him on the left. So until Rose is back (likely he will feature on Thursday from the bench) Jan will have to play there. He is not happy about playing there and rightly so, but in an injury crisis a player must step up (Huddlestone had played CB often, but he was happy to help). Going forward Jan is very comfortable, but at the back he has become prone to mistakes, much like Dawson. So now we have 2 players prone to mistakes and 1 of them is getting forward so much that we leave ourselves open at the back too much. Walker has a similar issue to Jan in that he gets forward and leaves our CB's scratching their heads as they are left short at the back (you will see my solution to this below).
Lloris I believe is now dropping in his performances in time with the dip in the overall teams performance. He had been fantastic and a true rock, but as the team's head drops so does his. It's very difficult to keep your head up when 80% of the team is letting you down.
From front to back we have problems. Whether it is new players needing to settle or players needing to hold their position there is an abundance of issues, but are they being compounded by the manager?
AVB is yet to field a consistent team, so our new players are yet to gel properly. We must have a settled team in order for play and style’s to be learnt, then we can become one unit. It is easy to say this, but different oppositions warrant different approaches and then you have injuries to think of. As history has shown us though each team must have a solid skeleton for which to base your team around. AVB seems to be missing this and missing that man management touch.
As to which players should make up the skeleton I am now at a loss. You would have expected for Lloris, Kaboul, Walker, Rose, Townsend, Dembele, Eriksen, Lamela and Soldado to be the skeleton, but from our performances it is difficult to truly know now.
We need to start again, back to the drawing board. The 4-5-1 is now not working away from home (as well as at home) so it must be scrapped. The slow build up has drastically effected our style and confidence, so without a fundamental change to our style we will continue to look like amateurs. I feel that we should look at the following team;
Lloris
Kaboul Chiriches Vertonghen
Walker Rose
Sandro
Dembele
Lamela Townsend
Soldado
This formation provides the pace on the wings that is desperately needed, without leaving us short at the back. It shows our players in their most natural positions, but starts with our strength of defense by fielding 3 CB’s. We would find it easier to counter in this formation as well as finding it easy to change the tempo by having 2 pacey wingers on each flank and then Dembele to hold up the ball and allow the team to get into position when not countering. If this doesn't work then simply drop Dembele for a another forward such as Ade and have Townsend and Lamela drop a little further back to sit in front of Sandro.
As a team we are playing far too narrow, but it is the likes of Walker and Vertonghen that do get into the advanced spaces of the wings. So let Walker and Rose work these wings and this would allow Townsend and Lamela to keep cutting in (as they naturally do) and this way we are supporting our isolated front man/ men, whilst still using the wings.
No one wants to see the negative football we have been tortured with. AVB does not wish to see the team falter in such ways, but being the manager you are responsible to pick the players up when they are down and train the team into your shape and vision, issue is that the team doesn’t share the same view.
This was demonstrated in the City defeat. We have a very capable team and despite the early goal we were skipping past City's players with ease at times. I cannot believe that AVB has asked players to crowd the midfield or that they have a free role. So I believe that the players are taking it upon themselves to change things. This shows again the lack of confidence. It is not just on the pitch but between players and manager.
The question at this stage (as a club) is what do we do? Do we stick or twist. The next two games will show Levy's hands and I do not believe there will be any knee jerk reactions.
One thing I must say is that the handling of our defeat by manager and players is abysmal. Huge apologies should be made to all fans from everyone. Us fans pay for the club and what we don't pay for is made up in sponsorship. Neither of the two pay to see this joke that has donned the Spurs shirt and ignorance over the performance is simply not acceptable (it's a BIG PR mistake). Not only do we want to see a performance to restore our faith, but we need to see and hear our players and manager voicing their determination to put it right.
There is more to follow on the team and manager shortly and you will see these later on today.
COYS!!!!
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