Good evening.
I tell you this much. I’m dead excited. The appointment of Andres Villas Boas should prove to be a genuine coup. And here’s my thinking behind why…
AVB’s pedigree and limited past successes fill me with hope. Why should they do otherwise? They appear a fair reflection of the man. Add to the mix Sir Bobby Robson and Jose Mourinho – two of the greatest footballing minds of what, the last two generations – both showed him enormous respect and what have we got? A man that one of the richest men in footballing history – Roman Abramovich – employed.
Why was Chelsea a disaster for Boas then? Hahahahahhahahaha come on. Please tell me you didn’t arrive at this URL via the EDL website. John Terry, Fwank and Ashley are unmanageable.
AVB wasn’t the first to be spat out of the Tosspot Social Club. Hiddink? Ancelotti? If you say otherwise you automatically assert that Roberto Di Mateo is one of the world’s finest football managers.
So what did Boas actually do in his spell with the Blue Racists, then? Well, try this for size. His tactics were rather sexy . A defensive high line and an emphasis on having the ball.
Retention, speed, attack. Just enough to make it unpalatable for the conditioned old guard who still only know and trust their counter attack methodology. And so where might a system like this flourish? Well did any of you watch the EURO 2012 final? Yeah, Spain.
So what can we expect? The short answer ain’t short. AVB spoke of a project at The Bridge and I have to break it to you that we’ll be facing an approach whereby the system is paramount and the players will have to meld in order to achieve success.
This isn’t as creepy as Scientology I promise you. But it can be as cool to watch as a Tom Cruise movie.
What the appointment of AVB will herald is an intense focus upon commitment, drive, achievement and ambition. The resources of the squad were under exploited by the last bloke. This chap will truly coach. And believe me he will manage.
Why did I mention Brian Clough? Because he was a man that got a second chance from football. Football allows that you know.
And if you were willing to pay close attention, you might learn even more than that yourself …young man.
Nice….but what was Clough’s second chance?
Watch (or read… The book’s even better) ‘The Damned United’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYzsswqPk6s
I’ve seen The Damned United and am aware of Clough’s history….the reason I asked is because Clough was already extremely successful at Derby prior to the Leeds spell..
And AVB was extremely successful at Porto before the Chelsea spell. What is being said is that maybe we are AVB’s Forest.
What Lammybah said… And Peter.
:happy:
I’ll take two Champions league titles…….yes please…
You can hardly call Clough’s spell at Forest a 2nd chance! After Derby he spent a season at Brighton which wasn’t successful before the ill fated spell at Leeds….so really Clough had 2 unsuccessful clubs between Derby and Forest…. and on that basis I sincerely hope AVB doesnt follow that pattern
…and he had Peter Taylor at his side – an unsung hero and significant factor in Cloughie’s success (especially on the identifying and buying of players). Personally, I don’t get the comparison – Cloughie was a big personality and a motivator with 10 years in management before joining Forest. AVB has 3 years experience, isn’t exactly a big personality or motivator and Levy seems to choose who we buy. But apart from these slight differences he and Clough are both men and have managed football teams.
Nottingham Forest
All the very best to Andre & the boys.
I’m chuffed
Think the Clough comparisons would be nice if they came true – think he’s a good choice. Though I must say it’s depressing that we have a manager younger than me (only from a position of vanity)
If you read between the lines then Harry clearly came to Levy with a load of transfer targets that were on the older side and Premier League based. We are looking to build a team, squad, legacy and playing style for the future – it may not work straight away but I think it leaves us stronger for the future.
An excellent assessment, i’m excited.
Yes, I said Chelscum were crap under AVB, but I am not a hypocrite because I believe the truth has come out, and it wasn’t, largely ‘his’ doing.
I believe, and I think others should too, unless proved wrong over time, give him a chance, there are many, who know more than us about football, who think AVB is rather good.
Well, rule number one in management is that you choose a system that suits your players and not the other way round. That’s if you’re not a one trick pony. Otherwise you offload those players in favour of those that suit your style. I see a another 5 year plan here.
Lets face it, if we’d had decent goal scorers upfront then we would have genuinly given the Mancs a run for their money this year.
Clough / AVB. No comparison! I tried to draw a parallel between Clough’s time at Leeds and AVB’s at Chelsea and then realised AVB never did play pro football and probably didnt even play amateur football at its highest level.
I’d say this guy is a great back room tactician but imo its a massive gamble by Levy. Lets just hope it wasnt done to make the club look attractive to a would-be buyer at the sake of success on the pitch.
Going on a diet in the hope I have to eat lots of kate humble pie.
I’d eat Kate Humble’s pie anytime.
apparently her fish and finger pie is a treat!
Sounds great Paul.
I’ll second that! Mmmmmm.
I wouldn’t, I went into a unisex crapper at the BBC once moments after she’d come out of it and the stench nearly made me puke.
I can’t see her on the telly without being reminded of that stinky harris.
Admit it, you went in for a sniff.
We have the pace at the back to play a high line….in fact you’ll probably struggle to find a faster back 4.
We have the legs in midfield to press the ball…and the ability to keep possession.
We have pace on the attack. We just need some strength in attack and we could play any system.
Regardless of the manager, what we need is decent cover. Even with Harry’s limitations, his only viable cover across the whole pitch last season was Sandro, Livermore, Kranjcar & Defoe.
Huddlestone, Dawson, Gallas, King all injured. Rose/GDS/Nelson/Saha were last resorts and ultimately this cost us…who knows if he would have played them even if they were all available, probably not BUT the fact remains that we need proper cover for our key players because the team needs freshening up through a season and properly managed. IMO we need cover at RB/RW/LW and at least 3 quality strikers to share the burden/provide options. This assumes Vert signs to play CB and cover LB & Sigurdsson signs.
Which CB’s are you pairing in that super-fast back-line? ‘Cos I assume any one of Daws, King and Gallas is NOT in there. That leaves Kaboul, who is not super quick but not slow, but most importantly is only 1 person.
Kaboul and Vertonghen would be a very quick backline (Walker and BAE are even quicker)…
I would rate Kaboul as one of the quickest CBs in the league… now, that he’s learned to concentrate, he could be something special…
@Alspur
Only issue with that is that Kaboul is still only 1 person. Vert isn’t ours yet and any injury and we have to bring in a slowmo which means AVB will have to change tact, which he didn’t look capable of at Chelsea.
Wenger has never played top level football and neither has Mourinho. It is not a pre-requisite to success in management. At least we know AVB will tell his subs a bit more than “run around a bit”!
but they did play pro football albeit never reaching the top.
I cant recall but I dont think there has eevr been a successful manager who hasnt kicked a ball at pro level
I don’t think any midget lesbians have conquered Everest either. Probably because none have thought of trying.
What, you mean apart from a manager who won a league undefeated as well as the Europa cup? That seems quite successful to me.
Sorry, who exactly did Mourinho play for? Hasn’t he won the CL a couple of times?
Laurie McMememy Southampton never played at pro level.
Bertie Mee and Bob Paisley didn’t either, but history is yesterday, whereas our future begins today!
Mourinho was in a youth team with Barcelona, but never played professional football after being released he became a P.E teacher. Another one who hasn’t played is Brendan Rodgers.
Can i just point out that villas-boas is as easy to say as avb. Avb sounds shite, sort of like a rubbish new cereal. And its not his name.