Early opinions regarding AVB
It is of course very early days in the Spurs career of Head Coach Andre Villas-Boas, but apart from the signs of promise on the football field, there were some optimistic thoughts expressed by those who took the opportunity to comment in the weekly Spurs Odyssey match survey.
AVB drew most comments this week, and those were given before the recent rumours about the departure of Michael Dawson and the loan to Stoke of Tom Huddlestone. Both these moves have yet to be confirmed by the club at the time of writing (AM 23/08/12).
We have confirmed the return of Emmanuel Adebayor since the survey too. Spurs scorer Jermain Defoe was the man of the match. Goals really do count for a lot. Personally, I thought there were better overall performances from players supporting Defoe, but you can't argue with the overall views of nearly 200 voters. Most Spurs supporters, it seems, have yet to be convinced by the potential of Harry Kane, of whom AVB has said he will be happy to utilise the boy as his third striker. Spurs fans are not alone in expecting new players to make a massive impression from the outset. Similarly, Jake Livermore continues to do an excellent reliable job, but does not gain the affection of fans in the same way as favourites such as Defoe and Van der Vaart for example.
AVB scored an average of 6.6 out of 10 for his team selection (6.7), strategy (6.9) and substitutions (6.2), and it will be ineresting to compare him over the course of the full season. Here are a selection of your comments:-
"It's not his fault we don't have any strikers"
"Why no Hud? He would be in my team ahead of Livermore everyday of the week and twice on matchday!!! Has he p'd off AVB or something? Come on Andre, arguably the best midfielder remaining at the club at the moment!!!"
"Siggy was doing well, no need to take him off, no point in bringing Kane on. Thud should have been with the squad"
"I was very pleased with the team performance, moments of magic that killed us in the end, but we need people who can pull off moments of magic for us too."
"I thought he set the team up really well with two defensive midfield holding players in Sandro and Jake. We looked very comfortable on the ball, just really lacked some bite up front which will come when Ade returns and some creativity in midfield which will happen when Luka leaves and his replacements arrive."
"I think he got the best of what he could do with the players on hand. Sure, one could say VdV should've started, but I don't see that making a difference in the result."
"Good shape and pressing, the team selection was good and I agreed with the Gallas selection. Can see problems arising with Vdv, just don't see where he can fit in the team now, especially away from home. I felt he could have made a change in the Sandro/Livermore pivot as both were on yellow cards."
· See the final "Spursometer" for Newcastle (A) here
Thanks for all your contributions. Here's hoping for a good win at home to West Brom on Saturday. Look out for the match preview in the next 24 hours!
Results 18-22.08.12
Arsenal 0-0 S'derland
Fulham 5-0 Norwich
QPR 0-5 Swansea
Reading 1-1 Stoke
West Brom 3-0 Liverpool
West Ham 1-0 A. Villa
Newcastle 2-1 Spurs
Wigan 0-2 Chelsea
Man City 3-2 S'hampton
Everton 1-0 Man Utd
Chelsea 4-2 Reading
Barclays Premier League
P W D L F-A GD PTS
1. Chelsea 2 2 0 0 6-2 4 6
2. Fulham 1 1 0 0 5-0 5 3
3. Swansea 1 1 0 0 5-0 5 3
4. West Brom 1 1 0 0 3-0 3 3
5. Man City 1 1 0 0 3-2 1 3
6. Newcastle 1 1 0 0 2-1 1 3
7. Everton 1 1 0 0 1-0 1 3
8. West Ham 1 1 0 0 1-0 1 3
9. Stoke 1 0 1 0 1-1 0 1
10. Arsenal 1 0 1 0 0-0 0 1
11. S'derland 1 0 1 0 0-0 0 1
12. Reading 2 0 1 1 3-5 -2 1
13. S'hampton 1 0 0 1 2-3 -1 0
14. Spurs 1 0 0 1 1-2 -1 0
15. A. Villa 1 0 0 1 0-1 -1 0
16. Man Utd 1 0 0 1 0-1 -1 0
17. Wigan 1 0 0 1 0-2 -2 0
18. Liverpool 1 0 0 1 0-3 -3 0
19. Norwich 1 0 0 1 0-5 -5 0
20. QPR 1 0 0 1 0-5 -5 0
