Player Watch Player Watch: Micky van de Ven

[piedpiper]

This guy clearly believes it. Absolutely hilarious, I have to say. Like I said already if you’ve played above Sunday league level you know pre-season is hard work the entire time, a public training session isn’t the same thing. We should have had all our planned important players for the season on the flight really if we are aiming to give ourselves the best possible chance

If you look at that fixture list..... the travel involved..... yeah sure training will be intense ..if you say so.

Also best possible chance of ? Genuinely intrigued.

 

[piedpiper]

Not all of the training happens where fans are allowed in to watch.
If they're training in front of fans, of course it'll be lighter and more 'entertaining' but I would imagine that any manager worth their salt is working their bollocks off when people aren't watching.

Pre-season is about building fitness and working on the managers ideas, just because they can put on a show (and spread the good name a bit) while they're out there, doesn't mean it's all light hearted and half-arsed.

Yeah I agree with you on that......but go look at that tour schedule. I don't see a new defender as having been paramount now.

 

[McFlash]

If you look at that fixture list..... the travel involved..... yeah sure training will be intense ..if you say so.

Also best possible chance of ? Genuinely intrigued.

Of course training will be intense, what do you honestly think they're out there for? A pr exercise?
No, it's pre-season under a new manager. It may make a certain amount of financial sense to be halfway across the world but the main aim is to get the squad ready for the season.

And without meaning to speak in behalf of @Flobadob , I would think the best chance of being competitive.
What do you think it's all for?

 

[taidgh]

Just a thought, would visas be an issue? They'll all need work visas etc. for each country. If all the travel paperwork needed to be sorted a few days out from traveling perhaps it just wasn't possible to get it sorted before the team left. What's the point of signing only for him to be left behind?

Probably just clutching at straws.

Great shout

 

[McFlash]

Yeah I agree with you on that......but go look at that tour schedule. I don't see a new defender as having been paramount now.

There could be umpteen reasons why we haven't yet signed the defender(s) we all want but that's not really the point here.
You seem to be suggesting that this whole tour is just to make money, not to get the squad into shape, which just isn't true.

 

[piedpiper]

Of course training will be intense, what do you honestly think they're out there for? A pr exercise?
No, it's pre-season under a new manager. It may make a certain amount of financial sense to be halfway across the world but the main aim is to get the squad ready for the season.

And without meaning to speak in behalf of @Flobadob , I would think the best chance of being competitive.
What do you think it's all for?

Well then we'll still be competitive regardless whether a CB was signed before a money spinning tour or not.

Look I'm not trying to be argumentative I just don't see it as a crisis of sorts that some make it out to be. Signing a CB a day before they departed or after is of no consequence now.

He wouldn't have had any of the pre season training done at Hotspur way.

 

[McFlash]

Bizarre to see some on here so comfortable with us starting preseason with the same defence that shipped over 60 goals in the league last season.

Is anyone on here comfortable with it?
I don't think so, just that some aren't stressing too much just yet.

Give it another week or so and we'll probably all be freaking out but at the moment, just because we haven't signed the defenders before we travelled on tour is not a major concern.

I'll give it another couple of weeks before I start losing my shit.

 

[Flobadob]

If you look at that fixture list..... the travel involved..... yeah sure training will be intense ..if you say so.

Also best possible chance of ? Genuinely intrigued.

It will be intense, the majority of the work in pre-season is done in training, you aren’t pushed anywhere close to 90 minutes until deep into it. The most any of the players will play in this tour is 45-60 minutes tops which any of them can do comfortably with the schedule they have without any fatigue. They’ll turn up to the matches fatigued from training though if it’s like any pre-season I’ve ever been a part of. At a decent level playing during pre-season feels like the easy part Doing 200m sprints back to back for 30 minutes and then having your 100m time recorded at the end of it is way more challenging than any pre-season match, I can assure you. One of my coaches used to say “I make training horrible, so when you play it is fun” and that’s generally the attitude most coaches have.

Best possible chance of achieving what this squad should be capable of and that’s getting back into the CL (if we sign a top CB like VDV or Tapsoba). I genuinely believe we’re a top CB and getting Bentancur back healthy away from having a seriously strong side and I think we’ll surprise a lot of people this season

 

[piedpiper]

There could be umpteen reasons why we haven't yet signed the defender(s) we all want but that's not really the point here.
You seem to be suggesting that this whole tour is just to make money, not to get the squad into shape, which just isn't true.

No I'm saying based on the tour schedule travel involved corporate commitments that come with it...it's a " money" tour. If they were based in 1 country playing different teams I'd feel differently on the intensity of the tour training....

Remember last year when we were in Korea and I think a player keeled over from the intensity of it all..... yeah then I'd agree with you. But we playing in what 3 countries I think....

 

[McFlash]

Well then we'll still be competitive regardless whether a CB was signed before a money spinning tour or not.

Look I'm not trying to be argumentative I just don't see it as a crisis of sorts that some make it out to be. Signing a CB a day before they departed or after is of no consequence now.

He wouldn't have had any of the pre season training done at Hotspur way.

Ah right. Then I think I may have misunderstood you on that, so I apologise.
I was more responding to your comments about these tours being a bit of an easy jolly and just a marketing exercise, which although that plays a part for the board, isn't true for the manager and players.

 

[piedpiper]

It will be intense, the majority of the work in pre-season is done in training, you aren’t pushed anywhere close to 90 minutes until deep into it. The most any of the players will play in this tour is 45-60 minutes tops which any of them can do comfortably with the schedule they have without any fatigue. They’ll turn up to the matches fatigued from training though if it’s like any pre-season I’ve ever been a part of. At a decent level playing during pre-season feels like the easy part Doing 200m sprints back to back for 30 minutes and then having your 100m time recorded at the end of it is way more challenging than any pre-season match, I can assure you. One of my coaches used to say “I make training horrible, so when you play it is fun” and that’s generally the attitude most coaches have.

Best possible chance of achieving what this squad should be capable of and that’s getting back into the CL (if we sign a top CB like VDV or Tapsoba). I genuinely believe we’re a top CB and getting Bentancur back healthy away from having a seriously strong side and I think we’ll surprise a lot of people this season

Lovely response .... agree with you in the main. I'm more a wait and see on the new manager so I'm not expecting anything really. I'm thinking 6th or 7th and anything better is a bonus.

 

[piedpiper]

Ah right. Then I think I may have misunderstood you on that, so I apologise.
I was more responding to your comments about these tours being a bit of an easy jolly and just a marketing exercise, which although that plays a part for the board, isn't true for the manager and players.

All good mate...no need to apologize either...you've engaged me without being offensive.

I call these money tours based on how we used to prepare for the season in the past... then America and the East became attractive to " spread" the brand awareness.

 

[Flobadob]

Lovely response .... agree with you in the main. I'm more a wait and see on the new manager so I'm not expecting anything really. I'm thinking 6th or 7th and anything better is a bonus.

I’m gonna give him a bit more optimism as I’ve been lead to believe he’s brilliant by a lad I play with that is absolutely die hard Celtic. I also think we’re heading in a far far better direction in terms playing personnel too if we add a proper partner for Romero, which I believe is even more important than the manager tbh. Arsenal didn’t start playing the way they are now until they’d rebuilt their squad with 500-600m pounds, no manager is a magician, they all need top players at this level to compete. I’m looking forward to it, but as I’ve felt from day 1 when Conte left, no manager will succeed here without upgrades at CB

 

[JacoZA]

I would imagine the main issues here would just be falling behind on match-fitness, tactical training and team-building. (That wouldn't be all, but those - I think - are the biggest) Because surely the player can work on their general fitness by themselves while everything gets sorted? (One would hope) And, perhaps they could even be supplied with some "homework" already? Old matches, video analysis of tactical situations, season 3 of Community, etc.

Some pretty important things to fall behind on, but hopefully it's only by a few days and not weeks.

 

[chas vs dave]

Remember, there was a delay of about 3-5 days to solomon's transfer. Even Israelyid thought it would be the monday

 

[diamond lights]

Agree but it’s us as fans saying we need it. What IF Ange has said let me see what I have first? This could be why we haven’t pulled the trigger

I think this is a lot more realistic than other scenarios. We have potentially a number we could move for and Ange has asked to let him assess exactly what he needs over the next week or two so that we make the right call. The three deals we've done were for specific reasons - Maddison - we had no creative MF, Vicario - urgent as Hugo is leaving, Solomon - opportunity arose on a free and Ange agreed to it.
Ange has said he will make his own judgements about who wants to get on 'the train' with him. Centre back is too important to just pull the trigger until he has a clear idea of exactly what attributes he needs. Is a young, speedy VdV the right fit or does the squad need Tapsoba with a few extra years under his belt??

Who knows?

 

[worcestersauce]

The reason I'm not freaking out is that preseason is only a week in, the tour doesn't change that, but also because unlike last year when we went for unrealistic unattainable targets like Bastoni with a coach who wouldn't play an alternative if we'd bought one this year we've got options and a coach on board with them all, who perhaps even drew up the list.
I agree it's a shame we didn't get a CB in for the tour as that is a great way to get to know everyone quickly.

 

[tommo84]

With so many fans on here losing their minds about not having VdV or another new CB on board for the tour, I worry a lot of you are setting yourselves up for massive disappointment at how we start the season. This is going to be a massive transition, from the awful football of the last 4 years to the front-foot possession based approach Ange wants. Regardless of whether we have new CB options with the squad for the whole of preseason or just the latter stages, the first few months of the season are going to be rocky.

Yes it would be beneficial to have our new CBs integrated well before we face Brentford, but the reality is that if we perform badly in the early stages of the season it’s not going to be just because VdV missed a couple of weeks of training in July.

 

[luRRka]

Sounds like opinion but still. PoK isn't a levy apologist

 

[DanNolan]

I think the key here is that Skipp has decided to cut his holiday to tour… however the players get 21 days from their last game as holiday as mandatory. So VDV still has two week of that by which point the team is home etc.
storm in a teacup imo