AVB articles

Andre Villas-Boas aims for redemption with Tottenham

By Ben Smith BBC Sport

The second coming of Andre Villas-Boas is upon us.

Eight months and 27 league games as Chelsea manager last season added up to one clear and damaging failure.
For a man whose life until then had been spent in a blur of precocious achievement, being sacked by the Blues was a new and chastening experience.

Villas-Boas retreated into the shadows. He spent time in Brazil, Fiji and on his motorbikes in the hills near his Algarve home as the Portuguese attempted to make sense of it all.

But once Daniel Levy, the Tottenham chairman, had decided to dispense with Harry Redknapp, he was in no doubt that Villas-Boas was better a manager than the one who came up so badly short at Chelsea.

There was a belief within the corridors of power at White Hart Lane that his bold vision and painstaking attention to detail could improve and modernise the club.

Levy put his faith in ability, in talent and in youth and handed the 34-year-old a second chance.

It is easy to forget that only 12 months ago, Villas-Boas was being hailed as the most exciting young managerial talent in the game. At Porto he won the domestic double, going unbeaten in the league, and lifting the Europa League.

Levy's view is that one failure does not make a bad manager. Villas-Boas has, he says, learned from his mistakes and matured as a man and a coach.
Success at Porto was built on his bond with his players, instilling motivation and belief in a group that swept all before them. At Chelsea, the task was altogether more daunting, the squad a very different can of worms.

"At the start of the season things went to plan," Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech told BBC Sport.

"We had a really good pre-season, did some really good things at the training ground, everything seemed to be singing and gelling together.

"Then in the second or third month of the season the results were not happening. We were in a circle of doing the right things at the training ground and the wrong things in the games."

Many would have struggled to break up the old alliances and the culture of cliques at Stamford Bridge, let alone rebuild and rejuvenate an ageing squad while establishing a philosophy that would make Chelsea the Barcelona in blue.

"Andre deserved to get another chance," Cech added. "He has already proved what a great manager [at Porto] he is and sometimes in life you do the right things and the outcome is wrong. This is what happened to him at Chelsea."

Villas-Boas's approach at Chelsea was not wrong, but rather badly implemented. His naivety at taking billionaire Russian owner Roman Abramovich at his word that he would indeed have three years to rebuild the squad was his first mistake.
Alienating striker Didier Drogba, midfielder Frank Lampard and others was his second. But transforming a squad, especially one as successful and entrenched as the one built by former manager Jose Mourinho, was always going to be an uncomfortable task.

However, his abrasive and at times curt manner gave off an air of arrogance that was not a fair reflection of the man or his methods.

The noises from within the Tottenham squad are that Villas-Boas has already reverted to the more relaxed management style he favoured at Porto, as he attempts to replace the smooth operator that was Redknapp.

White Hart Lane is not free of its own pressures, but the young Portuguese will not have to contend with some of the peculiar and unique pressures that undermined him at Stamford Bridge.

"Chelsea wanted instant success, while Spurs are still in a growing phase," former Tottenham defender Ramon Vega said.

"Harry Redknapp put them in a place where they can compete for the top four, Villas-Boas needs to take them on."

There is much in Villas-Boas's favour: Spurs' group of players is potentially more malleable than Chelsea's was, less likely to dispute decisions such as adopting a high defensive line, more open to fresh ideas and innovations.
The more entertaining, attacking style favoured by Villas-Boas also chimes with Spurs' preferred style of play down the years - his Porto side let in a surprising number of goals, but invariably ended up scoring more.

Moreover, Spurs will open a new £30m state-of-the-art training ground near Enfield shortly, so Villas-Boas will be walking into an office and a dressing room free of the ghosts of managers past.

Add to that Villas-Boas's perfect English - the legacy of his grandmother, Margaret Kendall, whose family left Stockport to set up a wine business in Porto - and a knowledge of English football that extends far beyond his spell at Stamford Bridge and you have, on paper, a formula for success.

But as he readjusts to life in London, he must be prepared for everything he says and does to be viewed through the kaleidoscope of his failure at Stamford Bridge.

He will need courage to tackle those demons head on, charm to rebuild his credibility and, above all, success to wipe away the memories.

Villas-Boas has been presented with a second chance - now he must take it.

Andre Villas-Boas factfile

Born: 17 October 1977 in Porto, Portgual
Managerial career: Academica, Porto, Chelsea
Chelsea highs: Champions League group wins over over Bayer Leverkusen (2-0), Genk (5-0) and Valencia (3-0)
Chelsea lows: Won one of his last six Premier League games in charge as Chelsea dropped out of the race for the Premier League title, and was sacked after 256 days in charge
New start: Appointed Spurs manager on 3 July, replacing the sacked Harry Redknapp

Villas-Boas: small beginnings

Villas Boas was born in Porto on 17 October 1977 into a wealthy family. His parents, Luis, an engineer, and Maria, lived in style and provided for their seven children.
Andre, a fanatical fan of Porto, dreamt of playing professionally but lacked the skills and set his sights on becoming a sports writer.
Knowing that the late Sir Bobby Robson, then manager of Porto, lived in the same apartment building, the precocious 16-year-old wrote to chide him politely for dropping his favourite striker, Domingos Paciencia.
Impressed with the young man's knowledge, cheek and fluency in English, Robson invited Villas-Boas to observe Porto's first-team training, which eventually led to him joining the club staff.

We shall see Vis we shall see.

Mikey M

Signing Evaluation

Post-Harry Redknapp, Tottenham have taken a very strong stance this summer over their transfer policy, with Daniel Levy the clear head of the operation while Andre Villas Boas gets at least more of a say than at Chelsea. Jan Vertonghen and Gylfi Sigurdsson are both players who will offer more depth to the team, and Arsenal and Liverpool chasing the stars respectively shows just how high Spurs have come in terms of attracting top talent. Villas Boas' actions as deadline day hits will be interesting to watch, as he's given more freedom than under Roman Abramovich, and if the club can snare Yann M'Vila and a keeper, and keep Emmanuel Adebayor, it'll be a very successful summer indeed, whether or not Luka Modric stays.

Pre-Season Form

Tottenham's pre-season tour started out with a straight-forward win over Stevenage, with the side travelling to the USA afterward to draw with LA Galaxy and Liverpool, and defeat the New York Red Bulls. Back at home, wins over Northampton Town and Watford have sealed a decent start for Villas-Boas.

Reasons They'll Be Successful

Last season saw Tottenham go from strength to strength in the first half of the season, and if it weren't for a serious lull in form between the end of February and mid-April, they would never have lost that third spot on the table to Arsenal. What the club needs is more depth and the consistency to survive an entire season successfully, and without the sideshows that accompanied Harry Redknapp last season, and a fresh crop of players to assist across the board, Villas-Boas can use his experience of juggling Europa League and league games to give the side that consistency that they crave to stay in the top four.

AVB a gamble worth taking for Tottenham



TEAMtalk's resident Tottenham fan Rob McCarthy gives his verdict on Andre Villas-Boas' appointment and reckons it's a gamble that will pay off.

When Harry Redknapp was unluckily removed from his position last month my first thought was that Everton's David Moyes should be the man to replace him.

I've always been a Moyes fan as, like Harry, he is the sort of manager that players want to play for. But there was always this nagging doubt in my mind as to why other clubs had not taken a chance on the Scot, who has been overachieveing on a limited budget in his 10 years at Goodison Park.

But despite Moyes initially being a leading contender for the role it was clear that that was a direction Spurs chairman Daniel Levy never intending going in, and that AVB was the man he wanted.

The decision to appoint the 34-year-old is being looked upon as a massive gamble by many, given what happened to Villas-Boas during his ill-fated tenure at Chelsea. But there must have been some reason why Roman Abramovich was willing to pay out over £13million in compensation to land him.

With that in mind, I'm optimistic that Spurs will reap the benefits of the man that led Porto to a remarkable season in 2010-11 and not end up suffering at the hands of the one vilified by Chelsea fans.

AVB was handed a tough assignment at Stamford Bridge and ultimately fell victim to player power and admittedly some of his own shortcomings. But hopefully he will have learnt from that and can channel the negative aspects of his time at Chelsea into positive ones across the city in north London.

For starters I believe that the current Spurs squad is more suited to the way that AVB lined up his Porto side.

The Portuguese outfit lined up in a flexible, fluid 4-3-3 formation with a central striker, usually Falcao, flanked by two wide men. The full-backs were encouraged to get forward, knowing that they had protection from two holding midfielders, while Spurs target Joao Moutinho pulled the strings centrally.

Looking at the current Spurs squad, Kyle Walker is one of the best attacking right-backs in the league, Scott Parker, Tom Huddlestone and Sandro can all play in front of the back four, Rafa van der Vaart and new signing Gylfi Sigurdsson can play the attacking midfield role (assuming Luka Modric leaves) and Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon provide searing pace and width.

The expected arrival of Jan Vertonghen will supplement a strong central defensive unit of Michael Dawson, Younes Kaboul and promising youngster Steven Caulker, with Ledley King likely to be handed a coaching role and William Gallas almost certain to move on.

The only areas in need of strengthening could come at left-back, where Benoit Assou-Ekotto is fairly reliable but is still capable of costing the team points at times, and the central striking role, with at least two new additions needed.

AVB might also look to bring in a younger, more mobile goalkeeper, despite Brad Friedel having an excellent first season with the club. Villas-Boas likes to play a fairly high line and needs a keeper capable of sweeping up, not something Brad is famed for at 41-years young.

But, for me, the most important thing for AVB to do is to create the right impression and atmosphere around the dressing room. Getting the players on side is half the battle these days and if he can do that then I'm expecting big things from AVB and the club moving foward.

However, if things don't work out Mr Levy could always give Harry a call again!

nice find vis. liked the last article aswell.

and im looking forward to this new start with the sqaud.
im so glad harry gone because of the way he had hes first teams players versues the rest of the sqaud.

plus he was never around the training ground either.

avb wont slag us off when things are going well. he will come out and defend us not stick up for other players when they try to injur ours

vis wrote:

totalytot wrote:
We shall see Vis we shall see.

Mikey M

Mikey my friend for me anything has got to be better than Mr "I take my eye off the club 'cos of the Ing-Ger-Land job, whoops forgot me tactics again, nope I don't like making a sensible substitution" Redknapp. Hell even Ian Holloway would have been preferable. Truth to tell a new season and new dreams are about to begin. . . . . . .

I'm with you on that one Vis.Regardless of the media and the Tv pundits saying Harry going was a big mistake after he had got us in the CL. I will never forgive him for losing those 13 points. It was the worst end to a season that I can ever remember.

I hope those press aticls about AVB come true. As I said before I have my doubts about the man but we have him now and I want him to make it happen big time.

Mikey M

A new season and new dreams are about to beging Vis?, I just hope and pray it does not turn into a nightmare for us as not having bought a top class striker worries me, surely it is'nt going to be left to Defoe to find the back of the net, and should he pick up an injury we will be in one hell of a mess and this Ade saga seems to be going on and on along with the Modric saga. I think I have to agree with some posters when they say that Levy seems to want top money for our players but is not prepared to pay out for the quality players we need to make our dreams come true. I believe he should have dropped the price of Modric so we can off load him in order to raise the money to bring in a top striker.