roberts

9th September 2012
By Tony Stenson

FORMER Spurs enforcer Graham Roberts believes his old club will go nowhere under new manager Andre Villas-Boas – ­“unless he gets a personality”.

In a scathing attack, he claims it is a good thing Tottenham did not qualify for the Champions League because, he insists, “they are not good enough”.


Ex-England defender Roberts, now 53, is not convinced Villas-Boas is the right man to take the club forward after the golden years under sacked Harry Redknapp.


And Roberts, who also played for Rangers and Chelsea, said: “It is early days but when you hear him interviewed he’s dour, there is no happiness in his voice.


“As a manager you have to pick up the boys. He needs to get a personality change. You might say that is the way he is – but you’ve also got to be happy sometimes and that breeds confidence in the lads so that they play better.


“To me it doesn’t look as if he has learned from his time at Chelsea when he spoke badly to some players.


“His speech is very slow and you are waiting for something to come out positive. As a player you can be lifted by the way the manager speaks. Harry was brilliant at that. He was bubbly all the time and, even if he was down inside, he always made it seem positive.”


Roberts told the Daily Star Sunday: “I look at Villas-Boas and I think, ‘He has got a problem this year’.


“The first thing he did when he came in was to try to get Michael Dawson out and yet there do not seem to be any leaders in the team.


“Jan Vertonghen looks as if he is going to be a good player but he is playing with William Gallas and he his coming to the end of his career. They are missing Younes Kaboul who will be a great captain.”


Roberts is critical of AVB’s conservative style and said: “When he took Jermain Defoe off against Norwich and brought on a midfield player, that to me said, ‘You can have the ball but we are going to block your way through’.


“Harry would have sent on another striker, not taken one off. They look an ordinary side and it is going to be a long old season.


“Harry’s record at Tottenham was fantastic and the fans won’t settle for second best.


“They got Emmanuel Adebayor and he isn’t in the team and I think buying Gylfi Sigurdsson (right) from Swansea was a panic buy. Why let Rafael Van der Vaart go?


“I’ve spoken to friends who go to matches home and away and they’re not happy.

this is the second time in a week hes had a pop at avb

“I’ve spoken to friends who go to matches home and away and they’re not happy.

so hes not seen the games himself.

i think roberts must of been away from last jan to may and seen how bad we was.

The reason Roberts was not at the Lane very often last season is worth mentioning;

Roberts then joined the Nepal national football team in January 2011. In March 2012 he stepped down as coach after a 3-0 defeat to Turkmenistan in the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup.It is said that he was unhappy about Nepal Army "conscripting" two of their players and it played a part in his resignation.

Sounds like the perfect man to comment on managing a PL side

Roberts is currently "between jobs" which may explain why he has so much time on his hands, not to mention a need for a little ready cash from the meeja

and yet not gone to watch a spurs game lol

Roberts is critical of AVB’s conservative style and said: “When he took Jermain Defoe off against Norwich and brought on a midfield player, that to me said, ‘You can have the ball but we are going to block your way through’.


“Harry would have sent on another striker, not taken one off.

Errr Mr Roberts as much as I respect you please think back to last seasons game at Villa? Quite . . . . . .

Why let VDV go Well Graham I think you'll find it was his decision because he wanted to be with his wife. Come to that wouldn't we all!!

i think roberts was banned from attending matches at the lane a while back, think the board were not to keen on some of his previous comments on how the club was being run.on our 125 anniversary a lot of our great players from the past were paraded and im pretty sure graham was snubbed on that occasion. shame when it turns sour like that on a player who loves his spurs and gave his all. everyones entitled to their opinion at some point. behave seebee, down boy lol

seebee1944 wrote:

Why let VDV go Well Graham I think you'll find it was his decision because he wanted to be with his wife. Come to that wouldn't we all!!