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Andre Villas-Boas - Head Coach
- Thread starter Bale
- Start date
Sheikh Ma Nuggets
Tony Parks
Yeah is IS telling: I'm telling you that I haven't read your fudging post! See, I don't need to tinkle around trying to smartass with your subtle nonsense to tell you that; you should try it sometime.
Oh my rant? I said I hadn't read or replied to anything as long as your post. I'm just not interested, jimmy - sorry if this is grossly offensive to you, but just try to be more succinct next time and I might read it. But waffle a load of text and sorry but I'm just scrolling on by...
Sheikh Ma Nuggets
Tony Parks
Wow.
And no one looks at you and says lucky bastard!
fudging cretin!
Oh I've had a few, don't worry about that; jealousy is a very, very cruel thing!
I am an argumentative arsehole, but fudge me what a successful one too
Sheikh Ma Nuggets
Tony Parks
jimmy, when you were one-lining I was replying to you I think?
Just as with Leeds; as much of a tosser he isD) I'll always entertain his bait
Be more punchy jimmy; grab my atten-shun bwoy!
Just as with Leeds; as much of a tosser he is
D) I'll always entertain his baitBe more punchy jimmy; grab my atten-shun bwoy!
Leeds Spur
Banned
Which André Villas-Boas have Tottenham Hotspur hired? Is it the swashbuckling young coach who steered Porto to four trophies as they went an entire season unbeaten in the Primeira Liga? Or could it be the rather immature figure who was led a not so merry dance by certain senior professionals at Chelsea before his sacking in March?
The 34-year-old's chastening experience at Stamford Bridge should not obscure the reality that Villas-Boas could not have done what he did at Porto in 2010-11 if he were not exceptionally gifted.
"We've lost a really, really, talented coach," said Alan Pardew, the Saudi Sportswashing Machine manager on hearing the news of Villas-Boas's Chelsea downfall. "He had to take on a club in a transition year with a lot of senior pros in the background and he had a very, very difficult job. I hope that, one day, some of those senior pros will apologise to André. They should do so because he deserved better."
By last winter Villas-Boas had become so stressed that, instead of returning home to his wife and two small daughers, he sometimes spent the night at Chelsea's Cobham training ground, sleeping in a Japanese style pod. On those occasions when his black BMW four-wheel-drive remained in the car park overnight, Villas-Boas invariably rose before dawn in order to study statistical data.
His micro-management of Frank Lampard and company represents a stark contrast to the more laid-back, macro-managerial approach favoured by his Tottenham predecessor, Harry Redknapp.
Under Redknapp's training regime at Spurs Lodge tactical briefings tended to be restricted to 30 minutes. Otherwise there were few intense discussions or detailed sessions on team shape, while set-piece rehearsal and analysis of opponents' foibles were kept to a minimum. Instead the players were offered the freedom to express themselves on the pitch.
Although Redknapp's men wore GPS heart monitors during training, the absence of armies of dieticians and assorted "ologists" highlighted the former manager's belief that footballers should be treated like adults.
Suspicious of statistics and hi-tech toys, Redknapp's managerial gifts – which, after all, produced two top-four finishes in three years – were based on instinct and astute man management. There was no computer on the 65-year-old's desk.
While Villas-Boas will be similarly keen to see Luka Modric, if they can keep him, and Gareth Bale indulging in attacking improvisation as Tottenham remain true to their best aesthetic traditions, radical change surely beckons. Villas-Boas's challenge is how he controls the culture shock. If it helps that Bale has recently signed a new contract and Modric knows the new manager tried to sign him for Chelsea, the Portuguese's handling of spiky individuals such as Rafael van der Vaart and William Gallas promises to prove intriguing.
At Chelsea Villas-Boas's enthusiasm for a high defensive line was not shared by his players and, similarly, Tottenham's defence may lack the pace and energy to pull that particular ploy off.
He also has a penchant for a high-intensity pressing game, plus the sort of constant positional inter-changing between midfielders that should fully stretch Scott Parker, if not Modric. Implementing such a style requires enhanced fitness and it will be interesting to see how readily a squad that, under Redknapp, worked out "economically" once a day will buy into the idea of tough double training sessions.
A compelling battle for hearts and minds looms, with Villas-Boas's cause aided by two factors; collectively, the Spurs team is considerably younger than Chelsea's, and it also lacks trophies.
When chief scout at Chelsea under José Mourinho, Villas-Boas once compiled an outstandingly impressive report on Saudi Sportswashing Machine that was leaked to the press. It was testimony to his ability to read the game but it also pointed out that Mourinho could not silence dressing-room dissent by "putting his medals on the table".
The same applies to Villas-Boas. Frustrated in his efforts to play football at even a modest level by a childhood co-ordination problem, he directed his energies into an academic approach to match analysis. It won him the patronage of Sir Bobby Robson and, eventually, the Porto job. But before it can pay further dividends, Villas-Boas must conquer Tottenham's dressing room.
Helpfully, he is a fluent, highly articulate communicator, but there can be no repeat of the flashes of immaturity and arrogance – such as the childish exclusion of Nicolas Anelka and Alex from senior involvement with Chelsea – that are remembered at Stamford Bridge.
Maybe he requires a touch more humility and an enhanced sense of humour. And perhaps it is time to consign the hallmark AVB touchline crouch to history. Apart from placing an appalling strain on his knees, that pose leaves him in frequent peril of collapsing in an undignified technical area heap.
Villas-Boas's bravery has often served him well but, initially at least, caution could prove a better friend at Tottenham
The 34-year-old's chastening experience at Stamford Bridge should not obscure the reality that Villas-Boas could not have done what he did at Porto in 2010-11 if he were not exceptionally gifted.
"We've lost a really, really, talented coach," said Alan Pardew, the Saudi Sportswashing Machine manager on hearing the news of Villas-Boas's Chelsea downfall. "He had to take on a club in a transition year with a lot of senior pros in the background and he had a very, very difficult job. I hope that, one day, some of those senior pros will apologise to André. They should do so because he deserved better."
By last winter Villas-Boas had become so stressed that, instead of returning home to his wife and two small daughers, he sometimes spent the night at Chelsea's Cobham training ground, sleeping in a Japanese style pod. On those occasions when his black BMW four-wheel-drive remained in the car park overnight, Villas-Boas invariably rose before dawn in order to study statistical data.
His micro-management of Frank Lampard and company represents a stark contrast to the more laid-back, macro-managerial approach favoured by his Tottenham predecessor, Harry Redknapp.
Under Redknapp's training regime at Spurs Lodge tactical briefings tended to be restricted to 30 minutes. Otherwise there were few intense discussions or detailed sessions on team shape, while set-piece rehearsal and analysis of opponents' foibles were kept to a minimum. Instead the players were offered the freedom to express themselves on the pitch.
Although Redknapp's men wore GPS heart monitors during training, the absence of armies of dieticians and assorted "ologists" highlighted the former manager's belief that footballers should be treated like adults.
Suspicious of statistics and hi-tech toys, Redknapp's managerial gifts – which, after all, produced two top-four finishes in three years – were based on instinct and astute man management. There was no computer on the 65-year-old's desk.
While Villas-Boas will be similarly keen to see Luka Modric, if they can keep him, and Gareth Bale indulging in attacking improvisation as Tottenham remain true to their best aesthetic traditions, radical change surely beckons. Villas-Boas's challenge is how he controls the culture shock. If it helps that Bale has recently signed a new contract and Modric knows the new manager tried to sign him for Chelsea, the Portuguese's handling of spiky individuals such as Rafael van der Vaart and William Gallas promises to prove intriguing.
At Chelsea Villas-Boas's enthusiasm for a high defensive line was not shared by his players and, similarly, Tottenham's defence may lack the pace and energy to pull that particular ploy off.
He also has a penchant for a high-intensity pressing game, plus the sort of constant positional inter-changing between midfielders that should fully stretch Scott Parker, if not Modric. Implementing such a style requires enhanced fitness and it will be interesting to see how readily a squad that, under Redknapp, worked out "economically" once a day will buy into the idea of tough double training sessions.
A compelling battle for hearts and minds looms, with Villas-Boas's cause aided by two factors; collectively, the Spurs team is considerably younger than Chelsea's, and it also lacks trophies.
When chief scout at Chelsea under José Mourinho, Villas-Boas once compiled an outstandingly impressive report on Saudi Sportswashing Machine that was leaked to the press. It was testimony to his ability to read the game but it also pointed out that Mourinho could not silence dressing-room dissent by "putting his medals on the table".
The same applies to Villas-Boas. Frustrated in his efforts to play football at even a modest level by a childhood co-ordination problem, he directed his energies into an academic approach to match analysis. It won him the patronage of Sir Bobby Robson and, eventually, the Porto job. But before it can pay further dividends, Villas-Boas must conquer Tottenham's dressing room.
Helpfully, he is a fluent, highly articulate communicator, but there can be no repeat of the flashes of immaturity and arrogance – such as the childish exclusion of Nicolas Anelka and Alex from senior involvement with Chelsea – that are remembered at Stamford Bridge.
Maybe he requires a touch more humility and an enhanced sense of humour. And perhaps it is time to consign the hallmark AVB touchline crouch to history. Apart from placing an appalling strain on his knees, that pose leaves him in frequent peril of collapsing in an undignified technical area heap.
Villas-Boas's bravery has often served him well but, initially at least, caution could prove a better friend at Tottenham
Leeds Spur
Banned
jimmy, when you were one-lining I was replying to you I think?
Just as with Leeds; as much of a tosser he is
Be more punchy jimmy; grab my atten-shun bwoy!
Takes a WUM to bait a WUM
Excellent article but by whom? The author and website / newspaper deserve to be credited.
Leeds Spur
Banned
Cheers.
punk_is_back`
Ilie Dumitrescu
I wouldn't too but this would have been based on his incompetence to put together a squad with depth over the years he's been with us. Failing to secure CL qualification has no doubt been the biggest factor in modric wanting to leave. Redknapp crafted this squad, its his fault if it fails. AVB has come in and now needs to clean the damage that Redknapp has done to the squad therefore he gets a clean slate to shape it how it he wants it.
Leeds Spur
Banned
http://www.talksport.co.uk/radio/listen-again/episode/82604
Couldn't help myself....Gough actually does a decent job!!
Couldn't help myself....Gough actually does a decent job!!
BrainOfLevy
Michael Carrick
Must say it seems like Sheikh is an intelligent guy mostly but he seems very Durham-esque in this thread.
AVB was fired so he's obviously a muppet, Harry got us 4th so he's obviously the best person for the long term...come on. We have to look at the details if we want to discuss things intelligently.
AVB was fired so he's obviously a muppet, Harry got us 4th so he's obviously the best person for the long term...come on. We have to look at the details if we want to discuss things intelligently.
DublinSpur
Scott Parker
Wow. We announce a new manager and already there's a massive flame war underway. You'd never know we all supported the same team...
Personally I'm glad we've announced someone (end the uncertainty) and am more than happy to get behind AVB and give him my 100% support. Just as I would with any manager of Tottenham Hotspur. Obviously I hope we get the Porto version of AVB rather than the Chelsea version, but I'm actually quite confident that we will - many of the factors involved in AVB's failure at Chelsea don't exist at Spurs. I'm not expecting miracles right away, and am half-resigned to yet another transitional season, but I am optimistic about the direction we seem to be heading (young new manager with something to prove and a track record that includes plenty of success as well as that notable failure; new training ground; new stadium on the horizon; and a chairman who - if we believe half the rumours - seems willing to back our new manager in an effort to build a young world-class squad). Sure it could all go horribly wrong - and I expect plenty of "I told you so"s if it does (though curiously I doubt we'll hear too many "mea culpa"s if it doesn't) - but I prefer to look on the bright side rather than wallow in the darkness of failures that may never even happen.
One thing I would like to respond to in this thread, though without getting embroiled in the bitter arguments, is the notion that Chelsea's season somehow improved when AVB left.
That's just not true. Di Matteo's premiership performance was worse. The "INSTANT up-turn in results" was short-lived (and entirely to be expected given the conflict going on behind the scenes in the run up to AVB's departure) and Chelsea ended up dropping down the table after AVB left, not rising up. Regarding the Champion's League. If memory serves me, Chelsea were still very much in the competition when AVB left. Di Matteo didn't somehow miraculously win his way back into the competition. AVB was unbeaten in the CL, and Di Matteo merely emulated that. Would Chelsea have won it under AVB? Fact is, we'll never know (and anyone who says they do know is either a liar or a traveller from an alternative universe... in which case I would have thought they'd have better things to do than argue the toss on an internet forum).
Ultimately, Chelsea's performance in the league got worse after AVB left. And their performance in the cup competitions remained the same. And that's *all* we can say with certainty.
Personally I think AVB is far more likely to succeed at Spurs than he was at Chelsea. The players at Chelsea seemed determined to obstruct his attempts to create a free-flowing attacking style of football. That won't happen at Spurs (given that we already play that way - no, not exactly the formation that AVB seems to favour, but our basic philosophy is the same). And a good thing too. I say this honestly, and with hand-on-heart, if winning the Champions League means turning Spurs into the dour, boring, anti-football, park the bus and pray kind of team that Di Matteo employed against Barcelona and Bayern Munich, then I don't want to win the CL. The reason I'm a Spurs fan is because my Dad raised me to be one. But the reason I love Spurs is because of Glenn Hoddle. Because of the skill, flair and honest-to-GHod magic that he brought to a football field. I'll be a Spurs fan forever, but a little part of me will die if we ever lose that philosophy... that drive to produce entertaining football above all else. Of course we want to win as well, we want both. But I won't sacrifice the philosophy for the trophies, and I don't think we have to.
Which is why AVB has my support... he shares the philosophy, and he knows how to win. Let's get behind him!
Personally I'm glad we've announced someone (end the uncertainty) and am more than happy to get behind AVB and give him my 100% support. Just as I would with any manager of Tottenham Hotspur. Obviously I hope we get the Porto version of AVB rather than the Chelsea version, but I'm actually quite confident that we will - many of the factors involved in AVB's failure at Chelsea don't exist at Spurs. I'm not expecting miracles right away, and am half-resigned to yet another transitional season, but I am optimistic about the direction we seem to be heading (young new manager with something to prove and a track record that includes plenty of success as well as that notable failure; new training ground; new stadium on the horizon; and a chairman who - if we believe half the rumours - seems willing to back our new manager in an effort to build a young world-class squad). Sure it could all go horribly wrong - and I expect plenty of "I told you so"s if it does (though curiously I doubt we'll hear too many "mea culpa"s if it doesn't) - but I prefer to look on the bright side rather than wallow in the darkness of failures that may never even happen.
One thing I would like to respond to in this thread, though without getting embroiled in the bitter arguments, is the notion that Chelsea's season somehow improved when AVB left.
That's just not true. Di Matteo's premiership performance was worse. The "INSTANT up-turn in results" was short-lived (and entirely to be expected given the conflict going on behind the scenes in the run up to AVB's departure) and Chelsea ended up dropping down the table after AVB left, not rising up. Regarding the Champion's League. If memory serves me, Chelsea were still very much in the competition when AVB left. Di Matteo didn't somehow miraculously win his way back into the competition. AVB was unbeaten in the CL, and Di Matteo merely emulated that. Would Chelsea have won it under AVB? Fact is, we'll never know (and anyone who says they do know is either a liar or a traveller from an alternative universe... in which case I would have thought they'd have better things to do than argue the toss on an internet forum).
Ultimately, Chelsea's performance in the league got worse after AVB left. And their performance in the cup competitions remained the same. And that's *all* we can say with certainty.
Personally I think AVB is far more likely to succeed at Spurs than he was at Chelsea. The players at Chelsea seemed determined to obstruct his attempts to create a free-flowing attacking style of football. That won't happen at Spurs (given that we already play that way - no, not exactly the formation that AVB seems to favour, but our basic philosophy is the same). And a good thing too. I say this honestly, and with hand-on-heart, if winning the Champions League means turning Spurs into the dour, boring, anti-football, park the bus and pray kind of team that Di Matteo employed against Barcelona and Bayern Munich, then I don't want to win the CL. The reason I'm a Spurs fan is because my Dad raised me to be one. But the reason I love Spurs is because of Glenn Hoddle. Because of the skill, flair and honest-to-GHod magic that he brought to a football field. I'll be a Spurs fan forever, but a little part of me will die if we ever lose that philosophy... that drive to produce entertaining football above all else. Of course we want to win as well, we want both. But I won't sacrifice the philosophy for the trophies, and I don't think we have to.
Which is why AVB has my support... he shares the philosophy, and he knows how to win. Let's get behind him!
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Little Luka
John Scales
glorygloryeze
Tom Huddlestone
I have to say I'm excited about this appointment.
I think we can expect a bit more structure to our training, tactical planning, player recruitment for the long-term and a younger outlook on our approach generally.
I also have more faith that the length and breath of our squad will be utilised and that we wont just throw the EL and also give the Carling Cup a real go.
COYS!!
I think we can expect a bit more structure to our training, tactical planning, player recruitment for the long-term and a younger outlook on our approach generally.
I also have more faith that the length and breath of our squad will be utilised and that we wont just throw the EL and also give the Carling Cup a real go.
COYS!!
Leeds Spur
Banned
Well said Sir!!!!
Gutter Boy
Tim Sherwood
One criticism - I don't see how you can say our defence lacks pace - there aren't many quicker around than Walker, Kaboul, Verts and BAE will be.