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Ander Villas-Boas: Can his second Premier League ‘Project’ be a success?

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At White Hart Lane, there is no recognised ‘old guard’ to intimidate the man who certainly divides opinion. Plus, Villas-Boas has already begun to craft his own team which, to be fair, is a respectable move, suggesting he has learned a valuable lesson. With the added, expensive signatures of Hugo Lloris from Lyon, Moussa Dembele from Fulham, Gylfi Sigurdsson from Hoffenheim and, surprisingly, Clint Dempsey (also from the Cottagers) and the previously purchased Emmanuel Adebayor, a newly-shaped Spurs are forming before our eyes.

Luka Modric, who departed for around £30m to Real Madrid and Rafael van der Vaart, who left in a £10m deal for Hamburg, will leave a considerably large hole at White Hart Lane as their creativity, charisma, goals and flare will be sorely missed. It is up for ‘AVB’, who said he was too ‘aggressive’ at Chelsea, to expertly craft an even better team than Harry Redknapp’s, who made the Champions League and were labelled as possible title challengers.

The one thing Villas-Boas should not overly tinker with is Spurs’ style of play. Their football in-between August and December last season was mesmerising, especially with the wingers completing an incredibly attractive style. In pre-season, the 34 year-old spent a lot of time working on a so called ‘high-line’ (which did not work at Chelsea) of defence, placing the emphasis on breaking up the play in midfield by pressing the opposition; a very continental style and therefore risky to induce in to a Premier League side.

Hopefully, the ex-Porto coach will spend longer at his current club, who appointed him and therefore should see his exciting potential and value. With the styles of his so called ‘projects’ appearing very similar on the surface, Tottenham fans will most likely have to be patient as the puzzle slowly clicks in to place. This time in a year, we will see the true Tottenham, Villas-Boas (if he is still there) and possibly the type of team Chelsea could have been whilst understanding whether my initial superstitions were either right or wrong.

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  • serious says:

    Give him a chance! LEVY messed us up but no sorting out Mountinho ages before the last day of transfer window ridiculous!!

  • Stephen Richards says:

    In my opinion Chelsea just wasn’t the right job for him, as a young manager he probably felt as though he had to impose himself hugely on the team so they new exactly the changes he wanted so the team played his way. Trouble was the older players in the group were roughly the same age as him and they didn’t appreciate the change of style. The longer it went on and they weren’t getting the results, it obviously got worse. Also due to the ageing squad at Chelsea, plus Abramovich’s track record with sacking managers who don’t win the league, he didn’t have time on his side. At Tottenham I think he needs to be given time and given the fact Dabiel Levy sacked Harry Redknapp to bring him in, I would find it bizarre if he wasn’t given time. Look at the Premier League’s three longest-serving managers and what they’ve achieved from when they took over at their clubs. AVB can be a success at Tottenham.

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