Festive Cheers return to the Lane as Tim’s Spurs Overpower Stoke

On the morning of 16^th December, Tim Sherwood was making his way to the Spurs Lodge to oversee the training of the development squads, Emmanuel Adebayor was still out of the first team picture, Spurs had been plunged back into crisis the day before by the Liverpool trashing, had not kept a clean sheet in the league since the 3^rd of November and had not scored more than two goals in a league game all season. Fast forward two weeks and Adebayor is the focal point of a promising partnership with Roberto Soldado, Spurs have scored three goals in two of their last three matches and also finally kept a clean sheet again with a good, emphatic win against Stoke. Maybe Tim Sherwood is right after all. He had said tongue in cheek at one of his earlier press conferences that if he does well and still loses the job, he'd simply join Real Madrid! Perhaps he knows more about this management lark than his CV would suggest and he might yet surprise us all.

Tim Sherwood has made some bold calls since taking over, not least the decision to switch to 4-4-2. It was a bold although reasonable decision to bring Adebayor back into the team given the lack of goals. He has clearly given the team a licence to attack. There was a feeling that under AVB, Spurs played with the handbrakes on. However the fact that Sherwood has yet to start with a defensive midfielder in his line up shows where his emphasis is. Goodness knows what AVB must be thinking watching Adebayor perform as impressively as he has in the last four games. Considering he has hardly played any football this season, his interplay with Soldado has already yielded goals, assists and looks quite promising. Tim Sherwood deserves credit for that.

Sherwood made another brave call in handing Zeki Fryers his first start for Spurs and also playing him in his natural position of left back. While Fryers still has a lot of improving to do, he gave Spurs a level of natural balance that the right sided Kyle Naughton never did when he played there. He needs games in that position, either at Spurs or out on loan to get better in the same way that Kyle Walker and Danny Rose did. Incidentally, Kyle Naughton, playing in his natural position of right full back had arguably one of his best games for Spurs. For all the tactical trends in modern football, playing footballers in their natural positions can be ridiculously effective. Tim Sherwood will do well to remember this lesson as he moves forward.

Mousa Dembele and Paulinho were highly impressive in central midfield and it is a massive blow that we are now going to lose Paulinho for at least a month due to the thuggery of Stoke City’s Charlie Adam, who is developing this unwelcome habit of injuring Spurs better players whenever he play his team. He had previously injured Gareth Bale as well with an ugly tackle.  Paulinho has impressed since arriving at Spurs and when he plays really well, Spurs tend to play really well. The good thing is you sense there is a lot more to come from him and Tim Sherwood will do well to get it out of him consistently. He will also have to find a way to get Mousa Dembele performing consistently.  He has brilliant dribbling skills and the ability to change direction. His distribution however and his goal ratio for a player of such talent has so much scope for improvement. His well taken goal against Stoke yesterday was a welcome start.

It was also great to see Aaron Lennon get on the score sheet and also making runs off the ball and providing decent crosses. Lennon is an experienced player now and a level of consistency is needed from him on the right and indeed should be expected, with his pace. This is particularly important as Andros Townsend appears to have gone off the boil a bit. Speaking of Townsend, it was perhaps inevitable that after his impressive start to the season and explosion on the England scene, there would be a dip in form. He now needs to knuckle down, learn the lessons and fight his way back to the level that had him almost guaranteed a world cup squad spot. On current form and given the number of right sided young players in form, that can no longer be taken for granted.

All in all seven points from three premier league games and a return to the attacking principles we love is a decent start to Tim Sherwood’s career as Spurs Manager. It means we end a tumultuous year on a high and head into 2014 with everything still to play for. The loss to West Ham in the league cup was an irritant that would probably be forgotten as Manchester City are strong favourites to win it. Managers among other things have to be lucky to survive in this business for long and we are about to get an indication of how good and how lucky a manager Tim Sherwood will be. Tough tests wait in the league as we start the new year with a tasty clash with in form but beatable Manchester United followed by a FA Cup third round tie at Arsenal.  As Tim Sherwood himself said, time to get the tin hats on. Here’s to an exciting 2014 at the Lane.

Exit wounds all round as Andre Villas Boas falls on his sword

The end was brutal and mercifully swift. Andre Villas Boas had cut a dazed and lonely picture on the pitch as Raheem Sterling scored the fifth goal to complete Liverpool’s demolition job and leave him at the mercy of Daniel Levy’s judgement. Like a peasant at the mercy of a Roman Emperor. AVB has off course been here before with a certain Roman Emperor down Kings Road. He had survived to tell the tale and he was now plotting to overthrow the said Roman Empire, now being overseen ironically by his mentor and one time friend, Jose Mourinho.  To his credit, he did not hide from the after match press conference. He took the predictable grilling from the press pack while trying grimly to hang on to his credibility for all it was worth, but he looked a beaten man, with all the confidence of a turkey, who knows what it’s like to be stuffed at this time of the year. And so with one downward point of Daniel Levy’s thumb, the era of Andre Villas Boas, 39^th manager of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club and 11^th to lead the first team (including caretakers but not directors of football!) since the reign of King Daniel Levy was consigned to history.

So why or where did it go wrong for AVB? How should we judge AVB as a manager? And is Daniel Levy any closer to establishing our great club firmly back in the big time?

To answer the first question, one has to look no further than Gareth Bale. Bale was AVB’s gift and curse. Since 2010, Bale has been Spurs star player and inspiration. Despite the presence of outstanding players like Luka Modric and Rafael Van Der Vaart, Bale gave Spurs a swagger we have not had since David Ginola flicked his admittedly gorgeous hair all over White hart lane. AVB’s great success in 2012 was inspiring even greater performances from Bale and adding at least another forty million pounds to his transfer value. The 2012/2013 season did much to restore some of AVB’s credibility, so much so that Paris St Germaine came sniffing for his services. With Bale’s world record transfer however, AVB was exposed. While Spurs spent heavily in the transfer market, the three players AVB wanted more than any other escaped his grasp. From day one on the job, Joao Moutinho has been his number one target. The midfield general that will set the tempo for Spurs. The others were Hulk and Willian. But for Jose Mourinho at Chelsea, Willian would have been delivered. The other players would have enhanced the squad. However, the Hulk deal never looked like materialising and Moutinho ended up at moneybags, Monaco. This made this season a very testing one for AVB. He also appeared to ignore Adebayor rather too hastily. Undoubtedly, none of the signings have shone consistently, nonetheless, he started solidly enough. The alarm bells first rang when West ham mugged us at the Lane. The dissenting voices among fans, critics and press increased due to an increasingly discernible lack of tempo.  However it was the manner of the heavy defeats to Manchester City and Liverpool that really sealed his fate. For such an astute tactician, AVB seemed unable to affect some matches and confidence looked alarmingly fragile.

So was AVB a success or a failure? At first glance, the answer is obvious. After all, you don’t get sacked for being successful do you? However, the evidence is not so conclusive. AVB loves his statistics and would take comfort from the fact that statistically his win percentage in all competitions places him third highest on the all-time list of Spurs managers. Statistically he has the highest win percentage of any Spurs manager in the premier league era and no Spurs manager in premiership history has ended the season with more points.  Set against that is the fact that no trophies were won, semi- finals or finals contested, no champions league. A harsh indictment perhaps, but Spurs have moved up a level since Daniel Levy became chairman. Previously unheard of sums of money are now being spent on players regularly and most crucially, recent managers have been in no doubt about what is expected of them when they join Spurs. Most Spurs fans will just about tolerate a lack of trophies if the team is playing entertaining football consistently and at least challenging for the big prizes. This has been AVB’s chief crime this season and left him without a safety net when results turned against him. AVB has however won a league title in Portugal, a league tougher than Holland, Belgium, Switzerland and Scotland. He remains the youngest manager ever to win a European title and has earned the respect of players like Willian, Moutinho, Falcao and Gareth Bale. And yet, AVB has yet to complete a second season at ANY club he has managed.  AVB still has plenty of admirers in the game, talks a great game and there are plenty of managers with far worse records than his. His credibility will be the source of much debate. I can only conclude that, in spite of his success with Porto, outside of his native Portugal, Andre Villas Boas has not been a lucky manger so far.  

So where does this leave Levy’s ambition for Spurs?

Like Roman Abramovic at Chelsea, Daniel Levy has always wanted an A-List manager to take Spurs into the big time. Unlike Abramovic at Chelsea, he has not been able to bring the very best managers to Spurs. Glen Hoddle was a populist if welcome move. Harry Rednapp was a desperate move to avoid the threat of relegation and turned out better than expected before imploding because of the England job that never was. Juande Ramos was a rising star in Spanish football following his work with Sevilla but struggled to adapt outside of Spain, Jacques Santini had overseen one of France’s worst tournament performances prior to taking over while Martin Jol established Spurs as top five, top six  but could not make the final break through.  All of the above are decent managers in their own right. However Levy has wanted more from his managers since dispensing with Glen Hoddle. His tenure at Spurs has seen a cross between the extravagant spending of Chelsea and the financial prudence of Arsenal. However, without completely going one way or the other, Spurs have been at a sort of halfway house, tantalisingly close to a breakthrough but not quite getting there. Ecstasy and agony been delivered too closely, too often to be good for the old ticker. 

His chosen one, perhaps surprisingly is the previously untested Tim Sherwood. A Redknapp protégé who is well thought of at Spurs due to his work with the development squad which has given us Harry Kane, Tom Carroll, Andros Townsend and most recently the promising Nabil Bentaleb.  How will he get on? Time will tell, however If history is any judge, Tim will have to outdo his mentor and show the tactical suaveness of a fancy continental coach. Above all, he will need to be lucky.  In one sense, he already is by getting this job. It is a far healthy situation than most managers walk into mid-season. Spurs are still within breathing distance of the top of the league in this most open of seasons and have a decent squad of players. Now Mr Tim Sherwood must walk the walk. It’s already squeaky bum time. A sensation Spurs fans have felt far too often in recent times. In fact Daniel Levy’s tenure at Spurs can be summarised as a squeaky bum ride. It’s never dull at Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. 

St Emmanuel gives Spurs the gift of three points at Saints’ grotto

Some felt this was a good time to play Spurs, without a manager and having conceded thirteen goals in the last four league games, including five in their last league game. Others felt that it was a good time to play Southampton, given their own patchy form without a win in five league games before yesterday’s match.  The more mischievous observers thought it was a good opportunity for Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino to audition for the Spurs job given his impressive career to date in English football. What no one foresaw at the start of the week was that a striker who had not started a single league game for Spurs this season would make the headlines.

Emmanuel Adebayor missed pre-season and has not trained with the first team this season, having at various times trained with the reserves and even on his own. Yet he was arguably Spurs best player in the midweek Carling cup quarter-final defeat at home to West Ham (again!! painful I know) scoring with a fabulous volley and on Sunday, produced another fine performance, scoring two classy goals and creating a few assists as well. Adebayor has always divided opinion. To some, he is a world class striker who just needs to be loved and believed in, be the main man. To others, he is a luxury, a lazy striker who only turns in his best performances when he is playing for a contract or wants a transfer. What is undeniable is that he has all the attributes of a top striker, but has been frustratingly inconsistent, not just at Spurs, but throughout his career in English football. One great season followed by an indifferent one, followed by inevitable speculation about his future and then a transfer. Just once, I would like Adebayor to dedicate three years to a single club without any thought of moving and apply himself fully to achieving something. It would be a first; however Spurs are a club hungry for success. So desperate for success in fact they have been changing managers with all the desperation of a love starved woman changing boyfriends at the first whiff of trouble.

Back in the autumn, when Spurs still had a miserly defence but were struggling to score goals, I suggested that an Emmanuel Adebayor with a point to prove may just be the trump card for Spurs Champions league ambitions during the business end of one of the most open and unpredictable seasons in premiership history. Even Adebayor himself boasted that despite new strikers at the club, he expected to end the season as the main striker and top scorer. Three goals in a couple of good games do not begin to fulfil that prediction.  However, with twenty one league games left and only six points off the top of league, an FA cup third round tie against Arsenal at the Emirates and a Europa league round of thirty two tie against Ukrainian side Dnipro, there remains plenty to play for and a massive opportunity now presents itself to make good on his boast.

It was a brave if not totally unexpected call from caretaker manager and ex Spurs midfielder Tim Sherwood to reinstate Adebayor straight into the starting line-up after taking over from the sacked Andre Villas Boas. It was also reasonably predictable that he would adopt the 4-4-2 formation favoured by his mentor Harry Redknapp. Tim however showed real belief in his judgement by starting without a specialist defensive midfield (shades of Ossie Ardiles famous five) and then bringing on Nabil Bentaleb, an 18 year old youth team player ahead of internals Etienne Capoue and Lewis Holtby. The teenager did well while he was on the pitch and follows a line of players from Spurs youth team like Steve Caulker, Harry Kane, Tom Carroll, Jake Livermore and Andros Townsend. All these players have progressed to the fringes of the first team under Tim Sherwood’s watch and this as well as results in the ensuing games will be his audition for the Spurs managers’ job. He is talking a good game and seems personable enough with the media. However, truth be told, he will hardly set the pulses of Spurs supporters racing, at least initially. Possession is nine tenths of the law though so Tim as interim manager is in contention. 

AVB, his sacking and the managerial situation at Spurs will be discussed in a later post. For now, Spurs faithful should draw some comfort from the fact that the last interim manager to follow AVB managed to lift the Champions league and the FA cup.  Spurs are not in the Champions league. The Europa league, FA cup and top four would do nicely though thank you very much. Now there’s an exciting thought to warm the cockles this festive season. Calm down dear, I hear you say. Ah well, we can always dream. That’s what fans do. What IS realistic though?

Pain at the Lane as Liverpool and Suarez Rip Spurs Apart

As John Cleese so memorably said, "It's not the disappointment, it's the hope I can't cope with". Hope and excitement had preceded the start of this game among the Spurs faithful who turned up in their thousands at White Hart Lane. Spurs had recovered reasonably well from the last great thrashing. This was the game that would complete our recovery and set us up for a happy Christmas with winnable games throughout the crucial period. Manchester City even set the mood music by thrashing Arsenal 6 – 3 the previous day. The sight of Jack Wilshere giving the finger and a clearly irate Per Mertersacker berating Mesut Ozil in no uncertain terms for not acknowledging the fans at the end provided an amusing backdrop. Just beat Liverpool, five points behind Arsenal, game on. Simples.

Ninety painful, deflating minutes later, players and fans trudged way, dazed, head dropped and hopes dashed again. Luis Suarez had bitten us where it really hurts (metaphorically this time of course). In truth, from about the 12^th minute, Liverpool had taken control of this game. Raheem Sterling gave Kyle Naughton an absolute roasting on the left flank. It must have come as a relief to him when he was substituted for the second half. Michael Dawson, Etienne Capoue and Kyle Walker probably all wished they were by the end of the game. Such had been the caning. Everyone knew that Liverpool’s Inspiration was Luis Suarez, yet no defender got close to him all afternoon. In midfield, players who on paper looked much better than Liverpool’s midfielders were overrun and overpowered by the intensity and energy of Joe Allen and Jordan Henderson, two players who without being disrespectful do not excite even Liverpool fans.

To compound the mystery for Spurs fans, Adebayor and Benoit Assou-Ekoto tweeted a picture appearing to poke fun at a painful result. No Spurs supporter left White Hart Lane feeling they had just witnessed a great game. Whether you agree with a manager or not, players are employed by clubs and the very least that fans deserve is for players to show they care.  It was crass, disrespectful to teammates and reflects badly on players that haven’t exactly been indispensable. The players that played cannot be accused of not caring, they tried, gave everything and the pain as well as probable embarrassment was obvious at the end.

So where did it all go wrong? Moussa Dembele always looks good on the ball, but was ineffective and simply has not done enough to create any consistent attacking impetus this season. Nacer Chadli arrived at spurs having created the most number of assists in the Dutch first division last season. However, he has hardly shown anything like that form. Aaron Lennon has simply not looked the same player he has been for us. Paulinho had one of his least effective games for Spurs, the game seemed to pass him by and his sending off for a high challenge on Suarez though unfortunate and unintentional was justified and summed up his wretched afternoon. Roberto Soldado had rightly been given the start after his hat trick in midweek. However, Spurs did not have a single shot on target during the entire game. This against a defence featuring prolific own goal scorer Martin Skrtel, a defender still finding his feet in Mohammed Sakho and a full back in Jon Flanagan with only a handful of premiership games to his name. One has to feel sorry for Soldado. He was brought in to score goals. He is not scoring goals, but he is not missing many chances because he hardly gets any.

There is a pattern emerging in Spurs play this season, which is not doing us any favours as the record on one home win in six league games show. The slow build up and possession play is great in continental competition and serves us well in away games. However, the intensity of the premiership demands that we sacrifice a bit of the patient build up and have the confidence to really have a go at visiting teams. Spurs have only showed that in flashes this season and on Sunday, our worst home defeat in 16 years, Liverpool had far too much snap, crackle and pop for Spurs more sedate style. Their energy levels and the confidence in their passing were impressive and Brendan Rodgers and their players deserve credit for their performance.

What Spurs are lacking more than anything is an inspirational leader on the field. Since late 2009, Gareth Bale has not only played consistently well for Spurs, he has been a galvanising influence on the rest of the team. His performances raised the energy and confidence levels of the whole team. Spurs were never out of a game while he was on the field. That, as much as the player himself is what we lost, when he moved to Real Madrid. Liverpool found theirs in Suarez, Arsenal in Ramsey and Ozil this season, Manchester City, well take your pick but you get the picture. Sometimes great managers inspire great teams that lack great, inspirational players. Jose Mourinho and Sir Alex Ferguson come to mind. Looking around the Spurs dressing room, you see a lot of very good players, but you don’t see a consistent, inspirational match winner. Until this newly assembled team finds its identity and it’s heroes, players who other teams worry about, players who while they are on the pitch, the game is never lost, AVB who is a very good manager, but not yet a great one will have to find a way to inspire great performances from this team. Can he do it?

Speaking of Andre Villas Boas, media speculation on his future will once again intensify. As I mentioned in an earlier post, that is an unfortunate occupational hazard these days and all managers take premier league jobs fully aware of this. The only immunity is winning and winning well. To be fair, AVB accepted full responsibility for the performance. Will Spurs chairman Daniel Levy be patient with a manager who has NEVER managed the same club for two consecutive seasons and give him a chance to get it right or will he cut his losses, admit he made a mistake and pull the plug on “The Project”? The normal rule of business, where Daniel Levy has excelled does not always apply in running a big football club. He must hope his next decision is the right one. AVB must hope he is given the chance to bring his vision of a successful, entertaining Spurs side to life. We poor fans must hope we win the next game. Hope. That word again. So damn positive. So damn painful.   

Gutsy Spurs survive Stadium of Light to end week on a high

In the helter skelter world of premiership football, where fans have notoriously short memories, a week is long time and two weeks can seem an age.  A very long time ago, two weeks to be exact, Andre Villas Boas celebrated his 50^th game in charge of Tottenham by watching his team lose humiliatingly at Manchester city. Bookies had him as favourite to be the next manager sacked. Ravenous hacks tore into him with indecent relish and that overused word ‘crisis’ hung over Tottenham. Two a league wins and a creditable draw later, Tottenham sit in sixth place, three points off second place and (albeit with a vastly inferior goals difference) and a not insurmountable eight points off the top. The cloud of crisis moving swiftly up the M62 to Manchester united and manager David Moyes who must have felt really lonely as United lost back to back home matches in the league for the first time in 12 years.

While AVB is entitled to a spot of self-satisfaction after a good couple of weeks, this most unpredictable of seasons has shown that positions and prospects can change rapidly on a few results. He must therefore be aware of the danger that still lurks. Apart from Arsenal, no other team has shown the level of consistency that can allow it’s fans to relax, safe in the knowledge that their team will live up to expectations. In the absence of any such momentum, only the form of our key players and the emergence of an effective pattern of play is the basis on which our prospects for the rest of the season can be judged.

Hugo Lloris is undoubtedly one of the best keepers in the league and his ability to play as a sweeper does give Spurs an extra dimension at the best of times. However, he does not seem as authoritative as he was before his sickening collision with Romelu Lukaku a month ago. He is still an excellent shot stopper, but has not looked as commanding on crosses and one-on-one situations since his return. He may need a few games to get back into his groove, but as we head into the busy December period, Spurs can ill afford the kind of mistake that allowed Sunderland to take the lead on Saturday.

Etienne Capoue showed his versatility by playing as a centre back and had a good game at the weekend. However, While the ruggedness of Michael Dawson is not in doubt, he looks susceptible to pace. It is noticeable that Tottenham have not played as high a defensive line as they have in the past,  though this is still a core part of AVB’s football philosophy. Jan Vertonghen and Vlad Chiriches, who has really impressed since his debut, appear to be the best centre backs we have while Kaboul regains fitness. Kyle Walker has played well recently at right back but for all the decent signings made in the transfer window, the failure to sign a left back to compete with or cover Danny Rose has severely compromised our play down the left this season.

   

The midfield has been a bit of mixed back all season. Paulinho has impressed both defensively and in getting forward to pose a goal threat as he did at the weekend. Lewis Holtby has been busy and tried to create things when he has played. Dembele has not been firing on all cylinders although there are signs in recent games that he is coming into some form. His ability to keep the ball and run with it is fantastic. If only he could spray passes like Tom Huddleston, he would be some player. Sigurdsson made a decent start but seems to have gone off the boil a little. Other than Paulinho and perhaps Andros Townsend, Sigurdsson seems the only other midfielder with goals in him. Of the others, Sandro has been his usual belligerent self. Lennon and Townsend have played well without inspiring while Nacer Chadli has yet to really show the form he showed in Holland.

Attack has been a problem for Spurs for a few seasons now. Gareth Bale’s heroics and a great season from Adebayor, while on loan from Manchester city have disguised the problem for the last three seasons. Jermain Defoe will always score goals but never enough to carry a top four team on his own. Soldado has made an underwhelming start to his Tottenham career, but he has enough pedigree and class to believe he will come good soon. Key to this will be the form of Christian Eriksson and Erik Lamela. Both are very young and exceptionally talented. They clearly need time to adjust to the frenetic pace of premiership football and find their consistency.

In terms of the football style, AVB’s history suggests he is committed to possession based attacking football. Spurs players are young, hungry and receptive enough to adapt to this philosophy. Given the number of new players signed in the summer, this was always a transitional season. Perhaps AVB should have dampened expectations a bit to give himself some room for manouvre while he blended them in. In the circumstances, Spurs have slogged their way like a boxer on the ropes into contention for Champions league qualification without ever playing their best. That is either promising or worrying, depending on whether you are an optimist or a pessimist.

Last December, Spurs recovered from a patchy November to collect thirteen points from a possible eighteen. With seven on the board already and testing matches against Liverpool, Southampton, West Brom and Stoke, we’ll know a lot more about Spur’s prospects after December.

A word on a much liked former Spur’s boss. In 2004, a Dutch coach (Martin Jol) with a growing reputation and managerial ambitions joined Spurs as assistant manager. Thirteen games later the head coach (Jacques Santini) was sacked after poor results and said coach became manager. In 2013, a Dutch coach with a growing reputation and managerial ambitions (Rene Meulensteen) joined Fulham as assistant manager. After thirteen games, head coach (Martin Jol) is sacked and said coach becomes manager. It’s a funny old game. Good luck for the future big Martin.

How do you solve a problem like the British sporting media?

It is often said in some celebrity circles that all publicity is good. Not so if you are a premiership manager under pressure to deliver results, realistic or not. Few managers have got the better of the behemoth that is the British sporting media. This ‘establishment’ take few prisoners. Jose Mourinho had an easy-ish time mainly because, he produced results, but also for possessing the kind of charisma that had the stuffy, old media hacks blushing and drooling like lovesick teenagers over his every utterance as he gleefully filled their column inches. Arsene Wenger won their respect as his revolutionary methods transformed Arsenal, but as soon as he started losing key players and the trophies dried up, the knives were sharpened. Even for a Spurs fan, it was unpleasant to see at times. Indeed, only Sir Alex Ferguson lasted long enough to choose which sections of the media to give his time and thoughts to after surviving the early underwhelming years at Manchester United. So, as much as I understand Andre Villas Boas’s gripe with certain sections of the media, I worry for him in a prolonged face off with the press pack.

And so it was that Manchester united, a club whose recent identity has been shaped by Sir Alex Ferguson pitched up at White Hart Lane, with a manager (David Moyes) who only a few weeks ago after some iffy results was the subject of much commentary about his capacity to successfully succeed Alex Ferguson to face a Tottenham side under growing pressure and whose manager Andre Villas Boas has been subjected to some fairly intense scrutiny in the wake of last week’s humiliating defeat to Manchester city.    

In the circumstances, Tottenham played well in a match where the momentum swung frequently from one side to another, (ironically with less ball possession than an opponent for the first time this season). Overall, it was a good response to a traumatic result last time out. Manchester united played well in stages, especially Wayne Rooney who always looked dangerous. This was a fixture that has historically always been entertaining, if not always profitable from a Tottenham perspective. The players showed some fight, showed that they were united and behind their manager and Vlad Chiriches impressed again. I can see him becoming a crowd favourite before long. They stopped a Manchester united team that had been in recent good form and had enjoyed previous visits rather too much for Tottenham’s taste. As much as Spurs fans would have liked a win, most would have left White hart lane, satisfied with a point. Rot stopped.

The sub plot to this fixture however was more about the scrutiny on the respective managers. More specifically from the point of view of some mainstream sports writers, what the teams’ performances this season say about the competence of the managers. This matters because of the significant capacity of the media to influence public opinion which often impacts judgment. One hopes this influence is overstated but I am not convinced. In the week leading up to this match, a few newspapers had speculated on the future of Andre Villas Boas in the wake of last weeks’ drubbing. Managers from Fabio Capello to Luis Enrique and Michael Laudrup have been linked with the Spurs job. Even Harry Redknapp (bless him) dropped his two pence worth. Any of us could have had AVB's success at Porto - but he was out of his depth at Chelsea and he is the wrong man for Spurs proclaimed Neil Ashton, writing in the Daily Mail with almost palpable indignation as he shredded AVB's record, using of a series of stats and circumstances to buttress his judgement, which to my mind was reached with rather indecent haste. What’s the beauty of being Villas Boas? It’s always someone else’s fault was the considered judgement of Martin Samuel, another Daily mail writer of some considerable standing.

Now, I respect the opinions and previous work of Neil Ashton and especially Martin Samuel, whose work I devoured with great relish during my teenage years. However, I wonder if in their desire to be sensationalist these days, some of their considerations have become well, less considered. Martin Samuel built his entire narrative around the fact that AVB said Spurs players should be ashamed, meaning it was the players fault and potentially creating a division where there needn't be one. He actually said, ‘we should be ashamed’. To my mind, that’s inclusive of AVB himself. Listening to Neil Ashton in the post-match conference trying to justify his interpretation was unedifying for a writer of such standing. Neil Ashton’s piece was actually even worse and totally disingenuous in my opinion. The Portuguese league may not be the strongest in Europe but neither is Scotland’s. The achievements of Neil Lennon, Gordon Strachan and Martin O’Neill at Celtic or Walter Smith and Graham Souness at Rangers are no less significant. When Lyon and Rosenberg totally dominated the French and Norwegian Leagues respectively, the managers still had to build a team and defeat the opposition to win the titles.

AVB's Porto might have dominated the league, but he earned the right to manage Porto by keeping relegation threatened Académica in the top division. It's not everyday one becomes the youngest coach ever to win a European competition as he did in winning the Europa league. Sorry, I don't think any of us could have had that kind of success. Porto made clear what they think of his achievements by inviting him to be guest of honour at their 120^th anniversary celebrations. Even if the league was a walkover, history shows that cup competitions are generally tricky to navigate in any league in the same year and the Europa League, complete with Champions league dropouts is definitely never handed to you on a plate, even with Falcao and Hulk in the team. Criticising a manager after bad results and performances is fair game but a sense of perspective is needed and even if ‘all’ a manager did was win the league in Gibraltar, his previous achievements should not be belittled. It’s beneath respected journalists and comes across as a personal attack, despite Neil's protests to the contrary

Past success is of course no guarantee of future performance and AVB knows this as well as anyone in this business. AVB struggled at Chelsea undoubtedly. However Chelsea is a different animal to Tottenham and he has done better at Spurs. By most measures, he had a successful first season at Spurs, despite losing two of the best players in Luka Modric and Rafael Van der Vaart. I was impressed by how he handled Gareth Bale as well as senior players like William Gallas, Brad Friedel and even Emmanuel Adebayor, who can be a bit high maintenance. This season, despite losing his best player and trying to incorporate 7 new players into a playing style, after a third of season, admittedly Arsenal are out in front (10 points ahead), we are six points of second place and 4 points of third. Yes, we are not firing on all cylinders, but he has not become out of his dept after one horrible result at a Manchester city stronghold where most teams will leave with precious little this season. Knee-jerk, sensationalist reaction is not conducive to long term planning. Last season after a difficult period where spurs were dropping points, AVB showed he could turn things round and had a stronger second half of the season. Severe criticism was expected after a result like last week. Spurs should not lose 6 – 0 to any team these days. However, balance must not be eschewed in the pursuit of sensationalist headlines that would look out of place even in an Arsenal fans magazine.

To AVB, I simply say this, sections of the British press can be quite antagonistic at times. They have got previous and I understand your irritation with some of them this week. I believe most Spurs fans feel that you are a bright young manager, doing a decent job while still developing, with the potential to be very successful in football management. We respect your previous achievements and would love it, really love it if you could do it here. We understand it takes time and some matches can be frustrating. You have rightfully said your piece. Don’t let any attempt at feral journalism upset you anymore, or worse, distract you. Now ignore the media as best as you can and get on with the job of rebuilding our great club. You have earned that right.