Has Andre Villas-Boas learnt from his mistakes at Chelsea?

When Andre Villas-Boas arrived in England at Chelsea from Porto I really did believe it was a masterstroke by the Blues.

However, how wrong was I? He endured a nightmare period at Stamford Bridge and lasted less than a year in the Blues hotseat.

Opportunity

He now has a second Premier League opportunity at Tottenham. I have this horrible feeling that he may repeat some of the mistakes from his Chelsea days.

Tottenham were defeated on the opening day of the season at Newcastle, that’s not the biggest disgrace considering that Newcastle are a very good team.

Dawson

What concerns me is his activity in the transfer market, and in particular his disliking of centre-back Michael Dawson. The 28 year-old has been one of the most solid centre-backs in the English game for a good while, albeit it injury-prone.

Yet Villas-Boas believes that the England international is surplus to requirements at White Hart Lane. According to Sky Sports Spurs have accepted a £9million offer for the centre-back from QPR and are about to sell the former-Forest defender.

Competition

There is competition for places at Tottenham in the centre of defence. The likes of William Gallas, Jan Vertonghen, Steven Caulker and Younes Kaboul appear ahead of Dawson in the pecking order. Lets look at some of those players.

Gallas is injury-prone and can be erratic at times. Kaboul can be very inconsistent, Caulker is very talented but has less than one year of Premier League experience under his belt and Vertonghen has only just arrived in England.

To sell Dawson seems like a strange decision, as out of all the centre-backs at Spurs he looks like the most dependable and solid.

Old

While at Chelsea Villas-Boas tried to oust the old guard too quickly and it seems he may be doing the same thing at Tottenham. Luka Modric already seems to be on his way out of the club (not Villas-Boas‘ decision), Jermaine Defoe was being linked with a move away and now Dawson seems set to move on this summer.

Villas-Boas has sold a lot of squad players this summer, which I’m sure Tottenham fans are happy about, but the sale of Dawson seems to have the Spurs fans concerned that Villas-Boas doesn’t know what he is doing.

Signings

I’m sure Spurs fans will acknowledge that the signings the club has made so far this summer are good ones. Defender Jan Vertonghen is highly-rated, Gylfi Sigurdsson is likely to score goals from midfielder as he did last season.

Tottenham have also completed the permanent signing of Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor this week. Spurs were in desperate need of another striker, with Jermain Defoe the only senior striker on the clubs books.

The former-Arsenal striker will no doubt get the team goals, just as he did while on-loan at the club last season. The fee of £6million isn’t a massive one either.

Replacement

I’m sure Spurs fans won’t be too disappointed should Villas-Boas go out and sign a recognised centre-back, but at the moment the Portuguese boss has some of the clubs fans scratching their heads.

The four other centre-backs Spurs currently have in their squad may not prove enough to last the club a whole season. And the transfer fee that Tottenham will receive for Dawson may allow Villas-Boas to go out and sign another centre-back that’s fits into his system of play better than Dawson.

Patience

I think both Tottenham fans and Andre Villas-Boas need to be patient this season. Villas-Boas needs to be more patient in how he rebuilds a team. He can’t just go into a club and dismantle the squad instantly. He must have learned that from his time at Chelsea.

Tottenham fans have to be patient and give the Portuguese boss a chance to prove himself. He made a right hash of the Chelsea job. However, the rookie boss is still a relatively unknown quantity. Success abroad doesn’t always guarantee a boss success in the Premier League.

Unknown

I’m still not quite sure what to make of Andre Villas-Boas’ or his appointment at Tottenham. His success at Porto proves that he can manage a team to success, but in a lesser league than the Premier League.

This season could be a very interesting one at Tottenham, one way or another. Andre Villas-Boas’ appointment could be a roaring success or it could be an absolute disaster. Like many Tottenham fans I’m really not sure which way it’s going to go.

One thing that Tottenham fans can be sure of is that Andre Villas-Boas, just like your MMR jab, will make a mark at the club. Whether that mark is good or bad remains to be seen.

Has Andre Villas-Boas learnt from his mistakes at Chelsea?