Tottenham sack Andre Villas-Boas

Tottenham have sacked Andre Villas-Boas after Spurs’ 5-0 home defeat to Liverpool on Sunday

Spurs suffered a 5-0 home hammering at the hands of Liverpool on Sunday afternoon.

An under-strength Liverpool side completely outplayed Spurs. To make matters worse Brazilian midfielder Paulinho was dismissed just after the hour mark.

The game was the last in charge for Tottenham boss Andre Villas-Boas, as the former-Chelsea boss was shown the door by the club.

Sacked

A statement on the clubs official website read: “The club can announce that agreement has been reached with head coach, Andre Villas-Boas, for the termination of his services.

“The decision was by mutual consent and in the interests of all parties.”

Signings

Tottenham spent £100million this summer attempting to build a team capable of challenging at the very top of the Premier League table. Much of that money came from the sale of inspirational winger Gareth Bale.

It seemed that Spurs had invested wisely this summer, with some of the brightest young prospects in world football arriving at White Hart Lane. The likes of Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela are regarded as players with the potential to be world-class attacking midfielders.

Yet neither has produced the goods, but that could be because AVB had not given them much playing time in the Premier League. Both players are young and may need time to adapt, but Spurs cannot afford to wait for players to develop.

The club from north London brought in a total of 10 players this summer. That many new arrivals are likely to unsettle a squad. By the time all those players had settled Spurs could have been out of the running at the top and that was enough to persuade Spurs to part-company with AVB.

Expectations

Tottenham’s summer signings seemed impressive and they raised expectations at the club, even with the departure of star player Bale. Tottenham’s squad looked very well balance and good on paper.

Bale carried Spurs at times last season, but the Spurs team overall this season looked far stronger than last season. People were even talking about Spurs mounting a realistic challenge for the Premier League title this season.

Spurs have not lived up to expectations and may not have even been challengers for the Champions League spots, neither mind the title had Villas-Boas stayed and the team carried on in the same vein.

Creativity

Tottenham failed to even get a shot on target against Liverpool yesterday. As an attacking force Spurs offered very little going forward, even when they had their full complement of players on the pitch.

The central midfield trio of Sandro, Mousa Dembele and Paulinho seem to lack any creative ideas. Sandro was replaced by German midfielder Lewis Holtby, who is supposedly an attacking midfielder, but the former-Schalke star also created very little.

When he was at Fulham, Dembele was considered an attacking midfielder, but in more recent seasons he has dropped back into a more defensive midfield role. Sandro is a decent midfield enforcer, but he is unlikely to give the team much in the way of creativity.

Aaron Lennon, Holtby, Lamela and Eriksen can all create chances for their teammates. Tottenham also have England winger Andros Townsend and Icelandic midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson to give the team an attacking threat, yet Spurs are struggling to create chances.

Spanish striker Roberto Soldado has come in for criticism this season, but he is a striker that thrives on chances and if he does not gets the supply he is not going to score goals it is that simple.

Continuity

The problem that Villas-Boas had was he did not seem to know his best starting line-up. The likes of Eriksen and Lamela have not saw regular first team starts, so they have not adapted to life in the Premier League.

Both players were expected to be key players in the team when they arrived with big reputations in the summer. However, neither has been able to claim a regular place in Spurs’ starting line-up and no doubt it has affected their confidence.

Style

The decision to sack Villas-Boas was not a knee-jerk reaction to the terrible defeat to Liverpool. According to Tottenham fans the team’s performances for much of the season have been woeful and the style of play was, to put it brutally, very dull.

Opportunity

With the players that Tottenham have, they should be producing better performances and scoring more goals.

Spurs have some very good players in their squad and are not that far off the top four. The likes of Fabio Capello, Gus Hiddink and Michael Laudrup are the favourites for the vacant position.

Whoever takes the reigns of the club will inherit a good squad of players. A manager with a better tactical knowledge may just be able to revive Tottenham’s challenge for the Champions League places, because Spurs are definitely better than they are currently showing.

Should Andre Villas-Boas been given more time to get it right at Tottenham?