This is the end of the line for André Villas-Boas at Tottenham. The Portuguese head coach wasn’t able to “survive” yet another humiliating home defeat last Sunday against Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool.
André Villas-Boas arrived at the Spurs at the beginning of the last season after an unimpressive spell at Chelsea. He was the chosen one to replace the charismatic English manager, Harry Redknapp, and his first season at the club left supporters satisfied with his work and they even looked at him as the right man to lead Tottenham to glory once again.
WHAT WENT WRONG?
However, this season, things took a turn for the worst for the Portuguese manager. Having sold Gareth Bale for £100 million to Real Madrid, Tottenham’s board spent big and brought in several new quality players (Vlad Chiriches, Paulinho, Roberto Soldado, Erik Lamela, Christian Eriksen, Nacer Chadli, and Étienne Capoue) raising the bar for André Villas-Boas.
Despite all the newcomers, the team’s latest performances in the English Premier League this season have left something to be desired. The at-home heavy defeats against West Ham and Liverpool and the embarrassing 6-0 defeat at the Etihad Stadium against Manchester City were the matches that probably decided André Villas-Boas’ future.
The Portuguese manager changed his tactical scheme this term to an unconvincing 4-2-3-1 and the players totally failed to adapt to his new approach. Villas-Boas changed the midfield triangle from his usual 4-3-3 and started to use a defensive midfielder side by side with a deep lying playmaker right in front of the defense line, sending the other centre midfielder a bit forward on the pitch to work as some sort of trequartista or attacking midfielder, lurking behind the centre forward.
These changes proved to be quite ineffective and although the team didn’t concede many goals during the first matches of the season, especially when Dawson and Chiriches played side by side as the team’s centre backs, things started to crumble after that surprising defeat against West Ham at White Hart Lane.
VILLAS-BOAS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE NEXT MOURINHO
André Villas-Boas’ career in English football was somewhat disappointing, particularly if one considers the work he did with FC Porto. During his stay at the Portuguese club, he won almost everything within his reach: the Portuguese League, the Portuguese Cup and Super Cup, and the UEFA Europa League. Pundits looked at him as the new José Mourinho, but so far, his career overseas is not even comparable to the one of his countryman.
The chapter of André Villas-Boas at the helm of Tottenham is over and there are already plenty of candidates to take over his job, with the former Spurs’ player and manager Glenn Hoddle and the erratic Italian manager Fabio Capello leading the race.
