5 REASONS ANDRE VILLAS-BOAS WAS SACKED AS TOTTENHAM MANAGER

Andre Villas-Boas was unable to replace Gareth Bale at Spurs
adequately despite a raft of new signings and he does not seem to have
learnt from his mistakes at Chelsea. Below are the five main reasons
he was fired as the boss of Tottenham.

CRISIS MANAGEMENT
Andre Villas-Boas promised that he had changed after leaving Chelsea
and that might very well be the case in some aspects of his management
but there are parallels in how the mood around Tottenham has slowly
nose-dived. At Chelsea, Villas-Boas' greatest problem was that he did
not react well to scrutiny or pressure and did not seem to know how to
manage adversity. The great skill of the very best managers is in
knowing how to quickly change the narrative and avoid being stuck in a
downward spiral of negativity. Villas-Boas could not reverse this at
Chelsea and, in his handling both of the Hugo Lloris situation and
other recent criticism at Spurs, he does not seem to have learnt.

LOSING GARETH BALE
Whatever the price and however the money was subsequently spent, it is
rare to find an example of any selling club who have sold their best
player and yet still improved. That challenge is ever greater when you
consider the impact Bale had last year. It was not just his 26 goals
but Bale's wider ability to score at the most important moments of
matches and the aura of having a player in your team who was quite
clearly one of the best in the world. For Tottenham, he had become
close to irreplaceable. Being forced into selling Bale could be seen
as reason to give Villas-Boas more leeway now but it could also be
argued that he was fortunate to have such a player last year. It
certainly camouflaged deeper weaknesses throughout the squad and
perhaps also his management.

SUMMER TRANSFER WINDOW
It was never going to be as easy as it might sound to spend more than
£100 million and it would be premature to form definite conclusion on
any of the new additions but the early signs are hardly encouraging.
The jury is very much still out on Etienne Capoue for £9 million, Vlad
Chiriches for £8.5 million, Christian Eriksen at £11.5 milliion and
even Paulinho at £17 million but a verdict is being quickly formed on
Erik Lamela at £30 million, Roberto Soldado at £26 million and Nacer
Chadli at £7 million. Lamela is Tottenham's club record signing but is
currently struggling to get in the squad much less the team for big
games. Soldado, Eriksen and Chadli have been playing regularly but are
doing little to justify their price-tags.

STRIKER PROBLEMS
The biggest single problem is with the strikers. It was also an issue
last season but rather covered up by the exceptional form of Bale.
Tottenham now look exposed, particularly in the system that
Villas-Boas favours with only one main striker. Jermain Defoe has
shown an admirable willingness to adapt but, rather like Michael Owen,
has always looked more comfortable throughout his career when playing
with a second striker. It would have seemed obvious, then, to recruit
a striker who was adept at playing alone up front. That means not only
being a good finisher – which Soldado and Defoe undoubtedly are – but
also being able to play with their back to goal and being able to drop
deep and link up effectively with the midfield. Soldado, though, looks
similar style and stature to Defoe. Emmanuel Adebayor has the physical
and technical attributes to help but getting the best from him has
proved beyond Villas-Boas thus far.

RAISED EXPECTATIONS
The most convincing mitigation for Villas-Boas is simply that he is
now working in an environment at Spurs of raised and perhaps
unrealistic expectations. The bottom line is that Manchester City,
Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool are clubs with
significantly higher revenues. Tottenham's wage-bill is actually
closer to Everton, Aston Villa, Fulham, Newcastle and Sunderland than
even Liverpool who themselves are well behind the 'big four' of the
two Manchester clubs, Chelsea and Arsenal. On most measures relative
to their finances, Spurs should really finish sixth. They were fifth
last year under Villas-Boas and are currently seventh now but level on
points with sixth-placed Newcastle. Villas-Boas has never shied from
the aim of being a Champions League club but the reality is that it
has happened only once in Spurs' history. The current failure, then,
is only relative to a club whose ambitions actually exceed their
resources.
By Jeremy Wilson