What's the beauty of being Villas-Boas? It's always someone else's fault



Andre Villas-Boas used to watch the game by crouching down on his haunches near the touchline. And then he stopped doing it. Isn’t that strange? People were making fun of him, but even so. If he thought it was the way to get the greatest insight, why would he change?

Unless it was an affectation. A quirk, a gimmick to make him look brighter than he is. After all, there have been some fairly successful coaches through the last century or so, and not one of them chose to observe the action from the perspective of a dachshund. So maybe they were the smart ones.

Then, when Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Hugo Lloris suffered a head injury against Everton, Villas-Boas knew best again. He kept him on and then called all those who took issue with that decision – including some fairly serious medical professionals – ignorant.

Miserable: Andre Villas-Boas watched his Tottenham side as they were hammered 6-0 at Manchester City

A new stance: Villas-Boas would crouch to watch matches at Chelsea, but has a different approach now

Tough job: Villas-Boas must recover quickly if his Tottenham side are to reach the Champions League

STURRIDGE SCORES A SCOUSE OWN GOAL

Daniel Sturridge (below) says he has no regrets about playing for England against Germany, even though it cost him a starting place in the Merseyside derby.

Big mistake. One of the reasons many Liverpool fans never took to Michael Owen was the belief that he put his international career first.

They treat their football team like a republic up there. Any player who expresses a desire to represent England is suspected of disloyalty. Meanwhile, Luis Suarez is free to return to Uruguay and slag off the club. Strange.

In the next game, against Newcastle United, Lloris was absent. Medical advice, apparently. So maybe those doctors weren’t so dumb after all; or maybe Villas-Boas isn’t quite as sharp as he thinks he is.

He certainly didn’t look it when that sixth Manchester City goal went in on Sunday. He appeared stunned, much as he did when West Ham United scored three at White Hart Lane without a striker.



He said the players should be ashamed. That is the marvellous thing about being AVB — there is always someone around to carry the can.

So how are Chelsea’s old guard going to take the fall for this one? It is surely only a matter of time before John Terry and Frank Lampard are fingered for the mess at Tottenham this season.

It was, after all, the senior players who undermined Villas-Boas at Chelsea. Not his pig-headed high line defence, utterly unsuited to the personnel at his disposal. Not his determination to change fast when evolution, not revolution, was needed. As ever, events and foes conspired to obstruct his genius.

Players, other managers, pesky head trauma experts, Villas-Boas is beleaguered by so many random factors. The game against Newcastle brought a once-in-a-lifetime display from goalkeeper Tim Krul; the defeat by West Ham saw a tactical masterclass from Sam Allardyce (although one cannot help noticing that his false striker system has landed two points from 15 since the win away at Tottenham on October 6).

Villas-Boas had every right to be critical after the defeat at Manchester City. It was a limp and inadequate display. But these are his players, his solution to the loss of Gareth Bale.

Tottenham had sold Elvis Presley and bought the Beatles was the claim. Except this lot look more like the fab four pastiche group the Rutles — if Nasty, Stig, Dirk and Barry had all decided to swap instruments five minutes before the gig.

Big loss: Gareth Bale (right) left for Real Madrid this summer and Spurs reacted by signing seven players and splashing out £107m. Like selling Elvis Presley (left) and buying The Beatles?



Fair trade: Tottenham's summer spree had been likened to swapping Elvis for The Beatles. Here, band members Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and John Lennon pose for a group shot

Underwhelming: From left to right, Spurs' seven summer signings Paulinho, Christian Eriksen, Roberto Soldado, Nacer Chadli, Etienne Capoue, Vlad Chiriches and Erik Lamela line up ahead of this season

Yet if the team were poor against City, Villas-Boas made some equally flawed judgment calls from the bench. Jan Vertonghen, arguably the finest centre half at the club, struggled at left back.

Andros Townsend did not start, following a game and a 33-minute substitute appearance for England at Wembley, while Paulinho did despite flying to Miami to play 90 minutes for Brazil against Honduras before heading up to Toronto for another 84-minute stint against Chile.

Erik Lamela began in Townsend’s position — he usually plays on the right — and was utterly insipid.

Tottenham spent £107million on players this summer and have gone backwards. The players were meant to have let him down at Chelsea, too. And then the same team went on to win the Champions League and FA Cup that season, after he left.

The popular myth is that the group started performing only after his departure — as if they could have been champions of Europe at any time, but just didn’t fancy it previously.

More evidence-based is the theory that Roberto Di Matteo got them playing in a way that Villas-Boas could not and this, along with some heroic defending and good fortune, saved the day.

Roman Abramovich’s notorious impatience then saved Villas-Boas because he was seen as the hapless victim of a crackpot club, sacked prematurely as a result of player power.

Yet what has changed? Villas-Boas remains impossibly stubborn — as he proved with his misguided outburst over Lloris — and his teams play his way, regardless of their needs.

Tottenham did not lose to Newcastle because Krul had the game of his life. That would only have produced a draw. Tottenham lost because Villas-Boas played a high line defence, as always, but with Brad Friedel in goal.

Under normal circumstances, Lloris plays almost as a sweeper, quickly off his line if the opposition get in behind the back four. Friedel, at 42, hasn’t the same speed. So Tottenham should have sat a little deeper. They didn’t, Loic Remy took advantage, and Friedel couldn’t get out fast enough.

Krul then played magnificently, but goalkeepers will do that from time to time. It isn’t misfortune.

At City on Sunday, Tottenham were behind after 14 seconds due to a poor clearance from Lloris, and no manager can do anything about that.

Yet, from there, it was clear that once again Villas-Boas was pleasing himself with his game plan. Michael Dawson isn’t a high line defender, either, and Younes Kaboul might have wished for a little more security after 15 months without a league game.

Humiliation: Jesus Navas wheels away after netting his second against Spurs and Manchester City's sixth goal

Outfoxed: City, led by Sergio Aguero (centre), were much too strong for an abject Tottenham side

Powerless: Villas-Boas could only watch as Navas netted at the Etihad after just 14 seconds

Damning: The Etihad scoreboard tells the story as the match in Manchester draws to a close

Villas-Boas also prefers a lone striker, despite the fact that Tottenham have scored six goals from open play in 12 league matches this season. Their numbers are horrendous for a club with elite ambitions. Tottenham’s goal difference is inferior to every team in the top 14 bar Hull City and they have scored as many goals as West Ham, who have played most of the season without a striker.

Going into Sunday’s fixture with Manchester United, Tottenham will have scored nine in 12. They now cannot reach double figures before December. At this rate, Tottenham’s goals aggregate for the season will be 28. Last May, the three teams relegated from the Premier League scored 30 goals, 43 and 60.

Impregnable: Tim Krul kept Tottenham at bay when Newcastle nicked a victory earlier this month

In the goals: Ravel Morrison and West Ham put Spurs to the sword at White Hart Lane

It's a knockout: Villas-Boas was belligerent with his opinions on Hugo Lloris' head injury

Tottenham are not about to get relegated, obviously. This may be a blip, quickly corrected. Defeat Manchester United in five days’ time and recent struggles will be forgotten. Yet the flip side of that argument comes with the fear that one man made up for a heap of weakness last season — and he now plays at Real Madrid.

Take Bale away from Tottenham in 2012-13 and it is unlikely the team would have made Europe. He wasn’t just influential, he was essential. His goals turned defeats into wins against Newcastle and West Ham, draws into wins against Manchester United, Southampton, Liverpool, West Bromwich Albion, Arsenal, Swansea City, Southampton again and Sunderland and defeats into draws against Norwich City and Wigan Athletic.



Purple patch: In his first season at White Hart Lane, Villas-Boas watched Bale exceed expectations

Not good enough: Erik Lamela (left) had no impact on Sunday and Roberto Soldado didn't muster a shot on goal



Clearly, had he not been selected, a team-mate would have played, and could have been important, too. Yet would his goals have compared?

Put it like this: Clint Dempsey’s goals were worth seven points to Tottenham last season, Aaron Lennon’s were worth six; Bale was good for 24. He hit Cristiano Ronaldo form, which is why Madrid wanted to make them a partnership.

So while it was a huge blow for Villas-Boas to lose the Welshman, it was a greater fillip to inherit him in his first season. It made the manager look very smart, very quick. Now he must survive on his wits alone.

His signings have been vast in number but not in impact. There was always a possibility it could go this way. Franco Baldini, the director of football, plundered the market in Europe and South America having seen what was about in England first-hand during his time with Fabio Capello, but he underestimated the unique demands of the Premier League.

The majority of imported players take time to adjust. Instant successes such as Luis Suarez and Sergio Aguero are rare. It is forgotten now, but even men like Didier Drogba and Michael Essien endured unconvincing first seasons; that is why Chelsea bought Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko, who became redundant once Drogba found his feet second time out.

Tottenham may be flying in 12 months’ time — but this first campaign with a hastily assembled squad was going to be a challenge. Behind the scenes the shifting of blame has already begun, with Villas-Boas distancing himself from some of the signings.



Boardroom: Villas-Boas began distancing himself from some of the signings that Franco Baldini (left) recruited

Unimpressed: Chairman Daniel Levy at the Etihad

The problem for the manager is that little has improved under his tenure. Are Tottenham higher up the table? No. Is the football more exciting? No. Are they nearer rivals Arsenal? No.

The high water mark of the Premier League era remains the years when the football played by Harry Redknapp’s team was the most exciting in England and the club reached the last eight of the Champions League.

Villas-Boas said he hoped his players would bounce back via Thursday’s Europa League tie against Tromso — but just saying the name of the tournament is in its own way an admission of failure, considering what went before. Tottenham were not meant to be back in the Europa League again.

One wonders, in his final season, what Redknapp might have achieved with even half the investment lavished on Villas-Boas, rather than a final January transfer window signing of Louis Saha as Tottenham’s title challenge faded.

What we are seeing here is another case of Ex-Chelsea Manager Syndrome. These guys are often impossible to judge because their time at Stamford Bridge is so fleeting. Nobody could work out Avram Grant until he sleepwalked over the precipice at West Ham, and the evidence of Di Matteo’s career only confuses.

Peaking: Gareth Bale and Tottenham reached the last eight of the Champions League under Harry Redknapp

Raising the bar: Redknapp took an exciting Spurs team into the Champions League

Villas-Boas looked a bright young manager at Porto and left Chelsea not even halfway through a project. This season we will discover how smart he really is.

It is very generous of Tottenham owner Joe Lewis to finance such a fascinating experiment. He must be delighted.

Crusade for women’s sport is just hypocrisy

Helen Grant was asked five relatively straightforward questions about sport, and got each one wrong. In her defence, she is not the first Sports Minister to be exposed as a bluffer in this way — and she won’t be the last.

Richard Caborn was equally ignorant about sport, yet is still hanging around committees six years after he stepped down from his ministerial role.

One of the gaps in Grant’s knowledge, however, was enlightening: she couldn’t name the Wimbledon women’s champion.



VIDEO : Scroll down to watch Helen Grant's blunder

Straightforward: Helen Grant didn't answer one of five simple sports questions correctly

It was only last month that Grant called for a woman to be added to Greg Dyke’s Football Association task force. She didn’t specify which woman. She didn’t identify an individual who would bring insight and innovation to the process. Any woman would do, it seemed. Maybe they could nab one who happens to be passing.

It now transpires that Grant is so attuned to the plight of women in sport that she cannot even place Marion Bartoli, a fairly memorable champion, considering Maria Miller, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport — and effectively Grant’s boss — as good as angled for John Inverdale to be sacked from the BBC’s Wimbledon coverage for referring to her in a disparaging manner.



Grant didn’t know who won the FA Cup either, but that is simple ignorance. Flunking on Bartoli sums up the hypocrisy around this issue.

Remember me? Marion Bartoli won Wimbledon at SW19 in the summer

Regrettable: John Inverdale referred to Bartoli in a disparaging manner after the tournament

To push for greater representation and publicity for female athletes is a very populist line — but it is plain Grant does not have the genuine interest to back up her views. Women’s sport would be impossible to resist if only women supported it. Instead, the Sports Minister talks a grand game, while privately paying as little interest as any miserable sexist on a sofa. Her interest wanes beyond that first sound-bite, and her own career.

If there was a certain bet in life it was Mario Balotelli from the penalty spot. However madcap his antics, from 12 yards out he was coolness personified.

Going into this season he had never missed. Now he has, twice. His club, AC Milan, are 13th and falling. Funny thing, pressure. It comes for them all in the end: even those without a mind to crush.

Human after all: Mario Balotelli's previously unblemished penalty record has fallen by the wayside this season