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“There’s certainly a sense that whatever AVB does is wrong”
A string of recent defeats and indifferent performances have left Tottenham boss André Villas-Boas under pressure, only four months into the job. Sunday’s defeat by Manchester City also had some fans demanding to know why top scorer Jermain Defoe was left out of the starting line-up, three days after scoring a hat-trick against Maribor. The Life’s a Pitch team give their thoughts on Villas-Boas’s situation.
“Some of the criticism he is getting at the moment is ridiculous,” says the Sunday Telegraph’s Jason Burt. “It’s premeditated. You’ve got to look at this team that he has inherited and how many players he is missing. You could argue until the cows come home whether he should have played Defoe from the start [against Man City]. If he’d lost that game with Defoe starting, people would have said he should have started with [Emmanuel] Adebayor, because there is certainly a sense that whatever he does is wrong and a lot of people are looking to criticise.”
But the Mail on Sunday’s Ian Ridley disagrees, suggesting Villas-Boas took over a team capable of challenging for the top four. “I’m not anti-Villas-Boas at all. I think the guy is obviously a very promising coach, and he’s fortunate to have inherited such a decent Tottenham side. You say he’s lost some players – of course he has, but he’s fortunate to have inherited enough talent there that is a Champions League-quality side.”
But is the Spurs boss still paying the price for his failure at Chelsea? The People’s Tom Hopkinson thinks so. “I’m convinced there’s a hangover from Chelsea with Villas-Boas, whatever people say. I think we are still judging him on things he did there because things have panned out exactly at Spurs as they did for him at Chelsea.”
The panel also looks ahead to Spurs’ next game, a trip to north London rivals Arsenal on Saturday.
Watch the full video discussion by clicking on the play button in the image above.
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