Just landed back in London still buzzing from the win thought the gaffers tactics were stop on and all that in the paper is false #COYS
A lot of the press don't like Andre Villas Boas. It's old ground and we don't need to go over why some English middle aged journalists haven't taken to the young, suave, well educated, confident, successful, multi-lingual and rich manager.However, it was fun for Tottenham fans and interested onlookers when Andre Villas Boas snapped back during a press conference last week and put one of the pack in their place. A journalist, widely reported to be Paul Jiggins of The Sun, asked the manger about the frustration of Hugo Lloris at Tottenham Hotspur.
Villas Boas replied "What is this frustration?"
"The frustration at not being in the team."
"How do you know?"
"He didn’t play last night, did he?"
"How do you know he’s frustrated?"
"No, I’m asking you, do you find him frustrated?"
"No, you are saying ;'what do you think about Hugo Lloris frustration'... he is not frustrated."
Villas Boas had been polite up until then and it was painted by some media as him not wanting to talk about the French goalkeeper, but in reality the Portuguese manager saw a loaded question thrown at him and batted it back superbly, leaving the journalist looking a bit silly.
So, what would the journalist involved then do? Lick his wounds and put it down to experience or show that AVB character not to mess with him? Well, this...
It was the newspaper's back-page lead on the morning of Tottenham's game at Old Trafford. The evening before The Guardian had published an excellent interview with Tottenham's Gareth Bale, during which the Welshman said the following about his new manager:
"He's very approachable. If there is a problem, or something we feel is not right, his door is open. He wants us to work that way: together, the players and staff, and if there is a problem we can always share our ideas with him and he will take it on board.
"For example, if we feel we are working too hard in training, if we say that to him, then he'll ease it off. He's still learning as well as a manager but he does all the coaching and everything himself, which is great. Every manager is different and he has his own ways of working. Sometimes it just takes a little bit of time."
There certainly doesn't seem to be any turmoil or mutiny if Gareth Bale's comments are anything to go by, and he'd know. If there had been a situation or mini-mutiny then Bale would surely have avoided the subject rather than so willingly praise his manager over it. Kyle Walker has also rubbished the claims via his verified Twitter account.
But the biggest and best way for Villas Boas to answer back was by guiding his Tottenham team to a win at Old Trafford yesterday.
Andre Villas Boas 2 Paul Jiggins 0.
Jiggins is a f*ckin mug
He's always round at Harrys havin a cuppa and chatting sh*t
Basically Harrys boy toy, f*ck the pair of em
Tottenham Hotspur manager Andre Villas-Boas finally justifying hype after historic win at Manchester United
Tottenham’s first Old Trafford victory in a young footballer’s lifetime may have been, as manager Andre Villas Boas described it “historic,” but in terms of its short-term impact on a fledgling Premier League season, it could prove to be far more significant.
While Manchester United, with their defensive shortcomings and injuries, were left to reflect upon a second league defeat in six games, Spurs could contemplate three successive league victories, four in all competitions, and the possibility that, a year removed from his brief emergence into the English game with Chelsea, perhaps Villas Boas is finally living up to the hype.
After a slow start at White Hart Lane, Villas Boas soon found his abilities questioned, as they had been throughout a tempestuous and ultimately unsuccessful spell at Stamford Bridge, rumours of dressing room unrest emerging in the way they had at Chelsea 12 months ago.
As Spurs wrestled to keep hold of their 2-0 first half lead in the face of a concerted second half comeback from United at Old Trafford, Villas Boas’ thoughts, understandably, returned to last season’s meeting with Sir Alex Ferguson’s side at Stamford Bridge in February, when Chelsea allowed a three-goal advantage to be transformed into a 3-3 draw.
There was to be no similar reprieve for United on this occasion and the spirit and commitment shown by Spurs players as they sought their first win at Old Trafford in 23 years provided ample evidence that Villas Boas has not encountered the same personality conflicts in his current job as he did his old.
“That’s nonsense,” said Spurs defender Steven Caulker, 20, who enjoyed a full league debut he will never forget at Old Trafford, when questioned about stories of dressing room unrest. “There is a great team bonding here. Everyone is coming together.
“You could see from the celebrations at the end of the game, there is a positive atmosphere in the group. We are all very much behind the manager.
“These are the times when you have to stand strong and show your character and I think the boys did that fantastically well. We had to put our bodies on the line – Gallas ran into the post, Brad made a few saves – everyone came together well and defended as a team.
“We’ve got a new manager, with new ideas, and he has brought in a lot of youngsters. They have been training with us and lot of them were on the bench today. So it is all positive from our point of view and hopefully we can push on from here.”
Caulker was not born when Spurs last won at Old Trafford, this victory also ending a run of 26 games in all competitions, home and away, in which Tottenham had failed to beat United.
As evidence that Villas Boas is beginning to turn around the club’s fortunes, following his controversial appointment in place of Harry Redknapp, this was a powerful exhibit.
“It’s more than my lifetime since they last won here,” added Caulker. “I was born in late 1991 so I wasn’t even around when Spurs won in 1989. There have been times over the years when they have been ahead but still not managed to get the win. It’s fantastic to be part of the team that ends that record and makes a bit of history for the club.
“That’s four wins out of four now, including the cup competitions, and that underlines that this is a squad that can go places.”
With Caulker performing admirably alongside William Gallas, 15 years his senior, at the heart of the Spurs defence, it was seconds before the half-time break before Brad Friedel was forced to make a save, a routine gather from Nani, as the visitors led through goals from Jan Vertonghen and Gareth Bale.
But United launched a concerted recovery soon after the restart, Nani turning in a cross from substitute Wayne Rooney, before Clint Dempsey restored the two-goal cushion and Shinjo Kagawa responded, instantly, with the game’s final goal.
Rooney and Carrick hit woodwork but there was to be no further drama as United paid the penalty for a slow start and some appalling defending.
“We deserve to lose as we only played for 45 minutes and to concede three goals at Old Trafford is not enough to win a game,” said United full-back Patrice Evra.
“The problem was about our head. It looked like we stayed in the hotel. And the first 45 minutes there was no speed, no focus, we didn’t win a lot of challenges, we conceded silly goals.
“Maybe I’m hard on myself and the team but we just performed for the Man United fans in the second half and that is not enough if you want to win the title.
“If you want to talk about positive things makes sure we play like in the second half and it will be difficult for any team to beat us – the speed, the anger, we just played with a different attitude and mentality.
“Two losses is really too much. But we have to be positive as well. We have to forget that first half. I hope it was just an accident.”
Why Do The Press Have It In For AVB?
Johnny's a fan of AVB - he's attentive, concise and already a European winner. So why do the press have it in for him? It must be something to do with 'Arry...
Last Updated: 01/10/12 at 09:50 Post Comment
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You'd think it'd be hard not to like Andre Villas-Boas. Here's a successful, multilingual man who is charming, bright-eyed and intelligent. As a manager his methods are evolving and he's learning all the time. Already his achievements suggest in time he could become a great manager.
In interviews he is attentive, concise and doesn't employ waffle or obfuscation. Already in his career he is a European winner. Indeed, he couldn't be more different to the man he replaced at Tottenham, which is presumably what Daniel Levy liked him about. He has employed the anti-Redknapp and good on him for doing so.
Yet despite his obvious qualities, he is not universally liked. The fact his first name isn't Harry appears to have worked against him to a stupid, unjustifiable, but all too typical degree in the last two months. Just a couple of weeks ago, some in the Sunday papers were telling us he was a couple of games away from the sack after, what they quickly declared, was a poor start. The sort of football Spurs played in those couple of opening games was also criticised for not being what the fans had got used to under Harry, itself surely a dubious standard to employ given the disastrous last four months of last season. But no matter. AVB: bad; Harry: heroic victim - that was and still is their agenda, it would seem.
As only a couple of games had been played, to the rest of us, this attack seemed, to say the least, like a madness.
But from the moment he unexpectedly took the Spurs job, there seems to have been, in some press quarters, an agenda against him, just as there initially was against Roy Hodgson when he took the England job, likely from the same people and for the same reason.
These two men took what was seen as Harry's job.
For this sin, these men must pay. It is not and will not be forgiven. Critics pens are dipped in poison, forever poised to try and kill them both off. This must be the reason for the unjustifiable, unstinting attacks on him.
Sadly for these critics, on both these occasions, the public broadly rather liked these non-Harry men even despite being shamelessly told by a one-sided media that in fact they, we, us, everyone, all loved Harry and all wanted him to be England manager and to remain as Spurs manager if that wasn't possible. Didn't you get that memo?
The campaign against Hodgson, petered out quickly when it became apparent that the pro-Redknapp brigade had misjudged the public mood in giving him a kicking from the get go. They have since shut up - but they wait, still with the aim of installing their man, have no doubt of that. They are deluded but they want revenge.
Similarly, there had always been a significant proportion of Spurs fans who had doubted Redknapp's abilities beyond a certain point of achievement. They had not forgotten the second half of last season, which, if AVB should get anywhere near to emulating in its rubbishness will quickly lead to him getting the sort of severe critique Redknapp deserved but did not receive. Rather, his supporters actually blamed the FA for it. Anything to keep their man in the golden light of a blame-free existence.
So now it's the end of September, Villas-Boas is still in a job and for what it's worth, last year Harry's Spurs were 6th with nine points, this year, they're 5th with 11 having played one game more. They've scored more goals and let in less and they've just had a historic win at Old Trafford (imagine the heinous fawning if Redknapp had done this).
So, not too shabby. But as I say, the critics have a short tether and will strike again soon enough.
Some of this resistance to AVB's charms seems to have been formed in his nine months at Chelsea which is painted by critics as a rule of disastrous proportions.
There was the ridiculous business, perhaps significantly about another Redknapp relation, Frank Lampard. An appalling brown-nosing media sided with poor, poor Frankie who suffered the indignation of only starting the vast majority of games and not being loved-up to by his new manager. We were told Frank was written off - which he wasn't - mostly so he could then be puffed up as a hero when he scored a few goals and played for England. He's back, we were told, though most of us hadn't realised he'd even gone. All utterly ridiculous.
This is the same poor, poor Frank who was on the bench this weekend without the same wails of protest on his behalf. Funny that. But when AVB decided to occasionally leave him out, this was The End Of Frank and Frank was not happy and so his fan boys were not happy also and set about making trouble. His tormentor had to pay for this idiocy. Who was this silly little man anyway?
He was accused of being 'borderline Asperger's' by journalist, Ian McGarry, who, like a teenage boy with a crush, sometimes seemed to be holding Lampard's coat in this scrap.
So AVB was rubbish and possibly mental. That was the story. Having been tasked with upgrading Chelsea to a younger, more attacking version, and he tried to do just that. He didn't do everything perfectly but it was always going to be a bumpy ride. When Roman Abramovich bottled the project he was inevitably sacked. So it goes. It was all a bit weird.
Presumably, Levy understood this and so, unlike the press people who had spent so many months painting him as a slightly mad clueless idiot that they ended up believing their own hype, saw his qualities and decided he was an ideal man to take Tottenham forward and make them compete with the best.
The critics thought they'd seen AVB off. But here he was at White Hart Lane, squatting, quite literally, on their man's turf. The bloody cheek! There was nothing many in the press wanted more than for him to fail so they could declare that Levy was mad to let their man go and to re-establish poor poor Frankie's tormentor as a nut-job.
Ex-pros and journos queued up for a go at kicking AVB as soon as he didn't win the first games handsomely. They have totally manufactured a drama around the signing and deployment of Hugo Lloris - well documented by F365's Mediawatch for the past few weeks - in order, once again, to suggest that AVB is a loony who doesn't know what he's doing.
It's a concerted attempt to undermine and create doubt about him. Why? Do these people think that Levy will see the error of his ways and invite Redknapp back or is it just some perverse form of revenge on behalf of their man, just as their attacks on Hodgson seemed to be.
Thankfully, both the Spurs chairman and the FA see through this bias and have made their decisions based on more rational and less blinkered assessments.
The contrast to his predecessor is huge. Andre Villas-Boas is sharp, inspiring, interesting, charismatic and sexy. Spurs now have one of football's rising stars in charge; a man who is fizzing with ideas and energy. He excites.
We must all hope that this time his bosses give him the chance to succeed or fail on more reasonable terms and that his poisonous critics are made as redundant as the previous manager who is now in the Match Of The Day studio.
The press don't like managers who aren't "football men", you know the types...English, love talking about the good ol' days, Big Sam, Neil Warnock, Stan Ternant, 'Arry etc. DrGreggles - I think once Benitez came out with the "fact" press conference, they was loaded and waiting for him to keep cracking like Keegan. Is AVB the man to save the badgers though?
- Havelange
http://www.football365.com/john-nicholson/8129551/John-Nicholson
Good read sounds a bit pro avb, but i would agree with whats hes saying.
Its f*cked when you think about we did not win away in 2012 and our arry got no stick for it
Lol @ the only worse manager in 2012 than Harry being Terry Connor
That one gets quietly overlooked
Evening all.Paul Jiggins is a man of immensely limited human dimensions. Which is a kind way of saying he probably would be better suited to say, cleaning toilets or peeling potatoes for a living than pretending to be a sports reporter.
Here’s the transcription of a paid journalist making himself look about as informed as a dead sheep or as he called it, ‘interrogating Villas-Boas.’
Mr Ploppy: Andre, can you understand Hugo Lloris’ frustration about the situation because you did pay quite a lot of money for him.
AVB: “What is the frustration?”
Mr Ploppy: Well frustration about not being in the team.
AVB: “How do you know?”
Mr Ploppy: Well he didn’t play last night did he?
AVB: “How do you know he’s frustrated?”
Mr Ploppy: I am asking you, do you find him frustrated?
AVB:“I am asking you what…”
Mr Ploppy: Has he actually come to you and said he’s frustrated?
AVB: “No, he’s not frustrated.”
Mr Ploppy: He’s obviously happy with the situation?
AVB:“Obviously.”
Mr Ploppy: Do you expect to have more talks with him?
AVB: “No we have talks every day, with every player at every training session, that’s the way things work.”
Now that was on the the morning of the 27th of this month after the Carlisle game. Instead of taking a hint, a paid journalist went go one further and make up a tale to support his fantasy [link].
‘Boss AVB also had a bust-up with technical co-ordinator Tim Sherwood, who is allegedly angry at being frozen out.
Players complained that AVB’s gruelling double training sessions — sometimes staged just 24 hours before a match — left them too tired to perform in Premier League matches this season.
And Spurs stars have also hit out at their manager’s negative style of football, telling him they would prefer to play a more attacking system. AVB has scrapped the double training sessions after listening to his squad.
But AVB is said to have been left reeling by the mutiny, which reportedly follows bust-ups with some of the club’s old guard behind the scenes.’
As you can see, in this quote free piece Jiggins doesn’t make any mention of the ‘incompetent’ attempt to get the boss to confess to something that wasn’t true. Now, I don’t know about you, but I had a nailed on source, the old ‘insider’ sketch going on, I’d want want to run the article to follow-up an interview with the angle that Villas Boas was in denial. ‘Somebody isn’t telling the truth, here.’
But of course, there was no source. There was no story, just a petulant little toad out for some half cocked trouble making.
Oh yes and Tim Sherwood told the Guardian:
“That’s all they are – just rumours, that’s all I know about it.
“I’ve got a great job where I am. There ain’t nothing to consider. It’s just speculation. I love what I do. I’m happy at the football club, it’s a great project.”
http://harry-hotspur.com/2012/09/busted-paul-jiggins-of-the-sun/
Didnt know where else to put this. Colleagues girlfriend looks after the hotel where Jenas is staying.
She gave him penthouse suite as the club is paying (apparently O'Driscoll doesnt even want him) and when he found he wasnt playing against Derby, he turned up with crates of beer and bottles of vodka and unsuprisingly, 3 lads. He goes to the game on Saturday, leaves the lads in the hotel and then gets the club to confirm he's ok to leave "guests" in the room.
Next day, theres 3 different lads in the hotel waiting for him.
The girl came back telling people he's batts.
"Stylish Roberto Di Matteo is making the most of Andre Villas-Boas's template for success"03 October 2012
If there is one man who must not know whether to laugh or cry over Chelsea’s impressive start to the season, it is Andre Villas-Boas. Naturally, former Blues boss Villas-Boas already has many reasons to feel bitter towards his former employers after he was fired in March after just eight months in the job.
He could barely disguise his resentment when he became Tottenham manager in the summer and he surely cannot wait to prove a point when Chelsea visit White Hart Lane in 17 days’ time.
Of course, the Blues have hardly been struggling in the 34-year-old’s absence — after all, his replacement, Roberto di Matteo, did win the Champions League and FA Cup in May.
Di Matteo is also earning all the plaudits for Chelsea’s style of play this season which has taken them to the top of the Premier League and now, after a 4-0 win over FC Nordsjaelland last night, into first place in their Champions League qualifying group as well.
The thing is, the Italian is using the exact same blueprint for success as Villas-Boas envisaged when he arrived at Stamford Bridge full of ideas and great enthusiasm from Porto last year.
He wanted a team full of young attacking players to entertain, while playing a pressing game high up the pitch in a similar way to the Spanish national team or Barcelona.
Unfortunately, Villas-Boas didn’t have the personnel to make it work because he was unable to get in all the players he wanted in his first transfer window and the experiment was abandoned six months ago after results went awry.
Di Matteo’s reward for winning the Champions League was receiving the financial backing to buy the talent to complete Villas-Boas’s grand masterplan, with Eden Hazard, Marko Marin, Oscar and Victor Moses all arriving this summer.
Anyone who witnessed Chelsea’s victory at Arsenal on Saturday could testify just how well it was working but there was another clear reminder against the Danish champions. Chelsea opened the scoring in the first half with a goal straight out of their former boss’s playbook. Fernando Torres robbed Enoch Adu of possession before laying it off to Frank Lampard, who passed it to Juan Mata to score. It was fast, ruthless and effective.
It should be pointed out that all three players were at the club when the method was first tried out last year but now they are carrying out their instructions with far more conviction and were clearly helped by the pressure that youngsters Oscar and Moses also provided in the Parken Stadium.
Significantly, the players are aware themselves of just how well they are now using the tactic. Goalkeeper Petr Cech explained to Standard Sport: “Last year we weren’t very successful when we tried the pressing game but this season it has all seemed to click for us.
“We have different players in the team now who might be helping but certainly having more time to work on it has helped make a difference. If you do something for a year then you become better at it. In the first half against Nordsjaelland we had moments where we pressed very well, like for the first goal, but we also had times where we did it very badly. That’s why they managed to control most of the game in the first half and escaped from the back. But we got better in the second half and made it really difficult for them.”
As Cech implies, the players see plenty of room for improvement, a sentiment Lampard clearly agrees with. The midfielder said: “For the first goal we won it high up the pitch with good pressing. When you can nick the ball like we did then you have to try and be clinical. On that occasion we were but there were other occasions where we could have done more.”
Chelsea certainly did not control the game as well as they would have liked after going ahead and they had Cech to thank for keeping them ahead. The Czech Republic international did brilliantly to tip Joshua John’s curling effort on to the post in the second half to prevent the hosts from equalising.
A sublime David Luiz free-kick, as well as further strikes from Mata and Ramires, all in the last 11 minutes, ensured the scoreline flattered the visitors.
But even though Chelsea were playing unglamorous opposition, the chance of winning just their second away match in eight Champions League games still proved a cause for celebration. Lampard said: “It was very important for us to win this, considering that we drew our first game in the group against Juventus, who are a very strong team. “What happened to us in the competition last year shows how tough it is to win away from home. We didn’t win away in the group stages last season, although we still went on to win the competition. “We played Genk last year and drew 1-1, a team not so fancied in the big picture like Nordsjaelland but they can be tough games. “I don’t think Nordsjaelland will give Juventus and Shakthar easy games either.”
i think avb should tone his celebrations down
because when things dont go your way and you are not jumping up and down fist pumping and sh*t - its makes it all too easy for the media to go at you
I think so too but for different reasons. He'll give himself a hernia if he doesn't slow down
guy in the background 
Love his celebrations
Makes a change from some droopy faced c*nt falling asleep on the sidelines
-
1
Or telling our players to f*ck off when wanting to celebrate a goal
Our second best ever start to a prem season
#avbout
Writes Charlie Wyett in The Sun:
'AVB bowed to pressure from France boss Didier Deschamps, unhappy that his captain Lloris has not been playing.'
The Hate he gets lmao
Ffs
Our second best ever start to a prem season
#avbout
when was the best ever start?
The conspiracy to unsettle Andre Villas-Boas
It could be ascribed to jealousy, conservatism or even good old-fashioned revenge, but Andre Villas-Boas would be forgiven for thinking that English football has it in for him.
His appointment in place of the well-connected Harry Redknapp was always going to be met sceptically in certain quarters.
Quick-fired at Chelsea is not meant to be followed by stewardship of the Premier League's fourth best team. Old managerial hands were gleefully questioning Villas-Boas's credentials before he even had one training session with his full squad.
According to Gordon Strachan, last seen flirting with the Championship relegation places at Middlesbrough two years ago, people were conned into believing every coach with a foreign accent was "a tactical genius".
Starting home matches with two holding midfielders, partly because most of his new attackers had been signed in deadline week, Villas-Boas was too defensive, the team prone to basic errors. Much worse was to be laid on the Portuguese.
The decision to not immediately install a last-minute signing in goal turned into a ludicrous soap opera in which it was claimed Villas-Boas never wanted to sign Hugo Lloris in the first place.
The truth was that the France goalkeeper had been earmarked by the coach before he had even signed his own White Hart Lane contract. Continuing with the in-form Brad Friedel as No 1 was standard man management.
Why alter a functioning defence and place unnecessary pressure on an expensive recruit until Lloris had time to adapt?
By his fourth fixture, Villas-Boas had "three games to save his Tottenham job", according to one English Sunday newspaper.
Tottenham proceeded to dismantle Reading for a first win of the season, then come back to beat Queens Park Rangers at home. No matter.
On the morning of Villas-Boas's hardest task so far - an away trip to Manchester United - The Sun newspaper lead on supposed "showdown talks" between coach and players over "gruelling double training sessions" and his "negative style of football".
According to a source, there had been no double sessions in Villas-Boas's regular-season training schedule, and not one player had complained about tactics. Could the timing of the article be in any way related to Redknapp's employment as the newspaper's star columnist?
Villas-Boas knows the best way to answer his enemies is to win. Unfortunately for the antis, he is doing precisely that.
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was fuming when i saw that sun on my boys table b4 the match.
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Rsonist
AVB ended The Sun, f*ck...Harry must be raging this morning
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