AVB Out Again?

A trip to Reading at this stage of the season shouldn’t normally be of too much concern to a team that finished fourth last season. But for Tottenham fans it could be something of an ordeal. Especially those who seemed supremely unconcerned at the dismissal of Harry Redknapp at the end of last season.

For defeat at Reading tomorrow for a team with lots of new names but precious little time in which to gel will put Andre Villas-Boas under real pressure. Not to mention Daniel Levy, the chairman who gave him the job — and also appointed Jacques Santini and Juande Ramos. Spurs are 14th in the table after losing at Newcastle and drawing at home to both WBA and Norwich. Not the most auspicious beginning for AVB, a manager in desperate need of a jump-start to the season after his experience at Chelsea.

On arriving at Spurs, he admitted he had learned from a “couple” of his mistakes at Stamford Bridge though he would not elaborate. You might presume one of them would have been to tread a little more warily when it came to players following the battle he lost with influential members of the Chelsea dressing room. As yet, that doesn’t seem to be exactly the case.

Having made it clear he didn’t want either Tom Huddlestone and Michael Dawson at the club, he then failed to move them on. He also rocked the boat with Hugo Lloris with the unwise words that it wasn’t written into his contract that the France skipper had to play. Not exactly a vote of confidence in your new goalkeeper.

Other things AVB said when walking into Spurs for the first time also set alarm bells ringing. That he wasn’t there to restore his reputation but to put Spurs back on track. Having twice finished fourth under Redknapp, they weren’t exactly off it. And, contrary to his beliefs, he is there to restore his reputation — unless his self-confidence is such he feels his reputation needs no restoring. He also said of Chelsea’s Champions League-winning side: “I am very honoured I was able to put that team together.” That is another debatable point seeing he inherited the players most pivotal to Champions League success. He also persisted in selecting Jose Bosingwa and Raul Mereiles — both of whom have now left the club — kept on substituting Juan Mata when Chelsea needed goals and maintained the unworkable high line of defence even after it had been spectacularly dismantled by Arsenal.

AVB always claims he was never given enough time but it was evident where Chelsea’s season was heading before Roman Abramovich pulled the plug. AVB either has a short memory, a remarkable ego or tremendous balls. Perhaps all three... make that four. Whatever it is, he has to get this Tottenham team working now after the late transfer splurge that saw Spurs spend more in the transfer market than any other club bar Chelsea.

AVB’s other problem is he has in Levy a chairman who really believes he knows best when it comes to the transfers. Yet he is the same man who at the start of Ramos’ final season spent £30million on David Bentley and Roman Pavlyuchenko. Throw in his sacking of Martin Jol and Redknapp and you do really wonder.

So AVB has a lot to contend with. To give himself a half-decent chance, his priority must be to get his players on-side and make sure they stay there. Benoit Assou-Ekotto was not just speaking for himself when he said: “I was very surprised Redknapp left — not many managers finish fourth and are sacked.” And when asked if he was happy playing under AVB, he said: “Hmm, I play so he is good for the moment.” Hmm, indeed.