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A certain Portugese boy was just 6 years and 2 days old when Harry Redknapp, one of the wise old men of English football began his career as a professional football manager with Bournemouth. Nearly three decades later, that boy, Andre Villas-Boas, replaced Redknapp as the manager of Tottenham Hotspur FC, in spite of dear old ‘arry managing to guide the Spurs to the Champions League qualifiers with a fourth place finish in the league last season. On the other hand, Villas-Boas, or AVB as he is commonly known, was sacked from the hot-seat at fellow London club, Chelsea, halfway through last season. So it is not exactly a surprise that many fans have met with skepticism this change of guard at White Hart Lane.
The Spurs are one of a handful of clubs which have a distinguished history, and have won English football’s top division twice. More recently, during Redknapp’s reign, they have brought European football to their fans in North London, and have even won the League Cup. And yet, Harry Redknapp, who was prime contender for the English manager’s post before it was doled out to Roy Hodgson finds himself without a club to manage today; not that he would complain about sitting on a comfy sofa, perhaps enjoying some matches with his grandchildren.
The Spurs, and their Chairman, Daniel Levy, have taken an extraordinarily bold move, replacing him with AVB, only the sixth manager at Tottenham to hail from a non-British nation, out of a total 40 managerial spells thus far. More significantly, however, none of the previous five have survived for more than a year at the post, with the exception of Martin Jol who did reasonably well for a couple of seasons. And with a host of changes in the Spurs’ dressing room already, their fans better brace themselves for a roller coaster of a season.
Most significant among the changes will be the departure of Croatian playmaker, Luka Modric. Even though Spurs have signed Gylfi Sigurdsson in return, the former Swansea man is a whole different player to Modric, who is a master distributor of the ball. It is not without reason that Real Madrid, Spanish Champions, chase a player all summer, and pay over 30 million pounds for him. On the other hand, AVB surprisingly accepted an offer from QPR for club captain, Michael Dawson, and even though the player couldn’t agree personal terms with the Rangers, his relationship with AVB wouldn’t have received much of a boost from the whole saga.
Similarly, rumours were rife that Rafael van der Vaart could be on his way out, with Sigurdsson starting the first game of the season against Newcastle in his place. While AVB has moved quickly to refute those rumours, a conflict between him and the hot-headed Dutchman might well be on the cards, if Sigurdsson continues to be preferred. Other first-team players like Sebastien Bassong (Norwich City, undisclosed), Niko Kranjcar (Dynamo Kiev, £5.75m), Vedran Corluka (Lokomotiv Moscow, £5.5m), Steven Pienaar (Everton, £4.5m), Ryan Nelsen (QPR, free), Louis Saha (released), and Ledley King (retired) have left the club, and might make a difference if the squad endures the rigours of an additional European campaign.
It has not been all bad news on the transfer front for Tottenham though, with a much needed central defender being signed up in the form of Jan Vertonghen, from Ajax. Another necessary acquisition, a striker, has been acquired in the form of Togo’s Emmanuel Adebayor, who had a fantastic season with the club last year, and has even taken a major cut in pay to join AVB’s venture. In addition, Gylfi Sigurdsson, who had a stellar first season in the Premier League, with Swansea, has been added to the squad. There are talks of further additions, and while AVB has downplayed all talks of a move for Damiao, the money generated from the Modric sale might just give Spurs fans an exciting last week in the transfer window.
Speaking tactically, however, the White Hart Lane faithful might have to cringe in despair on a few occasions, as AVB tries out his dozen-a-dime approaches. While it would be horribly mistaken to say that all his tactics have backfired, it would be equally naive to say that there haven’t been moments of overwhelming tactical failure in the Portugese manager’s English League career. Especially with a side like Tottenham which has been leaking in goals, the oft-employed formations being completely reworked might cause chaos amidst the ranks, and see some errors creep in. In midfield, the employment of Sigurdsson in place of van der Vaart, who has scored 24 times in the league, and has a further 16 assists over the past two seasons, is a pattern which might well be repeated multiple times over the upcoming season, resulting in a significant lowering of chances. On the other hand, van der Vaart may be pushed out wide to the right, where he hasn’t enjoyed the most success, thereby depriving Tottenham of Lennon’s pace.
Every cloud, as the saying goes, has a silver lining. Thus, on the contrary, the Spurs’ fans might have quite a few moments of real jubilation this season. Their fan-favourite, Gareth Bale, has declared his intentions to have a long and successful career at the club, and holding on to him is one thing Levy has done extremely well. His fiery pace on the wings, and a remarkable 17 goals and 17 assists over the past two seasons have been, and will continue to be an asset for the club. Where earlier there were no real targets in the box, Adebayor made a significant difference during his spell, and with a permanent move now sealed, we might well see the output increase.
While van der Vaart’s contributions have been highlighted previously, Sigurdsson is no slouch himself, and had 7 goals and 5 assists last season. A move to a more attack-minded club like Spurs might see him take his game to a higher level and surpass van der Vaart. The Spurs’ defensive woes cost them quite dearly last season, and the return of Dawson (who is professional enough to put aside his potential personal issues with the manager), along with the acquisition of Vertonghen might well serve to stem the flow.
Thus, it is fairly obvious that things are going to happen at White Hart Lane this year; either very, very good, or horribly, horribly bad. But the Spurs’ fans will remain hopeful, for as the club’s motto says, Audere est Facere; To Dare Is to Do.
