No Champions League Failure?

Article by e-Spurs writer Mark Viales

Football critics will surely be sharpening their axes in the forthcoming weeks as “media favourite” Villas Boas will likely be thrown to the gallows following lack of qualification for the Champions League.

This is of course a great misrepresentation of the short term goals of Tottenham Hotspur. The appointment of AVB was naturally a long term project, a young, tactically astute and vibrant manager who would take the team forward progressively. The board must and hopefully will provide a platform within the correct structure with which to do so.

It is highly unlikely that Daniel Levy would have stated to Villas Boas that if he did not seal Champions League football he would get the sack. A youthful squad in the midst of major transition needed steadying and with our rivals strengthening with some of the brightest prospects around, someone in the right mould was necessary to develop this project.

Although we may have finished higher in the league under Harry Redknapp last season, with AVB we have reached 72 points! This total would have attained Champs League football in the last 13 seasons. The fact remains that AVB has achieved the highest win % of any spurs manager in Premier League era proving to his critics that he has all it takes to make it at a top club.

Exciting Spurs

Tottenham have had some Glory nights at the Lane in Europe’s 2nd tier Competition. We have experienced thrilling encounters in foreign lands where we have battled against the elements and odds to come out with victory. We have also fought admirably in the other competitions and I would expect a similar picture to be painted in next season’s venture only this time we will bring home the Cup!

I do not blame AVB for launching a siege on all competitions this season. We have seen absolute thrillers, where we have looked down and out, only to resurge and claim victory. There has been a never say die attitude emulating that of a Champions mentality, we have not looked far off at times.

AVB started this year dealing with inheriting a squad on the pinnacle of achieving something special, only to lose two of their most integral players of the previous campaign. Van der Vaart and Modric were the hub of a machine that earned widespread praise from the footballing world.

Have we replaced them? The short answer is no, although Dembélé deserves to be acknowledged as a successful signing but not a replacement.

Lack of investment

 

Moutinho’s name was synonymous with Spurs all of last summer as we aimed to line this one up before time ran out, which it inevitably did. The result has been a patchy affair of mismatched partnerships, loss of form and general lack of quality cover.

Sadly this has not been our biggest problem. The obvious failure for reinforcement was in the striking department, the Defoe half season and Abdebayor no show has been where we have fallen short. Van der Vaart had his critics, although he would consistently deliver in the key areas especially when it mattered most.

Had we strengthened in this department as was much required, we may have put to bed any late resurgence from our rivals and possibly even looked to have finished higher. Despite this, which naturally was out of AVB’s hands, he has done well in his debut season…Exceptionally well when also considering the notable absentees, Sandro and Kaboul who no doubt would have been majorly influential throughout the campaign.

 

All these detrimental factors against him and yet qualification for the Champions was pushed till the final day of the season. We performed admirably on all fronts and with a few of AVB’s signings this summer, we will aim to do so again. He has brought in a spirit and desire which has been absorbed by the club with sights on instilling a legacy and steady improvement.

 

New Look?

 

This summer he will have a chance to reshape the squad to fit into his footballing philosophy. AVB will have learnt our major weaknesses in detail and would have likely lined up appropriate targets to elevate our squad to a new level. The imminent arrival of David Villa would no doubt signal early intent to do business early and show that Spurs will be competitive in the transfer window.

 

With the appointment of a technical director also a club priority, AVB will look to take this transfer window very seriously. Alas we have no CL football to come and therefore the club will need to show extra cunning in the market in order to secure quality signings to improve the squad.

It will be no use papering over the cracks this summer and what better to convince our stars to stay than to invest in players that would allow Spurs to challenge?

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