In AVB We Trust

Andre Villas Boas, the man known as AVB didn't have a smashing start to life in the English Premier League. He was bought for a very high price from Porto by manager killer Roman Abramovich to lead Chelsea. The manager who was a chief scout under Jose Mourinho came in with a very impressive, albeit brief resume and was compared to "The Special One". He was regarded as the brightest modern manager in the game. He brought in significant players for Chelsea such as Juan Mata, Gary Cahill but he was given very little time to allow his project to gain steam. Although the team was only 3 points out of 4th place at the time, he was dismissed. After a record of 19 wins, 11 draws and 10 losses, AVB was relegated to the status of an over hyped manager who gained a reputation of being rigid with his players, rotation and tactics. FYI, Chelsea went on to finish 6th last season, lower than the position that AVB had led them to.

We had finished 4th, one point behind Arsenal due to our woeful record in the last months of the season. 'Arry was too distracted by England talks to focus on the squad. His lack of tactics and positional responsibility let the team down and it was our time to turn to a modern manager, rich in tactics, philosophy, scouting and an eye to the future.

 

Fast forward 6 months and on July 3, 2012, we had our leader. It was not without critics and doubters. We had made the decision to hand over the reigns to the charismatic, well dressed and brilliant tactician whose reputation was tarnished after 40 games with Chelsea. Would he upset the veterans on the team? Would he force the squad to play in formations that does not reflect their strengths? Would he over-complicate things with his rumoured PowerPoint presentations? The questions were abundant and in time, the doubters would be silenced. "AVB Revolution"

We didn't get off to the best start under AVB. Late goals, lack of chances created and recklessly dropped points to Wigan and Norwich City seemed to increase the volume of his doubters. The turning point in his Tottenham career, our season and I believe the future of the club was our victory at Old Trafford. We ended our 27 match winless streak at Old Trafford and installed the belief that we can beat anyone, anywhere.

AVB has had to deal with injuries to Kaboul, Assou-Ekotto, Dembele, Bale, Lennon, Sandro, Defoe, Adebayor, Dawson and Scott Parker yet never made excuses for himself or the team.

Since our streak from late November to mid-March of dazzling form, there are few critics left of AVB and those that were still there will certainly have been silenced by this past weekend's match vs. Manchester City.

With the squad lacking bite, creativity and inspiration, it looked gloomy. The effort was there but we were too narrow, not creating in the final 3rd and our passing wasn't very positive. AVB realised this and in the 60th minute, brought on Lewis Holtby and Tom Huddlestone for Scott Parker & Gylfi Sigurdsson then shortly after Defoe for Adebayor. By the way, I hope that AVB is starting to get tired of Scott Parker like I already have. He is one dimensional, works hard to close down in the centre of the pitch but offers nothing going forward, moves the ball too slowly and rarely picks out an attacking pass. With these switches, we moved to his favoured 4-3-3. Bale moved out wide to isolate Clichy and Defoe running through the defence, clearing room for others. Our resulting play was quick, incisive and energised. The last 30 minutes was sublime and truly our team at its finest. It was also a manager at his finest; adaptable and inspiring.

 

When the 3rd goal was scored, it looked like our man AVB was nearly in tears. The passion for the game, for the club and for his players is refreshing and for me, makes me love the club even more. Under 'Arry it was "they" and under AVB it is "we". Those critics who said that he couldn't win over the dressing room and that the players were near revolt, need to only look at this celebration vs. West Ham. The rumours of an offer coming his way from Real Madrid are just that, rumours. I expect that a new deal will be coming his way this summer and he has deserved it. He's won over the pundits, his critics, his players, his fans and his Chairman. He is the man to lead Tottenham to bigger and better things.

Over his first 49 games as the leader of Spurs, we are all AVBelievers.

@MarcAron22

 

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