Andre Villas-Boas Deserving of Credit for Tottenham’s Win at Old Trafford

Andre Villas-Boas delighted to win at Old Trafford [Photo: PA]

Tottenham’s first win over Manchester United at Old Trafford for twenty three tears gave Head Coach, Andre Villas-Boas great delight as it gave impetus to the work that he has done at White Hart Lane since his appointment in July.  A year previously the young manager, then with Chelsea, suffered a chastening defeat against Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford and his time at Stamford Bridge never recovered with his departure the following March. Although he didn’t say it, but the win on Saturday over Sir Alex Ferguson’s team must have been extra special in the circumstances – he had achieved something that no other Tottenham manager since the days of Terry Venablesand on a personal level by getting the better of the experienced Ferguson, he had taken another step in the rejuvenation of his coaching career. It also came against the experienced and most successful manager of the Premier League era, a man twice Villas-Boas’ age. On this occasion the young one had come out on top.

Having received deserved praise for his work and success with Porto, the time at Stamford Bridge was a chastening experience for the young man with boundless self-confidence. His nine months with Chelsea was fraught with problems with the players, the owner and the media who are again waiting for his fall, hence the weekend stories of ‘mutiny’ among the players at Spurs.

On his return to London Kyle Walker tweeted his pleasure at the victory but also included reference to the morning’s press, denying any truth in the story.

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The manger’s comments since the win support that with talk of the players’ confidence during the week that they could achieve something at Old Trafford.

"“The players had a meeting in the week and they said to each other that they thought they could come here with confidence. They definitely thought there were things they could exploit and that’s what they spoke about.”"

Andre Villas-Boas‘ delight was clearly evident at the end of the match as he celebrated on the touchline with Steffen Freund. While deserving of praise for the team’s victory and the manner of their win, he made no effort to claim the credit, rather praising the work of all the players.

"“Winning at Old Trafford is very difficult but we can’t make it an individual night for anybody, it was victory for the team. Our work-rate was immense, our spirit, we played extremely confidently in the first half.”"

So often Tottenham teams have arrived at Old Trafford to face United with a air of waiting for the inevitable to happen. They have been timid in their play and fearful, allowing United to claim the initiative and once United had scored it was often a matter of ‘game over’. On Saturday Villas-Boas sent out his team with a confidence that was evident from the opening seconds and once Jan Vertonghen had grabbed the opening goal, they didn’t sit back but continued to play with a belief that they could achieve more and so it was to be. That confidence to step out at Old Trafford and take the game to United and exploit their weaknesses came from the direction given to them by Villas-Boas before the match. No team will go out and play in that way if their manager’s last instructions have been to keep it tight for the opening twenty minutes and see what happens after that.

Even the United goal so early in the second half didn’t deflate the players’ confidence as they were able to respond immediately for Clint Dempsey to score a third and restore the two goal advantage. That it was short-lived was a disappointment but where other Tottenham teams would have crumbled in the face of United’s effort and pressure, Villas-Boas’ team stood up to the test and showed a resilience to fight their way through it to such an extent that all Sir Alex Ferguson could find to complain about was the lack of additional time allocated by referee, Chris Foy.

It was a tremendous win and one which helps to give Villas-Boas and his coaching methods and philosophy an opportunity to be taken seriously and given time to develop at White Hart Lane.

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