Is Andre Villas-Boas good enough to lead a top flight club?

Another club, another sacking for Andre Villas-Boas. It just highlights the fact that AVB still needs to learn a lot if he wants to compete at the highest level. Villas-Boas’s managerial career is now possibly at its lowest point after being sacked twice in two years from the biggest clubs in London. His failure to eclipse the success he had at FC Porto just shows that he has not grown as a manager.

As a manager, his failure in England was a  bit surprising considering he had been under the tutelage of Jose Mourinho at Chelsea. But he has not adapted to the style of play in England. At Chelsea, his aggressive style play led to his eventual downfall which was a very similar case at Tottenham. His style of a high defensive line was the reason Chelsea leaked a lot of goals and were unable to succeed under his managerial rule.

His attacking and high-defensive  line of play got him a lot of flak as Chelsea were only able to manage 20 wins from 40 games – a very ordinary performance  for a top flight club when you have such big names on your team sheet. Chelsea conceded five goals against Arsenal at Stamford Bridge as Terry and Ivanovic were simply outpaced by the likes of Van Persie and Walcott. Andre Villas-Boas tried to revolutionise  the Chelsea style of play and got punished for it. He simply did not have the resources and the players at his disposal to adapt to his style of play.

At Tottenham, he started really well with Gareth Bale scoring for fun and Tottenham fared better than Chelsea because they simply had the resources for that  style of play. They had pacy defenders in Vertonghen and Dawson which allowed them to play with a high-defensive line and also provided them with the ability to cope with counter attacks. Even then Tottenham were the worst defensive side amongst the top 7 in the Premier league, their defensive issues were somewhat hidden by Gareth Bale and Jermain Defoe as they were able to score goals with remarkable consistency.

However, Tottenham have looked a very different side after the departure of their most important player, Gareth Bale. The problems that existed last year have recurred this season, but their problems have been compounded by the fact that Tottenham have not been able to score the goals they did last season. AVB has not adapted to the departure of Gareth Bale and  his new signings have not helped him either.

Some critics might argue that AVB’s sacking was too quick, and he  did not have enough time to adapt to his new players. But when you are managing a top flight club, time is something you don’t have. The question is; will Tottenham qualify for the Champions League and will Tottenham fans want to make sure that it is the top priority for the incoming manager.

Some might argue that AVB simply wasn’t given enough time at both Chelsea and Tottenham but probably AVB did move too quickly to England. The pressure that one faces in England with all the media hype and all the expectations is simply unmatched anywhere in the world, let alone Portugal. For now, AVB will have to understand that he is probably not good enough to lead at this level. But  AVB is still young, and he has probably all the time in the world to learn from the mistakes that he has committed.