Tuesday 17 December 2013 13:27, UK
Tottenham have sacked head coach Andre Villas-Boas after less than 18 months in charge following Sunday's 5-0 home defeat by Liverpool.
Speaking after Sunday's humiliation by Liverpool, which followed a 6-0 drubbing by Manchester City last month, Villas-Boas had insisted that he would not quit. The 36-year-old said: "The call to make that decision is not mine, because obviously I won't resign and I'm not a quitter. "The only thing I can do is work hard with the players to get them back on track. "This is a top-four squad but in our Premier League form we are not there." Spurs are currently seventh in the table, two points ahead of Manchester United, and won their Europa League group with a 100 per cent record, scoring 15 goals and conceding just two in six games. Villas-Boas also had a good record overall as Tottenham manager, averaging 1.83 points per league match, the highest of all Spurs bosses in the Premier League era. A bright start in the Premier League was not maintained however and it appears the manner of the defeats by City and Liverpool proved too much for Spurs chairman Daniel Levy and the board. Sky Sports pundit, and former Spurs midfielder, Jamie Redknapp says Villas-Boas has paid the price for his role in dismantling one of the best teams the club have ever had. "After the job he did at Chelsea he was incredibly lucky to get that job in the first place," said Redknapp, who is the son of former Tottenham boss Harry. "He had a nightmare at Chelsea and then they went and won the Champions League without him, but he finds himself as the manager of Tottenham with a squad of Modric, Bale and players like that. "Last year he did well with the previous manager's team, but now he's had his chance to do it, it hasn't worked out for him. "When you get beat 5-0 at home it's a bit of a tell-tale sign. It's not something Tottenham fans are accustomed to and I feel sorry to a certain extent for the fans. "Having seen the team that was built - you look at Gareth Bale on the wing - and you've ended up with players who aren't in the same league." Another Sky Sports pundit, Jamie Carragher, had some sympathy for Villas-Boas following the thrashing by Liverpool and questioned who has been responsible for all the players that were brought in over the summer. Carragher said on Super Sunday: "Something's just not right, I don't think it's a bad run of form here, I think there's something not quite right with this team the way it's been put together. "The system that they're playing is certainly not suiting Soldado. You look at a player like Lamela, brought in to replace Bale, he's no Bale but £30million from Roma and we've not seen him. "There's so many players in similar positions, wide players or number 10s, there's five or six of them and he keeps trying different ones each week and whoever he puts in there just doesn't seem to work. "You're starting to talk about buying new players but they've just spent £100million and signed ten new players so I don't think their owner or Daniel Levy in January is going to say 'do we need players?' "I think they're going to be seriously looking at his (Villas-Boas) position and how they're set up but unfortunately for AVB, I do feel for him because I'm not sure he's signed all those players."
