One thing Tottenham Hotspur head coach Andre Villas-Boas has been successful at in his much maligned career in England is substitutions. Throughout his short reign at Chelsea, the subs he made were game changers the majority of the time.
In the weekend encounter with QPR at White Hart Lane, when losing 1-0 (it could have been more), bringing on Steven Caulker for Gylfi Sigurdsson was certainly an inspired substitution. It allowed Gareth Bale to play further forward, and pushed Jan Verthongen (Belgium’s left back…) to left back.
While Spurs got away with it this game, they will not be allowed to be as lacklustre as they were in the first half against other teams. Villas-Boas is, according to many sources, difficult to understand, especially his footballing jargon, no doubt he has an exceptional knowledge of the game, but do the players understand him?
Harry Redknapp’s man motivation and the fairly simple, but effective, freedom he gave to players is a huge contrast to the new man, and it still looks as if the players are getting used to it.
Clint Dempsey was used as a left winger in this game, highlighting the lack of cover in this area. Shakhtar’s Willian was mooted as a potential target this summer, and with the talented, but extremely raw, Andros Townsend as the only other recognised winger in the squad, Spurs may be regretting missing out on the Brazilian.
Nevertheless, a London derby won, another goal for Defoe, and a tiny bit of momentum gathering ahead of a week which ends with a trip to Old Trafford.
Click here to follow Matt Morlidge on Twitter
Click here to follow To the Lane and Back on Twitter
