Andre Villas-Boas went into Russian exile to rebuild his reputation

[Dharmabum]

I kind of liked the guy and even though one may say now, in retrospect, it was the wrong man I don't back then one could blame Levy for hiring him. He had lots of enthusiasm - together with Steffen Freund (the footballer who can't kick a ball) - and really worked hard but in the end he did not have what was needed to succeed in the EPL. And I don't think he was mature enought to deal with established, "older" players - back then.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...tml?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490


Andre Villas-Boas went into Russian exile to rebuild his reputation after Chelsea and Tottenham but Portuguese boss is thriving at Zenit St Petersburg

• Andre Villas-Boas set to return to Portugal in the Champions League
• His Zenit St Petersburg side have been paired with Benfica in last-16
• After poor spells with Chelsea and Tottenham, AVB went to Zenit
• His Russian exile has last 23 months, much longer than expected
• He guided Zenit to the Russian title last year and is a popular figure

By Riath Al-Samarrai for MailOnline


Published: 16:21 GMT, 16 February 2016 | Updated: 16:27 GMT, 16 February 2016

A revealing fact about Andre Villas-Boas and his fascinating managerial career is that the stop which was expected to be among the briefest of his journey has turned into the longest. At times, his Russian exile must have felt that way, too.

Here he is, 23 months after joining Zenit St Petersburg, and still at the same club. That is 15 months longer than he managed at Academica, 11 months more than Porto, 14 longer than Chelsea and half a year more than he got out of Tottenham.

On Tuesday night, he returns to Portugal to take on Benfica in the Champions League, five years after relocating his career abroad, riding the success of his time at Porto all the way to the Premier League and one of the best funded jobs in football at Chelsea. He was a bright, young thing then and only 38 now.

But he is a well-worn 38, a young yet old manager who came over from Portugal with tremendous hype and who lasted nine months at Chelsea before clashing with the senior professionals and who left Tottenham talking of ‘promises that were not kept’.

Spurs, for their part, said he was ‘attempting to rewrite history’. Two big jobs, a fair amount of collisions along the way.

So, to Russia without much love in his wake nor on the horizon. He has served a long suspension for physically clashing with a fourth official, rowed with his employers, spoken out admirably against racism in the country and won a title.

It has been up and it has been down and currently exists as a marriage of convenience, with Villas-Boas having once already informed the club he would like to leave only to be told he must wait until this summer.

In one of his first interviews after arriving in Russia, he frequently repeated his belief that ‘football is chaos’. He might have been on to something.

The relationship started well enough, arriving late in the 2013-14 season and stabilising a grumbling dressing room. He became the first manager in Russian Premier League history to win his first six matches in charge, with Zenit missing out on the title by a point. They won it with two games to spare the following season.

But even then, there were dissenters. An extreme, and rather harsh viewpoint, came from Boris Chukhlov, who won the Soviet title with Zenit in 1984 and accused Villas-Boas of ‘anti-football’.

He said: ‘Zenit play boring football. A team full of star names is going out onto the pitch, however, the tactics are too cautious. The side is showing anti-football, which basically boils down to giving the ball as quickly as possible to Hulk or Danny.’

That summer, Villas-Boas told the club’s board he wanted to leave. They said no and he is currently seeing out his contract, which expires in the summer. Arguably a bigger low was an incident in September, when he was banned for six games for a furious altercation with a match official.

Villas-Boas was sent off during Zenit's home loss to Krylya Sovetov Samara and launched into a rant at fourth official Ivan Saraev.

Disciplinary commission head Artur Grigoryants reportedly said Villas-Boas had ‘left his technical area and hit the fourth official in the chest’.

Since then, Zenit’s domestic season has struggled to get going. They sit sixth in the table, seven points behind CSKA Moscow, with the fixtures due to resume in March after their winter break.

Having had two months off from competitive football, Villas-Boas’s side go to Benfica knowing the Champions League has been their saving grace, with five games won from six as they topped Group H.

A good run in the competition might just trigger a return to one of Europe’s major leagues for one of football’s oldest young managers.

VILLAS-BOAS IN MANAGEMENT

Academica

October 2009-June 2010

30 matches; win percentage 36.67

Porto

June 2010-June 2011

58 matches; win percentage 84.48

Portuguese League 2010-11; Portuguese Cup 2010-11; Europa League 2010-11

Chelsea

June 2011-March 2012

40 matches; win percentage 47.50

Tottenham Hotspur

July 2012-December 2013

80 matches; win percentage 55.00

Zenit St Petersburg

March 2014-present

84 matches; win percentage 61.90

Russian Premier League 2014-15

 

[hugrr]

So sitting 6th in the Russian prem rebuilding his career? And modern football is chaos??

He needs to embrace the chaos rather than try to control it, and by the sound of it he's still getting his team to produce the same old mundane stuff. I would hope that he would've felt that some of our best games were the chaotic ones where Bale produced a moment of magic, those were my personal favourites of his era by far.

I wish him all the best, but I have no desire to watch any team he's in charge of unless Spurs are against them.

 

[Anurag Jo]

So sitting 6th in the Russian prem rebuilding his career? And modern football is chaos??

He needs to embrace the chaos rather than try to control it, and by the sound of it he's still getting his team to produce the same old mundane stuff. I would hope that he would've felt that some of our best games were the chaotic ones where Bale produced a moment of magic, those were my personal favourites of his era by far.

I wish him all the best, but I have no desire to watch any team he's in charge of unless Spurs are against them.

Even with Bale's brilliant last season somehow I still hate remembering the AVB era.The football was too turgid and many heavy losses.Also bad eggs in the dressing room.
Much like how Man U fans want to forget the Van Gaal era.

 

[Dharmabum]

Former Chelsea and Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas has dismissed the prospect of a return to the Premier League.

The 38-year-old is set to leave Zenit Saint Petersburg at the end of the season but his next job will not be back in England, following his previous experience.

'No I think my time has been done there. It didn't go as well as I expected, apart from the first year at Tottenham, so I will look forward to trying other leagues,' the Portuguese told BT Sport after his side's 1-0 defeat at Benfica in the Champions League on Tuesday night.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...tml?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490

 

[kaz Hirai]

Even with Bale's brilliant last season somehow I still hate remembering the AVB era.The football was too turgid and many heavy losses.Also bad eggs in the dressing room.
Much like how Man U fans want to forget the Van Gaal era.

There weren't really many heavy losses in his time until the very end, and that was mostly down to an injury crisis at the back, up to that point we were defensively excellent


Bad eggs? he got shit from fans for trying to exile the two baddest eggs, Ade and bae

 

[eddiebailey]

I think it is more a case that the Premier League has finished with Villas-Boas than that he has finished with it.

 

[Sevens]

There weren't really many heavy losses in his time until the very end, and that was mostly down to an injury crisis at the back, up to that point we were defensively excellent


Bad eggs? he got shit from fans for trying to exile the two baddest eggs, Ade and bae

This is the team that faced Liverpool when they thrashed us. There is no way that team should be getting thrashed 5-0 by Liverpool, injuries at the back or not.

Lloris, Walker, Capoue, Dawson, Naughton, Paulinho, Sandro; Lennon, Dembele, Chadli, Soldado
Subs: Friedel, Fryers, Holtby, Lamela, Townsend, Sigurdsson, Defoe

Then there is Man City and their 6-0. Again there are no excuses to lose 6-0 with this team.

Tottenham: Lloris, Walker, Dawson, Kaboul, Vertonghen; Paulinho, Sandro, Lennon, Holtby, Lamela, Soldado
Substitutes: Friedel, Chiriches, Dembele, Townsend, Sigurdsson, Adebayor, Defoe.

That said I don't believe AVB should have been sacked for any football reasons. But it was clear the writing was on the wall after the bust up with the medical team.

 

[kaz Hirai]

This is the team that faced Liverpool when they thrashed us. There is no way that team should be getting thrashed 5-0 by Liverpool, injuries at the back or not.

Lloris, Walker, Capoue, Dawson, Naughton, Paulinho, Sandro; Lennon, Dembele, Chadli, Soldado
Subs: Friedel, Fryers, Holtby, Lamela, Townsend, Sigurdsson, Defoe

Then there is Man City and their 6-0. Again there are no excuses to lose 6-0 with this team.

Tottenham: Lloris, Walker, Dawson, Kaboul, Vertonghen; Paulinho, Sandro, Lennon, Holtby, Lamela, Soldado
Substitutes: Friedel, Chiriches, Dembele, Townsend, Sigurdsson, Adebayor, Defoe.

That said I don't believe AVB should have been sacked for any football reasons. But it was clear the writing was on the wall after the bust up with the medical team.

Well there you go, capoue, Dawson and naughton at the back

As well as men sent off against a then impressive Liverpool.

So 1 real no excuses heavy loss against city.

 

[Anurag Jo]

There weren't really many heavy losses in his time until the very end, and that was mostly down to an injury crisis at the back, up to that point we were defensively excellent


Bad eggs? he got shit from fans for trying to exile the two baddest eggs, Ade and bae

I didnt say the bad eggs were due to him but purely because of their existence it was a troublesome era.

 

[Dharmabum]

This is the team that faced Liverpool when they thrashed us. There is no way that team should be getting thrashed 5-0 by Liverpool, injuries at the back or not.

Lloris, Walker, Capoue, Dawson, Naughton, Paulinho, Sandro; Lennon, Dembele, Chadli, Soldado
Subs: Friedel, Fryers, Holtby, Lamela, Townsend, Sigurdsson, Defoe

Then there is Man City and their 6-0. Again there are no excuses to lose 6-0 with this team.

Tottenham: Lloris, Walker, Dawson, Kaboul, Vertonghen; Paulinho, Sandro, Lennon, Holtby, Lamela, Soldado
Substitutes: Friedel, Chiriches, Dembele, Townsend, Sigurdsson, Adebayor, Defoe.

That said I don't believe AVB should have been sacked for any football reasons. But it was clear the writing was on the wall after the bust up with the medical team.

It looks as if Portuguese head-coaches in the EPL have a thing about fighting with their medical staff

 

[Matthew Wyatt]

I know it's regarded as a retrograde opinion but I thought before we hired him and still think that some first-hand experience of playing top-level football is an important asset in becoming a top-level coach, not simply for the experience but because of the respect it earns among your players.

 

[goughie1966]

What reputation?