AVB: Spurs deserve more respect
Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas wants the north London club to be shown more respect following what he has perceived as a week of personal attacks against his abilities.
A 2-2 draw at home to Manchester United on Sunday leaves Spurs ninth in the Barclays Premier League with Villas-Boas’ position coming under scrutiny.
Following the result against the reigning champions, the Portuguese became embroiled in an argument with a reporter after taking exception to an article written earlier in the week.
The former Chelsea boss believes he is being harshly treated in comparison to the likes of United boss David Moyes, whose side sit just one point and one place above Spurs.
“A couple of people insult my integrity, my human values, my professionalism and one of these people is sitting over here,” he said.
“It insults the success that I have achieved in other clubs and I don’t think it’s fair. I think it’s a lack of respect and an attack on a person’s integrity.
“I don’t want to undermine other managers. You can easily compare situations. We have sat above Man City before and above Man United before and we haven’t seen any kind of these personal attacks to somebody so I think that is unfair.”
Villas-Boas also gave a curt response when asked about comments made by former Tottenham chairman Lord Sugar in a radio interview on Thursday.
Sugar questioned Villas-Boas’ tactical approach in midweek and even suggested ex-Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson should come out of retirement to replace the Portuguese at White Hart Lane.
“I’ve struggled to understand AVB’s tactics,” Sugar told talkSPORT in the wake of Spurs’ 6-0 defeat at Manchester City last Sunday.
“The formation that AVB plays, I don’t understand at all. I put my hands up, I am no great football expert, but I don’t understand it at all.
“My dream would be that my good friend Sir Alex Ferguson will get itchy feet in about a year or so and decide he wants to get back into management and maybe bring his wonderful wife down to London and manage our team.”
But, after seeing goals from Kyle Walker and Sandro both cancelled out by Wayne Rooney equalisers, Villas-Boas hit out at businessman Sugar.
“I think it’s a very driven agenda by somebody that doesn’t honour the club, neither myself nor my players,” Villas-Boas told BBC Radio 5Live.
“It’s their team, their passion and they don’t trade it for anything else, not like Alan Sugar who trades it for money.”
