Newcastle owner Mike Ashley is offering his non-playing staff a share of a £1million bonus if they beat Arsenal in this afternoon's match. Ashley is reported to be a Spurs fan, and a Newcastle win would secure Champions League football for Andre Villas Boas' side providing they are able to beat Sunderland in today's other [.
Spurs manager Andre Villas Boas is hoping his side will be rewarded for their late winner against Stoke with a slip-up from north London rivals Arsenal. After seeing his side beat the Potters, Villas Boas was hoping that the Gunners will drop points against either Wigan or Newcastle in their final two games of the [.
David Luiz has had a busy week of winding up opposition supporters. The latest installment of the Chelsea defender's exploits involved listening in to tactical instructions being given to Lewis Holtby by Spurs manager Andre Villas Boas. Taking his man-marking duties to the extreme, Luiz followed Holtby to the touchline and eavesdropped on the conversation.
Goatee devotee Rafa Benitez is always quick to show his appreciation towards fellow proponents of facial hair. And judging by his excited response to Andre Villas Boas' ginger beard including some inappropriate touching the Spaniard might be considering converting to a full beard. Via 101GG
1. Rafa Benitez can relax For once the opposition manager will be disliked nearly as much as him. AVB was never quite the right fit in the Chelsea hot-seat, although he was still a better fit than Benitez. 2. Andre Villas Boas could ponder what might have been... but he doesn't want to John Terry's [.
Andre Villas Boas has responded to accusations from Arsenal keeper Wojciech Szczesny that his side lack quality saying the criticism would have more effect if it came from a fan. After the Poland international chose to speak out against Spurs, Villas Boas questioned whether a player was entitled to harbour so much hatred towards his [.
Tottenham Hotspur manager Andre Villas-Boas says that Gareth Bale will be at the club next season no matter where Spurs finish in the league this season. This contradicts what Villas-Boas said last week when he claimed that Tottenham would have to finish in top four to keep Bale.
In Tottenham's press conference today, Villas-Boas said:
"The information I have from the club, that was mistakenly written about last week, is that the player is here to remain at the club independent of the objectives of Champions League qualification being met, or not.
Spurs are hopeful of beating Liverpool to the £6.5 million signing of Blackpool winger Tom Ince, according to the Mirror. Chief executive Daniel Levy is keen to do business with the Seasiders as soon as possible and whisk the England under-21 international away from his dad, Bloomfield Road boss Paul, before their rivals start to [.
Gareth Bale achieved an amazing PFA double last night when landing both the Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year awards. He becomes only the third player to win both accolades in the same season, and the first since Christiano Ronaldo in 2007. With Spurs' chances of playing Champions League football next season still hanging in the balance, will the Welsh wonder now be on his way out of White Hart Lane?
Spurs manager Andre Villas Boas says Chelsea's fixture pile-up is actually an advantage for the Blues. AVB reckons the prospect of reaching the Europa League final will give Rafa Benitez and his squad a boost. And he says he would rather his side had as many games left to play this season. He said: "It's [.
Spurs' battle for Champions League football appeared to take a blow last night after their talisman, Gareth Bale, was stretchered off during the Europa League clash with Basel. Bale's ankle twisted to right angles, forcing him off the pitch late in last night's match. But manager Andre Villas Boas has since delivered some optimistic news.
Gareth Bale has stunned his team mates and officials at Spurs by telling them he wants to join Arsenal in the summer. Apparently the Welshman is sick of the climate of fear in the Tottenham dressing room, which is once again building to epic proportions as the Gunners threaten to ruin their Champions League dream yet again.
High-flying Tottenham make the trip to Liverpool on Sunday looking to stretch their four-match winning run as they target a UEFA Champions League spot. Andre Villas-Boas' men have enjoyed a hot streak of form of late to propel them into third place in the Premier League, five points behind second-placed Manchester City and two ahead of London rivals Chelsea.
Spurs boss Andre Villas Boas was going a bit crazy in the closing stages of last night's Europa League gesture, delivering frenzied tactical instruction and wildly gesturing with his arms. Somebody took the decision to calm him down a bit: disable the crazy arms.
Tottenham progressed in the Europa League in dramatic fashion after a late strike from Moussa Dembele. Andre Villas Boas' side were on the verge of being knocked out on away goals by Lyon. But former Fulham man Dembele fired in a brilliant 90th minute effort to make it 1-1 on the night. Spurs went through [.
Arsenal fans were less than impressed by the lack of activity from Arsene Wenger in the January transfer window, but at least we did better than Tottenham. After Gibbs' injury, at least he strengthened our weakest position. Andre Villas-Boas either didn't bother, or failed, to buy a new striker, and that has now risen up to bite him on the arse.
I thought that was going to be the most painful result of the season thus far. To hammer the league leaders like that and come away with nothing from the game would have been extremely hard to take. While the first half was a bit more even, Spurs absolutely dominated Sir Alex Ferguson's men in the second and although it looked as if it would be another setback for Tottenham in their bid to become one of the established big four, that turned out not to be the case.
André Villas-Boas has promised a quiet transfer window for Tottenham this January. Daniel Levy took charge of the transfer dealings during the summer rather than handing over the reins to the 35-year-old Villas-Boas. At Chelsea last year,...
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André Villas-Boas has promised a quiet transfer window for Tottenham this January. Daniel Levy took charge of the transfer dealings during the summer rather than handing over the reins to the 35-year-old Villas-Boas. At Chelsea last year, Villas-Boas showed his understanding of the transfer market by bringing in talents such as Juan Mata and Romelu Lukaku; these signings parallel Villas-Boas' philosophy of free flowing football.
01. José Mourinho (Portugal) Real Madrid (España) 15,3 02. Carlo Ancelotti (Italia) PSG (Francia) 13,5 03. Marcelo Lippi (Italia) Guangzhou Evergrande (China) 10 04. Alex Ferguson (Escocia) Manchester United (Inglaterra) 9,4 05. Arsène Wenger (Francia) Arsenal (Inglaterra) 9,3 06.
There are lots of issues that Arsene Wenger prepares his Arsenal players for the visit of Tottenham to the Emirates tomorrow, with fitness concerns and team selection. Wenger knows, however, that the Gunners have more than enough talent to control the midfield, create chances and score goals. If we gift wrap goals for Spurs, as we have been doing recently, it will put too much pressure on the attacking players as well as sapping confidence from the whole team.
Tottenham Hotspur make the short trip across north London to the Emirates this Saturday lunchtime for what is recognised as one of the fiercest local rivalries worldwide, and this will be the first selection I make on the Betfred Goals Galore coupon this Saturday, for reasons I'll explain... We have been treated to some spectacular [.
Brad Friedel's spell on the sidelines may turn out to be as brief as anyone could have imagined.
Tottenham head coach Andre Villas-Boas hinted that Friedel could be back to starting in between the pipes for Spurs in this weekend's match against Chelsea.
One of the worst feelings in football is having to rely on another team doing you a favour in a game you're not involved in. That's exactly what we need from Newcastle this weekend as our nervous battle for a Champions League place reaches its conclusion. Tottenham have what is arguably the easier fixture on paper as they face Sunderland at White Hart Lane, while bitter rivals Arsenal travel to the Sports Direct Arena to take on Newcastle.
Extra time couldn't separate Basel and Spurs after two legs of their Europa League quarterfinal, so it had to be decided with a penalty shootout. With Gareth Bale, Aaron Lennon and Jermain Defoe all unavailable for Spurs, Clint Dempsey stepped up with two goals to get them to that point. But in the shootout, it was Emmanuel Adebayor who proved manager Andre Villas-Boas' pre-match comments to be prophetic.
Gareth Bale has been grabbing the headlines again over the last few days with three goals in his last three matches including the first in Wales' 2-1 win over Austria last night. Unfortunately, a run of form like this will always bring more stories about a possible move abroad and Spurs' head coach Andre Villas-Boas has admitted that the club may need Champions League Football to keep Gareth at the Lane.
FC Schalke's Lewis Holtby is unlikely to move to new club Tottenham Hotspur in the January transfer window, according to Tottenham coach Andre Villas-Boas.
The 22-year-old midfielder, who has an English father and German mother, has already signed a pre-contract agreement with the North London club.
Domination so complete, I have a crick in my neck from facing in the same direction for too long. Then, finally, Lloris's bank holiday stroll around his green and pleasant area is rudely interrupted. He saves well, low to his right, two hands. Being alert after long periods of inactivity is another of his many attributes.
Ironic that The Glory Glory Nights, Martin Cloake and Adam Powley's luscious history of Spurs in Europe should arrive unexpectedly just before kick-off. I've preserved its shrink-wrapped beauty until now. Seemed wrong somehow to expose it to Spurs in Europe, the 2012 version.Borey Borey night, more like.
Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas has been charged with many failings during hisrelativelyshort career. These include being aloof and uncommunicative, out of his depth, obsessed with tactics and worst of all, not being Jose Mourinho or Harry Redknapp. Over the weekend came the ultimate condemnation AVB, you were seen in possession of a notebook.
It's been a tough start to the season peppered with embarrassements and indignities for Andre Villas-Boas, but during Spurs' 3-1 Europa League win everything came up Andre. Jermain Defoe came through with a hat trick and Villas-Boas was so enraptured by them that when first team coach Luis Martins stepped in front of him and tried to offer his hand as a means to share the pleasurable moment, Andre just pushed him aside.
The team's the thing. This season was always going to be about the manager, about how Andre Villas-Boas created something greater than the sum of its parts. That's what he came with, his organisation and tactics to bring added value, his ambition to convince players that, like him, they could better themselves.
Emmanuel Adebayor's decision not to play for Togo in the 2013 Africa Nations Cup due to a dispute of match bonuses has shocked football fans already disenchanted with the vast sums of money their heroes earn on a weekly basis.
Instead of playing for his home country, Adebayor will instead stay at Spurs and aid their chase for a Champions League spot come the May, something manager Andre Villas-Boas is reportedly happy about.
Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas believes that Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers is the man to bring Champions League football back to Anfield. The Portuguese boss goes into the game against the Merseyside club knowing that a win can take the club into the top four, but, with their opponents currently on an eight-game unbeaten streak of their own, he remains wary of the threat that they pose.
Spurs face Liverpool tonight in what has the potential to be a thrilling encounter at White Hart Lane. Spurs are coming off the back of a very impressive performance when beating West Ham on Sunday and should be full of confidence coming into this encounter. Liverpool should also come into the match in positive mood as they are now on a run of eight games unbeaten following a very slow start to the season.
As we all know, the Premier League is the greatest league in the world. The evidence for this has been repeatedly put forward by a host of pundits who don't watch any other leagues by way of comparison. But OTP would like to add a little snippet to the pile of evidence. In which other [...]
Maybe the question should be – what formation will we play – because if we knew that, the starting XI for this match would probably be much easier to predict.
If AVB keeps to 4-2-3-1 then the team is likely to be unchanged from the one that started at Wigan – providing that Sandro recovers from his calf niggle.
Almost as soon as we made the case for Emmanuel Adebayor to start this game, the club announced that the Togolese striker hadn't travelled with the Spurs squad owing to a back injury. Staying behind with Ade, or more correctly with his partner and new baby is Gareth Bale while Moussa Dembele is unlikely to feature.
The notion of a club's fans booing and jeering their own side, their manager, the board and anyone else locally they don't like was probably initiated by the fans of Woolwich Arsenal in the 19th century. (For more, see The Crowd at Woowlich Arsenal)
The Ferguson influence story is going to run and run, and I thought it was a good time to delve back into the archives to examine some words of theTottenham manager Andre Villas-Boasfrom earlier this year: "'It would be brilliant to be able to talk about this, but I paid a very high fine last season and I don't want to do it again.
