AVB praises Townsend

Andre Villas-Boas had praise for Andros Townsend after his man of the match performance against Dinamo Tiblisi in the Europa League tie. There will be an article posted at 9am on Townsend and his minute by minute performance last night, the 39th minute was hugely significant.

Speaking after the game about Townsend AVB said:

"Andros has been working well in training, so we felt it was time to give him an opportunity and he did very well. If we have the type of performance we had to today (from him) we can always count him.

"For all the young players we are bringing through the competition they face is extremely difficult and in my opinion, when you overcome that type of opposition you can only become a top player.

"He is doing it the right way. He seems very focused after last year's experience.

"We had some very good moments and the thing that was the difference was scoring from the chances we had. The killer instinct was there from the chances we had and that didn't happen in Dinamo's case.

"That is why, in the end the result is as expressive as it is.

"We want to ensure qualification and in the second leg anything can happen. We are expected to win at home after this result away from home but we won't play with fire. We will be strong and want to ensure we are in the group stages."

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Press Conference ahead of Europa League tie

The Spurs press conference before the Dinamo Tiblisi Europa League qualification round game featured Andre Villas-Boas and Younis Kaboul. It began with questions for Younis.

He was asked if the strengthening of the squad would allow Tottenham to go further in competitions at home and abroad this season:

"We are going to carry on like last season. We will take every tournament seriously with complete concentration.

"Our target is to go as far as possible in every competition.We are trying to build something at Spurs. Big squad with good quality. Now we are facing some big games in the league against some good teams.

"We will be ready for each games. And everyone has to be ready for every game and concentrated for that.

"It is exciting to see the club try to sign so many players. But the main thing is to try and win football matches. Everyone is welcome at Spurs. We are waiting for the new signings. We just need to compete even better than before."

Kaboul was then asked about Gareth Bale: "Of course Gareth is a great class player and we need him in the team but we have some good players also.

"He is injured at the moment and we have some good players to replace him. Most important thing is to win football matches. Whoever is playing is the most important."

He was asked which competition will AVB prioritise this season, the Premier League or Europa League?

"Last season I think we prioritised both competitions in the end. Same objective this season. We approach this season the same.

"We often played the same team Thursday to Sunday last season and had good success on Sundays. This playoff is very important to us."

Younis then left the press conference to train and questions where then aimed at AVB. He was asked about the possible signings of Willian, Erik Lamela and Fabio Coentrao.

"None of the names you have mentioned have signed for Spurs. I have answered about Willian in the past, not only my time with Tottenham but also Chelsea.

"All the players are great, great players.

"On the players that are here, we are moving forward. We are not only trimming the squad but adding tremendous talent.

"I think we can become very, very strong regards to last season. It depends what deals we are able to conclude before the end of the market. We are looking to be stronger than before."

AVB was then asked again about Willian and the contribution of technical director Franco Baldini:

"I can't really confirm anything regarding Willian. There is interest in the player and there have been conversations.

"Franco is a massive appointment for Tottenham. Someone I wanted last year and it wasn't possible then. He has massive experience, Real Madrid, Roma and the FA. He is one of the best technical directors there is."

AVB was asked if the new signings are to play alongside Gareth Bale or replace him.

"Ideally we want to keep everyone. Anything can happen. We are in the last few days of transfer activity.

"The objective is always to be stronger than the year before and I think we are on the right way to achieve it."

The press persevered and asked AVB iif Gareth Bale has already signed for Real Madrid:

"I cannot say anything about that but it is not true."

He was then asked if Tottenham be stronger than last season at the end of the transfer window and is this now a potential title winning team?

"Yes I believe we can be stronger than the season before. I believe what we are doing will show this.

"I don't agree we can be title contenders for the season coming. Everything is coming and everything is happening. We have to create a team. We haven't had time to work with them."

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Parker leaves, AVB and Jan Vertonghen

Scott Parker has signed a 3 year deal for Fulham. QPR were going to pay £2 million and we wanted Fulham to pay £4 million so the final fee, which is undisclosed will probably be £3 - 3.5 million. Thanks Scotty.

Q - AVB, have Spurs bid for Willian? 
A - "No, no."

Q - Do you admire the player?
A - "Yes. This is a player who I have spoken about in the past, not very long ago. He is a player who I appreciate. He belongs to them and I respect them so I wouldn't like to extend myself too much."

Q - Will there be new signings?
A - "We haven't finished. We have a very, very good squad. We have done most of our activity in the market, but we are looking further on that. There is a possibility (of new signings), yes."

Q - Has Gareth Bale played his last game for Spurs?
A - "He is a player who has had a clearing session [a light training session] today. Hopefully if everything goes well, the player will be involved and I can give you further news about the player in the future."

Q - Is he travelling to Georgia?
A - "He is in our Europa League squad, but he is not available [for Thursday's game] because he is injured."

Q - Jan Vertonghen, what did you think of the performance against Crystal Palace on Sunday. 

A - "We were very dominant, but we kept them alive and they had a big opportunity in the 89th minute.

"We should have more of a killer instinct. If we did we could have scored two or three more, then we would have been able to relax a bit and make more substitutes."

Not having that killer instinct was something I wrote about on Facebook last season which drew complaints that I should be satisfied. Like Jan I know without a killer instinct a side wins nothing. It has to learn it, develop it and implement it. Both Sigurdsson and Defoe should have scored, not doing so was not good enough and is why the club are continually looking for upgrades. Good is not good enough anymore. Three points, first game of the season, congratulations, learn the lessons and move on.

"We were happy with the win. It would have been a better result if we had got two or three goals more.

"We had quite a good season last year but at the end we didn't make what we aimed for.

"But this year we have learned from this and we can't make the same mistakes again.

"We have the quality (to make the top four). It's going to be very difficult because everyone has spent money, but we have bought some good players too.

"We have also been playing a year longer together. Everyone believes that we can do something this year.

"We have bought some good players. I can see already that we are playing well, but we can still play much better."

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AVB, Holloway, Souness views, player success stats

Andre Villas-Boas was happy with Spurs opening performance against Crystal Palace on Sunday. The Palace defender shouldn't have had his arms in the air outstretched covering an area so there can be no complaints, not that that stopped Ian Holloway complaining of course.

"(It was) a good performance," Villas-Boas said. "There's always a surprise factor to Palace because of the amount of signings that they have brought (in) and the fact that we don't know them as well as the other teams so I'm extremely happy with the performance.

"We had good chances during the whole of the 90 minutes, chances to put the game to bed when we were 1-0 up, so I can only be pleased with the performance. We had to hang strong in the last minutes of the game to take it to the final whistle, but I think overall we were the deserved winners.”

He was asked if he though Soldado would score 20 goals this season - “Of course, I think so. His career speaks for [itself],” he said.

“You know, to see him so confidently step up and put it to the same side as he scored against Espanyol was important for us. So, good to see him out there, created some chances, good to see the forward coming in with that hungriness for goals that he has. So extremely pleased for the work that he did.”

"Most of these players arrived at a later stage – particularly Paulinho and Soldado, who had only two or three weeks with us.

"We can only see them and develop towards the future. Bearing in mind that for all them the Premier League is a different proposition to the leagues that they have played in terms of intensity and passion for the game, I think they did extremely well.”

He was asked about the central defence and would there by another signing there - “At the moment we don’t have lots of options in defence. We might still but we haven’t decided yet.”

One reporter tried his best to get news on Bale when asking is was the first match of the post Gareth Bale era and how did AVB see the team performing without him anyway? Andre spun him the agreed party line.

“The (way the) team performed, I just answered your question. The other question that you want to know and everybody else wants to know I’m not going to comment about. The player is injured and he’s not available for selection, and he’s not likely to start in neither the Tsblisi nor the Swansea game.”

Ian Holloway had his own views of course: "I'm a bit disappointed if I'm honest. We normally play a bit better and quicker and sharper than that with the ball.

"Did we get to grips with it quick enough first half? I expected us to do what we did, blocking up their spaces and I don't think their full-backs got forward as much as they normally do because we blocked a few things up. But I was disappointed with our lack of belief in our movement and our passing really.

"It was a completely unbelievably dubious handball. Was it deliberate? I didn't think he had chance to get out the way. Yes his arms came up, but he was diving on the floor." No he wasn't he was blocking standing tall with his arms up where they shouldn't be and in the rules if the ball hits them when they are in an unnatural position it is a penalty.

"You ask anyone, if you're falling, what happens to your arms? I've never seen anyone fall with their arms by the sides. I don't think he had a chance in hell of getting out the way of it." He wasn't falling he was stretching standing up, only falling after the ball had been stopped by his arm deliberately there for that.

Spurs: Lloris; Walker, Dawson, Vertonghen, Rose (Kaboul, 86); Dembele (Capoue, 57), Paulinho, Sigurdsson; Lennon, Soldado (Defoe, 83), Chadli. Unused subs: Friedel, Naughton, Carroll, Townsend.
Goals: Spurs - Soldado (penalty, 50).

Kaboul was given a few minutes on his comeback, Capoue was arguable the most impressive debutant when he came on after 57 minutes.

The team average pass success rate was 85%.
Jan Vertonghen had a pass success rate of 97% touching the ball 47 times.
Kyle Walker had a pass success rate of 86% touching the ball 114 times.
Michael Dawson had a pass success rate of 84% touching the ball 75 times.
Danny Rose had a pass success rate of 76% touching the ball 76 times.

He gave the same impression than Sandro gave in his debut, one of being a high quality player. The 'formidable four' of Capoue, Paulinho, Sandro and Dembele gives our squad a very strong look in midfield.

In 33 minutes, Capoue's made more interceptions (6) than West Brom (5), West Ham (5) & Sunderland (4) all managed across the whole 90 minutes of their games. He had a pass success rate of 90%.

Paulinho had a pass success rate of 91% touching the ball 68 times.
Mousa Dembele had a pass success rate of 97% touching the ball 36 times.
Gylfi Sigurdsson had a pass success rate of 84% touching the ball 68 times.
Aaron Lennon had a pass success rate of 88% touching the ball 53 times.
Nacer Chadli had a pass success rate of 87% touching the ball 70 times.

Sigurdsson was slightly disappointing, he should certainly have scored, but it's only one game and after being stuck out wide last season he has to take his chance now moved to the middle or the club will buy to replace him. Harsh I know but that's life at the top for you, you get a chance you have to take it, not moan that you need a run of games. He did OK, but OK is not good enough if you are the creative heart of the side behind Soldado.

Roberto Soldado had a pass success rate of 83% touching the ball 41 times.

Holtby is injured and will need to develop quickly this season to force his way into the starting line up. What it does do is give us the chance to rotate the squad and keep players fresher than they have been in previous years for the latter part of the season.

We attacked 48% down the right hand side, 31% down the left hand side and 21% through the middle. Walker touched the ball the most followed by Rose which indicates our desire to have them overlap down the flanks. Dawson was just behind with the option of bringing the ball out of defence, passing short into midfield or switching play to Chadli on the left wing. Some supporters complain about his long passes but it is what he is asked to do. If the ball is on we are immediately on the attack with space to exploit while the opposition have to all shuffle across the pitch.

Our shots came 67% from central, 22% from the left and 11% from the right. 50% of our shots were from outside the box, 39% from inside the 18 yard box and 11% from inside the 6 yard box.

We made 544 passes, 456 were short passes, had 24 crosses and played 64 long balls.

The game was played 32% in the final third, 43% centrally and 26% in our defensive third. Walker made 32 passes in the final third, 12 more than anyone else. At half time Graeme Souness said, "That's been the biggest threat for Tottenham, down this (right) side. They are there in numbers Palace and sooner or later someone is going to go to sleep."

The result a Lennon cross from the right is handled, penalty. Whilst Holloway didn't like it AVB thought it a wise decision. "I have been told it was clear cut, although I haven't seen it again. People tell me that just before that shout there was one on Paulinho as well so that's the information I have - that his arm was stuck out. Although it doesn't look deliberate his arm is quite some distance from the ball. The referee decided wisely."

AVB's view was interesting, "We spoke before the game how difficult it would be because of the surprise factor. Ian put his team together very well because he had three players very narrow just behind the striker, which we weren't expecting. That caused a bit of unpredictability and it was a tough game. We had some good chances to put the game to bed but, bearing in mind 90 minutes, I think we deserved to win."

So the first half of the game the players were having to think for themselves and work out how to play against a system they weren't expecting, which I have to say they did very well.

The game, being the first and away from home against a promoted side up for it, was all about getting a result while the players gel. The performance was efficient, nobody had a bad game, mistakes were made of course and Lloris saved us. He had as good a game as anyone although the Lennon/Walker partnership produced plenty of opportunity down the right flank.

Graeme Souness summed the game up for Sky viewers. "Today was exactly what you'd expect from Palace. They were spirited and they never gave up. But they were against a team that individually were better than them.

"I know they had three shots on target but I never really felt they were a threat until they made a few substitutions midway through the second-half. I think that's where they're going to fail or survive. Scoring goals is paramount in this league. You've got to be scoring goals at home to win games."

Three points, move on. Fly out to Georgia on Tuesday, game Thursday against Dinamo Tbilisi, fly back for a game on Sunday at home against Swansea.

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AVB dissatisfied with performance

Andre Villas-Boas it seems is singing from the same team sheet as I, the performance against Monaco was simply not good enough.

"Obviously, we're a bit disappointed," said Andre.

"The first half wasn't good for either team, played at a slow tempo and both teams only really had one chance at goal.

"We had a good meeting at half-time and the problem was that we conceded the two goals straight away.

"We wanted to avoid that because the players left the dressing room with the spirit that we could turn the game around and go on to win it.

"So we paid a price for that and it made it difficult for the second half.

"Monaco looked strong with individual quality, we made some mistakes and they punished us. We had belief that we could have got a better result but we'll now work hard to improve before the season starts.

"We were missing lots of players and they will help us improve, but we wanted to do better. We're aware we're better than this, but we'll take our lessons from it."

Whilst some of our supporters look to make excuses, the new culture being generated at the Lane allows little time for such sentiment. You either produce or you don't. Wherever and whenever you are playing you give it your best shot and hold your hand up when you are not up to the required standard. If you can go away, work on it and put things right you have a chance to succeed, if you don't you won't play. They are the harsh facts of life for top teams in the Premier League.

The culture in football now is one of instant success and players have to be almost finished articles. Top clubs don't buy up and coming strikers and develop them in the team anymore, they can't afford to, they buy, as we have done with Soldado, a finished article because they can't risk doing anything else.

Teams chasing a Champions League spot can't afford the luxury of  'giving a player a go' simply to see if he will develop. A defender giving away 6 points while he learns to adapt will have cost you £35/40 million for missing the Champions League. A manager prepared to take that gamble is gambling on his own future, it's simply not an option, which is why we are desperate to sign a left-back and now a centre-back.

It's tough on Danny Rose, Tom Carroll, Harry Kane and Jake Livermore but that's the way it is. The loan system is now the development system. You send a player out to get a season under his belt and get back a better commodity, to either sell or introduce into your team. They'll learn more playing for someone else than they will sitting on a bench, not that there are many spots on our bench available.

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