Spurs: report says AVB gave West Ham no credit – but he did
FOLLOWING West Ham’s 3-0 win at Spurs, David Hytner wrote in the Guardian:
Sam Allardyce once speculated that he might be taken more seriously as a tactician and, therefore, considered for the very top jobs, if he had a European-sounding surname. At White Hart Lane on Sunday, the West Ham United manager contented himself with aping Spain’s 4-6-0 formation, which had triumphed at Euro 2012, to enjoy a memorable 3-0 win. He positively basked in the post-match acclaim. ‘No, no, don’t call me a managerial genius (but you can if you want)’, was the subtext to a line from his press conference. André Villas-Boas hated it. The Tottenham Hotspur manager gave Allardyce and West Ham absolutely no credit. He said that their goals had come from a set-piece, a fluke and a one-man break against two of his defenders. Allardyce’s tactics had emphatically not thrown him. “It’s nothing to do with the strategy but you can write whatever you want,” Villas-Boas huffed. Having been outwitted in the second-half by Chelsea’s José Mourinho the previous weekend, this was a low point. Allardyce is riding high.
NO CREDIT. Or as AVB said right after the game – having told the BBC how “strong” West Ham are at set pieces:
“It was a surprise. But I think West Ham deserve full credit, they played very, very well. The first half we played well, but not enough to score. We started the second half very strongly, but unfortunately for us their set-play goal came a little bit against the run of play. They totally deserved it, and every time we tried to make changes to come back into the game, they scored again. The three goals came in a quick sequence, which did not allow us to bounce back and react.
“We wanted to throw in all our weapons but as we were ready to put Soldado on, they made it 2-0. It made it even more difficult to come back into the game. We never had that chance, but West Ham did extremely well in the second half. They were very aggressive, getting to the ball first and they deserved the result.”
Such are the facts when you have to repeat yourself to media after a bruising defeat…
Posted: 7th, October 2013 | In: Sports, Spurs Comments (2) | TrackBack | Permalink
