Andre Villas-Boas: Defeat to West Ham is wake-up call for Tottenham

 
REUTERS
Agency7 October 2013

Andre Villas-Boas has challenged Tottenham to bounce back from their shock defeat to West Ham.

Villas-Boas suffered the worst home defeat of his tenure as second-half goals from Winston Reid, Ricardo Vaz Te and Ravel Morrison handed the Hammers a 3-0 win - their first victory at White Hart Lane since 1999.

Tottenham fans booed their team off at the final whistle, but Villas-Boas is refusing to panic.

"It's a wake up call that we have to react to, we have to bounce back and I trust the team to do that," the Spurs boss said.

"I think we can't undermine what we have been doing up to now.

"Obviously it's a defeat. Had we won this game we would have been just one point behind.

"It's something we don't like, but we have to put into perspective of what we've done before."

Spurs failed to take any of their chances in a drab first half and West Ham made them pay after the break.

The goal from Morrison, who was playing out of position up front, was easily the pick of the three.

The former Manchester United man picked the ball up inside his own half and slalomed past Jan Vertonghen and Michael Dawson before cleverly lifting the ball over Hugo Lloris.

West Ham had struggled without the injured Andy Carroll so far this season, but Morrison performed admirably, much to Sam Allardyce's delight.

"That was a genius goal," the West Ham boss said. "Tottenham had conceded two goals before today, but he just headed directly to Vertonghen and Dawson, slipped them like they weren't there, and he uses his outstanding ability to dink the goalkeeper.

"For me you will struggle to see a better goal this season."

Many questioned Allardyce's decision to sign Morrison from United last year.

The midfielder was convicted of two counts of witness intimidation and he was also fined £7,000 by the Football Association for a homophobic tweet.

The player failed to settle originally at West Ham and was loaned out to Birmingham last season.

But 12 months on, Allardyce says the 20-year-old is a changed man.

"The penny has dropped with him," Allardyce added. "It has dropped in lifestyle and attitude and his timekeeping, all of a sudden there is a belief that he doesn't want to do anything other than break into our first team.

"I think that 12-month spell at Birmingham gave him a time to reflect on what it takes to be a player on a week in and out basis."

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