Tom Collomosse: Andre Villas-Boas must break his own rules

With bigger tests ahead, the Spurs boss will be taking a huge risk by fielding star men tonight in a competition which he treats seriously
8 November 2012

Andre Villas-Boas wants to use the Europa League to educate his players but the Tottenham manager might be taught a lesson himself unless he can find a way to manage the English season successfully.

Villas-Boas used the Capital One Cup, which Spurs have now exited, to rotate his squad but it is clear the Portuguese does not intend to do the same in European competition. In principle, it is an admirable stance — the club have won just two major trophies since they took the FA Cup in 1991 and there would be considerable cachet if they could claim a continental prize.

Yet sometimes, principles must be shelved in favour of pragmatism. Three days after tonight’s fixture against Maribor, which Villas-Boas has defined a “must-win” game, Spurs travel to Manchester City. Roberto Mancini’s men played in the Champions League on Tuesday and so will have had two more days to recover for one of Spurs’ biggest games of the season so far.

A win tonight will elevate Spurs into the top two positions in Group J with a couple of matches remaining. Maribor are champions of Slovenia and have lost only twice in the league this season but this is a side beaten home and away last term by Birmingham, who would eventually fail to win promotion from the Championship.

While Spurs have injuries to key players such as Mousa Dembele, Sandro, Younes Kaboul and Benoit Assou-Ekotto, they should also have enough depth in the squad to rest some players before the City game and still see off Maribor. Yago Falque, Kyle Naughton and Andros Townsend have all been on the fringe of the first team and this is the type of match in which they should be given another opportunity.

Emmanuel Adebayor is also expected to be handed his first start since completing his £5million move from City in August.

When he took the Tottenham job, Villas-Boas was given the task of restoring the club to the Champions League. The only way to do this is by accumulating Premier League points and to do so at City, the Portuguese will need his best players fit and fresh. He believes this is possible even with such a short turnaround — the City game kicks off at 1.30pm — but he might be taking an unnecessary risk.

Tom Huddlestone revealed that training sessions had been prepared in far more detail under Villas-Boas and the head coach sounded almost evangelical when he spoke about the need for his players to become accustomed to the rhythms of European football.

“The Premier League is extremely strenuous compared to other leagues but you can and should play two or three games a week,” Villas-Boas said. “Managers have to be aware of rotation and tiredness but the body allows enough time and you have to create the habit for it to recover more quickly.

“This competition means something to the club. We value what we are doing for the future, this is an extremely good competition and we are in it to win it.

“If this were a Champions League fixture, everybody would be buzzing to be available but to become a top team that play in the Champions League, you have to get used to regular midweek games. So we also use this competition as education.

“We have a team struggling with a couple of injuries. We hope to have Sandro back for the weekend but we are certainly not in a position to spare anyone. This is not how we want to approach the competition. This is a must-win game for us.”

It is a difficult balance for Villas-Boas to strike. He has made it plain that the Europa League is a priority for him and he might feel it would be contradictory to make significant changes for this game. Yet the best managers know how and when to be flexible and it is hard to escape the feeling that, with City on Sunday and Arsenal at Emirates Stadium the following week, Villas-Boas might be making life unnecessarily difficult for himself.

His job would certainly be easier were Dembele available but Spurs’ most dynamic midfielder remains absent with a hip problem that Villas-Boas says will keep him out of the match at City.

Spurs hope that sufficient rest will enable the Belgian to avoid surgery but with no other player like him in the squad, Villas-Boas needs to recover quickly. Especially when he intends to field a full strength starting XI for the majority of Spurs’ matches.

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