While Chelsea set about tearing themselves apart again, the man they paid big money to come and sort their mess out 18 months ago is doing very nicely for himself up the road at Tottenham. Chortle.

Overview

And as Chelsea began to slip to a second dreadful home defeat inside a week the band played Frank Lampard’s name. Super Frank they sang, bring on Super Frank and all will be right with the world. And eventually Rafael Benitez relented and did bring on Super Frank, and the troglodytes cheered and turned a blind eye to the three misplaced passes and one tame shot when he had better options that he contributed to proceedings in his half hour on the field. Chelsea, one nil down when he was introduced, eventually lost by two.

It’s not hard, on the face of it, to see why Lampard is an all conquering hero at Stamford Bridge given his medal collection, years of service and 192 goals. This year Chelsea have won ten of the 12 league games he has started, and just one of the eight he hasn’t. But Chelsea chairman Ron Gourlay – jeered to the field for a pre-match presentation on Wednesday evening – and owner Roman Abramovic could be forgiven for muttering under their breath about Rafa Benitez not being anywhere near Stamford Bridge if it wasn’t for Lampard and his dressing room clique.

Chelsea is a club entirely at the mercy of its billionaire owner, with that money papering over the cracks that result from the dictatorship. One of their biggest problems in recent times is their reliance on a core group of players who first of all aren’t getting any younger, but more pressingly are quite happy to down tools and stop work if they decide they don’t like the manager very much.

A year and a half ago, at colossal expense, the Blues brought in Andre Villas-Boas from Porto to lead the rebuild of the team. The obvious part of that job was that Lampard, Ashley Cole, John Terry, Didier Drogba and others would, within the next few years, all need to be replaced and players of that quality don’t come cheap, or come along very often at all at any price. Villas-Boas, as we were told by every single newspaper feature on him in his first six months in this country, is very young indeed – still just 35 now – and he set about the task with the crass naivety you’d expect of such an inexperienced manager. He basically made it clear that he also would soon have no time for Frank and friends and started replacing them with players like Juan Mata who will still be of some use to Chelsea in eight or nine years time should they wish. He was, however, rather heavy handed.

Naturally, the dressing room revolted and stopped playing for him. “Lost the dressing room” and “not playing for the manager” are two phrases often touted around when a team starts to struggle and usually they’re ideal for journalists and fans because they cannot be proved one way or the other but in the case of Chelsea it was very easy to prove indeed because the players literally weren’t playing for the manager. John Terry – captain, leader, legend – was ruled out for three months with an injury and then when Villas-Boas was sacked made a miraculous recovery after just three weeks out so he could take his place in the side for Roberto Di Matteo’s first game in charge at Birmingham City in the FA Cup. Di Matteo’s team subsequently won the European Cup, which made Villas-Boas look very foolish indeed, but rather than show what an idiot the previous manager was compared to Di Matteo it only went to prove what a bunch of absolute arseholes Chelsea have on their playing squad. By sacking Villas-Boas, Chelsea had once again caved into the problem they brought him in to rid them of.

And now, a year on, Chelsea have to put up with the odious arrogance of Rafael Benitez while ten miles across the capital, and one place better off in the Premier League, Villas-Boas has pitched up at Tottenham.

Now, it may well be that Villas-Boas is what Harry Redknapp might call “a complete dope”. He certainly comes across as one; constantly mumbling through a mouthful of phlegm and wittering on about moments and projects and systems and ethos and team and blue sky thinking and all of this sort of bollocks. His record at Porto was formidable – winning the league with an unbeaten season and only 13 goals conceded, the cup, the Portuguese Super Cup and the Europa League in his first year in charge – but while I wouldn’t quite go so far as to say a trained chimp would do ok managing Porto in the Portuguese league, it wasn’t the toughest baptism. Rescuing Academica from relegation and taking them to the cup semi final in 2009/10 was a more impressive achievement on his CV in my opinion. Young, Portuguese and successful at Porto brings automatic comparisons with Mourinho but it no more makes them alike than managing West Ham and being English makes Sam Allardyce like Ron Greenwood.

The Tottenham job will tell us a lot about him. The resources are there, the club is incredibly well run and his chairman Daniel Levy is as sharp as a tack and as shrewd as they come in the transfer market. Villas-Boas couldn’t want for a better club after what happened to him last season, but the job was far from easy to come into. Spurs lost Ledley King, Luka Modric and Rafael Van Der Vaart in the summer who were arguably three of their four best players and Scott Parker, a key figure under the previous regime, has hardly been fit to play at all this season. They also lack the Champions League revenue of their rivals, and the status the competition affords teams when trying to attract new players. And he had to lead a recovery from a dire second half to last season.

Spurs were being talked about as possible title contenders at this point last season but with manager Harry Redknapp embroiled in a tax avoidance trial throughout a transfer window where they eventually only added the ageing bones of Louis Saha and Ryan Nelsen to the team, and then linked to the vacant England job for the rest of the campaign, they stalled badly. Having lost just three of their first 22 games in the league they then lost six of the next 13 and drew another three as well as losing 5-1 to Chelsea in the FA Cup semi final. Redknapp claimed talk of the England job had nothing to do with it, but given that they won three and drew one of the last four games after Roy Hodgson was appointed instead his words rang a little hollow. Spurned by England, Redknapp then went hunting for a contract extension at White Hart Lane the only way he knows how – by constantly mentioning it in the press. Having maintained his stance on the England job for the previous six months, to then say him not having a longer contract may cause uncertainty that unsettled the players this season he sounded like a man pushing his luck, and Levy certainly isn’t a man to be pushed too far.

Redknapp was, rightly, praised for carting Tottenham out of the relegation zone and into the Champions League inside 18 months, and then reaching the quarter finals of that. But they could manage it only once. Compared to the media trumpeting of Redknapp’s work for squeezing into fourth, the coverage of Villas-Boas moving them into third at the time of writing has been rather more sedate.

Of course, with half a season to go, anything could happen and Tottenham are developing a reputation for choking in these situations – often succumbing when teams like Arsenal and Chelsea get their acts together in the closing weeks of the campaign and qualify for Europe’s top table at the end of a mediocre season while Spurs miss out at the end of what was largely an excellent campaign.

Villas-Boas remains an infuriating figure and I’m far from convinced he’s actually any good at all. If Tottenham are winning a match with 20 minutes to go he will immediately shut up the shop – regardless of who they’re playing, how they’re playing or what the score is. At Sunderland recently Spurs could hardly have been more dominant and in control for the first 70 minutes of the game, but Villas-Boas nevertheless then decided to remove striker Jermaine Defoe for the more conservative Clint Dempsey, the outstanding Aaron Lennon for defensively minded Scott Parker, and Gareth Bale for Gylfi Sigurdsson. There followed a nervous final ten minutes and stoppage time and a 2-1 win when it really should have been an absolute cakewalk and three or four goal success. West Brom and Norwich both equalised late on at White Hart Lane when he did this earlier in the season and QPR should have done. It’s almost as if having picked the correct team and tactics to win the game in the first place, he needs to show how jolly important and wonderful he is by coming up with a new plan and winning the game all over again.

But after the summer of upheaval in the playing squad and management, and the difficult time he had at Chelsea, it’s hard to argue with anything that’s happened at Spurs so far. Chelsea would no doubt never give up that night in Munich, but long term they may reflect that the Villas-Boas sacking was in fact a mistake, and certainly done for the wrong reasons.

Still, Super Super Frank indeed.

Interview

Once again we welcome journalist and Spurs fan Michael Pickard back to LFW to give us his opinion on the current situation at White Hart Lane.

Assess Spurs' season so far

Sitting third in the table, there's plenty of reasons to be cheerful around White Hart Lane, although some matches this season haven't been pretty. The opening day defeat at Newcastle was disappointing, while two consecutive draws at home to West Brom and Norwich failed to give Andre Villas-Boas the start he and the fans had hoped for. A comprehensive win at Reading and a much tougher victory at home against you guys gave us a lift, before a long overdue victory at Manchester United (hello Pedro Mendes) silenced the critics, for a little while at least. That good will seeped away following defeats against Wigan, Manchester City and the 5-2 at Arsenal. However, wins against West Ham, Liverpool, Fulham, Swansea, Aston Villa, Sunderland and Reading, with a draw with Stoke and away defeat at Everton in our last nine league games have seen us climb to third. It's been a rollercoaster in terms of results but our performances have been steadily improving as Villas-Boas makes his mark at the club and there are lots of positives to take from the first half of the season.

Redknapp is the media darling, Villas-Boas much less so. Has he had the credit for actually taking Spurs as high in the league as you are at the moment? Would Redknapp have had more praise? How do you think Villas-Boas has done overall?

With finishes of fourth, fifth and fourth in the last three seasons, Villas-Boas inherited a squad more than capable of our current position. But with the loss of Luka Modric and Rafael Van Der Vaart, and the retirement of Ledley King, it was a squad depleted of three of its best players. The fact that these players were not adequately replaced last summer, with Daniel Levy proving his reputation as a tough negotiator with Modric's sale to Real Madrid, meant it would be tough job for the new manager, though we did bring in Moussa Dembele, Clint Dempsey and Hugo Lloris to join the outstanding Jan Vertonghen and Gylfi Sigurdsson. Dembele has forged a formidable partnership with Sandro in the centre of midfield, though he was badly missed when out through injury, and Dempsey is starting to settle. Considering the current squad is arguably weaker than last season's, particularly in midfield, and the injuries suffered (Benoit Assou-Ekotto has also been missed for a large part of the season), Villas-Boas is leading the team better than I had expected at this stage of the season with signs now that the team is growing stronger as the squad returns to full strength.

To a neutral, Tottenham seem to cause themselves problems by sitting back and defending for the last 20 minutes of games, when often there has been nothing in the previous 70 minutes to suggest they need to. Is that criticism fair? But for the late goals conceded you'd be title challengers.

It was certainly a growing worry that we were sitting back far too early once taking the lead, notably against QPR at White Hart Lane. The fact that we would be top of the league if games were 80 minutes long tells you everything you need to know. But we've certainly grown stronger as the season has progressed, with clean sheets at Fulham and Aston Villa particularly pleasing.

January means an Arsenal contract saga, summer means a drawn out big money departure from Spurs - who will be this year's Berbatov/Modric/Carrick? Can you hang onto Bale? Is Champions League football going to be the key?

Providing we secure Champions League football next season, there shouldn't be any reason why there will be any big name departures from Spurs. Bale recently signed a new contract so there's no reason to sell. However, should a suitably ridiculous offer above £40-45million come through, I'm not sure Levy would turn it down. Anything less should be refused out of hand. No Champions League football for another season would change the situation, and a restless Bale and a summer of speculation could see another typically drawn-out transfer saga.

Emmanuel Adebayor seems to have flopped, compared to his form on loan last season, what's the general feeling about him at the moment?

There were warnings that Adebayor is a different player once he signs a permanent contract and unfortunately that seems to be the case. He has been out through injury for several games, though his lacklustre and lethargic performances since have done nothing for his popularity, especially when Defoe is regularly finding the net. Against Reading on New Year's Day, his movement was terrible and he missed a back post header early in the game. He was saved by scoring a header later in the game and I hoped that playing as the lone striker against Coventry last Saturday in the FA Cup would see him grab a brace and spark him back into life. Needless to say, it was the opposite and he was anonymous for most of the game, typified when he had a one-on-one and was effortlessly pushed off the ball without getting a shot away. Now he's away to the Africa Cup of Nations, hopefully he will return showing a bit more interest.

Who do you need this January? Who would you like? Who would you get rid of? Can we have them?

Now we're down to one recognised striker in Defoe, another goal scorer is most urgent, and has been for a couple of years now. It would also be good to have another creative attacker who can link midfield and attack and be the creative catalyst against teams who park the bus at White Hart Lane. Gallas has been a good player since signing him but his performances this year have been lacking, so with QPR's interest I'd happily let him go. Hands off Michael Dawson though.

Top four this season? Or another near miss?

With Chelsea one point behind but with a game in hand, there's a close fight for third with the chasing pack not far enough back. Wins this Saturday and subsequently against Norwich and West Brom, and at least a point at home to Man Utd, would keep us in the running and if we can avoid repeating our post-February decline from last year, I would certainly hope to see us finish fourth. Sadly Arsenal cannot be dismissed and Everton are stacking up the points. Fifth wouldn't be a disaster considering the players we've lost and having a new manager, though this side is good enough to make the top four and third is a realistic goal.

And what do you make of Harry pitching up at QPR? From the cusp of the England job to our mess inside a year seems like a fall from grace. Is he fondly remembered by Spurs fans? What do they make of him taking our job?

Whether or not he was seriously considering the Ukraine job is another question but as soon as Mark Hughes' position became vacant I had no doubt he would take the job, although it seems to be a much tougher proposition than he perhaps expected. I would like to think he is fondly remembered by most Spurs fans for taking us into the Champions League but I think he talked himself out of the job: refusing to sign a new contract while he was linked with England, then demanding a new one when he didn't get the job wasn't a great way to go. He also claimed the England job talk wasn't distracting the Spurs players but that they did become distracted when he wasn't offered a new contract by Levy once Hodgson joined England. While the media love him for commenting on every question he is asked, I don't think it sat well with the hierarchy, while his policy of signing veterans didn't fit with Levy's preferred policy of selling for a profit. Buying Saha and Nelson last January wasn't a particularly great bit of business either when we really needed some players to boost our top four chances. Good luck to him, he'll probably bring in some tried and tested players this month (see Tal Ben Haim) and if he saves you, it will be an incredible achievement.

Scout Report

Well, one thing Harry Redknapp probably won’t have to concern himself with this weekend is any element of surprise. Andre Villas-Boas stuck rigidly, stubbornly to a 4-2-3-1 formation early in the season before more recently bowing to pressure to play Emmanuel Adebayor up front with Jermain Defoe. With Adebayor in poor form, and away at the African Nations Cup in any case, it’s likely that the one-up-top system will be restored and as Defoe is just about the only senior striker they have at the club it’s almost certain that Rangers will be facing him with a supporting cast.

That supporting cast is almost certain to include Gareth Bale down the left and Aaron Lennon down the right, with Clint Dempsey likely to get the nod ahead of Gylfi Sigurdsson for the advanced role ahead of the key man in this Spurs team Moussa Dembele and his enforcer Sandro.

What Rangers will be less sure about is which of Tottenham’s many strengths they’ll look to use the most this weekend. Against Sunderland when I last saw them Aaron Lennon played about as well as I’ve ever seen, proving to be a constant menace to the home side with his direct running and high speed. He scored a fine goal that turned out to be the winner and was deservedly named man of the match. A week or so prior to that, in a home match with Swansea, I’d noted that Lennon was actually seeing very little of the ball at all, which seemed very strange considering Gareth Bale wasn’t playing wide left in that game.

Earlier this season at Reading it was noticeable that Spurs went very direct, very early to Jermaine Defoe who played as a lone striker. On the face of it this was a ludicrous thing to do, considering Defoe’s physical stature compared to that of Kaspars Gorkss, Alex Pearce and the other Reading centre halves but it worked a treat as Defoe was able to bring the ball down, turn and use his pace against the more cumbersome defenders. Ashley Williams, the in form Swansea centre half, dealt with him well by not getting too tight and allowing himself to be turned, and then relying on his own reading of the game to get into Defoe just as the ball arrived. It’s unlikely either Clint Hill or Ryan Nelsen are quick enough these days to do the same but watching Williams’ performance against him will have provided some pointers.

Rangers know very well indeed that right back Kyle Walker can also be used as a key attacking weapon because Neil Warnock did exactly that on several occasions when he was the QPR manager – most memorably in an away match at Bristol City where Walker was actually our most effective attacking player despite starting on the right hand side of the defence.

And then of course there is the incredible skill and speed of Gareth Bale, if they want to be obvious about it, and having seen his awe inspiring performance and hat trick against our fellow relegation strugglers Aston Villa at Villa Park recently (a 4-0 away win) I’m sure Villas-Boas is tempted to just hand him the ball whenever possible and let him do his stuff.

Overall though, whichever way Spurs decide to go, Rangers would do well to close down and hassle Moussa Dembele who is clearly destined for big things in the game and has slipped seamlessly into the Luka Modric role of making Tottenham tick. They have lost only one of 14 league games that he has played in this season and won 11.

The defence is rather less certain. Spurs only seem to have recently settled on Hugo Lloris as their first choice goalkeeper for a start but several times when I’ve been watching him his decision making, particularly out around the edge of his own penalty area when he has to decide to come for through balls or not, has been found wanting. The back four played the same very high line against Swansea as Villas-Boas tried unsuccessfully to implement at Chelsea – although he has a good deal more pace at his disposal back there now than he did at Stamford Bridge so they get caught out less. Mind you Swansea could hardly have been less ambitious in that match so perhaps it wasn’t the one to judge the Tottenham defence on.

Jan Vertonghen scored the crucial goal in that match from a set piece – he got ten for Ajax last season and must be watched closely. Easily the best player on the pitch when we played at White Hart Lane in September he can play either left back or centre half and has looked excellent all season in both. Must be watched like a hawk at all attacking corners and free kicks.

One of the few weaknesses, as already mentioned, is Tottenham’s propensity to sit back on a lead if they hold one with 20 minutes left to go. After the Liverpool massacre a really key thing for QPR to do this weekend is to stay in the game – a one goal deficit with 20 minutes left to play would most certainly not be the end of the world. Watch for the defensive Tottenham substitutions if that situation occurs, closely followed by the defence allowing itself to be sucked too deep towards its own area, and then failing to clear its lines adequately. Spurs would be top if the games finished on 80 minutes this season, and they shipped two late goals at Everton having retreated so far back to protect their lead that they really should have been charged for tickets in the stand behind the goal.

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HanwellHoop added 23:46 - Jan 10 Great stuff. Thanks north.
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ozexile added 00:36 - Jan 11 The Chelsea situation reminds me of when ranieri took over. He tried to get rid of Dennis wise. It upset the tea lady,so they gave him a contract extension and ranieri lost any credibility.
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QPRski added 07:14 - Jan 11 I believe the key factors of this match will be the battles of the tactics of Harry v AVB plus the emotion of Harry v Spurs. It will be a very interesting match at many levels. Last season both managers lost at Loftus Road with matches of great atmosphere. I hope LR will b a cauldron again for this match.
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N12Hoop added 09:45 - Jan 11 I was really surprised that after the Scum debacle that AVB was a) offered and b)took another job here. I thought he'd disappear and repair his wounds. The Spurs fans I know think he's a god, but I can't stand him. Looks like he may be better than we have given him credit for, but Spurs do have a very good squad in a relatively weak league so the jury probably needs to be out for a while longer before declaring judgement.

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Northernr added 09:48 - Jan 11 I agree N12 - I still strongly suspect he's a plonka.
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TacticalR added 12:20 - Jan 11 AVB's strength is his understanding of the opposition. His weakness has been his abrasive style, and to his credit he seems to have become more relaxed while at Spurs. Tottenham have so many pacy players who can run from deep (Bale, Walker, Vertonghen), and we lack pace. I am guessing Harry will go for a defensive performance again, to stop us getting stretched out by Tottenham. It's an interesting point about Spurs conceding late goals. If we can hold out that might work in our favour.

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probbo added 14:21 - Jan 11 Spurs looked to be suffering a hangover from HR's departure at the start of the season but have now settled well under AVB and look a pretty decent outfit. Defoe has been in excellent form as he has been getting more first team starts. I think the main challenge for us will be keeping Bale in his box but we did them at home last season so i'm quietly optimistic. It would great to have back to back wins in the league for the first time since God knows when and a win may help Harry attract a few more loan players to bolster the squad - c'mon U R'ssss!!

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Noelmc added 19:42 - Jan 11 Interesting Clive that you picked out Dembele as Spurs key man. I agree as I was very impressed with him in both games for Fulham against us last season. I thought at the time he was a great buy for Spurs in the summer.
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