Tottenham sack André Villas-Boas

 

Andre Villas-Boas has been sacked as Tottenham Hotspur manager following the 5-0 defeat against Liverpool at White Hart Lane.

The Portuguese boss has been under pressure for several weeks since a 6-0 defeat to Manchester City, but looked to have bought himself some time with wins at Fulham and Sunderland.

But the home defeat on Sunday was the final straw, as Villas-Boas found himself axed for the second time in just under two years.

The club's technical co-ordinator Tim Sherwood will take temporary charge of the squad for Wednesday's Capital One Cup home clash with West Ham.

The Spurs chairman, Daniel Levy, and the technical director Franco Baldini had spoken briefly with Villas-Boas in the aftermath of the harrowing 5-0 defeat, with Villas-Boas emerging to insist he would not resign. There were further talks on Monday, before the club issued a statement confirming his departure was "by mutual consent and in the interests of all parties".

Villas-Boas' position had been severely undermined by his team's toils this season, despite Spurs' comfortable progress out of their Europa League group and seventh place in the Premier League. They are only five points adrift of Manchester City in fourth, and eight from Arsenal at the top, yet the nature of their defeats in direct confrontation with the title contenders had a profound effect on the manager's standing. City had beaten Spurs 6-0 at the Etihad Stadium a little over three weeks ago and, while the comprehensive nature of that defeat had been shocking, it actually merely served to expose deeper concerns within the club's boardroom over the manager's position.

Levy and the club's owner, Joe Lewis, had been angered initially by a 3-0 home defeat to West Ham in the first week of October, a result which prompted an intense examination of Villas-Boas' suitability to fulfil Spurs' longer-term ambitions. The hierarchy had sanctioned around £109m of spending over the summer on seven players, including three club record fees, reinvesting the money raised by Gareth Bale's sale to Real Madrid. Yet the new personnel, while boasting reputations on paper, have taken time to adapt to the Premier League with the team's rather stodgy and conservative play having failed to enthuse those in the boardroom.